Week 1 Team of the Week: Douglass

Douglass was 11-2 as recently as 2019, but the program crashed during the COVID-19 season of 2020, going 0-5 and canceling several games.

The Astros hired an alumnus, Arabia Mountain coach and former NFL player Stanley Pritchett. It took a year to make the playoffs, three to have a winning season and four to beat a top-10 team for the first time.

Douglass head coach Stanley Pritchett (left) and his team captains show off their GHSF Daily Team Of The Week award. Joining the team are Kenny Mullins and Joey Shorter of the IBEW Local 613 and BJ Waddell of BSN Sports.

The most recent goal was accomplished last week, when Douglass defeated Class 3A No. 3 LaGrange 18-3 in the opener of the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic. The game also opened the GHSA season Wednesday.

“That first year we played a lot of ninth-graders, and we took our lumps,” Pritchett said of his first season, 2021. “So our guys really learned to trust the process. It didn’t come over night, and our young men believe that we’re a part of something bigger than themselves.”

Douglass is GHSF Daily’s Team of the Week. The award is sponsored by BSN Sports and Georgia Construction Careers.