A stepping stone

Jared Putnam

Fall sports have been over for a while now and we've all moved indoors for basketball, where things are much warmer and much louder.

As much as I enjoy football, the change of scenery was a welcomed one after those last couple of games felt like they were going to leave me with frostbite.

Besides, after taking thousands of photos of any sport, after a while, some it starts to run together and it's time for new competitions to shoot and write about.

But in looking back through everything I accumulated over the course of the season, I'm reminded of just how many snaps and hits these guys take in those games, especially in tough circumstances.

The Panthers had a difficult year in the win-loss column, but over the course of the year I think they built a good foundation for the next few years.

The players deserve a lot of credit for being willing to go out and give it their all week after week, knowing that in some games they were basically the David to their opponents Goliath.

Likewise, the coaching staff deserves recognition for taking a very young team and properly develoing it, rather than trying to force feed a faster development just to look a little better on paper.

Austin Collins stiff-arms a Creekview Grizzlies defender.

But neither the players nor the coaches are satisfied with simply playing the game. They want to win, and they can.

With time this can be a competitive football team. Granted, living in a rural area will always be an obstacle to overcome, but under the right circumstances it can happen.

A friend of mine lives in Habersham County and teaches in their school system. He and his wife recently went to Warner Robbins to watch the Habersham Raiders take on Northside.

His wife graduated from Northside, so they wanted to go watch her alma mater take on their new hometown team. Unfortunately, Northside did what was expected and won the game rather easily.

But the fact remains, it was a big accomplishment for Habersham just to make it to that game, having beaten a couple of teams that practically no one thought they could get past.

Even though they might be considered a slow, "country" team, they made it all the way into a matchup with the number one team in the state.

Slipping away: Manning Thomas breaks up what was almost a great one-handed catch by a Rebels receiver in a junior varsity game against Fannin County.

Likewise, some people probably find it hard to imagine Union County having sustained success in the football program.

That's understandalbe, but it can happen. Circumstances change, especially with the right people in the right places.

A worst to first scenario isn't realistic, but next year looks to be a good opportunity for the team to make a visible stride beyond this season.