Today’s interviewee is Chestatee coach Stuart Cunningham, whose team is making its first playoff appearance since 2016 and playing at No. 1-ranked Peach County in Class 3A on Friday. Chestatee has gone 0-10 three times in the past 10 seasons, including in 2023 in Cunningham’s first year on the job. This year’s team is 5-5, which represents the most wins since 2013. The computer Maxwell Ratings gave the War Eagles a 1.8% chance of making the playoffs in preseason, the lowest of any team that qualified.
1. What do you and your team think about the computer’s assessment of your preseason chances and how you proved it wrong? And what made you so much better this season? “We told our players yesterday. They thought it was neat that we’d overcome some substantial odds. But I think they already knew that. We felt we’d be much better this season. We might not have known exactly what that equaled, but we knew we were better. We had some returning players, but their work ethic in the offseason was extremely good. We really didn’t change anything. It just took a while for it to pay off. We just kept working hard. We had a much better summer than the summer before. They started seeing the results from the weight room. We averaged around a 24% increase in all [weight] lifts from the end of last season until spring football. Our weight records went up and our 40s went down, that sort of thing.”
2. Was there a turning point or most memorable win this season? “Probably our home game against Pickens, when we really put it all together and had a very good win. We led from the beginning until the end and built a sizeable lead, something we had not done before. It validated that we were better than we had played to that point.” [Chestatee entered that region game 2-4, and Maxwell pegged Chestatee as a five-point underdog. Chestatee won 37-14 while rushing for 380 yards. Benjamin Plemons rushed for 171 and three touchdowns. Chestatee was a slight underdog, per Maxwell, in the final two regular-season victories over White County and Greater Atlanta Christian.]
3. Is there anything uniquely challenging at Chestatee? “The lack of interest in football from the student body as far as the number of players that come out. It’s still low. We’ll probably dress out about 42 or 43 Friday night. That’s something that’s different than I’ve experienced at most places. We try to get more out. We have recruiting dinners twice in the spring. But football is hard, and when you’re somewhere where you haven’t won in a while, it’s a hard sell because it’s a hard sport. We feel we run a disciplined program, and it’s not as appealing to some. We’ll keep chipping away and the numbers will increase.”
4. For anyone who hasn’t seen you play, what style of team is Chestatee? “We are a run-oriented offense. We definitely run straight ahead more than sideways. That’s just our mentality, to go straight ahead on both sides of the ball. Our kids have gotten mentally and physically tougher and enjoy that kind of football.” [Chestatee averages 274.0 rushing yards and 53.9 passing yards per game.]
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