Ware County head football coach Jason Strickland was the featured speaker during the Exchange Club’s weekly meeting.
Strickland, who was introduced by Program Chairman Roger Collins during the Thursday, January 5 luncheon , informed thosed gathered he is “still on cloud nine” following the Gators’ GHSA Class AAAAA state championship victory December 10 in Atlanta.
“People ask me, have you come down from the cloud yet?,” said the fourth-year head coach. “No. No, I haven’t, and I’m not going to for a while. I’ve been doing this 25 years and this is my first (championship) as a head coach. I’m not coming down for a while. We’re going to ride this wave of emotion for a while.”
Strickland looked back to his arrival after his hiring from Pierce County.
“This is the vision that we (coaches) had when we came,” he said looking at the state championship trophy. “I said in my interview with (Superintendent) Mr. (Bert) Smith I didn’t know if we’re going to do anything better than anybody who had been at Ware County before. But, I did think we would do some things different ... they’ve been on board with our way of different, let me say that.
“We (coaches) felt like this was attainable, but we also understood that it’s been 64 years of Ware County playing football. Until this point, this hadn’t happened. What that shows, and you’ve heard me say this repeatedly over the last four years, is you have to be more than good to win a state championship.”
Strickland explained everything has to come together and the players, water girls, band filmers, cheerleaders and the community must have their best year.
“There are just so many things that have to go your way,” said Strickland looking back at the 2021 season that ended with a second- round loss to Calhoun. “I go back to a year ago. I thought we were good enough to at least play for the state championship and maybe good enough to win it.”
“At the end, we were not able to get it done, and we (players, coaches) were just sick to our stomachs.”
It was not the first time Strickland had to deal with state playoff disappointment. His Fitzgerald teams from 2014 to 2016 also came up short. The Purple Hurricane lost in the 2014 Class AA semifinals to Greater Atlanta Christian on a last-second field goal.
Fitzgerald fell in back-to-back title games in 2015-16, first to Pace Academy and then to Benedictine.
“At some point you wake up and look in the mirror and see an old haggard face and you start wondering how many opportunities are you going to give this thing?,” said Strickland. “You have these marvelous teams like we had last year and you don’t quite get it done.
“We (coaches) told the team at the beginning of the season there were lots of people who thought we missed our chance last year. The group of seniors we had this year, who I will rave on until I die, are some of the best human beings I’ve ever coached. They refused to believe their window was closed.
“They did everything they could to hold themselves accountable, their teammates accountable, and the coaches accountable. And man, they played unbelievable.”
Strickland shared in his relationship to former Charlton County head coach Rich McWhorter. Strickland once coached under the 300-game winner and four-time state champion.
“Coach McWhorter, who’s like a big brother to me, would tell me all the time that to have one of those special seasons, your seniors have to play their best ... that’s got to be their best year of football,” said Strickland. “We’re talking about a group that’s won 41 football games, that’s won a region championship three out of last four years, that beat Coffee County three years in a row now.
“So, special group, a special community. We (coaches) felt that four years ago when we got here.”
One of the senior leaders was linebacker Trey Hargrove, named the Class 5A Defensive Player of the Year by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The stalwart has not signed a letter-of-intent.
“Trey Hargrove still doesn’t know where he’s going to go to college because he hasn’t paid attention to the recruiting process,” Strickland stated. “He refused to do anything with recruiting. The week we were playing in the state championship, he had four schools show up to talk to him. He would not meet with them because he said he wasn’t going to focus on college football until his high school football career was over. So, he pushed off his signing until the February signing day.”
Strickland did mention senior L.J. Hall had signed with Army.
“He’s going to be going to West Point,” the veteran coach said. “We’ve got a West Point guy on our football team!”
Strickland said the biggest thing he wanted to have was an opportunity to say “thank you.”
“Thank you so much for bringing us (coaches) to this community four years ago,” he said. “I can’t be more excited about the future. We forget to just enjoy the gifts that something bigger than ourselves gave to us.
“This is an opportunity for this entire town. Hey, it’s taken us 64 years. Let’s don’t ask, ‘Hey coach, do you think we can win it next year?’ I don’t know, but I know we won it this year. Let’s enjoy this one. We’ll figure ’23 out about August.”
The coach closed stating the annual banquet will be held when the state championship rings arrive.
“We’re going to tie our ring ceremony and our football banquet all together in one night,” said Strickland. “We’re going to try to make it a big, big evening to invite the community to come out and see these young men get their rings and cap it off.”
Photo by Danny Bartlett
Ware County head coach Jason Strickland, pictured with the 2022 state championship trophy and commemorative football, is flanked by Exchange Club President-elect George Barnhill (left) and Program Chair Roger Collins.
