The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the high school football season, including everything from the postponing and rescheduling of games, to the cancellation of entire seasons for Our Lady of Mercy and Riverside Military Academy.
Pinecrest Academy was on the verge of cancelling its season as well. Three consecutive subpar seasons, which saw the Paladins go a combined 9-21, and concerns about coronavirus had put the 2020 season in serious jeopardy. In fact, when new head coach Shawn Coury took over in May, he had commitments from just 12 players.
But while those players were adamant about wanting to play, Coury said he could not in good conscious attempt to field a team.
“We had a group of young men who really wanted to play, but I didn’t want to put them in that position from a safety standpoint,” Coury said. “We set a goal of building our roster up to at least 24 players by the third week of June.”
Coury and his staff held interest meetings by Zoom and made phone calls to recruit players. Though they increased the roster to 19, they couldn’t get to the minimum number they had set by their deadline. But instead of cancelling the season, Coury had an idea: 8-man football.
He was familiar with the game, having been on the staff of an 8-man team at Holy Spirit Prep several years ago. Coury reached out to the Georgia Association of Private and Parochial Schools (GAPPS), which welcomed the Paladins in for the 2020 season.
The league features small private schools like Peachtree Academy in Covington, Cherokee Academy in Canton, Lanier Christian Academy in Flowery Branch, and Horizon Christian Academy, which is already a rival for the Paladins as the schools are located less than 10 miles from each other in Cumming.
Pinecrest will play a full 10-game schedule, starting with its season opener on Friday, at home in Cumming, against Harvester Christian Academy of Douglasville.
“The GAPPS were incredibly helpful,” Coury said. “They did everything they could to help us do right by our kids, so we could have a season.”
Coury said there is not a whole lot of difference between the 8-man and 11-man games. While there are just three offensive linemen instead of five, and the field is 40-yards wide not 50-yards, the field is still 100 yards long and scoring is the same.
“You still have to block and tackle, catch, throw, run and cover,” Coury said. “We watched a lot of film over the summer. We’re excited about being the only game in town [Friday].”
But Coury cautioned that a number of safety measures will be in place this season, including limited fans allowed in the stands. Games will be live streamed for those who are not able to get a seat.
“Our first priority is to keep our players and cheerleaders safe,” Coury said. “We want our parents and fans to enjoy the experience, but we definitely want them to be safe as well.”
Coury said the Paladins are using this season as the foundation for rebuilding the program. The middle school team has 21 players that will play 8-man football as well. Next season, the 11 eighth graders on the team will move up and join 17 returning players on the high school team, for a total of 28. Pinecrest will rejoin the Georgia High Schools Association (GHSA) and play a non-region schedule in 2021, then return to region play in 2022.
But for now, the goal is the same as it always has been for Coury, who has been coaching for more than two decades: help his players improve each week, and win.
“I’ve been coaching for 24 years,” said Coury, who was the run game coordinator at Class AAAAAAA Cherokee last season. “All I know is preparing and competing, and so of course we want to go out and win. But our main goal is to get our kids out there playing, learning more about the game of football and each other. This season will teach them that you can find a way to get things done, even when the conditions are not perfect.”
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