Erik Soliday during Chamber of Commerce Zoom call.

TIFTON — High school football season is getting closer.

The lead-up to 2020 has been the most unique in the sport’s history because of COVID-19, according to local coaches speaking at the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce meeting last week.

Tift County High’s Ashley Anders and Tiftarea Academy’s Erik Soliday chatted from their coaching offices for the meeting, the first one ever broadcast by the chamber on Zoom.

Chris Beckham introduced the coaches, who both chatted up their teams and staff as well as the steps taken to protect everyone during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re glad to get some semblance of football going,” Soliday said.

Tiftarea and Tift are set to start their seasons later than normal — Sept. 4 for Tift and Sept. 11 for Tiftarea — but both have 10 games scheduled.

Anders said there are “a lot of unknowns” about the 2020 season but is happy to get the news the Georgia High School Association is still on for Sept. 4 to be opening week. The Blue Devils are set to play at Crisp County on that date.

“You can tell from the kids getting a little more frisky at practice. They know it’s getting closer to game time,” Anders said.

While football is on the horizon, there are changes to how much of it fans will see. There will not be a Soap Bowl in 2020 for Tift County. Anders said administration decided against it. Senior Night has been moved to Sept. 11 against Valdosta. It is usually the last home game of the year.

Neither school will play a scrimmage.

Both coaches like what they are seeing from their teams during the practice sessions.

Tift is looking at three quarterbacks to potentially step up this year, Tyler Parker, Mac Turner and Azaria Smith. Tiftarea is in a similar situation.

Candidates to replace Logan Crosson at quarterback are Dylan Harbort and Cubbie Crosson.

Offensive line offered contrasts.

Soliday said he has depth up front, while Anders is replacing nearly all of what was a very large line in 2019.

Defensive line is a point of confidence for the Panthers and Blue Devils. Anders is bringing back Charles King and Tyre West while Soliday’s men play on both sides of the line, such as Ben Matt and Trenton Fender.

“Each team is different, each team has their own personality,” Anders said.

This group excites him, he said, especially the seniors, adding they are not a huge senior class, but have been together for some time.

“Probably the most thing I’m excited about — we have some really good players in the senior class — the leadership they’re already showing in the locker room and on the field, that’s probably got me as fired up as anything,” he said.

Anders added three new coaches to his staff, Chris Wade and Kaream Hess. Wade, former Blue Devils boys basketball coach and now football offensive coordinator, has experience with football.

He’s a former head coach at Americus-Sumter and, in a connection between the two local schools, has been a member of Soliday’s staff. Hess, who takes over running backs, has been coaching in the college ranks. As a Blue Devil, Hess was one of the most prolific runners and scorers in team history.

The third new coach is a promotion. J.C. Clark is moving up to varsity. Another new addition is Michael Doscher, though he is not football-specific. Doscher will be strength and conditioning director for all sports. He was previously at Valdosta State.

Tift’s staff adds Edd Cunningham and Mikel Soliday.

“We’re all kind of offensive, defensive and special teams coordinators, grass cutters, weight room (coaches), janitors,” Soliday said.

Tiftarea will try reaching at least a third straight semifinal in 2020. Jayk Sailer, Panther kicker extraordinaire, is a big reason why.

“We won two in the playoffs last year on field goals,” Soliday said. “That’s something new for me out of the last 34 years.” Sailer had the winning boots in the waning seconds in the first two rounds of state, against Bulloch Academy and Heritage.

Beckham introduced Anders as the third winningest coach in Tift history. Anders has won 33 games since taking over in 2015 and he trails Jay Walls (44 wins) and Gene Brodie (131). Tift went 3-7 in 2019, a campaign that included a win over defending state champion Bainbridge.

“I know it’s trying times for everybody. … We’ve told them, they’ve got to be really diligent away from football,” Soliday said. “If they want to play, if we want to have a season, we’re going to have to do things and be cautious. We’re a lot like Lewis and Clark this year, really. We’re exploring new ways of doing everything.”

Anders has noted the changes, even in basic conversations between coaches and players. Whereas “Run, run, run” has been the most prolific practice command in recent years, he said “spread out, spread out, spread out” has been just as common this summer.

Diligence is big for his team, he said. The players realize “the season relies heavily on what they do.”

The coaches were asked about COVID-19 within their own squads. The Blue Devils went through two weeks of quarantine after a positive case. Soliday said Tiftarea had been fortunate to not have any delays.

A chamber member from Terrell Academy jokingly asked Soliday to do something about the Panther growl that is played over the loudspeakers for first downs and touchdowns.

“We’ll try to turn it up a little bit,” Soliday said, laughing.