As high school sports in Georgia continue to see action week to week, no diffent than on the collegiate or professional levels, teams from around the state have had their issues with COVID-19 forcing them to be sidelined. Such was the case for the defending Georgia High School Association Class 6A state champions, the Chattahoochee Cougars. The Cougars got the 2020-2021 season rolling as they cam out the gate with a 6-0 start, but following their win over Johns Creek on December 11, the Cougars were informed of a possible COVID-19 exposure and immediately went into quarantine. On Saturday, the Cougars returned to action at the annual Tournament of Champions Holiday Classic at Wheeler High School in Marietta. With two weeks of no practice, the Cougars felt the absence of the layoff as they fell to Kell 94-65 on the opening day of the classic. But it would not take long for them to get back into a rhythm that they are used to having when they were back on the court on Monday to take on the Shiloh Generals.
The Generals would get off to an early 8-3 run but the Cougars would quickly respond with an 8-0 run of their own to take a 11-8 lead in the first quarter and would go on to lead 21-17 at the end of the opening period. In the second quarter, Chattahoochee's AJ White would find his rhythm, knocking down several big buckets, including a pair of back to back three point baskets that would give the Cougars a 29-19 lead. However, the Generals would not retreat as they mounted a 16-7 run to cut the once 12 point deficit to a one point lead as they trailed 36-35 at the half. In the third quarter, Chattahoochie outscore Shiloh 22-13 two find themselves back up by 10 points heading into the fourth quarter, but once again, Shiloh would fight to climb out of the hole and with :21.9 remaining in the game, the Generals trailed 69-68. However Shiloh fouls would send Chattahoochee's Gil Matondo and White (21 points) to the free throw line were they would go 2-4 to take a 71-68 lead with :05 remaining and a last second half court shot by the Generals would not fall allowing the Cougars to pick up the win.
Following the win, Chattahoochee head coach Chris Short said that the team constantly talked about "execution" throughout the game. "We haven't had a chance to practice the last two weeks because we were quarantined," Short said, adding, "so we just have to remember what we were doing, it's just execution." When asked about what he believes will be important for the Cougars to make another run at a state championship, Short stated, "we really have to play with chemistry. We have a lot of guys that can score, which is good, but we just have to make sure we work on that chemistry, especially being in tough situations.' Short also noted that his team will need to make sure they are "ready to go" as they head into region play. "Everybody is going to be gunning for everybody now because games will matter in the sense of seeding for the state tournament so that will be critical for us moving forward," Short said.