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Barrow News-Journal
Award-winning local sports coverage
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
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Section B
★★★★
Bulldoggs focused on what’s ahead amid recent struggles
By Trevyn Gray
The Bulldoggs have lost four of its last five games, but
head coach Robert Paxia said he and his team are still opti
mistic and taking it one day at a time as the season begins to
come to a close.
“Everything we want is still in our hands, and we are the
controllers of our destiny,” he said. “As long as we continue
to handle our business, we’ll be okay.”
Winder-Barrow has two more games against Eastside and
Clarke Central ahead of them in the coming weeks.
The Bulldoggs haven’t been able to get their run game
going in the latter half of the season. When they started the
season 3-0, they averaged over 300 yards on the ground per
game. However, they’ve averaged less than 200 since.
Paxia said the downturn is caused by a combination of
opposing defenses and mistakes by his own guys.
“Running the football is a big part of our identity” Paxia
said. “Some of the teams that we play are extremely well
coached and extremely physical. They have good players,
so (our run game isn’t) always going to be as big or as per
fect as it could be.”
Region 8-5A is one of the more competitive regions in
the state of Georgia in football, so Paxia acknowledges the
increased competition level as a key reason for the recent
struggles. Region rival No. 3 Jefferson and Peachtree Ridge,
ranked No. 11 in 7A, are two examples of those tough teams.
Their matchups with the two aforementioned Georgia
juggernauts were both shutouts, two of three recent shutout
losses for WBHS. Paxia said that’s due in part to the Bull
doggs digging themselves bigger holes midway through
games.
“When we get down two or three scores, especially in the
middle of the third quarter or so, you start to become a little
more aggressive in your play calls,” he said. “As a player,
you’re taking a chance that you normally wouldn’t take on
a ball or you’re pressing to make a play in order to try to get
all the points back in one time. In reality, you can only get
six at a time.”
Paxia also referenced points left on the field in those tough
games. Against Jefferson, WBHS got inside the opposing
10-yard line and failed to turn those drives into points en
route to a 44-0 home loss.
WBHS has a segment each Monday morning named
“Good, Close, Bad”, which provides an opportunity for the
team to review what went well, what was close to going
well and what went wrong in the previous week, according
to Paxia.
Paxia said his team sees how close they are to being the
team they want to be, and it’s especially evident during that
segment. While the Bulldoggs aren’t happy with their loss
es, they continue to grind towards being a playoff-worthy
team.
“Nobody wakes up and says, ‘I really want to lose to
day,”’ Paxia said. “So, we just continue to work hard,
continue to try to build the culture that we want with that
positive-growth mindset and understand that, in life, not ev
erything’s gonna go your way. We’re going to handle that
adversity.”
The Bulldoggs are viewing the recent adversarial mo
ments as a chance for growth for a young team.
“We’re learning how to overcome and deal with adversity
and learning how to react and respond correctly to the situa
tions that occur within the game,” Paxia said. “We’re trying
to grow every week, trying to get 1% better every day.”
Region 8-5A is one of the more competitive regions in the state of Georgia in football, so Paxia acknowledges the increased
competition level as a key reason for the recent struggles. Region rival No. 3 Jefferson and Peachtree Ridge, ranked No. 11 in
7A, are two examples of those tough teams.
Winder-Barrow has two more games against Eastside and Clarke Central ahead of them in the coming weeks.
Bulldoggs’ playoff hopes still alive late in the season
By Trevyn Gray
Even after recent struggles in the latter half of
the season, the Bulldoggs still have a glimmer of
hope for a shot at the state playoffs. That is, if
events go their way in the final two weeks of the
season.
Winder-Barrow (4-4 overall, 1-3 region) has
two important games ahead of them. It hosts East-
side Friday before traveling to Clarke Central on
Friday, Nov. 3 in a game with significant playoff
implications.
In the event that Flowery Branch beats Logan-
ville at home Friday, a series of potential routes to
the postseason open up for the Bulldoggs, as there
will be three teams vying for the final spot.
If Flowery Branch does defeat Loganville, Lo-
ganville will finish with a 2-4 record in region
play. WBHS owns the tiebreaker against Logan
ville with its 19-15 win earlier in the season.
WINDER BEATS CLARKE AND
FLOWERY BRANCH BEATS HERITAGE
To tie or pass Loganville in the standings,
WBHS would need a win against Clarke Central
in the season finale.
If Flowery Branch beats Heritage, Heritage
would be eliminated from playoff contention.
WINDER BEATS CLARKE AND HERI
TAGE BEATS FLOWERY BRANCH
If WBHS and Heritage both win in their season
finales, there would be a three-way tie for the four
seed between Heritage, WBHS and Loganville.
Head coach Robert Paxia said the tie would be
broken by the best point differential in region play
by the three teams, per GHSA regulations.
OTHER POTENTIALS
However, if Loganville beats Flowery Branch
on Friday or if Clarke Central beats WBHS in the
season finale on Nov. 3, WBHS would immediate
ly be eliminated from playoff contention.
Nevertheless, Paxia said he and his team are
focused on what they can control going forward
and not looking past their game against Eastside
Friday.
They haven’t even discussed the prospect of a
win or go home situation against Clarke Central
in the season finale.
“Our goal is to get better every day - you can’t
control anything outside of that,” he said.
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