Two winless teams to square off in Gainesville
Sep. 13—The GMC Prep football team does not want to wind up on the wrong side of history this week.
Currently sitting at 0-4, the Bulldogs are trying to avoid starting a season 0-5 for the first time since 2009. And that's not the only mark they hope to elude. The Bulldogs would like to end their own losing streak rather than be the end of another.
Their Friday night opponent, Riverside Military Academy, wants to break a much longer losing streak of 19 games that dates back to Sept. 10, 2021. The team that got the Eagles' streak going? It was the GMC Prep Bulldogs, who won 26-6 that night in Gainesville. Riverside's last win came the week prior at the expense of Druid Hills High School.
GMC Prep won last year's meeting in Milledgeville 54-12 but can ill afford to overlook any opponent with three of its four losses coming in lopsided fashion. First-year head coach Bobby Rhoades sees his players improving, though, and believes this week brings the most even matchup his young inexperienced team has seen through four games and two scrimmages.
"I think it's definitely better," Rhoades said. "It's a much more equal matchup than what we've seen to this point. In these types of ballgames it only takes one or two guys making a play or busting an assignment that could be the difference."
Rhoades hopes his guys are the ones making plays and not busting assignments when they line up across from Riverside Military in Gainesville Friday. The two programs have met 30 times with the Eagles holding the upper hand at 17-12-3, though GMC Prep has taken the last two meetings.
Like the Bulldogs, RMA is searching for its first win of 2023 after having lost to Walker (57-0), Stratford (57-14), and Providence Christian (51-13) to open the season. Despite the results, Riverside's cupboard is not bare.
"They've got a couple of athletes that jump out and could be a problem," the Bulldogs' head coach said.
One of those is senior Jalen Freeman who has accounted for half of the Eagles' touchdowns.
"He's a kid we've got to make sure doesn't get loose in space," Rhoades added. "It's going to be important that we do a good job tackling."
Blocking up front was another area the head coach said needs to be good this week. In the last game against Washington-Wilkes, running back Jessie Washington was too often having to try and get away from tacklers immediately after being handed the football.
Speaking of the offense, it had a different look in the second half last week. That was due to the injury loss of junior quarterback Logan McMillan. He was kept on the sideline with the game already out of hand at 33-7 by halftime.
Senior offensive weapon Johnathan Roach took snaps out of the wildcat through the final two quarters. It was effective, but opponents pretty well know what's coming when Roach is back there. Rhoades said McMillan "should be good to go" this week, allowing the Bulldog offense to be less one-dimensional.
Kickoff between GMC Prep and Riverside is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday.
