Smalltown Bowdon relishes its 3-time champion football team

You hear it all the time, but it’s never precisely clear why. It creaks in the stands and whispers in the hallways. But what does it really mean when someone says, “High school football isn’t what it used to be.”

What changed? What makes it different? What did it used to be?

And then there’s Bowdon.

“It kind of reminds you of football in the 1980s in Georgia,” Bowdon coach Rich Findley said. “It’s a one-city school, and on Friday night, it shuts down, and everybody in the entire city of Bowdon is going to be in that stadium.”

Bowdon’s town size, with about 2,000 residents, and its success as a football program, with three straight Class A championships, have caused these players to become local celebrities.

“They know who our players are when they’re out on the town,” Fendley said. “That can be good and bad. You’ve got to walk a fine line. ... You better be behaving because it’s going to get back to me if you’re not. Our parents are great. They’re going to take care of our kids. (If) we have any kids not handling their business the right way, I’m going to get a phone call.”

Fendley credits the community's parents, from the past and present, with helping to keep the players in line and supporting them on and off the field. Parents will also help ensure players have meals before and after games.

It reminds Fendley of his high school days in the 1980s. He played on a 1988 championship team at Warner Robins, where his father, Fendley Sr., was a long-time coach. That was a bigger city than Bowdon but with a similar passion for the local team.

“You go to church, people are going to ask you, ‘Who you playing next week? How good are they? What are your chances?” Fendley said. “Right now, everybody’s asking, ‘Are y’all going to do it again?’ Red Devil football is the topic of conversation anywhere you go in Bowdon.”

Chasing history: Only 3 schools have won 4 straight

After winning the Class A Division II last season, the Red Devils entered a stratosphere that’s been reached by only 13 other GHSA programs, those with three consecutive championships. And now, they are going for their fourth in a row. Only West Rome (1982-1985), Buford (2007-2010) and Eagle’s Landing Christian (2015-2019) have achieved that.

The 2024 title run was elusive at times. Bowdon lost its opener to Fellowship Christian 36-35 when Fellowship scored on the final play of the game.

“The first thing I said after the game was we needed that,” said Fendley. “We kind of had that ‘We can’t-get-beat (mindset).’”

A few weeks later, the team would also lose the rematch of the previous year’s state championship game against Manchester 28-20. Manchester wanted this game badly after losing the year before.

“I told our kids they wanted that game more than we did,” Fendley said. “Not that we didn’t play hard. Not that we didn’t try to execute what we did, but that was the one they had circled.”

Fendley uses these games as teaching moments.

“Our kids understand, when we’re in game 13 or 14 or 15 and we say on Monday, ‘Every little thing we ask you to do, you better do it the right way or it’ll cost you,’” said Fendley. “They’re focused on doing those little things.”

Fendley has had some great players over his seven years there, but the core and foundation of all those teams are the blue-collar guys, which is the staple of this community.

One of those, Fendley said, is Stewart Powell, who plays on the offensive and defensive lines. Another is a defensive end, Jack South, nicknamed Kamikaze. “He’s a wild man on Friday nights,” Fendley said.

There’s Berkley Perkins, a senior safety and receiver who will be a four-year starter. Fendley calls him ‘’a quiet assassin.”

Bowdon will continue to lean on all-state running back and linebacker Josh Davis for leadership and production. Davis was a leader for the offense, racking up 1,127 yards on the ground with 17 touchdowns, and on defense, he tallied 77 tackles.

Then, of course, there’s tight end/wide receiver Kaiden Prothro, the reigning Class A Division II offensive player of the year and a five-star recruit.

A rare five-star born and raised here

Unlike what you see in modern high school football, where players tend to move around to find the best opportunity to showcase their talents, Prothro is Bowdon through and through.

“He is a long bloodline of Bowdon Red Devils,” Fendley said of Prothro. “His daddy (Clarence Prothro) actually played on the ’92 state championship team and was a tight end.”

Before coach Fendley arrived, the 1992 and 1971 championships were the only two in school history. When Fendley came to Bowdon in 2018, his stepson was in fourth grade. Kaiden and his son played sports together in the community. Now, as seniors, they work out and hang out together.

Fendley’s connection to Kaiden even crosses the border into Alabama.

“He had some cousins over at Randolph County (Alabama) a couple of years ago when I first got to Bowdon,” Fendley said. “I got a brother coaching over there who coached one of his cousins.”

Coach joked that it seems like he runs into a relative of Kaiden everywhere he goes in the city.

“His dad helps us coach,” Fendley said. “His momma is involved. He’s got a step-momma that works with our cheerleaders.”

Kaiden blew up his sophomore year at Bowdon with 33 receptions, 831 yards and 13 touchdowns. He followed that up with 56 receptions, 1,203 yards and 22 touchdowns in his junior year.

“We’ve had nobody with stars like him,” Fendley said. “In the eight years, we’ve had five Division 1 players.”

Prothro has attracted college coaches from all over the nation to this tiny Alabama border town, and it’s been great for him, his recruitment and his teammates.

“That’s what’s happened to Jonah Wilson,” Fendley said. “He’s there, and a lot of guys had come in to see Kaiden, and then they want to know who that guy is. He moves well. His film is really good and he kind of blown up. He may be sitting on about 10 D-I offers right now.”

Wilson, a senior, plays tight end and linebacker. Last year was a big breakout year. He had 61 tackles, including eight tackles for a loss, and he also recorded seven sacks. Offensively, he had 30 receptions for 510 yards and seven touchdowns.

Fendley is impressed by their work this offseason, saying, “We’ve probably had our best offseason of the eight years that we’ve been there.”

As with anything, success brings different challenges yearly. Fendley is very adamant that players can’t just rest on their laurels.

“You’re going to be everybody’s Super Bowl,” Fendley tells his players. “You can’t do what you did to win again. Everybody we beat (is) doing different stuff to catch us. So, if we do exactly what we’ve done, at some point, somebody’s going to pass us by.”

So, this offseason, Fendley added additional challenges and increased the intensity of their workouts.

“Always be chasing something and find something you can be better at,” Fendley tells his players. “It’s a lot easier to get to the mountain and get on top of it than to stay there when you get there.”

Tapping into Bowdon’s history

When Fendley first arrived at Bowdon, one thing that struck him as odd was that evidence of Bowdon football's tradition and history was nowhere to be found.

“I knew that they were state championship teams in the past,” said Fendley. “I knew that they had won 15 or 16 region championships, but nowhere could you visibly see that stuff.”

So, Fendley sat down with his staff, the principal and the athletic director to change that.

“I said these current kids don’t know the history of this program.” Fendley said. “They don’t know how great it has been, how great it once was (and) how many players we’ve sent off to college.”

Now the history of the program can be seen throughout the campus.

“We did it in the fieldhouse, in the locker rooms, in the weight room,” Fendley said. “We put up the championships. We put up pictures of players who are in college and in the NFL.”

And now, they also put up things celebrating current players who are being recruited and doing great things on and off the field. A lot of that is happening on social media, as well.

“You’ve got to brand your program,” Fendley said. “You’ve got to get it out there. You’ve got to get your kids out there because you’re in a time and place now, in 2025, where kids and parents want to be a part of a program that’s doing everything right.”

Leading by example

If you head to the Red Devils’ X account, you might run across this video of Fendley power cleaning 225 pounds.

“That’s our standard,” Fendley said. “We want every kid in the program to be able to hit 225 (pounds) or more.

Fendley remembers a 10th grader new to the program saying, “I don’t even think you can hit the standard.” That got Fendley going.

“That kind of got under the skin a little bit,” Fendley said, laughing.

Fendley kept it simple, saying, “I ain’t as good as I once was, but I can be as good once as I’ve ever been.” Then he proceeded to blow the kid’s mind.

At 52, Fendley said he felt that for a couple of weeks.

“I think you’ve got to lead by example sometimes, and that was just one of them moments where I wanted everybody in there to know that at 52, I can do it.”

Schools that have won three straight GHSA championships:

1951-53 Valdosta (A)*

1960-62 Valdosta (3A)*

1982-85 West Rome (2A)*

1985-87 Lincoln County (A)*

1992-94 Thomas Central (3A)*

2000-02 Parkview (5A)*

2001-03 Buford (A/2A)*

2004-06 Charlton County (2A)*

2007-10 Buford (2A)*

2012-14 Buford (3A)*

2015-19 ELCA (A)*

2017-19 Blessed Trinity (4A)

2019-21 Buford (5A/6A)

2022-24 Bowdon (A)