H&R Staff Writer
DECATUR — It’s easy to see why Scott Davis and Josh Jostes would be adversaries.
Old school vs. new school. Tradition vs. innovation. Run vs. pass.
Throw in the fact that they lead two of area’s best football programs, St. Teresa and Maroa-Forsyth, in the premiere rivalry of the county and it’s an easy fire to stoke, right?
Not exactly.
“I think that’s a real misconception,” Maroa-Forsyth athletic director Dana Dale said. “When they’re on the field, they’re both competitors, but when it’s all said and done, they speak to each other and are great friends.”
Dale knows.
When Jostes applied for the head coaching job at Maroa back in 2000, Davis was at the top of Jostes’ references — something that might shock people given the intensity of the St. T-Maroa rivalry nowadays.
“Scott and I have no qualms with each other,” Jostes said. “He helped me get the (Maroa) job.”
Fresh out of Millikin, Jostes knew that getting into coaching had an element of who you know — especially local coaching successes. So, he didn’t hesitate to turn to an already-established Davis, who can be intimidating, for some help.
“I was pretty confident he would give me a reference because there was a lot of history between our families,” Jostes said.
Josh’s grandfather was on the Macon school board that gave Davis his first coaching gig. It was 1980 and Josh was a wide-eyed 7-year-old soaking up everything Ironman football, while his uncle, Reed, coached with Davis.
“I would say he was the same guy, but a lot younger and a lot tougher than he is now,” Jostes said of Davis. “The whole family loved him.”
Davis had a favorable opinion of Jostes, too. After years of relying on Reed as a player and a coach and spending time with his grandparents, Davis had no problem recommending Jostes for any coaching position.
“I thought he would do a good job,” Davis said of vouching for Jostes. “Yeah, I think (it was a good reference).
“They’ve had some good football tradition and Josh has been able to build on it and continue to keep it moving.”
It wasn’t easy-going at first.
The first four seasons Jostes led the Trojans into battle against Davis and St. Teresa, it was a death march. The new Maroa coach had heard all about a heated match-up with St. Teresa, but several bad losses to the Bulldogs soured Jostes on the showdown.
That was until Jostes ditched his run-first offense, adapted to the skill guys the Trojans annually have and started winning games.
“When you get killed every week, I wasn’t so sure about a rivalry,” Jostes said. “It’s not a rivalry until we win games and when it goes back and forth. We’ve been fortunate enough to do that.”
In 10 years at Maroa, Jostes has validated Davis’ recommendation by going 78-27. Couple the rise of Jostes with Davis’ continued success and the Maroa-St. T showdown has taken off.
But each school’s success has come a bit differently.
When Davis went 16-20 in his first four years at St. T, the hard-nosed coach never waivered from his power run game. Jostes’ 10-26 start at Maroa forced his hand to adapt to his personnel and the younger mind turned it into an offense predicated on skill guys.
But dig a little deeper and both programs are built on the same principals of hard work and discipline.
“(Davis) expects the most out of his kids and that’s what Josh does, too,” said Tony Klein, who played under Davis at Macon and coached with Jostes at Maroa. “They just go about it different ways. A lot of people see that.
“They’re both great guys and great teachers. They’re the same but in different ways.”
Klein has noticed the increased chatter about Davis and Jostes not liking each other through the years. He chalks it up to the growth of a great rivalry and a product of the Trojans’ success.
“You didn’t hear any of that in the first four years,” Klein said. “It’s just the rivalry.”
The height of competitiveness in both men is staggering, so when there’s not much of a pregame conversation or a postgame handshake, don’t read into it.
These two go back 30 years.
lbridges@herald-review.com|421-6970
Published in the Herald & Review in October, 2010.
