By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald

GUYTON – South Effingham needed a major reset after losing its first four games of the football season.

Nineteen days removed from its last loss, but now a return to normalcy after the effects of Hurricane Heléne, Mustangs coach Loren Purvis says a revised schedule with three games squeezed into nine days could be the catalyst for turning things around.

South’s new schedule kicks off tonight (Oct. 9) against Glynn Academy at 7:30 at the Corral followed by a Monday night (Oct. 14) tilt at home against Evans at 6 with a clash at Bradwell Institute on Friday (Oct. 18).

The Georgia High School Association added an extra week to the regular season and the Mustangs’ originally scheduled Oct. 4 game with Greenbrier was moved to Nov. 8.

South’s game with Evans was originally scheduled for Sept. 27, the day after Heléne swept through Georgia.

“There was a lot to deal with, but we’re in a spot where we’re 0-2 in the region and if we can catch momentum (playing games without down time) could be helpful,” Purvis said. “High school football is a snowball and we’re hoping to get it rolling.”

SEHS reopened for students Thursday (Oct. 3) after being closed for about a week. But the Mustangs football team held abbreviated practices starting Monday (Sept. 30) with approval from school district superintendent Dr. Yancy Ford because of the uncertainty of play dates.

During the early hours of Sept. 27, Heléne made its powerful entrance to southeast Georgia. Fallen trees and power outages followed, but sunny days followed as well. Originally, the Evans game was rescheduled for Monday, Sept. 30.

But travel for some areas of the state was out of the question. So was football practice.

“We practiced but didn’t have a full team,” Purvis said. “Getting kids there was a problem. We told the kids, take advantage of school being open. We have electricity, air conditioning, hot water for showers. You can charge your phones.

“If someone couldn’t make it, that was fine. Times like this you don’t want to be insensitive to anyone’s needs.”

Region 1-5A athletic directors met on Monday to devise a plan for makeup dates.

Most schools will be playing three games between Oct. 9 and Oct. 18 (except for any school that had a bye week originally scheduled).

South’s practices shifted from preparing for Evans to getting ready for Greenbrier and now Glynn Academy. Each team presented a different challenge.

But at least the 47-0 loss to Effingham County on Sept. 20 has lost some of its demoralizing steam.

“We’re not going to whine and complain about playing three games in nine days. We’ll hit it head on. The kids are taking it like that,” Purvis said.