It was a perfect year -- again! -- for the Jaguars

with back-to-back state titles 002 was a memorable year for the Jaguars of Thomas Jefferson Academy High School, but for all the wrong reasons. That year the football team didn’t win a single game, and neither did the basketball team or the baseball team! That just didn’t sit right with Chuck Wimberby, who had signed on two years earlier as the headmaster, football and baseball coach of this rural community school in Louisville, Georgia.

A member of the 1986 Jaguar football team, which had distinguished itself by winning the school’s first-ever state championship, Wimberly decided his first priority when he returned as an administrator to his alma mater was building a new field house and weightroom so he could properly implement the BFS strength training and speed and agility program. Working with John Osborne, his head strength and conditioning coach and a graduate of the University of Georgia, Wimberly made it happen. By the middle of the 2002-2003 school year the Jaguars had great new facilities designed for athletes. It was money well spent.

“In 2003 we started to climb back to where we needed to be, making it to the semifinals in football,” says Wimberly. “In 2005 we ended up winning the state championships over Robert Toombs Christian with a final score of 13-12.” But the next season proved even more exciting for the Jaguars. They won every challenge in the regular season and playoffs, and then faced Flint River Academy in the 2006 state championship game. Flint River had won the state title the previous year but in a higher classification, so the stage was set with two defending state champions competing for the biggest prize in prep football.

The game lived up to its billing and went into double overtime; the final score was 30-29 in favor of Thomas Jefferson. “That state championship game was the most thrilling football game I’ve ever been in – a classic battle,” says Wimberly. And although football is a team sport, Wimberly singles out one athlete in particular for his contributions during these two seasons: running back Derrick Mathis. MAY/JUNE 2007 Mathis, only a sophomore, was named the Augusta, Georgia, CRSA Football Player of the Year; his stats include 59 touchdowns and 3,900 yards rushing. Not to be outdone, the Jaguars’

track team followed the football team’s lead with two back-to-back state titles, and the 2005 baseball team won its own state championships. All Wimberly’s athletes use the BFS program, and he has implemented the BFS readiness program at the sixthgrade level to give his athletes a head start. These athletes train twice a week, focusing on technique and agilities, and when they are at the varsity level they graduate to the BFS Program and four days a week of training. Wimberly elaborates, “Our philosophy is ‘We’re growing our own here.’ Putting them through the BFS program from the beginning helps them become bigger, faster and stronger than their opponents. We’ve got great kids here.

Most of them are from the farming regions, and they are hard workers in the weightroom. That work ethic really shows when they’re out there on the field on Friday nights.” Wimberly says that coming back to his high school has been a great experience and it was especially rewarding to see his athletes overcome the struggles they had in 2002. With new facilities, a great workout program and kids who are willing to work hard to win, Chuck Wimberly and the Jaguars are making the years memorable for all the right reasons.

The weightroom at Thomas Jefferson High is simple, but it’s hardcore with all the basics – including record boards to recognize greatness.

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From BFS Magazine — May/June 2007. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).