Sports

Early indication

• With both undefeated and ranked in the state’s top four, tonight’s game between defending Region 1-AA champ Fitzgerald and Herald No. 1 Early County is among the most anticipated of the year.

Paul Dehner Jr.

BLAKELY — Early County football coach Trey Woolf sat down with the rest of his staff this week and began to watch film of fellow undefeated Fitzgerald.

The film session didn’t last long.

Watching the Purple Hurricanes maul opponent after opponent quickly becomes depressing.

“I try not to watch too much of it,” Woolf admitted. “We watched a little bit, then decided to go back to working on us.”

The DVD of Fitzgerald’s history in region play likely runs on repeat in the brains of Early County coaches like a horror flick.

Though they were in Region 2-AA until last year, the Purple Hurricanes haven’t lost a region contest in 28 games — dating back to a 2003 loss in Class AAA to Thomasville.

Not in recent history, however, has the streak seemed so vulnerable — or a game more anticipated then tonight’s 7:30 p.m. tilt in Blakely.

With both Herald No. 1 Early County (6-0, 4-0) and Fitzgerald (6-0, 4-0) unbeaten and ranked in the state — the Bobcats are No. 4, one spot and eight votes behind the Purple Hurricanes — this game will not only test both teams, but go a long way in deciding who takes home the championship in a region topped with a three-way tie for first place, including Thomasville (5-2, 5-0).

“It’s a big game,” Fitzgerald coach Robby Pruitt said. “But everybody is just wanting to win a region game, we are vying for a playoff spot.”

This is the first of a brutal four-game stretch for Pruitt’s squad. After tonight’s game, they play Thomasville, Cook and Brooks County.

In a similar game last year, both came in boasting spectacular teams with Fitzgerald taking advantage of Early County turnovers to pull off a 33-14 win.

But the Bobcats got the last laugh as they advanced to the Final Four with Fitzgerald losing in the first round of the playoffs.

Pruitt contends his young team “still has a long way to go” and says they “probably weren’t the better team last year.”

Woolf may not have watched much film, but he saw enough to not buy into the hype.

“He claims they are not as good as last year,” he said. “They look the same to us. They look identical to us. Nothing has really changed. In a big game, you don’t know how kids are going to react, but they don’t look like they are young to me. They don’t get rattled. I don’t think we can bank on (Fitzgerald’s) inexperience.”

Early County isn’t exactly a team full of wise veterans, but played as such in surviving two dramatic early-season victories. The first came in a 20-13 win at Bainbridge to open the season. There, converted defensive back Michael Perry, now running the spread offense at quarterback, fired two fourth-quarter touchdown passes in the final minutes to preserve a come-from-behind victory.

Trailing in the region opener against Cook, Perry again saved the Bobcats with two late strikes for a 21-14 win.

In moving into the place of departed Class AA Offensive Player of the Year Emmanuel Taylor, Perry’s poise under pressure has become the most pleasant surprise in an eventful half-season.

“He’s a good athlete, he can run and throw, until he’s in that situation you don’t know, that has been the biggest thing; I’ve been pleased with his poise,” Woolf said. “He doesn’t get rattled. It doesn’t bother him; he goes on and makes plays. It’s surprising.”

Woolf lauds praise upon his senior signal-caller, along with an offensive line which has provided him with a comfortable cushion, but knows he can’t rely on Perry to save them again against Fitzgerald.

“We may have used up all those lucky nights,” he said. “Hopefully we don’t have to do that. We’ve been fortunate. We have to do a better job. You can’t continue to bank on that. A team like Fitzgerald will take advantage and it will get away.”

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