Recreation Dept. To Apply for New Youth Football League

The Stephens County Recreation Department will look to move its youth football and cheerleading programs to the North Georgia Youth Football Association next year.

Recreation Director Richard Adams made a presentation at the end of Tuesday’s Stephens County Commission meeting regarding what he has found out about the league.

At the last Stephens County Commission meeting on October 11, Efrem Thornton requested that Stephens County look at switching to the North Georgia Youth Football Association, which would include teams from Habersham, Rabun, Banks, and Jackson counties, to name a few.

Thornton said he feels like the move would benefit the county’s program, adding he is concerned about the current lack of games and different teams to play at some levels.

Adams said he went to the North Georgia Youth Football Association games last weekend and came away very impressed with what he saw.

“It is a class act,” said Adams. “I talked to every person, questioned them about everything so I could have an understanding of what is going down if it does go down. Everything is great. Everybody is along the same path.”

Adams said not only are games played on the high school fields, but Adams says the league works to make the atmosphere as close to a high school game as possible. He says Stephens County would be required to do all of that.

Also, he said admission would have to be charged, a point of concern for commissioners earlier this month.

According to Adams, it did not seem to be a problem for those he talked to in the league, including many Recreation Departments.

“Nobody there complained to me one bit about that,” said Adams.

Stephens County Commissioner Dean Scarborough said it is something that the county would have to put out word about in advance.

Adams said that the high school is fully supportive of the plan and the two sides would have to work together closely on using the high school field for games, which they would do. He says those details are still being worked out.

No vote was taken, but county commissioners gave Adams the go-ahead to proceed with applying to join the new league.

Adams said he will have to make a presentation to the North Georgia Youth Football Association about joining in December and a vote would be taken by the league in January.

He said this would only affect football and cheerleading. No other sports at the Recreation Department would be affected by the move.