When the season began in August, the Greyhounds entered into the 2024 campaign with a new-look group in the trenches and a plan to lean on more players playing on both sides of the ball.
Now, that group boasts a 9-1 record and has home-field advantage Friday to begin the GHSA Class AAAA playoffs as East Forsyth, the third seed from Region 8-AAAA, comes to town.
“They have a season under their belt. You have guys at eight line positions on both sides. Through those positions, we didn’t have a single returning starter, so we replaced all of them,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Chastain said. “It’s phenomenal for all of those guys to have a season under their belt, so that experience is huge.”
The Broncos are a relatively new program, having only competed in varsity football since 2021, the same year that the school opened in a Forsyth County that is booming with student enrollment. Their first postseason appearance came in last year’s first-round exit, and their eight wins is the most in the program’s young history.
“They are very well coached; they are a team that will take what you give them,” Chastain said. “If you give them small things, they will take the small things and just try to play disciplined football. They do a great job.”
Other than two games, the Broncos have a record that’s unblemished. Other than a 14-10 win against Flowery Branch, East Forsyth has scored at least 30 points in every game except for two – losses to top-10 ranked Eastside and North Oconee, falling 42-7 and 24-7 in those defeats.
By all accounts, the Broncos have an offense that is balanced, having thrown for 1,588 yards and rushed for 1,387. DJ Haskell leads that ground game, averaging 62 yards per contest with quarterback Brock Szakacs having thrown for 1,560 yards and 16 touchdowns while being intercepted three times.
Now the Greyhounds, who at 9-1 had their only loss come in a low-scoring defeat to Ola, will aim to power out of the first round of the playoffs to earn either a shot at Marist or Warner Robins. In the event that JCHS advances, it would travel to Marist but host Warner Robins.
But none of that likely resonates within the Greyhounds locker room.
Rather, the focus is on one game, if not one at a time for the Greyhounds.
“That’s the focus, one week at a time and really one day at a time,” Chastain said. “We’re trying to win the day every day. I feel like we had a good off week last week, and everyone’s looking forward to Friday.”
