Holy Innocents’ went 5-5 in the regular season last year and finished 5-6 overall after dropping a hard-fought 30-23 loss to Aquinas in the inaugural Class A-3A Private playoffs. While the overall record produced last season was not what the Golden Bears hoped for, the season was anything but a step back. For context, Holy Innocents’ is a Class 2A school that scheduled four Class 4A opponents in non-region with North Springs, Blessed Trinity, Allatoona and Morrow and then entered a region filled with top 10 programs such as reigning Region 5-2A champion Hapeville Charter, Carver-Atlanta and Lovett—which all made it past the first round of the playoffs and Therrell, KIPP Atlanta and Washington. The toughness of the schedule was a challenge that head coach Nick Perrotta and a young team embraced. Last year, the team had to replace 19 total starters and the offense began its transition from a long-time triple option scheme to a modernized shotgun spread and pro style attack. This offseason, the team is familiar with the new system and Holy Innocents’ has introduced a new offensive coordinator in Robert Matthews to call the plays. All of these factors point to a more experienced and cohesive team this fall and Holy Innocents’ will be one of the most intriguing teams to follow this season.
Today’s blog is my conversation with coach Perrotta that occurred during the GHSA’s dead week and a look at what the team will look like when the season kicks off in five short weeks from today.
QUESTION: What are the biggest takeaways from this past season and how many players are returning with starting experience?
PERROTTA: “We had a really good run with a couple of the classes before this past year. We had some incredible players like Jacobi Murray who went on to Stanford, Zach Jackson who went to Duke and plenty of others went to Penn, Yale and the Ivy schools. Last year I stepped into the head chair after four years as the defensive coordinator and we transitioned away from being a triple option team and that took a lot of reps and a lot of teaching and we were a super young football team. I think we return four out of five on the offensive line, we return a quarterback that started as a freshman last year that is going to be a very talented player with Ryan Woods. We have a receiver [Khalid Worthy] that is coming back his for second season as a 6-foot-7 wideout for us and who is only getting better. And then defensively we have a ton of talent coming back, so I’m just encouraged by what we have been able to accomplish this offseason. …We have the largest roster we have ever had in the history of the program this season with 87. We had 73 on roster last year and we’ve added some pieces from inside the building and also have had some guys come over, which is great. But ultimately, the program going 5-5 in the regular season and losing in the first round is not the standard that we want to live at so for the program to be at a place where going 5-5 in the regular season and falling in the first round is considered a bad year, I think that is the right way forward.”
QUESTION: Last year you guys had two returning starters, but when you consider having to transition to a completely new offense, did it seem like there were no returning starters since the team was adapting into a completely new system?
PERROTTA: “Yes, we graduated 19 of 22 starters from the year prior last season and were transitioning to a completely new offense. We had a ton of turnover with a ton of very talented players to replace. So we had a lot of young players playing last year. It’s something that felt similar to my first year here in 2020 when we had a young football team that did not have a ton of experience. We went 7-4 that season on paper, but we actually lost two games to George Walton and they had to forfeit those two games so it was really a 5-5 season so it felt very similar. But the guys that stepped in that year ended up leading us to the Elite 8 in 2021 where we lost to ELCA and again in 2022 when we lost to Troup County, so I feel like we are in that similar trajectory right now where we are going to return a lot of players that had to play as underclassmen that can ultimately pay off down the road for us.”
QUESTION: How do you feel about the offensive balance this season and the talent you guys have at the skill positions compared to previous seasons?
PERROTTA: “I think when you transition from under center triple option to shotgun spread or pro style offense, there are going to be growing pains. Our offensive line was learning how to come measure block for the first time and climb to that second level and not scoop and veer and those sorts of things and so that took a lot of teaching. And then at the skill positions we really only lined up in 3 or 4 different formations for the last seven years and so now all of a sudden we are trying to figure out where do these skill players actually fit in a more modern set with a few more receivers and skill players on the field. That took a lot of teaching and time. We have a new offensive coordinator going into this season. His name is Robert Matthews and he is a phenomenal coach. He was at Blessed Trinity the past two years and prior to that he has had a long run as a college coach at Oklahoma State, Southern Miss and was the offensive coordinator at South Alabama and so we are excited to have him, but what we really done a great job this offseason is how to match our scheme with our personnel and this coming season will be the most offensive skill players we’ve ever had with some new players that were in the building that maybe either weren’t playing football or hadn’t quite developed yet showing us some phenomenal stuff. Alex Coley is a kid that I think is going to have a big year for us that did not play much really at all last season. He came out halfway through the season and never had played football before and now he is a go-to guy right now for our offense. Obviously Khalid Worthy coming back for year 2 is going to be a huge target. Sam Chasteen was a first-team all-region player for us last year that we are really excited about. We used him in a lot of different places. And then we have another kid with Jake Burdy, who has been kind of a flex Y tight end body that can be in the box doing tight end stuff, but we can also flex him out and he is a great route runner. All of that tying into our quarterback Ryan Woods who is going to be a sophomore that can really spin it. I just think we are in a really good place offensively now that we are going into Year 2 being removed from the triple option and I see a lot of growth this year on that side of the ball.”
QUESTION: What are your thoughts about this year’s defense and what is the biggest concern you guys want to improve?
PERROTTA: “We have to do a better job at stopping the run. We graduated three outstanding players two years ago with Jacoby, Jack and Cam Perry. We had to replace those guys last year and were much smaller up front and we didn’t do a good enough job stopping the run. We gave up twice as many runs of five or more yards last year than we did the previous season. We gave up 60 in 2023, and 126 in 2024 in the same amount of games. So that is more than double so that has been a major emphasis. We are working to just getting bigger and stronger in the box. We’ve also made some positional changes. Jordan Mays was a very exciting outside linebacker for us that started there the last two years and we are moving him inside to Mike to get more size and add more athleticism in the middle of the defense and he looks really good right there and he is having a really good offseason with offers coming in. We also moved Miller Wimberly from safety down to that SAM Linebacker spot so we got more athletic and two spots and got those guys a little closer to the ball and a little more athletic in those two spots. Our defensive line has matured after starting multiple sophomores last year with Miles Jackson the lone senior up front for us and so I’m excited with where the box is at in terms of stopping the run. We feel good about depth and that can help us hold up a little better. Hapeville Charter and Carver are both bigger than us in the trenches and so that depth will help when we get into the region.”
QUESTION: What have you noticed this offseason when it comes to the players and what have you seen with their focus and mindset
PERROTTA: “It was encouraging to see a lot of our younger guys step up in leadership roles for the first time this offseason. They had a really successful run together in middle school. They beat Hebron when they were in 8th grade. They won our middle school league and they don’t take well to losing. None of us do, but when the players are the ones taking responsibility and holding each other accountable, that’s when you kind of start to have something special. I think we sort of are kind of getting to the point where our players are leading us from the front and our coaches are coaching the schemes and techniques, but we aren’t having to coach effort and that is something that our program is built on and that is our effort. So I’ve seen a major shift in that this offseason.”
QUESTION: Talk about the window of opportunity for the program over the next few seasons including 2025 and what goals are being set for this year’s team
PERROTTA: “We have a player committee and have goals for the team. Every single one of them says a state championship. Yeah, of course that is the goal and we have been close. We have had three quarterfinal appearances and a final four and we are definitely knocking on the door. What I think is a realistic goal for us and the expectations for us this season that puts this window into perspective on the 2-3 year runway where we will have a lot of guys with playing experience like we did in 2021-23… I think a realistic expectation is for us to compete well in the region against teams like Carver. We’ve shown we are competitive and our goal is to compete into the region championship and to get a good seed in the playoffs because the seeding is way different. Our non-region schedule is all 4A schools and we are a 2A school, so we really want to be peaking at the right time and performing well in the region so we can get a high seed in the playoffs.
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