Big push up front: Veteran line looks to open things up for Dougherty offense

ALBANY — For a program that won a GHSA championship in 1998 and went to the finals in 2005, Dougherty has had some lean years recently.

Dougherty has just one winning season since that 2005 title game run, a 6-5 season in 2008. Seven years without a playoff appearance followed.

A 2-8 showing last season wasn’t an improvement in terms of wins and losses. But Dougherty did what it needed to do in a five-team region — win one region game — to have a shot at the postseason.

A 21-14 win over Monroe on Oct. 8 was enough to push Dougherty into the playoffs last season. While the Trojans were bounced by Jenkins in the first round, the first playoff appearance in Corey Joyner’s tenure as Dougherty’s head coach has fueled some optimism in the Trojans’ program.

“We’ve got 18 guys coming back, and we have 2-3 years of experience (in spots),” said Joyner, who is entering his sixth year as head coach at Dougherty. “We’ve got four guys on the offensive line coming back, and just about all of our skill players on offense are back. We have two defensive linemen coming back, and we inherited some guys who had experience at Albany High.”

That experience up front will be something Dougherty will key on entering the season.

According to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association website, Dougherty scored 187 points last season, the most it has scored since putting up 225 in 2008. The line experience should give the Trojans’ backfield more time and space with which to operate.

“That’s the only way you win; you’ve got to win up front,” Joyner said. “To have those many guys coming back, those linemen have started all three years. That’s a lot of experience.

“Our Achilles’ heel has been that we haven’t had much depth. These guys have a lot of experience. But when one goes down, we’re going to be in a bad pickle. But with Albany High merging in, that’s going to give us a tad bit more depth. We should be able to do some good things.”

Dougherty did lose some depth at wideout, with Dre’Shon Alston (56 catches, 874 yards, seven touchdowns) graduating. Also moving on was linebacker Keithtavious Cobey (122 tackles, seven sacks, four fumbles). Both were All-Albany Herald first-team selections.

Back, however, is quarterback Jaylen Joyner, a junior who threw for more than 1,500 yards last season, and Anphernee Jordan, a senior athlete who had more than 1,200 all-purpose yards a year ago.

“This year’s great,” Jordan said. “We’re better mentally, we’re better physically. We’re stronger, we’re faster, and we’re deeper. We’re a smarter team.

“We worked on becoming more of a championship team and having that championship mentality … improving our mindset, our physicality and our enthusiasm for the game.”