It's amazing how times have changed in following high school football. Today you can get almost instant scores and stories about football games. When I was growing up, if I didn't attend the game in person or listened on radio, I would have to wait until Saturday morning to see the scores from the games. I remember going out with my parents on Saturdays and looking in the newspaper machine to see the scores that were printed at the top of the newspaper. I would also get more information if I could get an edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC).
The times have changed. Today we have various forms of social media, the Internet and text messages to keep us updated. Right now I am living in Tennessee and I can still listen to my favorite high school games in Georgia with an app or over the Internet. So now on Friday nights I have the game on and computer up as I keep track of the scores.
When I was stationed at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia in 1984, I started attending Warner Robins High School football games. I never attended the school but I immediately became a fan and have followed the team since then.
Here are the things I use to follow games today:
- SportsMic app or sportsmic.com to listen to Warner Robins football games. Tom Mobley and Bill Beatty do a great job calling the games.
- Scoreatl.com is an excellent source to find scores from all over the state as well as playoff brackets.
- The one resource that is the most amazing thing ever is the Georgia High School Football Historians website which has tons of information and statistics. These guys have put together something awesome.
- There is also the National Federation of High School (NFHS) network where you can pay a subscription to watch the games if they are being televised. It's okay but sometimes not the best quality and you might not always have your team available. I have subscribed a few times to watch a few games.
- Villa Rica 3, East Rome 0 (1979) - It rained a lot and Villa Rica booted a field goal which beat the Gladiators which ended their run after two consecutive state titles.
- Savannah Christian 18, Pinewood Christian 14 (1980) - Savannah Christian trailed 14-12 in the closing seconds when they scored on a long touchdown pass to win the game. They went on to win the state championship.
- Tompkins 24, Coffee 21 (1980) - I was a junior at Tompkins High School and listened to the Wolverines upset heavily favored Coffee in the region playoffs.
- Jenkins 55, Tompkins 8 (1981) - In my senior year at Tompkins I worked with a guy who went to Jenkins. I had told him that Tompkins would win but as you see it was a long night for Tompkins and listening to the game on the radio.
- Warner Robins 28, Bradwell Institute 12 (1985) - I was on assignment in a tent out in the field at Robins AFB and had me a small transistor radio to listen to this game as Warner Robins won in the semifinals.
- Bainbridge 47, Warner Robins 41 (2018) - Warner Robins rallied from a 35-7 deficit in the state championship game to tie it up and eventually lose in overtime. My family thought I was going crazy with all the noise and jumping I was doing in the room where I was listening to the game.
- Warner Robins 24, Cartersville 17 (2021) - Warner Robins denied Cartersville from scoring on five tries from inside the five-yard-line late in the game to win in the second round of the playoffs.
Georgia Public Television has also been awesome in expanding their coverage of Georgia High School football. In the early days of coverage they would only televise games in the Atlanta area but later they started televising the state championship games and today they live stream online several games.
Finally, there is Macon's 13-WMAZ Football Friday Night shows which are broadcast every Friday night during the football season. When I lived in the area I never missed it as they showed highlight of some of the best games in the region. When I moved away from the area it took a few years before they made the show available online. Frank Malloy is still the legend there with the highlights.
High school coverage has come a long way over the years and I'm really glad to be enjoying it today.
