Putnam County (5-3, 4-1 Region 4-AA) travels to Augusta to play Laney (5-2-1, 4-1) this Friday.
• Series History: Putnam County leads, 3-2.
• Last. Meeting: Putnam County defeated Laney 27-26 in 2022.
After a disappointing region loss to Class AA’s No. 1-ranked Thomson last week, the War Eagles are looking to rebound this Friday with a road win over Laney, which has won three straight games.
Putnam County head coach Joel Harvin knows the Wildcats will be a tough matchup for his team.
“They’re a big, physical football team that has some explosive athletes,” Harvin said of Laney. “[Javaris Harris] is the receiver that was at Greene [County] last year, so our kids are familiar with them.”
Laney’s offensive unit returns most of its starters from last season but did lose a few offensive linemen. The Wildcats are starting DJ Daggett at quarterback, who’s done well through this year as the Wildcats’ offense averages 33.9 points per game with Daggett under center.
Laney running backs CJ Holmes and James Pride carry the load on the ground; however, Holmes also presents a receiving threat as he catches the ball well out of the backfield. Add senior Javaris “Boobie” Harris into the mix and Daggett has several targets he can toss the ball to.
According to Harvin, Laney has moved the ball effectively on offense all season against quality defenses.
“They’ve had a very good year. They’ve played some good football teams and moved the ball well against [their opponents] up front,” Harvin said. “They’re so big on both sides of the ball.”
Putnam made several mistakes last week and will need to limit those in order to beat the Wildcats. The War Eagles will need to limit penalties and play turnover-free on Friday night in Augusta.
Harvin said his team will use this week’s practices to prepare to execute its Friday game plan.
“We’ve got a tough challenge ahead of us,” Harvin said. “We’re going to have to be able to run the football on them.” He stressed that Jamarion Robertson and Branan Griffin both need to have big games.
“It’s a huge game,” Harvin added. “We’re going to use our four days of practice this week just to get ready for them.”
Harvin said his players have been practicing all week to weed out the errors made last Friday. He said they’re also focusing on the few positive takeaways from last week’s game.
“I think you could ask every one of our players and they’d say that they made way too many mistakes last week. They know we didn’t execute well,” Harvin said. “Lots of mental errors. Not holding onto the ball or messing up the snaps. Overall, the kids realize how good we can be, but we’ve just got to tighten up and eliminate the little, small errors that turn into big errors.”
Harvin highlighted last week’s loss to Thomson was a “growing experience,” which means his team is going learn from it.
“We’re going to do what we can as coaches to tighten that stuff up,” he said. “We’re also going to move on from it and not harp on it. We’re going to get ready for Laney this week.”