Cartersville mindset: ‘Pursue excellence in every endeavor, championships will come’

At Cartersville, success isn’t just expected — the football program is 162-14 since 2012, best record over that time in the state – but it’s embedded in the program’s DNA. And that pursuit extends beyond the field into the classroom and the community.

“We can get hung up on talking about winning state championships,” said Conor Foster, a Cartersville alumnus in his seventh season as head football coach. “But we believe that if we’re building a championship program and continuing to pursue excellence in every endeavor, then individual championships will come.”

This year, Cartersville launched a new fundraiser called Mission in Nutrition. While raising funds for their own meals, the players and staff also generated enough support to donate 20,000 meals to help fight hunger in Liberia.

Over the past four seasons, the Purple Hurricanes have partnered with Pritchard Injury Firm for a canned food drive during their annual blackout game. It’s also the one night a year the Hurricanes wear their fan-favorite all-black Jumpman uniforms. Over four years, the blackout game has helped collect more than 10,000 canned goods for local families.

Foster says he wants to use football to teach his players about life while also pouring into the community he grew up in.

Foster’s primary focus is to make sure his players are champions in life. Just as players are guided by coaches on the field, every senior is paired with a community mentor to help navigate their final year in school. These mentorships often continue beyond high school, into college or the workforce.

“We’ve got mentors sending me pictures from guys graduating (college),” Foster said.

Foster appreciates the work the mentors do with the players. He acknowledges he would love to keep in touch with every player who passes through the program, but realistically, he can’t.

However, he does keep track of some of his former players, because he brought them back — as coaches.

Bryce Wilkins, a lineman on the 2015 and 2016 Class 4A championship teams, went on to play at Reinhardt University and now teaches at the middle school while coaching on Friday nights. Marko Dudley, a former safety, is now in the classroom as a math teacher and on the field coaching safeties.

“Now, to get to see these young guys come back and to get to help them grow into adulthood and see them get married,” Foster said. “I don’t have the right words to express how special that is.”

Foster believes having former players come back into the program and coach strengthens the lineage of that pursuit and allows people from the past to give current players the keys to success. He credits past greats such as current and former NFL players Ronnie Brown, Trevor Lawrence and Miller Forristall as great examples to model from afar.

Foster was a part of the 1999 Class 2A championship team, a teammate of Brown’s, under coach Frank Barden. Foster heard the stories about Mike Earwood, played for Barden and coached under Joey King — and he’s had to eat, sleep and breathe Cartersville’s “Pursuit of Excellence” for most of his life.

Since taking over in 2019, he’s continued it. Foster has run off six straight double-digit-victory seasons, which ties him for third all-time for coaches starting their career with 10-plus wins.

This season, expect to see more from two-sport phenom Nate Russell, who threw for nearly 2,500 yards last fall and went 11–1 on the mound as a pitcher, as he looks to lead the Purple Hurricanes into his senior year.

Now with a proven offensive line, he’ll definitely have the time to find the physical Georgia commit Brady Marchese (pronounced “mar-kay-zee”) on the outside. Marchese had 44 receptions for 1,051 yards and 11 touchdowns.

The secondary will, again, be led by Air Force commit Reed Ezell, but Foster really lit up talking about 6-foot-3 and 230-pound sophomore edge rusher Kylen Pope. He says Pope will be all over the field next season.

“He’s just turned 15,” Foster said. “He’s got an 80-inch wingspan, and we think his ceiling is through the roof.”

At Cartersville, excellence isn’t just the goal — it’s the standard.

GHSA best winning percentages since 2012:

Cartersville - .920 (162-14)

Buford - .891 (164-20)

Prince Avenue Christian - .856 (149-25)

Benedictine - .841 (148-28)

Marist - .839 (146-28)

Calhoun - .936 (148-29)

Jefferson - .832 (139-28)

Colquitt County - .827 (143-30)

Blessed Trinity - .827 (141-29)

Calvary Day - .826 (133-28)

Grayson - .825 (141-30)

Pierce County - .814 (136-31)

Lee County - .806 (133-32)

Rabun County - .805 (132-32)

Callaway - .804 (135-33)