Hebron Christian coach Dallas was a natural choice to succeed close friend Gess

On Feb. 19, just two weeks after national signing day, seven-time state champion Jonathan Gess announced he was stepping down as football coach of Hebron Christian.

In his third season at Hebron, a Gwinnett County private school, Gess had led the Lions to a 12-2 record and their first state championship.

In a press release from Hebron, Gess laid out the reasons for the sudden departure, which shook the Class 3A-A private-division football landscape. He said the decision was “centered on putting family first.” Although he’s had a lot of success coaching in Georgia, he decided to move to Greenville, South Carolina, in his home state, where he met his wife. He took the head coach job at Southside Christian, a Class 3A team with three state championships, the most recent in 2021.

That move left Hebron in a difficult spot. Some of the top coaching talent had already taken jobs in January.

Just under a month later, Hebron found its new leader. Kenny Dallas agreed to leave Trinity Christian on the southside of Atlanta and take over the program. For Dallas, the decision wasn’t easy.

“Trinity was a little bit like my baby, you know — we had kind of grown that thing over the years,” Dallas said. “So, man, it was a very tough decision.”

Dallas joined Trinity in 2017. Trinity started playing football in 2011. In the six years before Dallas arrived, the team saw mixed results, three winning seasons, three losing seasons. But in his first year, Dallas led the Lions to an 11–3 record and a trip to the state championship. He’d return to the title game twice more, finally winning it in 2021 with a dominant 55–28 win over Prince Avenue Christian. It was Trinity’s first state championship.

“I've coached in seven state championships in the last 12 years, which (is a) pretty good resume, unless you compare me to Jonathan, who's won seven,” Dallas said.

That’s the part some may have overlooked when Hebron announced his hiring: Dallas has been quietly excellent during his time in Georgia. And beyond the success, he and Gess shared a history — fierce rivals on the field, friends off it.

Their rivalry dates to 2007, when Gess took over at Eagle’s Landing Christian and Dallas was coaching at Landmark Christian. Both were in Region 5-A. When the region was split into divisions in 2010, they ended up in the same one.

Heading into the 2011 season, Dallas was 1–4 against Gess. Gess won their regular-season matchup that year, too, but the teams met again in the Class A state semifinals. This time, Dallas pulled off the upset, winning 14–7 to send Landmark to the state title game, where Dallas’s team fell to Savannah Christian 20–3.

Dallas took a brief hiatus from Georgia football, returning to his home state of Tennessee to work as an administrator. But it didn’t take long for the pull of Friday nights to bring him back.

“I missed Georgia,” Dallas said. “I missed high school football.”

And who did he call when he returned? Jonathan Gess.

By then, Gess had become a household name in Georgia high school football. In 2012, he captured his first state title. But it was the years that followed, together with Dallas, that started something special at Eagle’s Landing Christian.

Starting in 2014, the two helped lead ELCA to three straight state championship games, winning titles in 2015 and 2016. After that season, Dallas accepted the coaching job at Trinity Christian, and just like that, the friends were back on opposite sidelines — rivals once more.

So, when February came around and Gess began quietly opening up to friends about stepping away, one of the first people he called was Dallas.

“He called me this offseason, and to be quite honest, he said, ‘It's time for us to move back to South Carolina,’” Dallas said. “’Kenny, you need to look at this job.’”

At the time, Dallas said what he’d been telling everyone else that offseason, that he was happy and settled at Trinity.

Gess called again and said, “’Kenny, you really need to at least take a look at this.’”

But this time, it was different. It was Gess. And out of respect for his friend, he figured… maybe he’d just hear them out.

So Dallas, along with his wife, made the nearly two-hour drive to Dacula. They spent an entire day at the school, touring, meeting people and soaking it all in. A few days later, he turned the job down.

Something in his spirit didn’t feel settled.

Almost two weeks passed. Then one day, he picked up the phone and called Hebron back.

“I assume the job’s been filled,” Dallas said. “I assume it’s done.”

But it wasn’t.

“Actually, it’s not,” the administrators told him. “We’re a little bit on hold. Our next couple of guys both went out of the country, and it’s sitting here. Are you interested?”

This time, he was.

He returned, this time with his wife and three of their six children. After touring the campus again, they paused and prayed together, asking for clarity on what had become a deeply personal decision.

“The next day, I'm sitting down with my entire family from the oldest to the youngest,” Dallas said. “Every one of them was like, ‘Dad, take this. Let's do this.’ So it was like a big family decision.”

Dallas is excited to get started. At practices, you can hear him motivating his guys, and you can see him bouncing around from station to station, ensuring everyone understands what he’s asking of them.

Now, just weeks into the job, Dallas is all in. He’s bouncing between drills at practice, calling out encouragement, making sure every detail is right. He says he’s spoken with every player individually since taking over and believes the shared values he has with Gess will help bridge the transition.

“All these boys are going to be husbands and daddies and leaders in their community in some way,” Dallas said. “Both of us are strong followers of Jesus, and we want to challenge (these) boys to become Godly men.”

Dallas doesn’t know what this season will hold. But he knows opportunities like this don’t come around often. And he’s determined to honor what Gess built and grow it.

That includes serving the community. Hebron and Dallas are already working with local rec facilities to launch a new flag football program for kids, kindergarten through sixth grade.

“To be quite honest, that's part of what struck a chord in me,” Dallas said. “I think we have the resources, I think we have the kids. We're in an unbelievable area, the facilities that we're building here, that we have, and that we're building, going forward.”

Hebron Christian’s 2025 schedule

8/14 North Atlanta (West Forsyth)

8/22 Fellowship Christian

8/29 at McCallie, Tenn.

9/19 at Blessed Trinity

9/26 East Jackson

10/3 Hart County

10/17 at Stephens County

10/24 Franklin County

10/31 at Prince Avenue Christian