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Friday night lights in Rural Georgia just means more

MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

Back in the mid to late 70s I remember going to the local Highschool football game on Friday night. The Harris County Tigers, (Alma Mater of Jordan Jenkins, Tae Crowder and Techs Taquan Marshall) wasn't very good back then but the town would literally shut down to go to the Stadium to support the team. If u lived in town (Hamilton, GA.) you could hear the band practicing all day in preparation for the nights performance. We kids, Blacks and Whites alike would gather on the grassy area above the North end zone and play throw up tackle pretending not that to b our favorite NFL or College player but our favorite Harris County Tiger be it QB Ted Edgar or Runaway Freightrain running back Willard Murphy who was our Herschel Walker. I was only a preteen back then but I WILL never forget my introduction to Friday Night Lights in Rural Georgia and it's something every fan should experience at least once. Any experiences you'd like to share?

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Comments

  • BEACHDAWGBEACHDAWG Posts: 3,232 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    My kids went to Parkview through the Stinchcomb/Jeff Francoeur/Brad Lester era. Can't remember the kicker's name who went to Clempson, but he got kicked out of numerous soccer games for fighting and they sent him to the football team. SRO every Friday. High school football is an unique experience.

  • 3rdshift3rdshift Posts: 546 ✭✭✭✭ Senior

    if it aint candle light...it aint rural....sorry i thought this thread was about bro country songs...

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Yeah the late Cecil Flowe was the coach back then. In fact I think it was during that era when Metro Atlanta teams started to assert itself as the dominant teams in Georgias highest classification. Buck Godfrey's S.W. DeKalb Panthers led by Quincy Carter and of course Brookwood, McEachern with AJ SUGGS and of course Parkviews 3peat swung the balance of power to the North and that continues to this day.

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    3rd shift, what is a bro country song? Enlighten us.

  • 3rdshift3rdshift Posts: 546 ✭✭✭✭ Senior

    wiki is fairly accurate on that one

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Okay just never heard of it

  • Bsampson0317Bsampson0317 Posts: 133 ✭✭✭ Junior

    I hear yah loud and clear. This past Friday night, I think every person in the small town of Moultrie,Ga was at the Packer game. Attendance number was at 13,000, it felt like I was at at UGA game. We have an old rivalry game with Valdosta this Friday night as well, between that and the UGA its gonna be a great weekend of football, there is no better time of year in the south than that.

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Amen brother I'll have my Pickup truck back on the road soon and I got a few Bucket list towns that Id like to c. Valdosta and Colquitt in the deep southern part of the state, Warner Robins and Northside Warner Robins in the middle and Cartersville and Rome up North. I imagine Friday nights in those towns on game night of a rivalry game would be something to remember regardless of how competitive a game it is.These r kids were talking about after all.

  • MacDawg15MacDawg15 Posts: 3,057 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    I played at Swainsboro a couple years after Terrance Edwards left Washington County. They never beat us during my years of playing them. But WACO used to be almost mystical. I remember going to "the house of pain." We beat em in the dome 17- in 01. I remember my 1st yr starting at qb we were 12-0 and ran into Hart County and Carlos Bates and lost 14-0 at home. But yea Friday nites in these smaller towns seam to bring everybody in the community out. This was when northside Warner Robins was a powerhouse, along with Parkview. Now it just seems like even some 1a schools are bringing in guys that aren't originally from the area. Those days of "non recruiting" are over with. I played college baseball at ABAC and went to Colquitt county a good bit. I'd love to see them play Valdosta now that Probst is on the sidelines. I still don't think Valdosta's history of state championships will ever be broken. What is it like 26? That's CRAZY!

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Yeah didn't they (Valdosta) add another one last year.

  • MacDawg15MacDawg15 Posts: 3,057 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    tbh I can't remember lol

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    I think they did but I'll look it up. It was either last yr or the year before because it was their first title since '98 or '99

  • BrotatoChip88BrotatoChip88 Posts: 219 ✭✭✭✭ Senior

    Douglas GA still shuts down on Friday night. Houston plays in our region and when Fromm and the Bears came down two years ago to play Coffee County it was insane!!

  • scooterdawgscooterdawg Posts: 3,066 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Sounds like fun. I missed out on the HS football thing because I went to Lovett. I did get in a fight with our starting QB my junior year lol.

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    I went to a Lovett game in 1984 when they had Knox Culpepper who started at Georgia n the late 80s. He was a man among boys on the High School level. But don't get me wrong Friday Night Lights is a big deal all over Georgia, it just means more in those rural areas because it's the only game in town.

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    To Mac Dawg 15: If y'all handled Washington County like that y'all had to at leastv .b kinda special

  • scooterdawgscooterdawg Posts: 3,066 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    @MeR3htid said:
    I went to a Lovett game in 1984 when they had Knox Culpepper who started at Georgia n the late 80s. He was a man among boys on the High School level. But don't get me wrong Friday Night Lights is a big deal all over Georgia, it just means more in those rural areas because it's the only game in town.

    Yeah. I’ve heard of Knox but he was before my time. When I was there the big deal was George Lombard, one of many supposedly can’t miss Braves prospects that never panned out. He was a few years older than me. He played both baseball and football and supposedly had an offer from the Dawgs but chose to play baseball.

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Yeah Lombard was a good one. But Knox Culpepper stood out to me because that's all my (brother who was a regular on all special teams and backup corner/ safety for North Fulton High School) talked about all week leading up to the game. It was so cold that night at Grady Stadium in Atlanta that my mother refused to let me and my younger sister go inside the stadium so we watched sitting in our car near the South End zone. Didn't take long to hear Knox Culpeppers name over the loudspeaker as he scored the 1st touchdown of the game in the 1st quarter and Lovett went on to prevail relatively comfortably. I say that because we had about 3 legitimate D-1 prospects of our own and it was technically a home game for us. Rod Stephens ( Linebacker at GA Tech in the mid 80s and also started about 5 yrs collectively in the NFL with the Seahawks and Redskins before knee issues shortened his career) WAS OUR MIDDLE LINEBACKER as a Sophomore. Seniors Flanker/ Tailback Dwayne Gatlin and Senior Offensive lineman Lawrence Jackson were also highly sought after prospects AND there were a few others but I've already taken up too much of your time. But yeah Culpepper was a beast and 1 of my favorites.

  • donmdonm Posts: 10,241 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    @scooterdawg said:

    @MeR3htid said:
    I went to a Lovett game in 1984 when they had Knox Culpepper who started at Georgia n the late 80s. He was a man among boys on the High School level. But don't get me wrong Friday Night Lights is a big deal all over Georgia, it just means more in those rural areas because it's the only game in town.

    Yeah. I’ve heard of Knox but he was before my time. When I was there the big deal was George Lombard, one of many supposedly can’t miss Braves prospects that never panned out. He was a few years older than me. He played both baseball and football and supposedly had an offer from the Dawgs but chose to play baseball.

    Isn’t he coaching in the majors now?

  • scooterdawgscooterdawg Posts: 3,066 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    I’m not sure. I lost track of him after he never got more than a cup of coffee with the Braves.

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