Counting down the Albany Area’s Top 10 sports stories of 2018 — No. 1: Lee County wins state football title again

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Herald’s sports staff has chosen Southwest Georgia’s Top 10 sports stories from 2018. Today is the top sports story of the year.

ALBANY — A year after defeating Coffee High School in an overtime thriller to win its first state football championship on its own field, Lee County took things a step farther in 2018.

The Trojans won the Georgia High School Association Class 6A championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, capping the school’s first undefeated season following a 14-0 victory over Northside-Warner Robins. It was the second time the Trojans defeated Northside during the 2018 season. Lee downed the Eagles 24-7 on Oct. 13 after trailing 7-3 at halftime.

Lee County’s state championship earned it a spot in the prestigious GEICO State Champions Bowl Series, where it played St. Frances (Maryland) in a nationally televised game on ESPNU. It lost 43-14, but none of the players said the setback would tarnish the season.

“We got what we wanted, which is a ring on our fingers,” defensive lineman Deangelo Griffin said. “Going back-to-back and playing with a bunch of guys, I felt I never would have gotten to play with in my life, that was just amazing.”

Lee County (15-1) was downright dominant in 2018. The Trojans outscored their opponents by a combined 638-120, the offense averaged nearly 350 yards of total offense per game, the defense posted six shutouts and the majority of their games were played under the running clock “mercy rule” in the fourth quarter.

Only three teams —Mundy’s Mill, Creekview and St. Frances — scored 13 points or more.

The highlight of the season outside of winning the state championship was beating Valdosta High, the nation’s all-time winningest high school football program. The Trojans destroyed the Wildcats 63-7, the worst defeat in Valdosta’s storied history. Valdosta defeated Lee 31-28 in the next-to-last game of the 2017 season.

Before St. Frances, a private school in Maryland that featured players from nine different states and featured six Division I recruits ranked in the ESPN 300 and Junior 300, Lee County had a 21-game winning streak.

For a school once known for producing Major League Baseball All-Star Buster Posey, country music star Luke Bryan and pop singer Phillip Phillips, the county also became known as a promising football powerhouse.

Lee County’s second straight state title put it in elite company. It joined Colquitt County as the only team from southwest Georgia to win back-to-back state football titles since 2010.

The Trojans graduated 41 seniors from the 2017 squad, but coach Dean Fabrizio knew his 2018 team had a chance to be special, too.

“We think we’ve got a pretty good team again,” Fabrizio told the Herald before the season. “Obviously, we lost some great players from last year’s team, 41 seniors who played a lot of great football for us. But we’ve got some good returners who’ve played a lot last year, and we’ve got some young guys ready to step up and make their mark.

“The great thing about high school football is that kids graduate and new kids grow up. And we’re excited about what we’ve got this year.”

Three months later, Fabrizio was proven right. His Trojans hoisted the state championship trophy for the second straight year.