The Perry Panthers’ football team is gearing up for the 2024 season which kicks off in under a week as they begin their quest of a potential second consecutive state title. Last season was a magical one for the Maroon, Gold, and White as they would win their first ever state title in football that was 70 years in the making.
Perry went 13-2 last season with their losses coming to county rival HoCo and former region foe Spalding. This season, the Panthers will compete in a completely different region which we’ll get to shortly. First, they will open the season against former region foe Baldwin at Fort Valley State on Saturday at 6pm.
The next two games will be at home against Peach Co and county rival Houston Co and the last two meetings between HoCo and Perry have been high scoring barn burners that the Bears won both times. Two weeks after HoCo will be another short road trip to county rival Veterans which was also a barn burner last season and they will finish non region play at home against East Coweta.
Region play will begin the final week of September for the Maroon, Gold, and White at home against a solid New Hampstead team and then it will get tough as Perry will play at Wayne Co, host Ware Co, play at Benedictine, and then finish on the road at county rival Warner Robins. A very wild fact about the Panthers and Demons is despite being county rivals, they have not faced off against each other in football since 1965.
The road for a repeat will be difficult but Perry will be looking to return to the top of the mountain under 8th year head coach Kevin Smith in 2024 and they will do so with a different starting QB as Colter Ginn has graduated and is off to Athens, Georgia.
