ON Air with 912 Sports

Written by Kevin Price

Photo courtesy of Charles Smith

Stetson Bennett might still be the best-known quarterback to have played for Pierce County. 

He was certainly a good one for the Bears, and he was a standout on the high-school baseball diamond, too. 

Of course, the Mailman delivered big-time for the Georgia Bulldogs as he quarterbacked back-to-back national championship teams in Athens and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy as well. 

They even held a parade in Bennett’s honor in downtown Blackshear following the 2021 national title so the town folk could congratulate their hometown hero. 

Now a few years later, Caden McGatha, the current starting quarterback for Pierce County, is a household name in Blackshear, too. 

Those who follow prep football in the state got to know him last year as well as McGatha led the Bears to a 14-1 record and the Class AA state championship, their second in three years. 

McGatha was a cinch-pick as an All-State player following the season and the junior was an easy choice as the Class AA Offensive Player of the Year. He became just the second quarterback in state history to run and pass for more than 2,000 yards in a single season while leading the Bears to the state championship. 

And with the 2024 season under way, the Bears figure to win a lot of games and possibly another state title. They were ranked No. 1 in most state polls in Class AA to begin the season. 

They haven’t necessarily spent a lot of time talking about a repeat, according to their star quarterback. But, make no mistake. That’s the ultimate goal for the Bears, who aren’t resting on their laurels, McGatha added. 

“We’re excited. We’re ready to go. We’ve been working hard,” McGatha said prior to season kickoff. 

The 2023 state title game was a classic one, and McGatha was a major player for the Bears in the win as they outlasted an also-tough Rockmart team 48-45 in a triple-overtime thriller. 

He scored the winning touchdown in the third overtime on a 1-yard run after the Bears held Rockmart to a field goal on its previous possession. 

For the game, McGatha ran or threw on 61 of 64 plays by the Bears. He carried the ball 53 times for 244 yards and four touchdowns while passing for another 60 yards and two additional touchdowns. The 53 rushing attempts were also a record for a state championship game by any single ball-carrier. 

McGatha guesses he’s probably watched that title game 15 times and said he was even nervous as he watched the first couple of times despite knowing the final result. 

“The first two or three times, watching it with my buddies on the team, we were critical at first,” he noted. “We talked about what we did or could have done on this play or that play. 

“But then, we watched it for fun, just looking back at it and how cool it was and had a good time with it. ”Reflecting on the 2023 season ended some time ago, though, McCatha noted. In addition to attending camps and working out for some of the college teams recruiting him, McGatha spent the offseason getting ready for the current campaign. The Bears are focused on 2024, he says. 

“We aren’t looking back at last year. We’ll always remember it, but we don’t talk about it or reflect and look back,” McGatha said. “We’re gonna play every week, then worry about the next week and do that week after week. If we do that, it’ll turn out the same.”

McGatha, the quarterback on the All-912 Postseason Team from last season and also the All-912 Preseason team for this year, will play a prominent role in the outcome of the Bears’ season, whatever that may be. After all, he is their quarterback, a position of importance on most any team. 

It certainly is for Pierce because they have McGatha in that spot. He’s an athlete who could play wide receiver, linebacker or even one of the secondary positions for the Bears if needed, according to Pierce head coach Ryan Herring. 

He’s a play-maker for sure, with his arm and his legs. The 6-foot, 190-pounder senior is also the unquestioned leader of the Pierce team. He doesn’t walk around demanding respect from his teammates, but McGatha gets it because of the example he sets on a daily basis. 

“Kids see he’s tough, he’s not a complainer,” said Pierce head coach Ryan Herring. “When kids see he’s getting hit in the face 25 times a game, comes to the sideline and throws up and goes back in, everyone sees that. It doesn’t matter if you’re a teenager or an 80-year-old man who comes to Pierce County games, you’ve seen his toughness and leadership. No one questions that.”

While he delivered big-time in the state final for the Bears, the game in which he showed his true grit the most was the semifinal game the previous week. Battling a stomach virus going into the game, McGatha still starred that night for the Bears, leading them to a 35-7 victory over Fitzgerald to punch a ticket to the state championship.

McGatha ran or passed on 51 of the 53 offensive plays for the Bears in the semifinal and scored all five Pierce touchdowns. He rushed 38 times for 328 yards and was 8-of-13 passing for 60 yards, totaling 388 yards for the game. He was chosen for the Georgia High School Football Daily Player of the Week for the state with that performance. 

“The good thing about him, he wants to win,” Herring said. “If it’s running 54 times or throwing 54 times (a game), it doesn’t matter. That’s why we’re successful right now. We have kids that aren’t worried about the me, they’re worried about the we. He’s like that, but we have a lot more also. They’ll do whatever you ask them to do.”

For the 2023 season, McGatha ended up rushing for 2,155 yards while passing for 2,053 yards. 

He could very well post similar-type numbers this season which kicked off for the Bears on Aug. 23 with a home game against Coosa Christian Academy from Alabama. The Conquerors reached the state semifinals in their class last season, but they weren’t a match for the Bears who won the opener going away, 41-7. 

McGatha accounted for 244 yards against Coosa, rushing 16 times for 74 yards while throwing for 170 yards and three scores despite nursing a minor lower-back injury going int the game. 

That was the only game the Bears had played when this story was submitted on deadline. They were scheduled to play five more non-region games before kicking off region action on Oct. 4 at home versus Cook. 

The Bears spent the offseason rebuilding their offensive and defensive lines after losing seniors in positions along both of those fronts. 

They do have other skill-players who can make plays, but they’ll build everything on offense around their standout signal-caller who knows the playbook as well as his coaches. 

“He’s got to run the ball, throw the ball, make checks, change plays. He’s got to do all of that,” Herring said. 

Essentially, he’s another coach on the field, as well. 

“He’s got leeway to check plays. Anytime something looks bad, he has the freedom to check it,” Herring added. 

While his statistics are typically impressive from game to game, McGatha posts some other strong numbers, too. He can bench press 300 pounds and also cleans 285. 

McGatha carries a 3.8 grade-point average as well and notes that his favorite school subject is math. 

McGatha likely will play football beyond Pierce. Schools showing interest in him include North Alabama, the Citadel, Army, Navy, East Carolina and Vanderbilt. 

He says he probably won’t make a decision regarding his future home until after this season.

Written by Kevin Price

Photo courtesy of Michael Brinson

  Making good grades in school has always been important to Deuce Hidalgo, and the Glynn Academy senior always has. 

The featured Scholar-Athlete for this issue of 912 Sports Magazine, Hidalgo entered his senior year sporting a 4.4 grade-point average while taking some 15 Advanced Placement courses during his time at Glynn. 

Becoming a good football player for the Red Terrors is something he wanted to do as well when he got to high school, and Deuce also has done that. Last year as a junior, he was voted to the Region 2-AAAAAA team by the league coaches as a tight end. 

You might think being a starter for the Terrors would be a sure thing for him, too. After all, Deuce is the son of Glynn’s head coach, Rocky Hidalgo, a former offensive lineman himself as a player. But there was a time when the veteran coach, now in his 11thseason with the Terrors, wasn’t so sure his middle child would blossom on the gridiron.

“To be honest, when he was little, I wasn’t sure he’d ever be a good football player,” said Coach Hidalgo, who people know as Coach Rock. “He was kind of a squirrely kid with big ears. He worked really hard, and the thing that sets him off is he’s physical. He’ll come off the ball, put his face on you and block you.

“That’s what he’s good at. He’s made a role for himself here doing that. He’s become a good high school football player.”

Deuce is the second Hidalgo kid to go through Glynn while Coach Rock has been the school’s head football coach. Lily Hidalgo was previously a standout volleyball player for the Lady Terrors and is now in her senior season with the women’s team at Young Harris College. Coach Rock’s wife, Kelly, also played college volleyball. 

Cooper Hidalgo is the youngest of the three kids and is currently in seventh grade, so he will be at Glynn in a couple of years. Cooper plays football and baseball, but on football Friday nights, he’s on the sidelines as one of the ball boys for the Terrors. 

Deuce was a ball boy at one time, too. He says he got a start on the Terrors’ playbook by paying attention to what was happening in practice and during games back in those days. 

“I knew the plays before I got to high school,” he says. “I learned a lot just being around the practices, being around the coaches. I was pretty much here everyday, so I grew up around it.”

His dad remembers Deuce starting to “get it” during middle school and taking off as a player then. 

“Probably seventh- or eight-grade,” Coach Rock says. “You could see him starting to mix it up. He’s a very coachable kid. He’s kind of a point and click guy. You say go block that guy and he goes and gets after it and gives great effort. That’s what he does. He gives great effort when he plays.”

Of course, Hidalgo expects that from all of his players and usually gets it, or else. 

For sure, his own son better understand that. “I expect him to go play really hard and be an example for other kids,” Rock said. 

Coach Rock added that he tries to coach Deuce like he would any other player. Deuce said he does, but if anything, he’s maybe coached harder by his dad. And Deuce is OK with that.

“If he’s in my drill, I feel like he’s looking harder at me than the other guy, just to hold me to a higher standard which I like a lot,” the younger Hidalgo said. 

But Deuce did add Coach Rock sticks to being his football coach around school. He’s pretty much dad at home, other than having conversations about games and practices like any other father and son might. 

It’s not like his dad is constantly making making him sit down to critique his own game or practice film or break down the opposing defense for the next game an entire weekend with him. 

But of course, football is major part of life in the Hidalgo household. Fall Saturdays are often spent watching college football, especially big LSU games. Coach Rock, a Louisiana native, passed his love for the Tigers onto the rest of the family.

They also root for the New Orleans Saints on NFL Sundays, but Rock is usually busy at the office with coaches’ meetings all day. When he returns home in the evening, they will usually watch the weekly Sunday night nationally-televised game together. 

Deuce also recalls going back and watching most of the past Super Bowls with dad and Cooper in recent years. His favorite, obviously, was the 2010 game when the Saints toppled the Indianapolis Colts to win their one and only Lombardi Trophy. 

“I was like 3 years old then,” he says. “So, it was kinda awesome watching that one. It was fun seeing how that one played out.”

Deuce doesn’t currently have plans to play football beyond high school. He will instead focus on academics. But, there’s a good chance he stays involved by picking up a student job within a college football program when he goes off to school. 

His dad has already talked to coaches at Georgia Tech about that possibility. Georgia Tech is where Deuce would like to further his education as he plans to major in electrical engineering. He also plans to apply to several other schools including Mercer, Vanderbilt, Florida and Georgia, filling out applications for the honors colleges at the latter two state universities. 

His resume’ should be attractive to all those schools. He will graduate in the top 10 percent of Glynn’s senior class. His AP courses have included Calculus, Physics and Chemistry, and Deuce has made 6s and 5s - the highest possible scores - on each of the 15 AP exams he has taken. 

He has already made a 33 on the ACT and was twice nominated for the Governor’s Honors Program. He is a member of National Honor Society and Beta Club and the Senior Mentorship Club at his school. Deuce also competed at the state and national levels for Glynn’s DECA chapter. 

“Everything I do, I try to do as best I can,” he says. “If I’m gonna do something, I want to excel at it.”

And that does include football, too.

“He’s gonna do what you ask to the best of his ability,” Coach Rock said. “The good thing is he has some perspective on it. He knows when he doesn’t play well and it bothers him. Football is important to him. Winning is important to him. His team is important to him, and you can see that when we don’t play well. 

“He’s invested a lot in it, and it means a lot to him. You can see that when he leaves the field, whether we win or lose.”