CARROLLTON, Ala. — John Gartman doesn’t mince words when he looks back at 2011.
“Last season was a disappointing year for us. We finished 3-7,” Gartman said. “We had a very difficult schedule. That was part of it, and we also had a team.”
Gartman feels optimistic about the 2012 season — which starts at 7 tonight with a Region 2 home game against Sparta Academy — because the Pirates have moved from Class AA to Class A and the fact that they have 10 seniors, including several three-year starters.
A schedule without the likes of Class AA champion Edgewood Academy and Class AAA champion Bessemer Academy also gives Gartman reason to smile. Pickens Academy lost to those two teams 94-20 last season.
This year, though, Gartman hopes the Pirates can use the memory of those defeats as motivation on what he feels will be a more level playing field.
“We are a much more mature team, and we have more seniors this year than we have had in the past few years I have been here,” Gartman said.
Junior quarterback Josh Lewis, senior fullback Garrett Estes, and senior running back/wide receiver Joel Pratt will trigger an offense that also returns to tight ends and has five seniors up front who will try to control the line of scrimmage. Gartman said Lewis and Pratt will split time at quarterback.
“We have a lot of experience there I think we can count on,” Gartman said.
Pickens Academy drops to Class A, Region 2 and will join Jackson Academy, Marengo Academy, Eastwood Christian, Meadowview Christian, Sparta Academy, and Sumter Academy. The school’s number of boys in grades 8-11 last school year placed it in the Alabama Independent School Association’s smallest class for members with less than 42.2 boys.
“We have a big senior class and we were all disappointed in last year,” Gartman said. “I think they realize going into this year they have a chance to leave a mark. I think we are going to come out with a chip on our shoulder with something to prove.”
Pickens Academy last advanced to the playoffs in 2010, when it lost in the first round. The Pirates also lost in the first round of the playoffs in 2009 and ’10 and will work to recapture the glory days of the program that saw the school win 47 straight games from 1994-97. Led by current Lowndes County Schools Superintendent Lynn Wright, Pickens Academy went undefeated and won state titles in 1994, ’95, ’96, ’98, and ’99. It reached the second round of the playoffs in 2005 and lost to Clarke Prep 44-14 in the Class AA state title game in 2004.
Seniors Hunter Booth and Garrett Estes believe the Pirates have what it takes to get back to that level. Both players didn’t hesitate to mention the words “state championship” when asked what the Pirates had the potential to accomplish this season.
“We have just about everybody on offense coming back,” Estes said. “Last year, we didn’t have too good of a season. This season, we plan on going to the state championship.”
Booth, who is a three-year starter on defense and a two-year starter on offense, admitted the Pirates “took some beatings” from opponents in 2011. He feels those games will help the team this season.
“We have a better looking schedule and we have experience all over the place,” Booth said. “It was depressing at first, but we played teams that were better than us. But this year the playing field is even, and that’s going to make us a better team.”
Gartman said Pickens Academy will go with a veer attack that will rely on experience. He said that experience will aid communication, and he hopes it will help the seniors find another gear.
Booth and Chase Britt, another three-year starter, said the Pirates won’t have the biggest line, but he said they will be aggressive and will give Estes, Pratt, and Lewis plenty of time to run.
Senior Preston McGahey (5-foot-7, 215 pound) didn’t play last season, while Jamison Stone (6-4, 310) is new to the school. Both will compete for time up front.
“We worked hard in the offseason, coach Gartman pushed us, and we’re looking forward to it,” Booth said.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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