Indians enter season with renewed focus; have playoffs in sight

DAHLONEGA, Ga. — Excitement has returned to the Burial Grounds in Dahlonega. 

New head coach Heath Webb is the reason for the upbeat attitude inside the field house and on the practice field at Lumpkin County. 

The Indians haven’t posted a winning season in more than a decade, with the best being a .500 regular season and a first-round playoff berth. 

With the former Gainesville head coach in charge, the Indians are trending upward. 

“Our goal is to bring a stable, respectable football program,” he said. “You look at the history, and it’s not great. Honestly, I don’t care about the history. I care about the present and the future, and there’s no reason we can’t build a program for the community to be proud of despite what has happened in the past.”

Webb is no stranger to Lumpkin County, having coached under former head coach Tommy Jones. He’s also no stranger to building programs.

His biggest accomplishment as a head coach was at Winder-Barrow, taking the program from six wins in the six previous years before his tenure to a 26-19 record in four seasons at the helm of the Bulldoggs.

Webb has already seen a turnaround in the program with more players on the roster.

The senior class has risen from seven to 12, and numbers are way up in the other three classes. 

“With the juniors, those kids have stuck around and grown,” Webb said. “The kids have done a good job of buying in. We’ve got a good run of kids coming through the program right now, so there’s no reason we can’t put the program back on the map.”

The Indians return several key players on both sides of the ball, many of whom will be two-way players.

Senior signal-caller Cooper Scott has earned the starting job at quarterback, with sophomore Cal Faulkner as the backup. It gives Webb two solid athletes in the quarterback room.

“Cooper is the starter heading into the season,” Webb said. “Cooper is a great football player that can play anywhere on the field. He’s the kind of guy that you just need on the field. 

“Cal is a great player as well. He’s going to play all over the field. We are better off with both of those guys being on the field.”

The backfield is stacked.

“That’s a good spot for us,” Webb said.

Juniors Mason Sullens and Will Wood also will get a ton of totes.

“Mason and Will will rotate and do a great job of carrying the football,” Webb said. “That’s a spot for us that’s probably one of our biggest strengths.”

The Indians lost all but one offensive lineman to graduation. Taylor Beasley, a senior, is back and has moved from tackle to center.

In June, Webb had the offensive line as a question mark. Since then, the questions have gone away. 

“That group has molded together really well,” Webb said. “We feel like we’ve got about seven guys that can really play. We’ll continue to experiment with the combinations and find the best five. That position is nowhere near as bleak as when we took the job.” 

Sophomores Conner Greilich, Jacob Garmany and Phoenix Milford will compete for the open guard spots, and juniors Trenton Brooksher and Lane Mccolman will be at tackle.

At wide receiver, Webb says he has the personnel to stretch the field vertically, which will open up the running game.

He’ll count on junior Harper Davenport as a go-to guy, and if Faulkner is not taking snaps, he’ll split out as well. 

Junior Tight end Dakota Bennett will also be a big target.

“Dakota has the potential to be a big-time recruit,” Webb said. “He’s 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, and has all the tools. He has a chance to be special.”

Defensively, they’ll base out of a 3-4 box. The question mark will be the defensive line.

 “We are deep at linebacker,” he said. “We feel like that’s probably our best unit. In the secondary, we will be athletic.” 

Mccolman and Garmany will plug the middle at the noseguard spot, and Bennett, Will Soles (junior) and Greilich will get time at defensive end.
Jay Grizzle, Wood, Steven Yorkey and Scott will anchor the second level at linebacker.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that can play,” Webb said. “That’s just the type of body we’ve got. These guys are pretty interchangeable.”

In the secondary, Davenport, Faulkner and Andrew Ross (junior) will give Webb a good trio at corner. 

At safety, seniors Caleb Norrell and Tavion Lawerence are back to form a 
solid last line of defense.

“Those two are very smart and have played a lot of football,” Webb said. “They make sure we are lined up correctly as captains of the defense.”

Regarding the region schedule, Webb is not shy about his playoff predictions for the Indians.  

“I see us as a playoff team,” he said. “I won’t be shy about that. That’s our goal. If that funny-shaped ball bounces our way a few times, I don’t see any reason why we won’t be.”

The Indians will run through a non-region schedule against Riverside Military, Union County, Franklin County and Temple. 

They’ll open the region schedule against Pickens, a team Webb believes is the frontrunner to win the region title. 

“Pickens has stability, and they have had a couple of really good classes to show up,” he said. “I think they’re the team to beat. At the same time, I don’t think they’re head and shoulders better than the rest of us.”

But it doesn’t get any easier for Lumpkin as they go on the road to Wesleyan (Sept. 30), Gilmer (Oct. 7) and White County (Oct. 21) and end the season with two straight home games against Dawson County and West Hall.