Jeremy Wiggins, Northeast head coach
Today’s interviewee is Northeast coach Jeremy Wiggins, whose team defeated No. 1 Fitzgerald 27-20 in a Class 2A game Friday. Since taking the Northeast job in 2018, Wiggins has led his alma mater to its first quarterfinal berth (2021), its first three-year run of winning at least one playoff game (2020-22) and now its first victory over a No. 1 opponent in the program’s 53-year history.
1. What were the key moments in Friday's game, and how did it come down in the end? “There were a lot key moments during the game. Fourth-and-1, we fumble the snap, but our fullback, Tailen Sampson, picked up the ball and got the first down. Also, on the same drive, Nick Woodford converted a fourth-and-4. Both of those plays kept the drive going for us to get another touchdown.” [The drive covered 65 yards on 17 plays and put Northeast ahead 27-13 with 4:24 left.]
2. What does the win mean for your team? “It’s a great win for our program and a great win for the community. Just a testimony to the hard work the coaches and players have been putting in this offseason.” [Northeast is the first Macon public school to beat a No. 1-ranked opponent since Central beat Northside of Warner Robins in the 1975 quarterfinals in route to a state title.]
3. You've established the program as a strong team the past four seasons. How is this team different than the others in terms of style, makeup, etc.? “Each team these past four years has been different, and I try to emphasize that each year. Building a culture of winning here at Northeast has taken some time, but the players, coaches and community are buying into the little things that champions do to win. I want us to be consistent, and our building our middle-school program up has played a tremendous job in our success. So the younger boys who watched the older guys have learned how we want to be represented.”
4. You're a Macon native, so you know the area well. You might be the first Macon team other than Westside this century to sustain success. What's the key to doing that, and are there any Macon-specific challenges there to doing so? “Being from Macon, I have seen a lot of good players and great coaches, and I’m just glad I have been able to be part of what we are doing now. Macon has a lot of schools [six public and four private high schools in the GHSA and GIAA], and that thins out the talent pool, but I have built a program base off the middle-school talent. Our middle-school program does offseason workouts, and we work together each week on how we can be consistent. I’m big on developing our players from the sixth grade to 12th grade. We have talent each year, but preaching discipline and focus each week is key to our success.”