High School Football Previews: Sidney Lanier & Reeltown
High School Football
Sidney Lanier
Last season the Sidney Lanier Poets finished up the 2022 regular season with a 5-4 record in the regular season. The Poets also made an appearance in the first round of the playoffs, but lost to Theodore 35-20.
Head Coach of the Poets, Derone Fagan, is entering his second season as head coach at Lanier. Last season, Fagan was not around to participate in Spring Practice, so this year he was excited to have an entire offseason to work with the team.
“The guys did accept it well last year…but I think this year with the guys we’re really drilling what we’re doing and they have it down. I think even with some of the key spots we lost last year, I think we’ll have more success this year,” says Fagan.
Lanier won’t have any freshman on their roster this season, but Fagan says the guys have really stepped up and worked hard this offseason in the weight room to help compensate for that.
“I think these guys seem a little more locked into their jobs than some of the guys last year. We were real talented last year, but talent doesn’t win football games. You have to understand your assignment, do things how you’re supposed to, and execute how you’re supposed to. I think these guys are executing at a high level right now. I think if we continue that going into the season, we’ll be real successful,” says Fagan.
Senior quarterback, Jaques Thompson, and senior wide receiver and free safety, Jamarcus Howard, are ready to kick off their senior season and they have one thing on their mind, winning.
“We want to be fast, dominant, and everybody is going to be together as a whole,” says Thompson.
“We’ve really been focusing on the weight room. We’re really trying to get stronger and bigger so we can run through the game plan with my head coach and we’re going to play Lanier Football,” says Howard.
The Poets kick off the 2023 season on August 25th against Robert E. Lee
(Percy Julian) at Wetumpka.
Reeltown
The Reeltown Rebels finished the 2022 regular season with a 8-1 record. The Rebels also made a deep run in the playoffs, making it all the way to the third round where they were eliminated by Comer 28-22.
Reeltown almost having a perfect regular season in 2022, excepted for their first game of the season which they lost at Tallassee 37-13. Head Coach of the Rebels, Matt Johnson and senior quarterback, Jake Hornsby explain that while the loss to Tallassee was heartbreaking to start the season, it was one of the best things that happened to the team.
“We had to re-focus and re- go back to the drawing board. We really got away from our identity. We came back to the drawing board and figured out who we were and what we could do and ended up winning ten games straight. It was one of those things where we had to find the message,” says Johnson.
“Last year early in the season against Tallassee, what we didn’t really have was a brotherhood. After that loss, something just fired us up to come together and I knew everybody like the back of my hand. They’re just my brothers. They would go to battle for me, I’d go to battle for them anytime,” says Hornsby.
This season the Rebels will also open up the season with Tallassee and that is step one in their ultimate goal, which is winning a state title.
“Going back to last season, we went deep in the playoffs, but we want to go farther. this year we want to win the championship,” says Zach Riley (senior/ offensive/defensive line.)
The Rebels kicks off the 2023 season on August 24th at home against Tallassee.
