Four downs with Pataula Charter football

EDISON — Richard Andrews is still very much in the getting-to-know-you phase of the moving process.

Previously the head coach at Oglethorpe County, Andrews was looking to return to southwest Georgia, where he and his wife grew up. Pataula Charter had a head coaching vacancy, and the two sides connected.

Andrews hasn’t been back long. He took the Pataula Charter job last month and he has supervised just 12 workouts.

The program Andrews takes over is a young one. This will be the third year of varsity football for Pataula Charter, a GHSA Class 1A charter school that will continue to play a non-region schedule for at least the next two seasons.

Here are four questions for Andrews and Pataula Charter entering the 2018 season:

1. What will Pataula Charter bring to the table?

The Pataula Charter football program is very much in its infant stages. The school, which opened in a new building last year, is still in the process of building out its athletics facilites.

With not much time to work with until the season starts, Andrews is sticking to the basics.

“The core group is working hard,” Andrews said. “They’re buying in and learning the system.”

2. What is Andrews’ coaching background?

Andrews is a longtime assistant coach at schools throughout Georgia. He spent eight seasons at Brooks County, and he also has worked at Putnam County and Rabun County.

His first head coaching experience came in 2016 at Oglethorpe County, where he took over from Jimbo Hale, who is now in his first season as head coach at Westwood.

Like Hale, Andrews spent two seasons as head coach at Oglethorpe County before moving back to southern Georgia.

“I’m enjoying getting to know everybody,” Andrews said. “We’re having a lot showing up, and that’s encouraging.”

3. Considering how new the Pataula Charter program is and its unique structure as a charter school, what’s in store for this fall?

Pataula Charter has three wins under its belt, all against Cross Keys, a program from the Atlanta area that has an international enrollment and has played non-region football the past several years. They will again play twice this year, at North DeKalb Stadium on Sept. 28 and at Calhoun County on Oct. 26.

There are a couple of interesting additions to this year’s Pataula Charter schedule. Pataula Charter hosts GICAA member Sherwood Christian on Aug. 31 at Calhoun County, and the Panthers will travel to Macon to take on ACE Charter, a first-year varsity program, on Sept. 21.

Andrews sees the 2018 season as a developmental one, both for the program and the players involved.

“We just want to compete and develop a quality product,” Andrews said. “We’re realistic. We want the kids to learn and grow.”

4. What are Andrews’ long-term goals for Pataula Charter?

Andrews said raising funds for facilities will be a big part of Pataula Charter’s development push the next few years.

“Eventually we would like to get into region play, but we want to get the program established first,” Andrews said. “We would like to build a home field first. The plans are all there, it just takes time to build them.”