I know that I have been around Macon forever and I have been out in the trenches covering high school football for the better parts of 13 years now. I couldn't help but think back after the first week of the playoffs this year about how long it has been since a Macon public school besides Westside has actually won a playoff game. That thought stayed with me basically all day on Saturday and by the evening I knew that I had to figure some things out.
I am sure that many of you know that the last time a public school from Macon won a state football championship was 1975 when the Central Chargers defeated Douglas 21-14.
Let me see, that was 43 years ago.
The next quick fact I wanted to know was how long it had been since a Macon public school had actually won a playoff game. Surely I was not thinking straight because like I said, besides Westside, I couldn't remember it ever happening.
With a little research I indeed found out that it has happened, but I was stunned to find out that the last time a Macon public school besides Westside has actually won a playoff game was when a Carror Wright led Northeast Raiders defeated Thomasville by a final score of 20-13. That my friends was in 2002.
So, it has been 16 years since a Macon team not named Westside has won a state playoff game.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is something that made me go wow, or oh my, or what ?? or many other statements I wont share.
Why why why can a county like Bibb not win a playoff game ? I promise you we will get to that later.
So teams in this city win a lot of football games right ? I thought they did okay but maybe just maybe, I need to check that out . So I went to work to get those facts and I will share with you by giving a synopsis of football success since the year 2000.
Northeast
The Raiders have won 16 games over the last 5 years and have been through 3 coaches. That is 16 wins to go with 35 losses. They have made the playoffs in two of those years but lost both of them. They have a new football coach this year in Jeremy Wiggins that actually went to Northeast which will hopefully be a good fit.
Northeast has a winning record overall since 2000 with 102 wins and 98 losses.
Southwest
The Patriots are 20-31 over the last 5 years and the five years before that were even worse with a record of 14-37. Southwest football has never made it past the first round of the playoffs and since 2000 they have a record of 61-132. That means Southwest has won 31% of its games over the last 19 years.
Central
The Chargers have a record of 22-28 over the last 5 years, but the five years before that they were 10-40. They have not won a playoff game since 1989 when they beat Southwest in the first round before losing to Warner Robins. Over the last 19 years they have a record of 68-123 for a 35% win percentage. They are also on their third coach in the last five years.
Rutland
The Hurricanes are 6-43 over the last five years and the only success they ever had was a 6-5 record in 2013 and a 7-4 record in 2007. They are 16 years into playing football at Rutland and they have a record of 44-117 which means they have won 27% of their games.
Howard
The Huskies have made the playoffs the last two years but could not get a win either year. They have a 5 year record of 22-29-1 but the five years before that they were 7-53. which leads to a 29-82-1 record in the schools existence.. That's a 26% winning percentage.
So first of all are things getting better ? Lets take a look at the combined numbers for the last five years. That would equal up to 86 wins and 166 losses which adds up to a winning percentage of 34%.
The five schools record for 2018 was 16-38 which is barely 30% winning.
Guys that means 70% of the time, these five Macon schools are losing their football game. Even if you take away Rutland and its winless season the percentage is still very poor at 38%.
One of my questions this week will be why can Westside win and none of the others can ? Did Robert Davis build the culture so high that it is just accepted that Westside would win. Has Spoon Risper fed off that great winning tradition that Davis brought to Westside ?
Westide has a 40-18 record over the last 5 years and has advanced past the first round three times in those years. In the last 19 years they have compiled a 160-61 record for a winning percentage of 72. The last five years has seen it stay steady at 68%..
It really does not make any sense to me, so I have talked to three or four coaches or former coaches who will help me figure things out.
My question to you is are these type of records acceptable to a city like Macon ? Personally its kind of hard for me to swallow.
Keep reading guys, I have plenty more this week
The answer may be having the best athletes willing to participate in your sport and being able to develop that talent into a team. At middle school age, athletes are able to choose one sport, like basketball, baseball and swimming, to play year-round. So these talented kids are not available to fill the many positions required for a competitive football roster. The programs that are successful have a history that entices your best available athletes to be a part of that tradition.
ReplyDeletethe obvious elephant in the room is the private schools. on any given night in Bibb co. we have 15 or more high schools playing football. 15!!! talent is spread too thin. on a positive note, tattnall has been really really good over the last 30 year, and FPD and Stratford have been fairly solid over that same time frame. MDS has had it's moments and Windsor and covenant have state title or at least state runner ups in that time frame as well. can you imagine if we had 2 private schhols and 3-4 public schools. you'd see a lot more wins in both!
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