WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — There's certainly been a buzz around the Houston County High School campus. The team is undefeated so far with a 4-0 record. That win total matches the number of wins they've had the last two years combined, but they're less worried about their record and more worried about their next opponent, county rivals Veterans Warhawks.
It's a position the team hasn't been in since Jake Fromm was under center and the team went 7-3 in 2016. The last two years, the team has struggled with back-to-back 2-8 records. This year's success is a testament to the players' dedication and hard work, said Head Coach Ryan Crawford.
"I think it just validates, you know, guys working hard and understanding that if you do work hard and do the things that coaches ask you to do, success is there," Crawford said.
Players in the locker room said the morale is up and the team chemistry is closer-knit than in years past.
"You know, going to each other's houses, playing with each other on Xbox, Playstation, stuff like that. Just being close, holding each other accountable, and, you know, I wouldn't give up on these guys and they wouldn't give up on me," said senior quarterback Max Rigby.
With success or failure comes outside opinions and the natural way of fandom can rise or fall depending on the team's performance on the field. Senior linebacker Wesley Steiner said sometimes support from his peers can ebb and flow.
"The fact that people have been saying, 'Oh, we're really good this year,' and the fact that we've been telling them, 'We're going to be just fine. It looks rough now, but we're going to be just fine.' We know what's going on inside, and so we have the benefit of knowing what's going on inside while hearing what everyone thinks outside," Steiner said.
The Bears have beaten a county rival in Perry and a 3-A state championship contender in Peach County. Coach Crawford said now the key is not listening to everyone else patting them on the back.
"I think that's the challenge of football and especially dealing with teenage boys. They hear a lot of noise and things in society now with social media and all that stuff," he said. "It can be kind of hard to block all the noise out and do it and that's our job as coaches to get them prepared."
Seniors Rigby and Steiner both said they had to accept leadership roles early, as sophomores, but now that it's definitely their time to drive the boat as seniors, the destination is the playoffs.
"It's really hard to lead as a young guy," Steiner said. "We really couldn't do much as sophomores so we just said, 'We're just going to keep grinding and keep working because that's all we can do.'"
"Starting as a sophomore, it's kind of hard to lead seniors and upperclassmen, but, you know, I'm finally an upperclassman now and I've got a lot of big roles, but I think I'm fulfilling them," Rigby said.
Coach Crawford said to see his team doing so well, while about 12 HoCo Bears play collegiality, including Fromm and Trey Hill for Georgia, means the program was always moving in the right direction. His team has won 4 of the last 5 against Veterans, but the Warhawks won last years meeting, 35-33. Veterans is no slouch in 2019 either. The team is 3-1, including wins over Bleckley County and Baldwin.
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