By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
GUYTON – Loren Purvis begins his second year as head football coach at South Effingham High School, so Year 2 should be a piece of cake.
Wash, rinse, repeat. Right?
“I don’t know if it gets any easier,” Purvis said. “If anything, I think I realize now what I didn’t know in Year 1.”
Spring football begins this week for SEHS and Effingham County. Under Georgia High School Association rules, starting today (May 1), schools can hold 10 football practices within 13 school days.
ECHS will start today and finish with a spring game on May 15 at Richmond Hill.
The Mustangs begin Thursday and will have a Cardinal-Silver intrasquad game on May 17.
“It’s exciting to get back on the grass and see how the intangibles come together,” Rebels coach John Ford said. “Not everything is going to be perfect, but you want to see consistency, physicality and toughness.”
ECHS (7-4) had a wild ride en route to its first region championship since 1995. The Rebels lost three of their first four games before winning six in a row, including a 31-28 victory over two-time defending region champion Brunswick.
“We had a good senior class so we’ll be looking to see who will step up to fill the holes,” Ford said.
“You have to compete all the time, not just fight for a job in May.”
Once a season ends, the GHSA has rules for working out. If a ball is involved, four players can practice with one coach. If a ball is not involved (weightlifting, film study, ect.), the team and coaching staff can meet together.
Teams can be in full pads right away, but contact is limited to two consecutive days.
“We’ve had a pretty good offseason,” Purvis said. “We’ve done some morning meetings in terms of character building. Every Tuesday and Thursday in March and April, we’ve had speed and agility training. We’ve been trying to teach some offense, some team accountability work.”
Purvis was hired just before last year’s spring practice. SEHS improved to 6-4 overall and took its dreams of a state playoff appearance to the final week of the season before losing to Evans.
It was the first time the Mustangs finished over .500 since 2019 and their .600 winning percentage was their best since .636 (a 7-4 record) in 2015.
“We’re ready to kick it off on Thursday. I want to see what holes will be filled because we have a lot of holes. We lost a lot of guys to graduation, a lot of good players who were leaders and got us that first winning season in quite a while.
“It’s been my program for an entire year so it’s going to be fun to see how that plays out.”
ECHS workout schedule – May 1-3, May 6-7, May 9-10, May 13-14, May 15 spring game at Richmond Hill.
SEHS workout schedule – May 2-3, May 6-7, May 9-10, May 13-14, May 16, May 17 Silver and Cardinal intrasquad spring game.
