Wes Worthington learned about what it takes to coach a successful high school football program in the state of Georgia in seven years as an assistant under Danny Britt at Benedictine and seven more working with another highly- respected coach in Calvary Day's Mark Stroud.
Worthington then took over the program at St. Andrew's, a GIAA program that has struggled to draw players into the fold.
But the goal for Worthington remains the same ― trying to teach his players life lessons through the sport he loves.On Thursday night, Worthington suited up just 16 players as the Lions hosted Hardeeville in a non-region matchup on the Lions' new state-of-the-art turf field.Hardeeville beat St. Andrews's 33-14, but Worthington walked off the field proud of the fight
his squad showed.
The Lions fumbled on their second play from scrimmage and Hardeeville's Jeremiah Dunham ran it back for a 38-yard score. On the next Lion drive, they fumbled it away again ― setting up a 6-yard score by Joniathan Greene as the Hurricanes led 13-0 just 2:35 into the game. Kyrell Jamison hit Kahlil Polite with a 15-yard touchdown pass after the Lions lost a third fumble and Hardeeville took a 19-0 lead with 5:40 left in the first quarter.
But Worthington stayed positive and his team followed suit. Patrick Jackson hit Darius Chapman for the first of two scoring passes between the duo with eight seconds left in the half and the Lions (1-3) went toe-to-toe with the Hurricanes after intermission.
Jackson was 5 of 10 passing for 91 yards and the two scores and Chapman had the two touchdown catches for 47 yards. Senior Wilder Pratt ran for 53 yards on five carries and caught a 42-yard pass.
Greene rushed for 83 yards and the two scores on eight carries for Hardeeville (2-2) and Tahlib Nelson had 40 yards on eight carries.
"We came out a little weak in the knees, but I thought we regrouped and battled," said Worthington, in his third season leading the program. "Our defense got some stops and we got back to basics with the offense and started executing. My biggest challenge here has been trying to get more players and keeping up the morale. In my first year here, we would have quit after falling behind early and lost like 59-0.
"We've got some great kids here and we're trying to build a foundation. We've got a great school with excellent facilities and it's a great place to come and play. We just need to get some more numbers, but our kids showed so much fight tonight. It's just like in life ― if you get knocked down, you've got to get back up."
Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: How Wes Worthington is working to build the St. Andrew's football program
