After a tough road loss Sept. 11, Greene County High School spent the following bye week making adjustments in multiple areas without concern about specific opponents.
The Tigers now hit the road for two consecutive weeks.
Greene County head coach Chris MacFarland said he was happy with his players’ efforts during their week off from regular competition. He hopes the team can carry that momentum forward, especially in their upcoming match at Eagles Landing Christian Academy on Sept. 25.
“We didn’t worry about an opponent, just worried about ourselves, and really had some good practices,” MacFarland said. “Now we’re able to move on and hopefully, with all the things that we kind of shored up and really worked on, move forward with a great game plan for them.”
MacFarland said the bye week gave his team a chance to improve physicality, especially on offense and defensive lines. He noted that the program is “trying to get those units back together,” as some players are returning from injuries.
“We’re just trying to find that unit that works well together and just executes what we’re trying to do,” MacFarland said. “That was the main emphasis last week, and I think we’re moving forward in the right direction.”
MacFarland said he saw several players continue to improve throughout the week and the season overall, including junior tackle Kaden Drake, senior linebacker Ja’Quez Hull, and junior tight end Roman Brown.
“The trenches are so important at every level of football. We worked on timing with things and worked on our alignments and making sure our calls were correct and just kind of the little things,” MacFarland said. “There’s a lot of kids that just work hard every day, and we’re trying to keep developing that leadership and getting those guys to get others to work hard so that we can just really work on the second half of the season.”
With the Tigers’ upcoming matchup against the Chargers, MacFarland said the game will be a good challenge for his team. Despite the tough competition, he is confident his players can perform well on Friday night.
“[Eagle’s Landing] has won some close games the last couple of weeks, and their quarterback is outstanding, so we have our work cut out for us to play well and know where he’s at and what he’s doing,” MacFarland said. “They’ve got good skilled players, and come after you defensively. So the challenge for us is to understand what they do, get as much recognition as we can so that we can get lined up and have good understanding.”
Overall, MacFarland said his team is taking the schedule “one week at a time,” even as they kick off region competition against Lake Oconee Academy next week. He noted that he believes the coaching staff worked well to try and push the team for the better.
“I feel very good about what our players tried to do. The coaching staff has worked very hard to get them going in the right direction, and it was a good week for us to bounce back,” MacFarland said. “We’re worrying about just this week so we can try to see that gain and that improvement from the previous weeks, and then we’ll focus on the region games as we get there.”