C.A. Johnson’s Desmond Martin
The C.A. Johnson Green Hornets have raised some eyebrows in the early portion of the 2020 schedule. Not only is C.A. Johnson 2-0, but the Green Hornets have racked up 83 points in two wins against Lewisville and Great Falls.
“Of course I’m excited for the kids. They have worked hard,” C.A. Johnson head coach Walt Wilson said. “Our goal is to get better every time we touch the field.”
The Green Hornets definitely came out with a better result. After a come-from-behind 21-14 win over Lewisville to open the season, C.A. Johnson scored 42 points in the first half en route to a 62-22 win over Great Falls. The Green Hornets amassed 460 total yards of offense. Quarterback Isom Harris went 17-of-22 for 353 yards and five touchdowns. For the season, Harris is 31-of-51 for 543 yards and six touchdowns.
One of the biggest changes is Harris’s play. Wilson has helped his quarterback’s development by having the offensive coordinator stay with Harris throughout practices.
“If you look at the transformation from last week to this week, last year to this year, you can see how he is getting better,” Wilson said. “He is athletic, and he can throw, but one of his biggest issues was accuracy.”
Harris was complemented with a strong performance by Cecilius Bailey, who rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries against Great Falls. For the season, Bailey has 194 yards and four touchdowns on 17 carries.
While Harris and Bailey have had a good start to the season so far, the Green Hornets’ success goes beyond the play of their quarterback and running back. Desmond Martin and Dalante’ Belton have also had an impact on offense.
The defense has been led by Deondre Goodwin, James Dent, and Brian McIntire. And while the defense has only surrendered an average of 18 points per game, Wilson was not completely happy with its performance against Great Falls. The Hornets gave up 22 points on what he calls mistakes that shouldn’t have happened.
Eliminating those kinds of mistakes is part of a change in attitude he is trying to instill at C.A. Johnson. For the 22 points the defense gave up, there will be 15 extra sprints at this week’s practice. Wilson subtracted six sprints because of the defensive touchdown and three because the defense forced three turnovers. However, he added two because the defense was loafing on two of the Great Falls scores.
It’s a tough stance on a young team learning how to win, but the approach seems to work. Considering that Wilson is a first-year coach with a young team and the uncertainty that plagued high school football all offseason, the Green Hornets have certainly taken advantage of the opportunity with the undefeated start.
“Kids know if you are real and you care about them,” Wilson said. “They don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.”
“I have an agreement with my players,” Wilson said. “I agree with them they won’t get outcoached. They promise to me they won’t get outplayed.”
A 2-0 record so far is a lot to be proud of, but as they turn their focus to this week, the Green Hornets must travel to McBee to take on the Panthers.
“They are a hard-nosed team,” Wilson said. “But if we do what we are cable of doing, we’ll make it competitive.”
A win against the Panthers would assure C.A. Johnson a postseason berth and set up a de facto region championship game two weeks later against Lamar.
First thing is first for the Green Hornets, as they work on improvements from their 40-point win and focus on how they can defeat McBee.
“A 3-0 start would be huge,” Wilson said. “But that’s not our goal. The goal is to get better. We take it one week at a time, and everything else will fall into place. I’m happy for the kids because they deserve it. This community deserves it. We’re just cracking the surface. We have a lot of potential here.”
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