As football season approaches, here’s a look at how each Macon high school performed last year

As summer rolls on and July 4 comes and goes, sports fans are almost surely getting the itch for football.

Whether it’s friends, family, coworkers or even strangers, chatter about the impending college and NFL football seasons is already starting to ramp up as August draws nearer.

But before the Georgia Bulldogs or Atlanta Falcons can get off to the races, Macon’s high school squads will be getting down to business.

Bibb County’s football landscape is packed to the gills with teams, as 14 schools will run it back this year with state championship aspirations — be it in the GHSA or GIAA — on their minds.

While The Melody is already hard at work on its 2025 special football preview, it’s never too early to take a look at the impending season and the context behind it. Here’s a recap of how each Macon high school football team fared in 2024 as a reminder of what could change this season.

Northeast

The easiest place to start in Macon is at Northeast High School, where the Raiders stole the show last season en route to an appearance in the GHSA Class A-Division I State Championship game.

Though it lost to Toombs County in a grueling contest, Northeast is riding about as high as any Bibb County school has in the past half century. After slowly ascending with consistent playoff appearances in prior seasons under head coach Jeremy Wiggins, the Raiders finished 12-3 for the best single-season performance in school history and seemed poised to keep thriving.

While Northeast will lose perhaps the best piece of its offense to graduation as star running back Nick Woodford departs, they retain supremely talented quarterback Reginald Glover and will once more have a decided size advantage over most schools in the trenches, an x-factor that has become a staple for the Raiders’ competitive teams in recent years.

FPD

The Vikings were the other Macon team to appear in a state title game, reaching the GIAA Class 4A State Championship but losing to Bulloch Academy in Statesboro after failing to score on their last drive in the final minute of play.

Major Simmons willed them there, as the breakout star athlete excelled at quarterback and linebacker to turn what some believed would be a down year for FPD into a second consecutive trip to the state title. 

While FPD did not turn the opportunity into back-to-back trophies — the team defeated Brookstone to win the championship in 2023 — the Vikings certainly proved they could sustain success under second-year head coach Brett Collier. The team finished 11-2, a better record than in their championship season a year prior, and undefeated in region play.

Westside

The next-best GHSA team out of Macon, the Seminoles, had one of their most intriguing playoff chances yet last season. Westside was reassigned to Class 2A in the GHSA’s latest shuffling of schools, resulting in a surprisingly tough region containing strong teams like Morgan County and
Callaway.

The Seminoles ended up taking Morgan County to the brink and losing several other close games en route to a 6-6 finish, but their 3-2 region mark was enough to make the postseason. From there, Westside got a pair of great games.

The Seminoles first took out Spencer in a first-round contest that saw star running back KD Iverson score six touchdowns — in just two-and-a-half quarters of play — and break the school’s single-season touchdown record. Westside then fought No. 1 Rockmart in the second round, nearly upsetting the classification’s top seed in a 37-30 game that featured a last-second comeback, turnovers galore and two kickoff-return touchdowns.

The plucky performance against a No. 1 seed showed the Seminoles still have their trademark edge under longtime head coach Spoon Risper, though it will be tough to replace the now-graduated Iverson at running back. It will also be Risper’s last season at Westside in 2025.

Stratford

The Eagles had one of their best seasons in recent years under new head coach Paul Carroll in 2024. The former Howard coach got Stratford off to an impressive 5-0 start before things toughened up a bit down the stretch, as the Eagles dropped games against two rivals in FPD and Tattnall before eventually finishing 7-4 with a close playoff loss against Brookstone.

Similar to the way he ran things at Howard, Carroll’s offense relied on — and succeeded with — a multi-pronged rushing attack on offense. Most of that attack will return, though the Eagles will lose a key piece in senior quarterback Connor Fitzpatrick. Another star athlete, linebacker and rusher Brooks Garner, also graduated.

Tattnall

The biggest news for the Trojans — who enter 2025 coming off a solid 7-3 campaign in which all seven victories came consecutively — comes on the head coaching front, as former lead man Barney Hester will take the reins again this season after coach John Garrett Abernathy stepped down to focus on his role as the principal at Tattnall’s middle and high schools.

Hester, a Macon coaching legend, will have plenty of talent to work with as the Trojans have developed a solid pipeline in recent seasons. The downside of said pipeline — the loss of said great talents — is evident, of course, as Tattnall will be without game-changing running back Antone Johnson and skilled wideout Ty Hunnicutt, who both graduated.

Southwest

The Patriots are more known for their basketball history and indeed made noise on the court this year, but their football team was impacted as potential quarterback Chase Dupree did not set foot on the gridiron in anticipation of hoops season.

While Dupree’s sacrifice paid off — Southwest made the Class A-Division I state championship in basketball — the Patriots’ signal caller situation was in flux to begin the season. After some different looks and some injury problems, Steve Robinson acted as the quarterback for Southwest for much of the season. 

While Robinson sometimes made some nice deep throws, the Patriots could not consistently find their footing. They finished 4-7 overall, but all four wins came in region play to net them a first-round playoff appearance in which they lost to eventual champion Toombs County.

Howard

The Huskies finished 4-6 overall with a 3-5 record last season and narrowly missed the postseason at the 3A level, but there’s plenty of cause for optimism following head coach Trey Porter’s first season leading the team.

For one, Howard competed in a difficult region with lots of travel. Five teams finished above the Huskies, all of which had winning records both overall and in region play. 

Porter also had the Huskies on the brink of winning several games only for late swings to go the other way. Three of Howard’s six losses were one-possession games, including a brutal overtime loss to local rival Westside in the season opener and a one-point loss against region foe West Laurens.

ACE

The Gryphons’ growth under former Mount de Sales coach Keith Hatcher continued in 2024, though they did not compete for the region title as they had hoped. ACE finished 6-5, including a 5-4 region record, and lost its first-round playoff game against Jasper County.

Still, the Gryphons proved their mettle in a very tough Region 2-A Division I. They took Dodge County to the wire, nearly defeated Washington County and got a one-point clutch win over Bleckley County in overtime.

ACE will lose some key players, including star wide receiver and key offensive piece Brice Whitley and the talented linebacker duo of Sawyer Raugh and James Patterson. They will return crucial pieces as well, however, with last year’s original starting running back Bryson Vincent returning from an early-season ankle injury and quarterback Ace Hatcher back in the pocket.

Other teams and their finishes

– The Mount de Sales Cavaliers finished 3-8 but saw some important wins keep future hopes higher, including a victory over CFCA on Homecoming. The Cavaliers lost to St. Anne-Pacelli in the GIAA 4A playoffs.

– CFCA finished 3-8 as well, though they did notch a 2-2 region record. The best win for the Lancers came in a 14-8 victory over rival Windsor Academy, which finished 3-7 with a 1-3 region mark.

– The Central Chargers and Rutland Hurricanes both struggled in new regions, finishing the season 0-10.

– Covenant Academy finished 5-5 at the eight-man level in GIAA, including a 3-4 record against region opponents.