Staying Strong: Frederica Academy

How a great prep school created a champion football program from scratch

Coach Clint Morgan and Coach Travis Absher celebrate during the obligatory Gatorade shower after their 34-30 state championship victory.

Staying Strong: Frederica Academy How a great prep school created a championship football program from scratch n November 30, 2012, Frederica Academy won its 58th state championship title. This particular title was historic – it was the school’s first-ever football state championship and they won it in the program’s first year of postseason eligibility. Frederica Knights Football had been in existence less than 18 months when it won the 2012 GISA Class A State Football Championship.

OFounded in 1969, Frederica Academy is a coeducational, independent college preparatory day school located on Saint Simons Island, Georgia. In April 2011 Frederica hired Clint Morgan to start a football program. Before taking the helm at Frederica, Coach Morgan had compiled extensive football coaching experience, with a 55-27-1 record as head football coach at Bulloch Academy and an overall high school coaching record of 72-45-1. Frederica Academy’s ties to high school football were significantly less evident. When Coach Morgan was invited to attend the school assembly announcing the new football program, he was asked to bring a football with him to use for the ceremonial photo opportunity.

At the time, the school did not own a single football. “I realized when I had to bring my own football MARCH/APRIL 2013 that we were starting this program from scratch and recognized that it would be a struggle to get the players strong enough to compete right away,” recalls Coach Morgan. To help address his concerns about player strength and conditioning, Coach Morgan recruited Travis Absher to join him on the new Frederica coaching staff. Coach Absher is a BFS certified weightlifting instructor who was certified in Damascus, Georgia, by BFS clinicians Beau Johnson and Roger Freeborn.

Before football was added to Frederica’s athletic programs, the school had been without a formal weightlifting program and a proper weightroom. In June 2011 the school purchased BFS equipment and Coach Absher implemented the BFS program for Frederica’s new football players. Most of the players had never lifted weights and many had never played organized #7 senior running back Eli Yarborough rushed for 990 yards and nine touchdowns during the year. football. They responded quickly to the 1-2-3-4 Flexibility Program and the set-rep system. “We knew it would be very exciting to come to Frederica Academy to start the program, but we knew it would also be hard to do,” said Absher.

“We knew it would be a challenge to build a competitive team since most of these kids had never even put on pads. The two main reasons for our early success is having quality kids who want to work hard and compete and implement the BFS system by the book. I came in and did exactly Game Day! what Coach Freeborn and Coach Beau taught me at the certification clinic, and the results have been awesome. There is no way we would have been good enough to win a regional and state championship in our second year of existence if it wasn’t for our kids’ hard work in the weightroom. Our kids run faster, jump higher and are more explosive because of their hard work.

Their success in the weightroom helped build their confidence on the playing field and helped them develop a real sense of purpose and perseverance.” Their perseverance served them well when it counted the most. After going 6-2 in 2011 when it played a non-region, exhibition schedule, Frederica started the 2012 season with a 2-2 record. The Frederica Knights’ losses were against perennial powerhouse Memorial Day School and Pinewood Christian Academy, a highly regarded AAA football program. The Knights won their next eight games in a row, sweeping their region opponents and convincingly winning their first two playoff games.

For the state championship game, Frederica hosted region-foe Robert Toombs Christian Academy in a rematch of a game Frederica had won 28-0 earlier in the season. Robert Toombs entered the title game much better prepared and played with much more drive and focus than it had during the regular season matchup. It dominated the Frederica team for the first three quarters. With less than eight minutes to play, the Frederica Knights were down 30-7. The Knights then scored 27 unanswered points. They took the lead on a touchdown run by quarterback Max Bourne.

With 37 seconds left in the game, Frederica’s Landon Barrow intercepted a Robert Toombs pass to seal a 34-30 win and give Frederica an 11-2 season – and the school’s first state football championship. Reflecting on the championship win, Coach Morgan states, “Coach Absher has worked with our kids every day to make them bigger and stronger. Having a BFS certified strength coach on staff is what made the difference in our team’s success. Travis started working with the kids as soon as we got here and stressed the importance of the weightroom – and the rest is history.” Perhaps even more gratifying for the coaches is how the players responded to their championship win.

The Monday morning after the last game the underclassmen met with Coach Absher to pledge their commitment to the weightroom during the off-season and vowed to be in great shape when they take the field in 2013 to defend their state title.

After their 18-month commitment in the weightroom to the BFS system these seven seniors earned state championship rings. They are joined by the senior varsity cheerleaders. ason, this year, eat and push. This se e to stand sw to y ad re in, tra to to work, ready win and BFS is ther nerations of XYou are ready, ready u are ready to begin to Yo e. pacting ge tim ur yo is e m ram that has been im og pr a this week, this ga d an t en m uip ight eq behind you with top ﬂ s! BFS Magazine on pi am ch d XYear round inspiration with the AN 11 athletes an l and commitment to BE how ready you are with w just al Kit!

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From BFS Magazine — March/April 2013. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).