Burke County won its 10th region title in program history and its first ever in Class AA with its 47-35 win over Thomson on Friday, Nov. 8.
In what started out as a close, back-and-forth contest turned into a much more decisive win for the home team Bears, and coach Franklin Stephens could tell his guys wanted it.
“I think we just had a little bit more want-to than the other team,” Stephens said. “Don’t get me wrong or take anything away from Thomson, they played a great game, but our kids found a way to take those haymakers in the second half and then throw ‘em back.”
That they did as the Bears took a 14-14 halftime tie and scored five touchdowns in the final half as opposed to Thomson’s three.
Senior running back A’merre Williams had a lot to do with the explosive second half as he totaled three of those second half scores and four in total.
“I just had to let the game come to me,” said Williams. “I had butterflies at first, because it was a big game, and it was the first time we could win a region championship. I had never won one, so I just had to come out and play and do my thing.”
Fan appreciation night
After each of his touchdowns, Williams ran along the track surrounding the field and high-fived the fans. The senior running back said it was his way of showing appreciation to his home crowd.
“That was my first time doing that this year,” Williams said. “Burke County has a beautiful crowd and community. They are the best to me and the best in Georgia, so that’s why.”
“Community” is putting it lightly.
The Burke County faithful are as tight-knit a fanbase as it gets on the high school level, and they show up and show out at games. As a player, it has to feel good having this fanbase backing you.
“The Bear Den” is the nicest venue that I have been to in my time covering the CSRA, and it’s nicer than most Division II football fields, so the fact that fans can pack it out is impressive in itself.
Back to square one
Though Burke County has won its fair share of region titles, this one — the first since 2019 — seemed to feel a little different. The last five years without one is the longest region title drought since the one in between the 1997 and 2007 region titles.
“It’s unbelievable because these kids have worked their butts off,” said Stephens, who’s in his second year at the helm of this Bears’ program. “To come in here and get it done tonight was big.”
Now, you’re probably thinking, it’s got to be sweeter, beating your arch rival to win a region championship, as thought it were “killing two birds with one stone.”
But for coach Stephens and his staff, it was never about who they were playing but about chasing their goal.
“We set goals at the beginning of every season, and one of our goals was to win the region championship, and I told them this thing is not about Thomson. It just so happens we’re playing Thomson, but at the same time we want the region championship, and Thomson was in between us and that.”
This ride isn’t over for the Bears, though. In fact, there’s a really good chance they will play into December, if it continues to play its best football of the season..
That all starts next week as they will host the first round of the GHSA state playoffs. Burke County won’t know for another day or so who its opponent will be, but Stephens says what matters more to him in this next chapter of the 2024 season is seeing his team be able to fix themselves.
“The first thing we’re going to address is penalties,” he said. “We had a lot of unforced penalties. What I mean by that is pre-snap penalties.”
The Bears will have a week of practice to get things in order and be ready for next Friday night.
