Thomas Clark, Stockbridge head coach
Today’s interviewee is Stockbridge coach Thomas Clark, whose team defeated Benedictine 45-31 in the Class 4A semifinals and will play Perry for the title next week. Stockbridge will be the first Henry County Schools team to play in a football championship game. Clark became Stockbridge’s head coach in 2021. He had been on staff as an assistant or athletic director since 2009.
1. What has been the reaction of the school and community to beating Benedictine and making the championship game? “It’s a lot of excitement right now. We’re in uncharted territory in terms of making the state championship. My phone has been blowing up. I’ve received a number of calls and texts and people reaching out on social media. Every head coach in the county and pretty much every AD in the county has reached out to me personally. I’ve been at Stockbridge a long time. This is my 15th year. We had a good run from about 2011 to 2018 and fell short. There are a lot of former players and coaches and teachers showing overwhelming support. Cam Webster, who played at Ole Miss and in the NFL, was at the game. We had a long list of guys there, too many to name. We accomplished a goal that we set out to achieve a long time ago.”
2. You lost to Benedictine 34-14 in the 2022 quarterfinals. How are you better now? “Those guys last year hadn’t been in that type of dynamic situation. That team was new to that. They were the more disciplined team. We made critical mistakes with turnovers and penalties. This year, we made less mistakes. This time around, we were getting the guys back from that deep playoff run, and we were the more physical team. That was critical. We were able to establish the run and control the line of scrimmage on both sides. We were more disciplined and tougher and physical.”
3. You got a big game from your running back, Jayden “Duke” Scott, who rushed for 310 yards and three touchdowns. What makes him so effective? “I’ve been telling people in interviews that he’s the best running back in Georgia and one of the best in the nation. He’s been overlooked because he’s had two major injuries in 2021 and 2022 and missed eight or nine games those years, so he didn’t have the ground-breaking numbers. We got him back last year in game nine, just for those playoff games. In 2021, he broke a bone in his foot and missed seven or eight. But he’s a phenomenal football player and even better person. He’s definitely what you want in a football player. He’s humble and kind. He’s a total back. He’s complete in terms of vision, reading blocks, setting up blocks. He’s also explosive. He runs a 10.8 100 and weighs around 210 pounds. He’s the kind that can make you miss but run you over.”
4. You’ve been at Stockbridge your entire high school coaching career. Why stay so long? “We’ve always had great administration, and I really enjoyed working with Coach Whitley [former head coach Kevin Whitley, who led Stockbridge to five region titles]. We had a shot every year to win the state championship. That’s what kept me here. That was a goal, and I didn’t want to step away during those years. I got a chance to be athletic director [in 2020, when passed over for the head coaching job after Whitley left], and I wanted to give that a try and learn and grow from an administrative standpoint. I love the community and where I live. I had a lot of schools trying to get me to coach at other places, but I wanted to stay with the goal of winning a state championship here.”
