Rogers savors first state championship

Published 4:09 pm Sunday, December 17, 2023

MOULTRIE — Justin Rogers was not completely unfamiliar with what it takes for a team to go 15-0 and win a state championship.

The second-year Thomas County Central head coach, who led the Yellow Jackets to their first title since 1997 last week, was the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach under Steve Devoursney at Griffin when the Bears won all 15 games and claimed the Class AAAA championship in 2013.

Since beginning his head coaching career the next year at Jones County, Rogers has taken four of his teams, including the 2020 Colquitt County Packers and the 2022 Yellow Jackets, to the quarterfinals.

But neither Rogers nor his extraordinarily balanced Yellow Jackets would be denied the Class 6A state title this year.

“It was nice to get that monkey off my back,” he said, adding that he believed the Thomas County Central program had some talent returning when he took over in 2022.

“I felt confident about what he we had,” he said. “But did I see a state championship coming? I’d be lying if I said I did.”

Rogers is now 27-1 in his two seasons at Thomas County Central after three years at Colquitt County. The Yellow Jackets had five straight non-winning records before he left Moultrie and traveled south to Thomasville.

Heading into his 11th season as a head coach in 2024, he needs just two victories to reach 100.

He has not lost more than three games in a season since 2016 when his third Jones County team went 7-5.

The Yellow Jackets defeated eight top-10 teams, five from Class 6A, and three on the road in the playoffs.

Rogers is an avowed proponent of quick-strike offense, dating back to his final season at Griffin when the Bears scored 641 points.

This year, the Jackets were averaging 40 points a game before defeating Woodward Academy 49-28 for the state championship.

And this year’s Thomas County Central team had some outstanding offensive talent, including running back Trey Benton, who rushed for 154 yards and two touchdowns in the state championship game, and quarterback Jaylen Johnson, who ran for 105 and two scores and threw for 135 yards and two more touchdowns.

But this year, Rogers also had at his disposal a defense that had given up just 8.3 points a game on the way to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“They bailed us out a couple of times,” Rogers said of defensive coordinator Cam Clark’s group. “I’m an offensive guy, but defense wins championships.”

Rogers gave much of the credit for the team’s defensive effort to Clark.

“He did a great job of game-planning,” he said. “And we had some players, too.”

The Jackets coaching staff also included several assistants who were with Rogers when he led the Packers to a 26-7 record from 2019-2021.

Yellow Jackets offensive coordinator Joe Thornton held the same position in 2020 and 2021 with the Packers.

“He’s a quarterback guru,” said Rogers, who had long called his own plays before turning over those duties to Thornton in 2021.

Dave Windon, who coached the running backs for three seasons in Moultrie, now handles the tight ends and recruiting for Thomas County Central.

Jimmy Dudley coached the Packers offensive line in 2019 and rejoined Rogers this year.

Former Yellow Jackets head coach Bill Shaver, who ran the Packers ninth-grade program in 2021, was on the Jackets staff as an offensive analyst this year.

And Packer fans who watched the Class 6A state championship game on GPB Sports might have seen former versatile Colquitt County Matt Key busy on the Jackets sideline.

Key is running the seventh- and eighth-grade Yellow Jacket programs and helps out on varsity game nights.

Rogers moved into a difficult position when he was hired at Colquitt County in 2019 to replace Rush Propst, who had posted a 119-35 record and won back-to-back state championships with the Packers.

But Propst was cut loose after an investigation into improprieties after the 2018 team went 14-1, losing the state championship game to Milton 14-13.

Rogers’ first Packers team went 9-3.

But the following year, the one shortened by the coronavirus, the Packers won all seven of their regular-season games.

But on the first play of that final game, quarterback Xavier Williams tore his ACL and did not play again.

Many people believe the Packers had a legitimate chance at playing for a state title with the versatile Williams, who is now playing at Central Florida, at the helm of the Rogers offense.

The Packers won their first two playoff games, but then were eliminated at Norcross to finish 9-1.

“And we had a great defense that year,” Rogers said of the 2020 Packers, who allowed just 10.6 points a game.

The next year, the Packers were routed at home by Walton in the first round of the playoffs.

“Walton had a great team and we had a bad night,” Rogers said.

That season, Colquitt started six sophomores, players who went on to play key roles as the Packers went 25-2 the last two years.

But by then Rogers and Colquitt had parted company.

Sean Calhoun, who had been instrumental in the Packers 30-0 run in 2014-2015 as an offensive assistant, was hired to take over the program.

“In sports, there is always a loser and a winner,” Rogers said of his decision to go to Thomasville and Colquitt’s decision to hire Calhoun. “But in life, two people can be winners.

“I think things worked out for both communities. Coach Calhoun is obviously a great coach and a good man.”

Rogers sounds as if he has no regrets about the three years he spent leading the Colquitt County program.

“I learned a great deal from my time in Moultrie,” he said. “I’m a way better coach for having been there.

“Those were incredible years. I’ll always cherish the friendships I made.”

Like Colquitt County, Thomas County Central will have a number of highly productive players to replace next season.

“We lose quite a bit,” Rogers said. “We’ll lose eight on offense and six on defense.”

But unlike Colquitt County, which will have to replace three-year starter and record-breaking quarterback Neko Fann, Rogers will have his signal-caller returning.

Johnson passed for 2,164 yards and 24 touchdowns as a sophomore while leading the Jackets to the state title.

And that will be a rarity for Rogers.

“That will be the first time I’ve had a returning quarterback since 2016,” he said.