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The Brandon Harmon era at Coffee County Central is officially underway and the 2025 Red Raider football team got their first piece of game action on Friday, May 16 in the annual Red Vs White Game.

The two teams were split based on returning starters. About 75-80 percent of the offensive starters were placed on one team and the same percentage of defensive starters were placed on the other team.

Team Red, who featured the likes of 2024 starters Kaysen Lowery and Deontae Short, won the game 12-0. Short scored both of Team Red’s touchdowns.

“I thought our execution could have been a bit better tonight, but at the end of the day, this was really our first reps against a live offense and a live defense,” Harmon said of his team after the game, “They’re playing against their friends, there’s a lot of competitive juices flowing and I think that kind of culminated in some blown assignments. When we block things right, we have playmakers that can make things happen.”

Harmon is only a few weeks into his first head coaching job, and while he hasn’t expected any major changes to be made overnight, he does believe that this team is right on schedule, if not ahead.

“I feel like we’re ahead in a lot of areas as far as where I thought we would be after two weeks,” he said. “The understanding is there, the willingness to do what they’ve been coached to do is there and I think as we go into the summer months, we as a staff have a good idea of where our kids fit into the different schemes.”

Harmon is the third different head coach in the last seven seasons for the Red Raider football team, a program that was looking for some stability at the position. Coffee County seems to have found their guy for the long haul, and Harmon has been relishing the excitement of a new beginning in Manchester.

“It’s been awesome,” said Harmon. “We had a booster club meeting recently and had probably the biggest turnout of any booster club meeting that I’ve ever been to. There’s a lot of excitement in the community from what I’ve seen and the conversations I’ve had, but we have to carry that wave of excitement and turn it into the norm here at Coffee County.”