‘A little direction’ turned a 1-9 Georgia HS football team into a history-maker

“The coaches and myself, we saw the promise in these kids,” Barnes said. “They just needed a little direction.”

Barnes said there wasn’t much direction in the offseason at all, much less a solid strength and conditioning plan.

“One of the first things I noticed was when I was first announced as the head coach in February,” Barnes said. “A couple weeks later, I wanted to have my first weightlifting session. I think I had about 10 to 12 kids show up.”

Barnes said his first offseason at Lithonia went similar to the first football season. The Bulldogs were certainly in a better place than the previous couple years, but they fell just short of the playoffs with a 6-4 record.

Lithonia finished fifth in a nine-team region following blowout losses to Tucker, St. Pius, Marist and Southwest DeKalb. The Bulldogs missed the playoffs for a third consecutive season, but the attitude had changed in Barnes’ program.

“Not being able to advance to that postseason play set a fire to them,” Barnes said. “They were excited and ready to go in January, like, ‘We’ve got to get to this postseason.’”

Buy-in around the program skyrocketed.

Lithonia established a weightlifting period for football players, more parents started showing up to parent meetings and one alumnus started funding breakfast before team weightlifting sessions at 6 a.m.

Leaders like quarterback Jamon Coggins, who transferred from South Gwinnett shortly after Barnes was hired, saw Lithonia embrace the offseason grind.

“I saw kids go from benching 110 one week to the next week, benching 185,” Coggins said. “I saw a kid go from squatting a couple pounds to squatting 300-plus. It’s just how coach makes kids work. Coach sees things in players that players don’t see in themselves.”

The Bulldogs were also spurred by a passionate, young coaching staff largely made up of former Lithonia players.

Senior linebacker Braylon Jackson said many of those alumni coaches weren’t able to win at Lithonia, making them push the current team that much more.

“I feel like a man with a chip on his shoulder is a dangerous man,” said Jackson, an Air Force Academy commit. “I feel like all of our coaches have a chip on their shoulder because they’re from this area, they know this area, they went to this school, and they couldn’t get it done themselves.

“They’ve grown and been able to see what it takes to do things special. They’re putting their all into us, and that gives us something to fight for.”

Those alumni coaches surely enjoyed it when Lithonia avenged 2024 losses to Tucker and St. Pius this season. The Bulldogs opened region play with their first win over Tucker since 1992, snapping a 12-game losing streak to the Tigers. Then they cinched the playoffs with the program’s first win over St. Pius, boasting a dominating 48-7 score.

Suddenly, Lithonia hadn’t just become a playoff team again. It had established itself as a force in Class 4A.

Barnes’ emphasis on the weight room had paid off, as the Bulldogs finished the season 8-2, the program’s best record since 1985.

“We looked the part this year,” Barnes said. “We weren’t able to be moved around like typical year-to-year performance. That was what really catapulted us, the strength and conditioning program.

“These guys got stronger, and they were able to visibly see themselves get stronger, and it helped in them having confidence in what we were trying to install.”

Lithonia’s senior class continues to reap the benefits, too.

There are 26 seniors on Lithonia’s roster on MaxPreps.com. Barnes expects 18 to 20 of them to play college football next season.

Those numbers have the chance to increase with every playoff win. When Lithonia kicked off its playoff run, 247 GHSA teams were playing football.

Then the Bulldogs upset Griffin 27-8 and beat Centennial 38-7 in the first two rounds.

Now, only 64 GHSA teams are still playing football.

“More colleges come to watch you play, more colleges come to watch your practice, more colleges get here to scout you,” said Coggins, who has offers from Livingston College and Tuskegee University. “Coach always says the best way to get offers is to be the last team playing because you’re really the team who every coach in America is going to watch play in the state championship.”

Lithonia’s path to the state championship doesn’t get any easier this week. The Bulldogs will visit Class 4A’s top-ranked team, Creekside.

Creekside has already made Georgia high school football history, breaking the state’s record for the most points in a regular season (614). The Seminoles have scored 70-plus four times this season — including a 91-0 win over Drew — and have pitched seven shutouts in 12 games.

Lithonia has a tough task ahead, indeed, but the Bulldogs also know they have another week to showcase how much they have improved in just two years.

“They’re going to have to prove to us what they’re about, and like I said, they’re not going to run it down our throats,” said Jackson, who leads the team with 160 total tackles. “They’re going to have to do something that they’re not used to doing, and we’re going to adjust.”