WARNER ROBINS — Houston County’s cheerleaders and marching band sway on both sides of the walkway into Freedom Field.
Team buses make the two-minute drive from Houston County High School to the parking lot, which fans begin to fill over an hour before kickoff. Houston County football players, the first 8-0 team in program history, enter the “Bear Walk” and stroll single file through the band playing “Swag Surfin’” and into the stadium.
“It’s so much fun just being with these guys and everything, and they make everything fun,” Houston County quarterback Ryan Maxwell said. “It’s a great environment, and I’m grateful to play here.”
Fans fill most of the home side of the stadium, which holds over 6,500 people, according to athletic director Jason Brett.
“You want people to enjoy coming and listening to the band and watching the cheerleaders and having a tailgate experience,” Brett said. “They can tailgate before the game, they can hang out with their friends and then come in and watch some good football and cheer on the Bears.
“Our philosophy was that we wanted to make it as fun as possible to get as many people in the stadium as we could so we can support this team, and we’ll keep adding to it.”
Credit: HOCOFootball.com
Credit: HOCOFootball.com
The Bear Walk is the first of several game day customs that mimic a college football Saturday. The Bears also take the field to “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, modeled after the Virginia Tech tradition.
Freedom Field’s digital jumbotron has animations for penalties and first downs that rival a 2000s-era bowling alley. The Bears also set off a train horn in the stadium with every score.
That train horn has worked hard this season, as Houston County has outscored its opponents by an average of 26.9 points per game. That included a 45-21 win over Coffee last Friday, setting up a crucial Region 2-5A matchup at Thomas County Central this week, when Region 2-5A’s last unbeaten teams will battle for first place. Thomas County Central can take the region title on Friday, while Houston County has to win and then beat Lee County at home on Oct. 31.
Beating Thomas County Central, which won a state title in 2023 and made the quarterfinals in 2024, would be an upset of Class 5A’s No. 2 team, and thus, one of the biggest wins in program history.
For senior linebacker Westen Ard, it would be the culmination of the rebuild that started four years ago under new coach Jeremy Edwards. The Bears went 10-3 in 2022 after finishing 4-7 the year before. It was the program’s first 10-win season since 2015, when a young Jake Fromm, who went on to play at Georgia, was the quarterback.
The Bears made school history on Oct. 3, when they shutout Northside to become the program’s first 7-0 team.
Now a University of Connecticut commit, Ard wants to grow Houston County’s brand beyond Middle Georgia. Beating a nationally ranked South Georgia team would do that.
“We’ve always had a dominance over the county, but that’s not our end goal,” Ard said after the win over Coffee last Friday. “We want to run the whole state, and those South (Georgia) teams, like right here at Coffee, that was a huge win for us.
“Getting that confidence and getting that 8-0 win is definitely a good thing going into Thomas County.”
The Bears will need more than confidence to leave Thomas County Central with a win. The Yellow Jackets have never lost at home in the regular season under fourth-year coach Justin Rogers.
While Houston County will lean on its seniors, it will also need strong leadership from one of its youngest starters: sophomore quarterback Maxwell, who is following the act of former 4-star prospect AJ Hill (now at Memphis).
Hill, the 2025 Navy All-American Bowl Offensive MVP, averaged over 300 yards per game at Houston County last season. Maxwell didn’t throw a single pass in a varsity game.
In Maxwell’s first career start — against Brookwood in a televised game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic — he threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns, including a game-winning touchdown pass with seven seconds left.
“There was a huge difference in confidence,” senior linebacker Jase Jordan said. “We knew that even though he was young, he was still going to fight with us throughout the whole game, so we knew we could believe in him.”
Maxwell — who has 1,766 yards passing, 20 touchdowns and four interceptions this season — has continued to boost Houston County fans’ confidence throughout the season.
“They thought we were going to lose since we lost our quarterback, but I believe in us now,” Houston County senior Tyson Smith said.
Credit: Jack Leo
Credit: Jack Leo
The passing attack combines well with a physical run game averaging 178.8 rushing yards per game and a defense allowing just 16.5 points per game.
“You hear people throw out phrases like, ‘We look more complete than we have in the past,’” Houston County principal Jay Jones said. “Everybody’s comments are around (how) this is the first time for Coach Edwards that we’ve seen a total package, and everybody’s excited about what he can do with it.”
Edwards knows the importance of these next two games. The Bears are 0-6 against the South Georgia powerhouses in Edwards’ three seasons.
Houston County played Thomas County Central close at home last season when the No. 2-ranked Yellow Jackets beat the No. 10-ranked Bears 41-31 to take second place in Region 2-5A.
This year he’s looking for the Bears to flip the script.
“They’ve got players all over the place, but I think you’ve got to see beyond the stars and just go and play our brand of football,” Edwards said. “We need to get some turnovers and things like that, short fields and all that stuff, limit explosives.”
Winning builds a program faster than anything, but that won’t stop Edwards and Houston County from finding other ways to improve their brand. Brett said he and Edwards already know their next couple additions to the game day experience — a secret he kept close to his vest.
Edwards highlighted a recent upgrade: the Houston County-branded trailer to transfer equipment to away games. The journey to Thomas County will be its first trip.
“When you go down the highway, when we’re traveling next week, people know we’re coming,” Edwards said.
Credit: Jack Leo
Credit: Jack Leo
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