DEKALB COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — We are getting closer and closer to the start of high school football. Next up on our Football Friday Countdown series, we’ll visit with two Sand Mountain teams.
Sylvania High School
The Sylvania Rams come into 2025 having won eight or more games each of the last four seasons. The Rams will have a new head coach for the second straight year after Tanner Nelson stepped down in April.
Sylvania alum, Brad Waldrop, takes the reins as the program’s head coach.
“I graduated from Sylvania in ’97 and had the opportunity to coach as a volunteer before I moved on,” Waldrop said. “Definitely glad to be back home, appreciate the opportunity, looking forward to hopefully building a program that Sylvania can be proud of again.”
The Rams have made the playoffs every year since 2018, and Waldrop says he will look to continue that success.
He says that the Rams will run a Wing-T offense with the defense lining up in a couple of different formations depending on how the opposing offenses line up.
Players like senior offensive lineman Byrcen Cook say Waldrop has taught him the importance of hard work and discipline.
“He’s a real good guy. He’s really showed how he’s disciplined us, just showed us how to be disciplined and work hard and be respectful,” Cook said. “I think he’s gonna bring this team together.”
The Rams open the season against North Jackson.
Geraldine High School
At Geraldine, Michael Davis is coming into his fifth season as the Bulldogs’ head coach. Davis has taken the program to the playoffs each season he’s been there, which has caused expectations for the program to rise.
He says the team had a great offseason.
“These guys, they found a way to bottle up that energy some days that they don’t feel like coming in there, and they found a way to bottle up energy and somehow get it out,” Davis said.
Davis says the next step for the program is to consistently do the little things right and remain focused on what can be a grueling season.
“At the end of the day, when two great teams play, it’s always going to come between a combination of a small amount of little things that we do,” Davis said. “You can have this fancy scheme, you can have all this and that, but it always comes down to did we get off blocks, did we run to the football, did we make tackles, how many missed tackles did we have, did we miss this block, did he get his head across,” Davis said. “You know the small things is really what makes a team excel whenever you are playing great teams.”
Geraldine will kick off the season against Sardis.
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