Four downs with Terrell Academy football

DAWSON — Terrell Academy has produced some fairly consistent results in recent years.

Since 2010, every Terrell Academy football team except one has finished within a game of the .500 mark, either above or below. Last year’s team finished right at .500, going 6-6 overall and 1-1 in GISA Region 3-2A play.

Bill Murdock enters his 14th season as head coach. He’s 11 wins away from reaching the 100-win mark at Terrell Academy, and his 234 career wins, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association place him fifth among all active head coaches in Georgia.

The only other active GISA head coach ahead of Murdock on the active Georgia wins list? Deerfield-Windsor’s Allen Lowe, who has 17 more victories.

Here are four questions for Terrell Academy heading into the 2018 season:

1. What is Terrell Academy bringing to the table?

After scoring a bunch of points (403) in 2016, Terrell Academy put up a more pedestrian 218 points last season.

With some younger offensive linemen pressed into action following some injuries early last season, the depth that was developed up front could give the Terrell Academy backfield some additional time to develop some scoring opportunities.

“Our kids have worked very hard this summer,” Murdock said. “We’re real proud of what they’ve done in the weight room. I feel real good about what we’ve got coming back. We’ve got a lot of our skill people back. We lost some good linemen and a couple of good running backs, but I think we’ll be good.”

2. Which Terrell Academy players could have breakthrough seasons?

Matthews Ivey, Sr. WR/S, played some QB last season: “We’ll feel he’ll do a good job,” Murdock said.

Wesley Griffin, Austin Wilson, both Jr. OL: “We had some young kids get a lot of playing time last year due to injuries. We’re looking for them to keep improving.”

Landon Littleton, Sr. FB/OL/DL: “Landon missed a good part of last season. He’s a very good player, and he’s going to be big for us offensively and defensively.”

3. After making a splash a couple of years ago when she took over place-kicking duties, Jenna Cuff has emerged as one of the top place-kickers in the Albany area. How much range has she developed heading into her senior year?

Murdock says Cuff, who also plays soccer, is consistently making field goals from 35-40 yards out.

“Jenna’s accurate,” Murdock said. “She works real hard. She’s been all-state two years in a row. We don’t worry much about her kicking, for sure.”

4. Crossover region scheduling was adopted by the GISA this season. How does that affect Terrell Academy’s schedule?

The GISA mandated crossover scheduling between regions this year, with Region 3 (southwest Georgia) teams facing Region 1 teams. In Class 2A, that means trips as far as Marietta, Monticello or Eatonton.

The crossover will have playoff implications. Only the top two teams from each region will automatically qualify for the playoffs, with the top two remaining teams from each crossover pool rounding out the postseason bracket.

“It’s going to make us do a little bit of travel, but I like it,” Murdock said. “It made it a lot easier to get a schedule. It wasn’t as hard to schedule. We only had to pick up two games that weren’t scheduled for us.”

Six teams playing Class 2A schedules have chosen to take part in a Class 1A tournament for the association’s smallest football-playing schools. Crisp Academy and Windsor Academy, slotted with Terrell Academy in Region 3-2A, will participate in the Class 1A postseason.