Gridiron Cougars Eye Early Start

In less than two months, the Piedmont Academy football team will take the field for a game that will count in the regular season standings.

Playing what is believed to be the earliest regular season game in school history, the Cougars will travel to Bethlehem Christian Academy on Friday, Aug. 12, to begin the 2016 campaign.

With such an early start to the new season, summer workouts have an added level of importance for the Piedmont players. Coach Wes Tanner said early workouts have gone well.

“The early results have been good,” he said. “The numbers have been as good, if not better than any of the years I’ve been year and that includes those as an assistant. We’ve already reached the 30 mark. I’m excited about that. I like the way things are going.”

The Cougars will compete in two 7-on-7 events this summer, one on June 30 at Briarwood and one at Piedmont on July 18.

“The earlier-than-usual games are going to take some adjustments on the part of all teams involved,” Tanner said. “All of our August games will be at 8 p.m., to try and combat the heat at least somewhat.”

Other games in August include Loganville Christian on Aug. 19 and John Milledge Academy on Aug. 28. Both of those games will be at home.

Piedmont is coming off an 8-3 season in 2015. While the team finished the regular season 8-2 with another region championship, there was a disappointing loss to Windsor in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. The Cougars will look to get back to the postseason this fall.

There have been some adjustments to the Piedmont varsity coaching staff. Tanner handles the team’s offensive coordinator duties while Rick Ringer will now coordinate the defense.