Today’s interviewee is Jasper County coach Ashley Henderson, whose team defeated Social Circle 31-29 in three overtimes last week. It was Henderson’s 100th career victory. Jasper County is 6-1, its best start since 1995, and has clinched its first winning season since 2003. The Hurricanes, 3-0 in region play, most recently won a region title in 1992. Henderson, hired in 2022, inherited a team that had just finished 0-10. His teams are 15-14. Henderson coached the previous four seasons at Thomas County Central and the six prior to that at Valwood, where he won three GISA championships.
1 What did this win mean to your team? How did they react? “The guys stormed the field in excitement to celebrate with their teammates. Coaches were celebrating and rounding them up to shake hands. There is a lot of mutual respect between us and Social Circle. That was a good football game by both teams. We lost a heartbreaker to them last year [23-21]. Lost a couple like that. We just couldn’t close out ball games. That is two games this season we have won late. We kicked a field goal against Jackson as time expired [to win 10-7] and won this one how we did. Our message all year centered around how we finish. We were down in both of those games, and our guys never blinked, kept playing and found a way to win. Credit to those guys for sticking together and believing in themselves and believing in the plan and attacking it.” [Jasper trailed 14-0 early against Social Circle. In the second overtime, trailing 29-21, the Hurricanes converted a fourth-and-3 and scored on the next play, then converted the two-point conversion from the 13-yard line, Jamarkus Thomas to Bryan Ridley, after a penalty. In the final overtime, which mandated single two-point tries from both teams, Jasper County scored on a reverse by Kamarion Owens and then made the clinching defensive stop.]
2. From 0-10 before you arrived to 6-1 in three seasons. How did this happen? “We have a really good administration here that is very supportive. Everyone is rowing in the same direction. We have our varsity guys in first period weight training and JV guys in fourth and have built it from there. This place is unique in that these guys have not been alive long enough to remember the last winning season [2003] or have any idea what it’s like or what it takes. So I’d say that has made the buy-in a little easier. Monticello and Jasper County is a very proud and hard-working community. The kids don’t mind work.”
3. You won state titles at Valwood. You made progress at Thomas County Central, maybe did not win as many as you wanted. Now part of something special at Monticello. What did you learn with each of those experiences? “Winning is hard. Enjoy them. Even the ugly ones. All three schools have been unique challenges. We had talent at Valwood already in place when I got there, and we were able to build off of that and win big, then sustain that success for years. Thomas County was a unique situation in that they’d been running things the way they’d always done it for years and years. We made progress in a ton of areas but ultimately didn’t win enough ball games. Now here, we have been able to hire a great staff and keep them together. There hasn’t been any sustained success around here since the ‘90s. But there are some intangibles that are instrumental to help build a football program – great administration, athletes, community, middle school. We have had some success on the middle school level the last three years, so that is helping build even more young interest in football. Our numbers are way up, and we will be returning 90% of our current roster next season. I think you learn from every stop. You would be wasting the experience if you don’t learn lessons from it. You can see what you did that you want to stick with or what you need to do differently.”
4. What would you want people to know about your current team? What’s the identity? “We are a program built in the weight room. Our guys are totally invested. They love the weight room. They know how to practice. They don’t mind being coached hard. Most importantly, they believe in themselves and each other. Not real sure we believed the last two years.”
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