Today’s interviewee is East Forsyth coach Brian Allison, whose team defeated North Hall 42-39 in must-win game last week to reach the playoffs for the first time in the 3-year-old school’s history. East Forsyth will play at Luella on Saturday in Class 4A. Allison started the East Forsyth program in 2021. This is his 28th season as a Georgia head coach. He’s worked at Winder-Barrow and alma mater Union County.
1. What has been the reaction in the community to East Forsyth’s history-making season? “This community has been fantastic since the school opened in August 2021. The local people, businesses and churches have rallied behind this school as well as all the schools in the One East Family. This community has been anxiously waiting for 10 or more years for the school to open. As I understand it, East Forsyth was set to open around 2011, when the economy struggled, and it was put on hold. East Forsyth High School is basically the hub of the northeast corner of Forsyth County.”
2. Talk about the North Hall game. What was the biggest play? What was the call? “We tell our players that most games come down to three or four crucial plays. This game was no different. We were down 10 points late in the second quarter. Coach Shaun Conley called a screen play to Gus Martin on third-and-19. The play picked up 24 yards and got us first-and-goal on the 10, and we eventually scored to cut their halftime led to three. The second crucial play was on the opening drive of the second half. North Hall had the ball, and we got a stop on third-and-7. We scored on the next offensive possession to take the lead. And the third crucial play was an interception in the end zone by Cole Ferguson. There was around 2:30 minutes left in the game. We were only up three points. We ran the clock out to win the game.”
3. This isn’t your first coaching job, obviously, but your first time starting a program. What have been your points of emphasis, and what perhaps have you learned that you didn’t know or expect? “Build from the ground up, brick by brick, block by block. You hear this over and over from rebuilds or start-up programs, but it is critical to the long-term success of new programs. If you skip steps in the process, then you take a chance that the foundation will not be built on solid ground. If you build a house on sand, when the storms come, and there will be storms, the house will not stand. We got into the middle school, literally. My first three months at East my office was at the middle school. While there I was able to develop great relationships with students that would eventually be at East. Also, I developed relationships with administration, faculty and staff. In the second year, we were able to start a sixth-grade feeder program. On the field, we worked hard on fundamentals, technique and working ‘The Bronco Way.’ We tried to stay simple on both sides of the ball, and every time we did not do that, we found out the hard way. The one thing I was not ready for was the lack of varsity experience. I found that out the first day of spring practice when only six players could drive. And the first scrimmage, I found out only 10 players had ever played in a varsity game. There are many more critical areas, and I am learning every day about how to start a program.”
4. Talk about the current team. What do you do well that gives you a chance to win every Friday night? The style is much different than when you were at Union County, which set passing records. “Here at East, we have more of a run-the-ball-first mentality. That starts with our offensive line and our OL coach Chris Warbington. We feel that our offensive line is the backbone of the team. We want to be able to throw the ball when we want to and not when we have to. But we try and take whatever the defense gives us. This offense is different than it was at Union. We play with a tight end attached at East. We were pure spread with no tight end at Union. There were years at Union that we were successful rushing the ball, just a little different style.”
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