Four downs with Southland football

AMERICUS — Last fall’s GISA Region 3-3A race was a bunched-up affair.

Southland, Deerfield-Windsor and Valwood all finished with 3-1 records in region play. Valwood went on to win the Class 3A title, but not before Southland posted a 16-6 win in Valdosta.

The Raiders, who went 10-2 last year, lost several key pieces to graduation. But one major part of last year’s team, tailback Clay Owens, returns after being named the only sophomore to the Class 3A all-state team.

Here are four questions for Southland football and fifth-year head coach Rod Murray:

1. What is Southland bringing to the table?

Southland scored 414 points last season, eclipsing the 400-point mark for the first time in 26 years.

One of the driving forces behind that effort was Owens, who ran for nearly 1,500 yards.

“He’s a special back,” Murray said. “He’s got a great lateral move. He doesn’t like to run out of bounds, and he likes to catch the ball out of the backfield. He’s a good kid who works hard, and he’s a very physical player.”

Many of the playmakers surrounding Owens last year graduated as part of a strong senior class, but Murray said the roster coming into 2018 is plenty deep.

“We graduated a great senior class,” Murray said. “The good part is, we have some good-looking older kids who played a lot of reps because of the successful season we had last year.”

2. Which Southland players could have breakthrough seasons?

Landon Law, Jr. QB: “It looks like he’s coming on,” Murray said. “He got a lot of reps last year, and he’s having a great summer. He went to a lot of camps, and he’s throwing the ball a lot.”

Nathan Duke, Soph. QB/ATH: “He’s a great athlete and a good field general. With Caleb Law coming up as a freshman, we’re real happy with our quarterback situation right now.”

Luke Law, Jr. WR: “He’s going to be our playmaker on the outside.”

Parker Weldon, Sr. TE/LB: “He’s a flex tight end for us, a B-back, an outside linebacker. We’re looking for good things out of him.”

Chandler Studdard, Sr. DE: “He was an all-region player last year. A very solid physical player.”

3. Just how good and just how competitive is GISA Region 3-3A?

Southland had just one regular-season loss last year, and Deerfield-Windsor was in position to win the region outright after beating the Raiders. But Valwood came on late to claim a share the region championship and go on to win the GISA Class 3A title.

Expect similar competitiveness this season, Murray said.

“It’s a very tough region, including Tiftarea and Brookwood,” Murray said. “Anytime you strap up in this region on Friday night, you better be ready to play.”

4. How interesting will the Southland-Tiftarea matchup be this year with a familiar face on the opposite sideline?

Erik Soliday, who led Americus-Sumter to the GHSA Region 1-4A title last year, became Tiftarea’s head coach during the offseason.

While Americus-Sumter and Southland don’t play each other in football, there’s familarity between the two head coaches, especially when it comes to a community with two football-playing high schools.

“He’s a class act guy,” Murray said. “We can’t wait to compete with him. He does things the right way. That school is very blessed to have picked Soliday up.”