KICKOFF COUNTDOWN: Macon East eyes another state title after winning in 2025
Macon East quarterback Brandon Fitch believes the Knights may be better this season than the team that won it all in 2025. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
After going undefeated last season to win the Class A state championship, it would be hard for the 2026 Macon East Knights to top their 2025 season.
The Knights scored 665 points last year, scoring 50 or more points seven times last season while holding opponents to a touchdown or less five times.
Still, quarterback Brandon Fitch believes, the Knights can improve on last year’s performance.
“I think we’ll actually be a little better this year,” Fitch said. “I think we’ve gained a lot more momentum going into the season. I think we’ve gotten a lot smarter and stronger. I think we’ll be better both offensively and defensively.”
Macon East is in its third year of participating in 8-man football, dropping from its traditional 11-man format in 2024 after failing to find enough participants. The 2025 squad had just four seniors, this year’s team has none.
“We had four seniors last year and didn’t have any juniors, so it’s been the same group, just a year older,” Macon East coach Glynn Lott said.
The Knights return five starters on offense and four on defense, filling in for the loss of defensive backs Elliot Fitch and Sam Wallace and offensive lineman Cole Streetman and Wallace, who stepped in for Brandon Fitch at times to give the Knights a different look.
“Brandon got the majority of (the snaps) last year,” Lott said. “We would bring in Sam if we needed a change of pace. There’s a possibility (we’ll still do that). I’ve got a couple of kids that can do it, but they’re not the same caliber that Sam is. But we will jump into different stuff and do things with them.
“But Brandon’s gotten a year older and a year stronger. His speed has increased. He’s really worked on that this summer so him running the ball a little more than last year and (tailback) Matthew (Simpson) being back will help. We were predominantly a running team last year even though we threw for a lot of yards.”
And with most of those offensive linemen returning, the Knights should be potent once again.
“It’s basically the same O-line coming back besides Cole Streetman, who came in at guard,” said center Kam Ackron. “If our O-line doesn’t do its job, Matthew’s not going to run for 200 yards. So I think the only way we succeed is with our O-line. They’re going to get us back to another state championship.”
The Knights have no seniors but their underclassmen are a year older and a year more experienced.
“We’re definitely a lot younger this year,” Simpson said, “and that is not a bad thing at all because these younger kids are fired up for the season after seeing us play for a state championship two straight years and they want to do the same thing.”
Last year, all 10 regular-season opponents were in AISA Class A, while this year’s schedule includes a trio of teams that are non-region opponents.
“We picked up Southern Christian out of Opelika, we picked up a new school (Miracle Academy) out of Birmingham and we’re playing a team from Tennessee on a Thursday night,” Lott said.
“We’re playing a lot of same teams this year,” Simpson said, “but I’m excited to play some different teams and see a little different competition. But I feel like we’ll do just as well against them.”
After reaching the finals the last two years, the Knights are the favorite to return to the championship game in Class A.
“That’s their goal,” Lott said. “But along with that, playing 8-man, are injuries. We didn’t have a lot of injuries last year so that becomes a big part of it. We only have 11 high school kids playing. We’re going to have better numbers (than in 2025) because our eighth grade is a big class.”