The Skinny
Last season, the Chattahoochee County Panthers recorded the 3rdmost wins in their 13-year school history. Third year head coach Drew Fowler knows that this season will present a new set of challenges however. Fowler was not shy when being asked about the biggest challenge of the season.
“Replacing a large, experienced senior class,” he said. (It was a class of 24 seniors.)
Fortunately for the Panthers, they do return 3 players on the offensive line with meaningful experience. Kendrick Harvey, Richard Sims and Chris Robinson. The Cougars averaged 238 yards per game on the ground in 2017, and in order to repeat those stats, Harvey Sims and Robinson will need to duplicate the success of last season.
While the team losses their leading rusher Ty Lucas to graduation, they do return their second leading rusher, quarterback Deandre Masten (568 yards rushing) and Kyjuan Harris (367 yards rushing) this season. Senior fullback Josh Geleney is a player that is poised to step up as well in the backfield for the Panthers.
Defensively, the team graduated their leading tackler, Malic Bonner but do return defensive end Jontavus Walker who recorded 23 tackles, (including 4.5 sacks) and defensive backs Devion Dotson (59 tackles) and Nakia Delaine (29 tackles.) Dotson and Delaine also combined for 3 interceptions in the secondary in 2017.
Coach Fowler will be guarding against complacency for his young Panthers.
Fowler said “(success will be defined) by not being content with the success of last season”.
While the region games are extremely important, you can believe the Panthers are looking forward to their match-up with rival, Marion County on August 24th. It will be intriguing to see if Chattahoochee County can fill those voids and pick up where they left off last season.
