By Gabriel Stovall
COVINGTON, Ga. — By now, it’s a well-worn storyline.
Eastside football is 2-0 for the first time since 2018.
Eastside football defeated in-county rival Newton for the first time since 2018.
And now, Eagles’ head football coach Jay Cawthon says his team is looking forward to adding a few more notable distinctions — starting with the opportunity to capture its first Chick-Fil-A Covington Newton Cup trophy.
That can happen Friday if Eastside (2-0) can defeat Alcovy (0-2) in the last of the three games that make up the Newton Cup in-county rivalry series.
While Eastside’s won its first two games against Newton (1-1) and Hiram (1-1) in impressive fashion, Alcovy’s been on the other side of that spectrum, dropping its first two games to Arabia Mountain and Newton by a combined score of 131-33.
Alcovy fell to Newton last Friday 70-0 in the most lopsided defeat the Tigers have suffered against either of its local rivals since the three schools began playing each other.
Most may consider it a throw-away game and an automatic “W” for Eastside. But Cawthon isn’t keen to think like most.
“We really stress 1-0 here at Eastside,” Cawthon said. “I know it sounds cliche, but keeping high school kids grounded and not looking ahead is the hardest thing we ever have to do as coaches. So, we have another faceless opponent we have to beat in order to go 1-0 this week.”
That doesn’t mean the game, nor its local implications aren’t important. On the contrary, it matters enough to where the coaches don’t need to make any extra fuss about the games that bring about local bragging rights.
“No doubt, winning the Newton Cup is huge,” Cawthon said. “Like we say about playing Newton, as coaches, we don’t bring it up or make it bigger than it is, but it’s just big for our community and our school to be able to celebrate that. We’re proud of our softball team doing it the last two years. It’s a huge deal for our community.”
So is making a deep run in the Class AAAA playoffs which, in Cawthon’s mind, means anything quarterfinals or beyond. And that’s something Eastside hasn’t done since 2020 during coach Troy Hoff’s last year at the program’s helm.
“We want to get over that second round and region championship hump,” Cawthon said.
That hasn’t happened since — yep, you guessed it — 2018.
That said, while Cawthon won’t go full-bore comparison mode with that 2018 squad that became the first Newton County football team to post an undefeated regular season, Cawthon’s 20-year stint at Eastside affords him some juxtapositional space.
“You know, that [2018] team, was very experienced,” Cawthon said. “This one is very experienced. We have 15, 16 starters back from last year, and from a physicality aspect, they’re very similar. This team loves to practice just that team did. It’s very important that you have kids who don’t dread practice. And, they also have fun together.”
The talent is there, too.
While the 2018 team had guys like 1,000-yard rusher Taylor Carter, wide receiver Jamari Brown and linebacker Jamari Brundage who finished that season with 121 tackles — solid players who, along with others, earned college football scholarships that year, this year’s roster features a trio Power 4 prospects in linebackers Bailey Benson (Wake Forest) and Christian Gass (Tennessee) and running back/safety Jayden Barr (Georgia Tech).
Most importantly to Cawthon, those athletes are “homegrown kids” who’ve been around the program since they were in the eighth grade.
“You know, high school football is almost like college football now when it comes to recruiting,” Cawthon said. “It’s unbelievable. I’ve been here 20 years, and we’ve only had six Power 4 kids. We had, of course, Eric Stokes and Sheldon Rankins. We had Jaylen Farmer sign with Florida last year. But then it’s these three we have now, and that’s it.”
Cawthon called Benson, Gass and Barr the core of this year’s team.
“Those three kids set the tone,” Cawthon said. “We don’t get a lot of transfers, but we have a lot of good, high school football players who work their tails off, and I’m so proud of those three and more. I think we’re gonna have a good chance to see more kids get a chance to play in college after the year is over.”
Speaking of continuity, Cawthon was borderline giddy about having former head coach Troy Hoff back with him on the sidelines.
Hoff led Eastside’s program from 2016 through 2021 before leaving for Woodstock for two years. He returned to Eastside before last season began to coach offensive linemen. But for Cawthon, Hoff’s presence on the staff is more important than his position.
“Man, it’s like we’ve got the band back together again,” Cawthon said. “Me, coach Hoff and [coach] Frankie Iverson, it’s like we’ve been around here forever. Having [Hoff] back makes everything complete. We know each other’s families through and through. They’re both more than a coach. Both of them are my best friends. They know what to say and when to say it. There are no egos over here, man.”
Cawthon also mentioned coach Jeremy Ross who serves as defensive coordinator as one who’s been around “nine or 10 years.”
“We’ve got a lot of guys on that sideline who know the Eastside way,” he said. “They know our culture.”
They also know the program’s winning ways. Eastside hasn’t had a losing season since Rick Hurst’s first back in 2005 and only two 5-5 campaigns (2006, 2013) in that same span. During that stretch, the Eagles have made the payoffs 12 times, including nine straight seasons and have won three region championships.
Cawthon sees no reason why this year’s bunch can’t add to some of that success.
“These first four games have no bearing on us reaching our goals,” Cawthon said. “They’re four interviews for our kids to see where we’re at. Our aspirations, obviously, this senior class doesn’t want to be the first in nine years to miss the playoffs. Once you get into the tournament, anything happens. We also want to win another region championship.”
