MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Football teams are busy preparing for the 2020 season including the defending GISA state AAA champs, John Milledge Academy, who took one more moment to remember a remarkable 2019. Players and coaches received their state champ rings last week.
"You don't want to act like the norm. You want to be better than what everybody says the norm is and we kind of hung our hats on that," said head coach JT Wall.
Not normal is certainly one way to describe John Milledge's 2019 season, a 13-0 Trojan march through the GISA that ended in a 62-19 championship demolition of the Valwood School. They put the word "normal" with a line through it on the rings to commemorate the season.
"We've had some great teams before and the difference between great teams and good teams is the great teams love each other and they play for each other and that's exactly what these guys did," Wall said.
"It's great, it's nothing better," said Carson Dyer showing off his ring. "It just feels good to be able to finish the season like you like too. Knowing when your last practice is gonna be is always a good feeling."
When Dyer, a rising senior, looks back on the season, perseverance is what comes to mind the most after a season untainted by injuries.
"It felt really good that somebody had my back no matter what happened. I went down in one of our last regular season games and I had a younger kid come in and step up and do really well at it," Dyer said.
A championship season is always one for the books and with much of the 2019 squad returning in 2020, Wall said keeping them focused when a season isn't guaranteed is tough.
"We're approaching this thing like we're starting on schedule and that's the only thing we know how to do is prepare and be ready when that happens and good Lord willing we'll be playing like normal," he said.
Dyer and company are keeping their heads down and putting the work in like normal. The team meets four days a week for three hours a day.
"It happens to everybody, your head gets big. You're like 'Oh we won last year, we're definitely going to win again. But it's not that. We're grinding harder than ever to make sure we get back again," Dyer said.
The Trojans tour for back-to-back championships begins August 28th against Brentwood.
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