2014 Gwinnett Prep Footbal Preview

GIMME

1No.

2010Brookwood

4No.2013

Norcross

2No.2011

Grayson

Gwinnett aims for fifth straight big-class title

3No.2012

Norcross

2014 PREP FOOTBALL PREVIEWgwinnettprepsports.com

#gwinnettfb

Gwinnett Daily PostSunday, August 17, 2014

2 SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014 • gwinnettprepsports.com

©2014 Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Inc. All rights reserved. Some physicians and affi liated healthcare professionals on the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta team are independent providers and are not our employees.

CHILDREN’S AT SATELLITE BLVD. - 2660 SATELLITE BLVD., DULUTH

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014 3 •gwinnettprepsports.com

‘The Blitz’ gives football fans a GDP Saturday print edition

Gwinnett County’s high school football fans, coaches and players spoke loud and clear.

After the Daily Post combined its Saturday and Sunday editions into one Sunday print product back in February, I was hit with questions frequently, both in public and via email.

“You’re still printing a Saturday section for foot-ball, right?”

“This won’t include high school football season, will it?”

“The Saturday paper is coming back for football, isn’t it?”

With the readers’ inter-ests in mind, we came up with a solution.

The Daily Post won’t produce its full Satur-day print edition with a

news section, but we have launched a new, special publication called “The Blitz,” which will be avail-able on news racks every Saturday morning through the football season.

The eight-page section will begin Saturday, Aug. 23 and will feature only coverage of local high school football, with the usual photos, stories and more that our readers have

come to expect for years. Thanks to some hard work by our advertising and cir-culation departments, read-ers can purchase the new product at sales locations like convenience stores and grocery stores in Gwinnett. The editorial staff, led by Todd Cline and yours truly, also pushed hard for a Sat-urday print presence when high school football season rolled around.

That’s how “The Blitz” happened, guaranteeing our readers still will get their high school football in print form Saturday mornings.

That said, high school football fans also will re-ceive their beloved digital offerings from our sports staff. Our site dedicated to Gwinnett high school

sports — www.gwin-nettprepsports.com — will include the usual stories and features, as well as a live scoreboard updated during games and video highlights from a feature game each week.

Our popular Twitter page for scoring updates, @gdpfootball, also will be an active place on Friday nights.

We look forward to bringing “The Blitz” to our readers every Saturday this season and we hope they enjoy all that a high school football-only section has to offer.

Will Hammock can be reached via email at [email protected]. His regular column appears on Thursdays.

Inside

Will Hammock

blitzthe

COMING SATURDAY AUG. 23

Gwinnett’s Friday night football coverage in print every Saturday

Made possible in part by Children’s Healthcare of AtlantaAvailable at many Gwinnett county newspaper

sales locations starting August 23rd

GWINNETT COUNTY SCHOOLS• Archer .....................................................6-7• Berkmar ..................................................8-9• Brookwood ......................................... 12-13• Buford ................................................. 14-15• Central Gwinnett ................................. 16-17• Collins Hill ........................................... 18-19• Dacula .................................................22-23• Duluth .................................................24-25• Greater Atlanta Christian ....................26-27• Grayson ..............................................28-29• Hebron Christian ................................30-31• Lanier ..................................................34-35• Meadowcreek .....................................36-37• Mill Creek ............................................38-39• Mountain View ....................................40-41• Norcross .............................................42-43• North Gwinnett ...................................44-45• Parkview .............................................48-49• Peachtree Ridge .................................50-51• Shiloh ..................................................52-53• South Gwinnett ...................................54-55• Wesleyan ............................................56-57• Providence ..........................................58-59

BARROW COUNTY SCHOOLS• Apalachee ...........................................60-61• Winder-Barrow ....................................62-63

ALSO• County composite 2014 schedule ............ 4• Preseason all-county team ......................10• 2013 stat leaders ..................................... 20• Gwinnett County takes aim at a fifth straight state title in the highest classification ...32-33• ESPN recruiting rankings for Georgia .... 46

MORE ONLINE• Follow us on Twitter @GDPsports for all prep coverage and @GDPfootball for live scoring throughout the season• Go to www.GwinnettPrepSports for complete high school sports coverage all year long• Will Hammock, Sports Editor: [email protected]• Christine Troyke, Staff Writer: [email protected]• David Friedlander, Staff Writer: [email protected]• Mitch Blomert, Staff Writer: [email protected]• Scott Smith, Senior Correspondent: [email protected]• To report scores, call 770-339-5850


2014 ScheduleAUG. 22 AUG. 29 SEPT. 5 SEPT. 12 SEPT. 19 SEPT. 26 OCT. 3 OCT. 10 OCT. 17 OCT. 24 OCT. 31 NOV. 7Sandy Creek^ at P’tree Ridge BYE Grayson BYE at Parkview Berkmar at South Shiloh at Central Dacula at Brookwood

at Newton at Buford BYE Dacula at Brookwood Grayson at Archer Parkview BYE at South Shiloh at Central

Valdosta$ at Norcross BYE at Parkview Berkmar at South Shiloh at Central Dacula BYE at Grayson Archer

Trinity Chr.* Berkmar McEachern BYE White Co. BYE at Chestatee North Hall at Monroe Area at N. Oconee Madison Co. at Stephens Co.

BYE at Collins Hill Mundy’s Mill at South Shiloh BYE at Dacula Brookwood at Grayson Archer at Parkview Berkmar

at Dacula Central at South BYE at North Meadowcreek at Mt. View Duluth BYE at Mill Creek P’tree Ridge Norcross

Collins Hill BYE at Mill Creek at Berkmar South at Shiloh Central BYE at Brookwood Grayson at Archer Parkview

Wheeler at Northview Lakeside-DeK BYE Mill Creek at Norcross P’tree Ridge at Collins Hill BYE North at Mt. View

Benedictine North Oconee at ELCA BYE Hapeville Ch. at BEST Acad. KIPP Atlanta at Pace BYE Holy Innoc. at Lovett at Wesleyan

BYE Gainesville at Langston H. at Archer Parkview at Berkmar South at Shiloh Central at Dacula Brookwood BYE

at E. Jackson Mt. Vernon at Commerce BYE at Towns Co. Prince Ave. at Lakeview Providence BYE George Walton Athens Acad. at Athens Chr.

at Lambert BYE at Clarke Cent. Flowery Br. Cedar Shoals at Loganville BYE Gainesville at Heritage Salem Winder-Barrow at Apalachee

BYE Newton at Rockdale Clarkston P’tree Ridge at Collins Hill Mill Creek at Norcross BYE Mt. View at North Duluth

Colquitt Co.% at W. Forsyth Dacula BYE at Duluth North Mt. View BYE Collins Hill at Norcross at P’tree Ridge

South Forsyth at Parkview Kennesaw Mt. BYE Norcross at P’tree Ridge Collins Hill at Mill Creek BYE Duluth at North

Tucker# Brookwood at Milton BYE at Mt. View Duluth at North Meadowcreek BYE at P’tree Ridge Mill Creek at Collins Hill

at McEachern+ North Cobb at Hillgrove BYE Collins Hill at Mill Creek Norcross at P’tree Ridge BYE at Duluth Meadowcreek Mt. View

BYE at Mt. View P’tree Ridge Brookwood at Grayson Archer BYE at Berkmar South at Shiloh Central at Dacula

BYE Archer at Parkview at McEachern Mt. View at Duluth North BYE Norcross at Collins Hill Mill Creek

BYE at St. Francis at Whitfield Ac. BYE George Walton at Lakeview Athens Chr. at Hebron Commerce at Athens Acad. Towns Co. at Prince Ave.

BYE Hillgrove at Westlake BYE at Central Dacula at Brookwood Grayson at Archer Parkview at Berkmar South

at Walton BYE Collins Hill Central at Dacula Brookwood at Grayson Archer at Parkview Berkmar BYE at Shiloh

at Walker East Hall at Stratford Ac. BYE KIPP Atlanta at Pace Hapeville Ch. at BEST Acad. BYE Lovett at Holy. Innoc. GAC

Archer

Berkmar

Grayson

Collins Hill

Mill Creek

Peachtree Ridge

Buford

Lanier

Duluth

Norcross

South Gwinnett

Brookwood

Hebron

Dacula

Mountain View

Shiloh

Providence

Central Gwinnett

Meadowcreek

Parkview

GAC

North Gwinnett

Wesleyan

All games 7:30 p.m. unless noted. ^At McEachern at 8:30 p.m.; $at McEachern, 2:25 p.m. Aug. 23; *9 p.m., Aug. 23; %at McEachern, 11:45 a.m. Aug. 23; #at McEachern, 5:45 p.m., Aug. 23; +8:30 p.m., Aug. 23

at Meadowcreek

at Meadowcreek

at Meadowcreek

at Meadowcreek


OffenseArcher’s breakout season was

powered by a prolific offense that scored more than 30 points in its last eight games, and the bulk of that unit returns this year.

It will be difficult to replace play-maker K.J. Parmer (57 catches, 752 yards, nine touchdowns last year), but there are plenty of others to take up the slack. South Carolina commitment Kyle Davis, a 6-foot-3, 220-pounder, returns at wide re-ceiver after catching 35 passes for 658 yards and 11 TDs as a sopho-more. Austin Arnold and Sloan Huff also will be relied on at the receiver spots, while the tight ends are talented with South Carolina commitment Connor Redmond (pictured) and Michael Kouassi.

“We’re expecting big things from the receivers,” Archer head coach Andy Dyer said. “It’s their turn to step up.”

Those receivers have a quar-terback who can get them the ball in Gabe Tiller, who enters his third year as starter. The senior, the county’s top returning passer with 2,370 yards last season, complet-ed 202 of 290 passes (70 percent) and had 28 TD passes to just six interceptions.

“(Tiller) brings a ton of experi-ence back,” Dyer said. “He’s seen about every look he can see. As we tell him, it’s his job to manage the offense, keep us out of bad plays and help us move the chains. Don’t try to do too much, just help us operate.”

The running game should be stout, too. Randy Nails (1,026 rushing yards last season) is back

along with Dylan Singleton, whose main duty will be starting at safety.

They will run behind an offen-sive line that graduated just one starter.

DefenseDyer was pleased with the

defensive effort last season as well, which also played a big role in the program’s first region championship.

Seven starters are back from that unit.

“We did a great job running to the ball last year and playing extremely hard,” Dyer said. “We’ve got to match that and take more strides than we did last year. But

we had a good year. We got better in a lot of areas. Our defensive stats, the ones we look at, were greatly improved. And our kids just played with a lot of tenacity.”

The Tigers are strong up front with Robbie Armstrong, Kobe Smith and Cal Burton back. Quinn Miller, who made 92 tackles last season as a freshman, Dillon Bliss, Frank Finch and Chase Burns also are among the returnees, while the secondary is led by Singleton, an all-county selection last season as a sophomore when he made a team-high 113 tackles. Isaiah Pryor also is an important player in the secondary.

“We’ve got a lot of seniors over there (on defense) that we’re counting on to provide leadership,” Dyer said.

Record yearThe 2013 season saw Archer

accomplish a number of substan-tial feats, like a school-record 11 wins, first region title, first 10-0 regular season, first home playoff game and first playoff victory.

The Tigers will aim just as high, if not higher, this season.

“Always, even from Day 1, our first football game here, our expec-tations are high,” Dyer said. “We’re

always setting the bar higher and higher. The kids have got to keep reaching. This football team has to create its own identity. This is Team Six. Team Five is gone. It’s up to them to create own path.”

The only pain last season came from the only loss, a gut-wrench-ing, 34-32 loss on a last-second field goal to North Gwinnett in the second round of the playoffs.

“Your greatest growth in learning comes from your greatest disap-pointments,” Dyer said. “There were three or four key things our kids have to take from that football game and not let it happen again. … In the playoffs, it’s last man standing. When you get into the playoffs, you cannot turn the ball over. No lead is ever safe. You’ve got to play a complete football game. The team that makes the least mistakes will win.”

Etc.Archer will play in the presti-

gious Corky Kell Classic for the first time, meeting Sandy Creek in the showcase at McEachern. “It’s a great step for our program and an honor to be invited,” Dyer said. “As a community, we’ve got to hold up our end of the deal and as a foot-ball team we’ve got to go perform.” … Longtime Parkview offensive coordinator Robert Hill has joined the Tigers as wide receivers coach. Hill, who also was the head coach at Berkmar from 2000-02, played high school football at Central Gwinnett. “He brings a ton of expe-rience and he knows how to coach football,” Dyer said.

— Will Hammock

ArcherMascot: Tigers Coach: Andy Dyer (25-21 at Archer, 25-21 overall) Region: 8-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2013

2014 scheduleAug. 22 Sandy Creek*Aug. 29 at Peachtree RidgeSept. 12 GraysonSept. 26 at ParkviewOct. 3 BerkmarOct. 10 at South GwinnettOct. 17 ShilohOct. 24 at Central GwinnettOct. 31 DaculaNov. 7 at Brookwood

*at McEachern, 8:30 p.m.

2013 results (11-1)Mountain View W 37-0East Coweta W 21-17Brookwood W 25-20Parkview W 27-7Dacula W 31-14Shiloh W 45-16Central Gwinnett W 41-20Berkmar W 37-7South Gwinnett W 48-31Grayson W 34-21North Forsyth W 34-7North Gwinnett L 34-32

205685-1

Dusty Hayes - Class of 2001 Dacula High School

www.hayescdj.com

719 W. PIKE ST., LAWRENCEVILLE • 770-963-5251

Hayes Family Dealerships Wish Good Luck toAll Gwinnett County Football Teams This Season!


1 Jamyest Williams DB/RB 102 Austin Arnold WR/DB 123 Dylan Singleton RB/DB 114 Randy Nails RB 125 Robbie Armstrong DL/FB 126 Nick Blakely LB/RB 117 Gabe Tiller QB 128 Sloan Huff WR/DB 129 Jeremiah Nails DB/WR 1110 Will Bearden QB 1111 Kyle Davis WR/DB 1112 Dante Blyden WR/DB 1113 Isaiah Pryor DB/RB 1114 Juwan Powell DB/RB 1115 Dalen Ray DB/LB 1116 Frank Finch LB/RB 1117 Jon Bluse QB/WR 1018 Michael Kouassi LB/TE 1119 Aramis Bryant DB/RB 1120 Dillon Bliss DB/LB 1221 Lawerence McCullough RB/DB 1122 Tyrone Buwee WR/DB 1123 Jeremy Hunter DB/WR 1224 Rayshon Judge LB 1225 Vaughn Robinson LB 1126 Maleek McCatty LB/RB 1127 Augusta Cheek DB/WR 1028 Desmond Robinson WR/DB 1129 Aristote Amisi DB/WR 1131 Charles Toe DB/RB 1133 Daquan Smith LB/RB 1134 James Lee Bazil DB/RB 1135 Alex Tiet LB 1136 Chase Burns LB 12

37 Quinn Miller LB/RB 1038 Will Obasanya LB 1039 Devonte Desulme LB 1140 Jacob Hodges LB 1141 Andre Parmer WR/DB 1042 Joshua Mollie WR 1243 Brandon Dugger LB/DL 1144 Ryan Morrell LB 1145 Darren Vaughn RB 1046 Kyri Phillips DB 1047 Sam Brown DB/WR 1048 Karmoni Williams LB 1149 Marquis Carter WR/DB 1050 Caleb Grimball OL/DL 1251 Sam Wright DL 10

52 Connor Sims OL/DL 1153 Steven Bluse OL 1254 A.J. Sweat DL 1255 Taylor Stein OL 1156 Nicholas Salim OL 1257 Jacob Valego OL/DL 1058 Chandler Evans OL/DL 1059 Josh Vickery OL 1260 Adam Brown OL/DL 1061 Mason Hardin OL/DL 1062 Amori Allen OL/DL 1064 Dylan Rowe OL/DL 1065 Alex Stampelos OL 1166 Cameron Lilly OL 1067 Cole Craven OL 11

68 Cole Gunter OL/DL 1069 Charles Dunkley OL/DL 1070 Brent Einolf OL 1271 Paul Godfrey OL/DL 1072 Jamel Daykah OL/DL 1073 J.D. Boone OL 1174 Nick Williams OL 1275 Andrew Reynolds OL/DL 1076 Caleb Hammond OL/DL 1277 Jordan Barrett OL/DL 1078 Mitchell Hornsby OL 1279 Dakota Shaw DL 1080 Kimual Israel WR 1081 Mason Pyles WR 1082 Cal Burton OL/DL 1283 Micah Meyers WR/DB 1184 Aharon Cruz DB/WR 1285 Ben Buchanan WR/K 1286 Tyler Ranel WR/DB 1087 Connor Redmond TE/LB 1288 Andy Gaddis WR/DB 1089 Hunter Emmons WR/DB 1190 Michael Fritts K 1191 Tristyn Vargas WR 1192 Clifford Amazan DL/OL 1193 Cole Fisher OL/DL 1294 Will Lattimore WR/DB 1095 Kobe Smith DL 1196 Wyatt Hutchins LB 1097 Isiah Walo LB 1098 Daniel Surman WR/DB 1099 Michael Crewey WR 10

Archer rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Gabe Tiller (6-0, 180, Sr.)RB Dylan Singleton (5-11, 185, Jr.)RB Randy Nails (5-5, 165, Sr.)WR Austin Arnold (6-5, 200, Sr.)WR Kyle Davis (6-3, 220, Jr.)TE Connor Redmond (6-5, 225, Sr.)LT Mitch Hornsby (6-5, 265, Sr.)LG Caleb Hammond (6-0, 245, Sr.)C Taylor Stein (6-0, 255, Jr.)RG Steven Bluse (6-0, 255, Sr.)RT Caleb Grimball (5-11, 285, Sr.)PK Cole Fisher (6-1, 175, Sr.)

DefenseDE Robbie Armstrong (6-0, 245, Sr.)NG Kobe Smith (6-3, 290, Jr.)DE Cal Burton (6-4, 240, Sr.)LB Dillon Bliss (5-9, 180, Sr.)LB Quinn Miller (6-1, 220, Soph.)LB Frank Finch (5-10, 185, Jr.)SPUR Kyri Phillips (5-11, 180, Soph.)SPUR Isaiah Pryor (6-1, 190, Jr.)FS Dylan Singleton (5-11, 185, Jr.)CB Aramis Bryant (5-9, 165, Jr.)CB Jeremiah Nails (5-9, 170, Jr.)P Gabe Tiller (6-0, 180, Sr.)

PROBABLE STARTERS (returners in bold)

205683-1

WE DELIVER!2695 Sugarloaf Pkwy & 124, LAWRENCEVILLE

(770) 237-0006

FREE JET’S BREAD®Purchase any Large Pizza with Premium Mozzarella Cheese

& 1 Topping and get a 12 pc. Jet’s Bread®

$999Expires 11/1/14. Extra or premium toppings, extra sauces and dressings, tax and delivery additional. Must present coupon. Prices subject to change without notice. SUGARLOAF LOCATION ONLY.

FOR AFTER THE GAME!

Snellville • The Shoppes at Webb Gin • Scenic Hwy • 678.822.WING (9464) • www.wildwingcafe.com

205109-1


OffensePerhaps too much was asked

of JaDarrius Warner when he took over for the injured JaQuan Morris as the Patriots’ starting quarterback midway through last season.

While the now senior struggled throughout the team’s final five games, coach Jonathan Sanks believes the experience will make him that much more prepared as the incumbent starter under center this year.

“It will help a ton,” Sanks said. “It’s just like parents saying, ‘Don’t put your hand in the fire because you’re going to get burned,’ and the child walks through fire anyway. He’s been burned, so he know what fire feels like.”

So do several other return-ing starters that will help Warner settle in, including senior running back Randy Griffin, who led the Patriots with 580 yards and added 10 catches, and will likely see his role increase this year to reflect his versatility.

“We ask our running backs to do a lot anyway,” Sanks said. “His role ain’t going to change, just be enhanced.”

Warner will also be aided by starting receivers Rey Orocio and Rashard Hunt and veteran backup Kenyuan Riddle (pictured).

In addition, the Berkmar offense will be enhanced by the return of other starters like junior Rey Orocio at receiver and seniors Jerel Jackson and Gibrhil Ghee on the offensive line.

“Probably the cohesiveness of the offensive line is the biggest thing to look for,” Sanks said. “We’re not as big as last year, but it’s a real good

group to work with. They fight.”

DefenseWith the only returning starters

from last year being senior lineback-ers Jamal Wise (75 tackles) and An-thony Valentine and safeties Kevin Grier (67 tackles) and Bryceson Powers (55 tackles), it’s not difficult

to see where the strength of the defense will lie.

However, Sanks is hopeful that newcomers like senior Bryan Con-treras and Dante Chapman can help bolster an undersized defensive line.

More importantly, he wants to see the entire unit make up for its smallish stature, as well as small

overall numbers, by playing with a little extra aggression.

“The problem is depth. We don’t have a lot of depth,” Sanks said. “We’ve just got to be physical. Every time you get to the ball, you have to have mean intentions. It’s the only way to dictate a football game. The meanest, most physical guys win. It’s just about willing yourself to be more physical than the other guy.”

Etc.If there’s one thing Sanks has

tried to instill from Day 1 of his tenure at Berkmar, it’s a positive attitude.

After improving by one win each of the past two seasons, he is hop-ing the more positive outlook will help the Patriots take a bigger leap

this year.That’s especially true in a season

in which outside of defending champion Archer, the race for one of Region 8-AAAAAA’s playoff berths appears to be as wide-open as ever.

“I’m just trying to keep things rolling and moving forward,” Sanks said. “This team is a joy to coach. They come out ready to work. The main thing is to speak life into kids. If the possible looks impossible, just try to keep them moving forward and remain positive.

“You can win more ways than one. You try to have small victories, as well as victories on the score-board. You always tell these kids that if your prepare yourself and have faith in the Lord, you always have a fighting chance. Even if it seems you don’t have a chance, you always have a chance.”

Perhaps that’s one reason he scheduled county powerhouse Buford for one of the team’s non-Region 8-AAAAAA games this season after playing the Wolves in preseason scrimmages in the past.

The idea of what he wants his players to take by seeing such a successful program first-hand is not complicated.

“When look at a guy that’s suc-cessful, you look at the total man,” Sanks said. “You look at all of the components that makes him suc-cessful. You don’t want to look at underachievers. The recipe’s not going to be successful.

“You want to show your kids and coaches what successful programs look like, what they smell like, how they play every play. You want to soak it all up.”

— David Friedlander

BerkmarMascot: Patriots Coach: Jonathan Sanks (9-31 at Berkmar, 17-44 overall) Region: 8-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2005

2014 scheduleAug. 22 at NewtonAug. 29 at BufordSept. 12 DaculaSept. 19 at BrookwoodSept. 26 GraysonOct. 3 at ArcherOct. 10 ParkviewOct. 24 at South GwinnettOct. 31 ShilohNov. 7 at Central Gwinnett

2013 results (3-7)Duluth W 9-3Meadowcreek W 35-7Shiloh W 29-14Central Gwinnett L 15-12South Gwinnett L 20-7Grayson L 37-7Archer L 37-7Brookwood L 14-0Parkview L 14-7Dacula L 33-7

Call now for Advertising & Booth Reservations in the Gwinnett Daily Post’s Looking to Promote Your Business Right Here in Your Own Community?Looking to Promote Your Business Right Here in Your Own Community?

Call now for Advertising & Booth Reservations in the Gwinnett Daily Post’s

For more information & advertising call 770-963-9205 ext 1218. Tickets on sale soon!

STAGE AND VIP TICKET SPONSOR:

BAG SPONSOR:

Showcase your goods & services Thursday, October 23rd, 2014

at the Gwinnett CenterLimited Number of Booths Available!

2060

20-1


1 Tamontra Carter LB 92 JaDarrius Warner QB 123 Kevin Grier DB 124 Jarius Jones DB 105 Kenyuan Riddle RB/WR 126 Nygee Mitchell RB 117 Chaquan Bacote WR 118 Bryceson Powers DB 129 Jamal Wise LB/RB 1210 Chris Cook DB 1211 Omari Sanders WR 1112 Rey Orocio WR 1113 Isaac Fuentes DB 1214 George Wortham DL 1115 Phillip Williams DB 1116 John Maner WR 1117 Brian Barrett QB 1018 David Mundo QB 1019 Anthony Valentine LB 1220 Kymere Faucette DB 1021 Jovani Ajax RB 1022 Dashawn Dubose RB 1223 Rashard Hunt ATH 1224 Randy Griffin RB 1225 Nebil Ibrahim RB 1226 Camryn Young RB 10

27 Samuel Fuentes RB 1128 Trevion Grier DB 1229 Mamady Diarra LB 1030 Anthony Goodman DB 1031 Breton Stanley DB 1132 Idris Adbuljabar LB 1233 Jason Roberts LB 1241 Dante Chapman DE 12

42 Negash Desta LB 1143 Brendan Jenerette LB 1144 William Floyd DL 1145 Bryan Contreras DL 1250 Michael Benjamin DL 1151 Spencer Brown OL 1052 Quindez Dennis LB 953 Brian Seaton LB 10

54 Jerel Jackson OL 1255 D.J. Walden OL 1156 Felix Fererras LB 1057 Jordan McReal LB 1058 Junior Gill DL 1060 Gibril Ghee OL 1261 Gabriel Slaughter LB 1062 Walbert Duran OL 1063 Keylon Riles DB 964 Collins Aboagye OL 1265 Timothy McMillain DB 966 Ben Wenhan OL 1071 Miguel Lopez WR 1072 Khalil D. Raymond OL 1074 Dahrien Beasley LB 976 Joel Huerta OL 1077 Obumneme Osele OL 1080 Emmanuel Olusanya K 1281 Jeimy Castillo WR 1282 Kellen McGee WR 983 Jeremiah Scott QB 984 Anthony Goodman DB 1085 Jason Forster DB 1086 Kishmael Bredy WR 991 Vincent Huynh LB 993 Jack Onsterle DL 11

Berkmar rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB JaDarrius Warner (6-1, 190, Sr.)RB Randy Griffin (5-10, 180, Sr.)RB Nygee Mitchell (5-10, 180, Jr.)WR Rey Orocio (5-10, 172, Jr.)WR Rashard Hunt (5-9, 150, Sr.)RG Jerel Jackson (6-0, 235, Sr.)RT Walbert Duran (6-2, 260, Jr.)C D.J. Walden (5-11, 215, Jr.)LT Collins Aboagye (6-1, 250, Sr.)LG Gibril Ghee (6-2, 306, Sr.)K Emmanuel Olusanya (6-2, 200, Sr.)

DefenseDL Bryan Contreras (5-10, 205, Sr.)DL Dante Chatman (6-4, 230, Sr.)DL George Wortham (5-10, 200, Jr.)LB Jamal Wise (6-0, 215, Sr.)LB Kymere Faucette (6-0, 190, Soph.)LB Anthony Valentine (6-0, 175, Sr.)LB Negash Desta (5-9, 180, Jr.)DB Kevin Grier (5-11, 175, Sr.)DB Bryceson Powers (5-10, 175, Sr.)DB Phillip Williams (5-9, 170, Jr.)DB Isaac Fuentes (5-9, 160, Sr.)or Jarius Jones (6-0, 170, Soph.)or Christopher Cook (6-0, 175, Sr.)P Emmanuel Olusanya (6-2, 200, Sr.)


206033-1

FOOTBALL IS BACK ANDBIGGER THAN EVER

ENTER TO WIN!

ENTER TODAY AT GWINNETTDAILYPOST.COM/CONTESTS

HIGH SCHOOL PICK THE WINNERS

SponSored by:

678-889-4090 • www.flatoutauto.com

Pick the right HS games & you

could win a

hd

One Winner Each Week!


PRESEASON ALL-COUNTY

QB Gabe Tiller, Archer, Sr.Gwinnett’s top returning passer threw for 2,370 yards, 28 TDs

DL Tomon Fox, Collins Hill, Jr.Top prospect led Gwinnett with 13 sacks last season

OL Trey Derouen, Parkview, Sr.Big lineman has committed to Mis-sissippi State

LB Joshua Thomas, Buford, Sr.Made 56 tackles, rushed for 1,064 yards, 16 TDs as run-ning back

RB Micah Abernathy, GAC, Sr.Top recruit rushed for 1,664 yards, 20 TDs as a junior

DL Anree Saint-Amour, North Gwinnett, Sr.Active college prospect made 75 tackles as a junior

OL Josh Fannin, Mill Creek, Sr.Middle Tennessee recruit moving to center for senior season

DB Chris Dickhute, Mill Creek, Sr.Hard-hitting safety made 68 tackles last season

RB Tario Fuller, Lanier, Sr.Purdue commit-ment rushed for 1,590 yards, 20 TDs last season

DL Bijan Sirleaf, Dacula, Sr.Made 65 tackles on defense while dou-bling as a powerful fullback

OL Mitch Hyatt, North Gwinnett, Sr.Five-star Clemson commitment is ranked as one of na-tion’s top two OTs

DB Jeremy McDuffie, Shiloh, Sr.Track star also ran for 527 yards last year

WR Darius Slayton, GAC, Sr.Averaged 30.3 yards per catch with 940 yards, 8 TDs last year

LB Austin Smith, Buford, Sr.Speedy linebacker has committed to Tennessee

OL Nick Polino, Buford, Sr.UNC recruit led line that paved the way for 4,000-plus rush-ing yards

DB Kielan Whitner, Mountain View, Sr.Made 56 tackles on defense, had 524 receiving yards, 4 TDs on offense

WR Kyle Davis, Archer, Jr.Top prospect had 658 receiving yards, 11 TDs for region champs

LB Adonis Thomas, Central Gwinnett, Sr.Athletic linebacker, Florida commitment also a threat as WR

PK Matt Bonadies, Buford, Sr.Led county with 107 points last year, was 6 of 8 on FGs

P Eric Autry, Parkview, Sr.Gwinnett’s top re-turning punter with a 39-yard average

TE Isaac Nauta, Buford, Jr.Averaged 20.5 yards per catch with five TDs, had 6 sacks on defense

DL Justin Young, Grayson, Sr.UGA commitment has been a force on both lines for the Rams

OL Kaleb Kim, Mill Creek, Sr.Auburn-bound lineman has made first-team all-county the past two years

DB Dylan Singleton, Archer, Jr.Led the Tigers with 113 tackles as a sophomore

OFFENSE

DEFENSE


OffenseJesse Brown (pictured) wasn’t

supposed to have this much experience, but it should pay off this season for an offense without many returning starters.

The junior running back became Brookwood’s starting tailback in the worst possible manner when his older brother Josh, the pro-jected starter, suffered a season-ending knee injury early in the opening game. That left the duty to his younger brother, who didn’t dis-appoint with 1,439 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns.

“I think we’ll be able to run the ball,” Brookwood head coach Mark Crews said. “Jesse’s a force.”

Crews also likes the potential of the offensive line, led by returning starter Bailey Ivemeyer. Leonard Warner and Mason LeBlanc will handle the fullback duties, while Ian Barnett and Chad Price are solid blockers at tight end.

“We’ve got a pretty strong of-fensive line if they develop and do like they’re expected to do,” the coach said.

Junior Will McCullough and sophomore Tanner Winskie are in a competition for the starting quar-terback job. Those two will have a receiving corps led by Dorian Miles, Ricky Sharma, Patrick Mills and Zack Lee.

DefenseMuch like the offense, the defense

will feature a lineup of new starters.One important player back in the

starting lineup is Chase Middleton, a defensive end last season who is now the starter at middle lineback-er. The Georgia State commitment

made 64 tackles last year. He’s part of an impressive group of line-backers that also includes Frank Robinson and Warner, a 6-foot-4 sophomore.

The secondary struggled at times last season, but the coaches are encouraged by the players stepping up in those roles like Patrick Mills, Nate Blackmon, Nate Salomon and Tyler Montgomery. Jeremy Quarshie, Price, Barnett, Sal Lopes and South Gwinnett transfer Michael Terry are among the key players along the defensive line.

“We’ve got good size on the defensive line,” Crews said. “Quarshie and Price are both big kids that are pretty athletic. Michael Terry is a pretty athletic, big kid.

We’ll be bigger up front and a little more athletic in the secondary and linebacker positions than we were last year.”

Crews’ farewellCrews, who turns 60 in January,

said the plan is for 2014 to be his final season at Brookwood.

It will be a tough farewell for a coach who has been at Brookwood since 1987, serving as defensive coordinator until 2002 when he was hired as head coach to re-place Dave Hunter.

“This will be my last year here,” Crews said. “After this, I don’t know what I’ll do. You just sort of reach a point where it’s time. People tell you that you’ll know when you’re ready to retire but I don’t know if

that’s true. I still enjoy the strategy. I don’t enjoy two-a-days and 90-hour weeks like I used to. It taxes you. It’s hard. It’s a lot of stress. But the football part I still enjoy. I don’t know what will happen down the road.”

Unless Crews changes his mind and returns for one more year at Brookwood — he considered mak-ing the 2013 season his last — he didn’t rule out joining someone else’s staff as an assistant.

As for the Broncos’ next head coach, Crews plans to recommend longtime assistant David Nelson, who played for Brookwood in the

late 1980s.“If somebody asked me today

who I would recommend for the job I would say David Nelson,” Crews said. “I don’t think that’s any secret. David grew up here. He’s an excel-lent coach, an excellent teacher. He’s been our teacher of the year here. He teaches AP physics. He’s been coaching and working here 20 years. I don’t see any downside with David deserving the opportu-nity if that’s what he wants to do.”

Etc.Gwinnett County Public Schools

built Brookwood a new fieldhouse in the offseason to match the ones it had built for other area high schools, but the new facility won’t be open for use until Aug. 31. “It will be a logistics decision whether or not to move into the building during football season,” Crews said. “Once you get into the football season you’re working 80-hour weeks with practices and film breakdown, then all of a sudden you uproot all your players and coaches to move. That will take at least a couple of days. … It’s a beautiful new building and we appreciate the county providing it for us. Whether or not we move into it soon will be an ongoing decision. Maybe we’ll move in during the bye week or in December when we finish up.” The old fieldhouse will be used for a second weight room and non-foot-ball locker rooms. … Brookwood assistant Bill Shields took a head coaching position in Florida and he was replaced on staff by Eric Thurston, who previously worked at Tucker.

— Will Hammock

BrookwoodMascot: Broncos Coach: Mark Crews (110-40 at Brookwood, 110-40 overall) Region: 8-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2013

2014 scheduleAug. 23 Valdosta* Aug. 29 at NorcrossSept. 12 at ParkviewSept. 19 BerkmarSept. 26 at South GwinnettOct. 3 ShilohOct. 10 at Central GwinnettOct. 17 DaculaOct. 31 at GraysonNov. 7 Archer


2013 results (6-6)McEachern L 31-10Mill Creek L 44-10Archer L 25-20Parkview W 10-0Dacula L 21-7Shiloh W 20-7Central Gwinnett W 23-14Berkmar W 14-0South Gwinnett L 30-28Grayson W 30-27^ Lambert W 35-16Norcross L 32-9

^overtime


10 Dorian Miles WR/FS 1111 Frank Robinson RB/LB 1112 Rius Turner WR/CB 1214 Demetrius Demeritte RB/LB 1215 Tyler Montgomery QB/SS 1116 Will McCullough QB 1117 Nick Marquez P/K 1218 Ricky Sharma WR/CB 1219 Tanner Winskie QB 1020 Mick Hutchins FB/LB 1121 Zack Lee WR/FS 1222 Mason LeBlanc FB/SS 1223 Miles Jackson WR/CB 1224 Patrick Mills WR/CB 1225 Nate Salomon WR/DB 1226 Rivion Johnson Jr. FB/LB 1227 Cameron Collins WR/DB 1228 Semaj Hayden RB/SS 1129 Nate Blackmon WR/CB 1130 Chad Price TE/DE 1231 Jaylon Smith WR/CB 1232 Bryan Oliver RB/CB 1133 Chris Polycarpe FB/LB 1234 Chase Middleton TE/LB 12

35 Leonard Warner FB/LB 1036 Jesse Brown RB 1137 Thomas Coltrain RB/CB 1138 Jeremy Quarshie TE/DE 1239 C.J. Dye FB/LB 1140 Jaiah Momoh SE/LB 1141 Jacory Griffin SE/SS 1142 James Moorman TE/LB 12

43 Kojo Amoo WR/CB 1144 Thandiwe Daley FB/LB 1245 Joseph Schureck FB/LB 1147 Guillermo Luna FB/LB 1048 Dan Jacob TE/DE 1151 Nick Coker C/DT 1252 Trey Wilson OT/DT 1253 David Ekemezie TE/DE 12

54 Conner Gates OT/DT 1255 Michael Terry OT/DT 1156 Tyler Lee OG/DT 1258 Shane DeFreitas OG/DE 1159 Matt Barfield OG/DT 1164 Cole Simms C/DT 1266 Proctor Owens OG/DT 1168 Bailey Ivemeyer OG/DT 1270 Sal Lopes OT/DT 1274 Jonathan Bell OT/DT 1175 Matthew Rawsthorn OT/DT 1177 Zach Daniels OT/DT 1278 Jacob Arrington OT/DT 1179 Eli Saliba OG/DT 1180 Tung Nguyen WR/CB 1181 Brandon Demeritte WR/CB 1182 Tyler Houston WR/FS 1283 Collin Howard TE/DE 1284 Matthew Corn WR/CB 1186 Jordan Pullins TE/FS 1187 Ian Barnett TE/DE 1288 Cameron Hartnett P/K 1289 Myles Scott WR/CB 11

Brookwood rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Will McCullough (5-10, 180, Jr.)or Tanner Winskie (6-4, 185, Soph.)TB Jesse Brown (5-11, 185, Jr.)FB Leonard Warner (6-4, 215, Soph.)WR Ricky Sharma (6-4, 180, Sr.)WR Dorian Miles (6-0, 180, Jr.)TE Ian Barnett (6-1, 220, Sr.)OT Zach Daniels (6-1, 275, Sr.)OG Tyler Lee (5-11, 250, Sr.)C Nick Coker (6-0, 270, Sr.)OG Bailey Ivemeyer (6-0, 245, Sr.)OT Trey Wilson (6-2, 330, Sr.)PK Nick Marquez (5-11, 170, Sr.)

DefenseDE Jeremy Quarshie (6-2, 250, Sr.)DE Chad Price (6-2, 215, Sr.)DT Michael Terry (6-1, 245, Jr.)DT Sal Lopes (6-4, 310, Sr.)LB Chase Middleton (6-2, 215, Sr.)LB Frank Robinson (5-10, 180, Jr.)LB Leonard Warner (6-4, 215, Soph.)CB Patrick Mills (5-9, 165, Sr.)CB Nate Blackmon (5-10, 160, Jr.)FS Nate Salomon (6-1, 170, Sr.)SS Tyler Montgomery (5-11, 175, Jr.)P Nick Marquez (5-11, 170, Sr.)



OffenseOne of the biggest trade-

marks of the Buford offense over the years has been the running game, with plenty of speed at running back and power and surge up front on the line, and this year should be no different.

Leading rusher Joshua Thomas (1,064 yards, 16 TDs) is back, along with fellow senior Evyn Cooper, who chipped in 547 yards and five touchdowns on just 49 carries in a limited role.

Meanwhile, the line ap-pears to be as powerful as ever, with three start-ers back, including North Carolina-bound Nick Polino, as well as fellow seniors Shane Robinson and Hunter Holland.

That’s not to say coach Jess Simpson doesn’t have some concerns.

“We did lose a couple of seniors (on the line),” Simpson said. “So, we’ve got a couple of spots to fill. Certainly having three of five (starters) back helps, but we’re trying to work on the other two. I don’t know.

“Honestly, we’ve been fighting so many things (during the summer). We’ve had injuries the last few weeks and guys missing practice. We’re trying to cre-ate substitution patterns to see how cohesive we can be. … We’ve got to be able

to execute and be on same page.”

The other area of concern is finding someone to re-place the two-headed quar-terbacking monster of Taylor Mitchell and Montgomery VanGorder, who combined to throw for 3,334 yards and 37 TDs over the past two seasons sharing the job.

While pushed by sopho-more Mic Roof during practice, it appears senior Luke Humphrey, who did see limited action in relief last year, will open the season under center.

He should have plenty

of targets when the Wolves take to the air, with a choice of several speedy receiv-ers, as well as sure-handed Isaac Nauta (19 rec., 385 yards, 5 TDs), one of the nation’s top-rated junior tight end prospects.

DefenseTechnically, there aren’t

many returning starters off last year’s defense, which al-lowed just 143 yards and 7.4 points per game last season.

But that doesn’t mean the Wolves will be inexperi-enced.

The rotation the Buford

staff used meant several players got experience last year that should pay off this year, including Tennessee-committed Quay Picou and highly touted junior Shug Frazier, who should plug up the middle at the tackles and combine with ends Nauta (6 sacks last season) and Akron-bound Tyler Shipman up front.

The linebacker corps is just as stacked with athleti-cism and experience, with Thomas (56 tackles) return-ing to his starting job, and both Konnor Houston and Tennessee-commit Austin

Smith (75 tackles) also bringing experience to the field.

The one area that could be an issue is the second-ary, where the Wolves must replace three starters from last year, including twin cor-ners Thomas and Terrance Wilson.

Virginia commitment Da-vid Curry (pictured) is back at one safety, while Steven Reese, who saw consider-

able playing time a year ago, is back at the other safety.

Still, Simpson has his eye on what has been a spirited battle at the cornerback slots during the summer and preseason.

“Those guys need game experience,” Simpson said. “David Curry started and Steven Reese played a lot leading the charge at safety, but on the outside at corner, it’s like an open competition right now. They’re young and inexperienced. We had Bran-don Mangram have a good camp, but (opponents) are going to throw it, no doubt. So, we’re going to tested early and often.”

Early testsSimpson has always liked

early non-region tests for his team, but with the Wolves moving up to Class AAAA for the first time this year, he really went all out.

Games with Florida powerhouse Trinity (on ESPN2) and Class AAAAAA semifinalist McEachern flank a Week 2 meeting with another Class AAAAAA foe in Berkmar, which Simpson says will give him an early idea where the team stands.

“I’ve been here 20 years (as a head coach and as-sistant), and I can’t imagine we’ve had a tougher start,” Simpson said.


BufordMascot: Wolves Coach: Jess Simpson (123-8 at Buford, 123-8 overall) Region: 8-AAAA Last playoff appearance: 2013

2014 scheduleAug. 23 Trinity Christian*Aug. 29 BerkmarSept. 5 McEachernSept. 19 White CountyOct. 3 at ChestateeOct. 10 North HallOct. 17 at Monroe AreaOct. 24 at North OconeeOct. 31 Madison CountyNov. 7 at Stephens Co.

*9 p.m. (ESPN2)

2013 results (15-0)Elbert County W 46-7Gainesville W 38-14Hancock Cent. W 63-0Banks County W 63-0West Hall W 63-0White County W 42-6Dawson Co. W 42-10Fannin Co. W 45-8East Hall W 70-6North Hall W 42-14Sonoraville W 58-0Woodward W 40-7Carver-Columbus W 36-6Callaway W 24-14Washington Co. W 35-19

CARPET • UPHOLSTERY • HARDWOOD • TILE & GROUT

770-682-3132 • heavensbest.com

Football Season can get a little messy...For Quality Service at Affordable Prices call:

Dry in 1 Hour


1 Joshua Thomas TB/LB 123 Luke Humphrey QB 124 Connor Tarleton TB/LB 125 Steven Reese WR/DB 126 Evyn Cooper TB/DB 128 Caleb Auer TE/DE 119 Quay Picou TE/DL 1211 Austin Smith FB/LB 1212 Aaron Auer WR/DB 1213 Mic Roof QB 1014 Brett Shepherd QB 1115 T.D. Roof TB/LB 1016 Tyler Klein QB 1017 Konnor Houston TE/LB 1218 Isaac Nauta TE/DE 1119 Joshua Blackwell TB/DB 1020 Jacob Martin WR/DB 1121 Xavier Gantt TB/DB 1122 David Curry WR/DB/P 1223 Martin Mangram TB/DB 1124 Brandon Mangram WR/DB 1225 Dillon Vann TE/LB 1126 Avery Turner WR/DB 1227 K.J. Anderson WR/DB 1028 Matthew Parker WR/LB 1129 Chee Anyanwu WR/DB 1030 Jeromy Paige WR/DB 12

31 Jake Simpson TE/LB 1032 Tyler Shipman FB/DE 1233 R.J. Walker WR/DB 1134 Mack Legrant FB/LB 1135 Elijah Bryant FB/LB 1236 Jay Mays TB/DB 1137 A.J. Wansley TB/DB 1041 Jordan Perlotte FB/DE 1242 Brandon Marsh WR/DB 1144 Jack Ness FB/LB 1045 Grant Simonds FB/DE 1246 Reid Parks FB/DE 11

47 Blake Ferguson SN 1249 Tyreque Legrant FB/DE 1052 Trey Bell OL/DL 1053 Shane Robinson OL/DL 1255 Garrett Scoggins OL/DL 1056 Cooper Simpson OL/DL 1158 Nick Polino OL/DL 1259 Connor Mills OL/DL 1060 Blayne Snow OL/DL 1061 Preston Brown OL/DL 1062 Dean Powell OL/DL 1063 Alex Kirchner OL/DL 10

64 Alan Frazier OL/DL 1165 Jack Hollis OL/DL 1066 Dale Adams OL/DL 1067 Ryan Dobbs OL/DL 1270 Tyler Thurmond OL/DL 1071 Travis DeGoey OL/DL 1272 Will Graddick OL/DL 1173 Brady Jackson OL/DL 1275 David Andrade OL/DL 1176 Hank White OL/DL 1077 Hunter Holland OL/DL 1278 Innis Claud OL/DL 1180 Alan Bussoletti WR/DE 1181 Nathan Haines TE/DE 1082 D.J. Pinkard TE/DE 1083 Tanner Alexander WR/DB 1084 Juan Morales WR/DB 1185 Tyler Perkins WR/DB 1086 Kyle Schoop WR/DB 1087 Jacob Cardiello TE/DE 1188 Brytun Walker WR/DB 1089 Nick Chmielowicz K 1090 Edgar Bravo K 1091 Shug Frazier TE/DL 1194 Jarett Burgos K 1199 Matthew Bonadies K 12

Buford rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Luke Humphrey (6-0, 170, Sr.)RB Joshua Thomas (5-11, 200, Sr.)FB Jordan Perlotte (6-2, 250, Sr.)WR David Curry (6-1, 195, Sr.)WR Aaron Auer (6-2, 170, Sr.)TE Isaac Nauta (6-5, 240, Jr.)RT Nick Polino (6-4, 278, Sr.)RG Shane Robinson (6-2, 265, Sr.)C Innis Claud (6-1, 280, Jr.)LG Cooper Simpson (6-0, 250, Jr.)LT Hunter Holland (6-4, 280, Sr.)K Matthew Bonadies (6-1, 200, Sr.)

DefenseDE Isaac Nauta (6-5, 240, Jr.)DT Quay Picou (6-3, 287, Sr.)DT Shug Frazier (6-3, 320, Jr.)DE Tyler Shipman (6-1, 240, Sr.)LB Joshua Thomas (5-11, 200, Sr.)LB Konnor Houston (6-4, 230, Sr.)LB Austin Smith (6-3, 230, Sr.)CB Brandon Mangram (5-9, 165, Sr.)CB Xavier Gantt (5-10, 163, Jr.)FS Steven Reese (6-2, 185, Sr.)SS David Curry (6-1, 195, Sr.)P Matthew Bonadies (6-1, 200, Sr.)


205681-1

STARTER LANDSCAPE PACKAGE

Store HourS:Monday-Friday 7AM - 5PMSaturday 8AM - 2PMSunday Closed

323EX stick EdgEr

350Bt Backpack BlowEr

545 16”chainsaw

dX hEdgEr trimmErattachmEnt

dX trimmEr attachmEntw/ BrUsh BladE

m-zt52 commErcialzEro tUrn

0% Financing for

48 months available

as well as options

for tough credit

$6999.00 reg. $8,609.50

www.lanieroutdoorequipment.com4900 Bryant rd.Buford,GA 30518

678-482-4405

dX cUltivatorattachmEntd

326ls straightshaft trimmEr

327ldX splitBoomtrimmEr

hdE4p 4 gallonspraYEr

dX polE sawattachmEnt

Add a trailer Starting at $900.00Add a trailer Starting at $900.00

GOBufordWolves!

This special offer courtesy of Gwinnett Daily Post

December 31, 2014. Attn Server: Comp to MKTG$

THANKS FOR VOTING US ONE OF YOUR FAVORITES!

204520-1


OffenseCentral Gwinnett head

coach Todd Wofford doesn’t hide his feelings about last year’s offense. He was far from pleased.

After producing big num-bers in Wofford’s first three seasons, the unit struggled mightily last season and was held to 15 or fewer points in seven games, including the last four. The coach expects the offense will get back to its previous success this fall.

“I think we’ll be much improved because we’ve got a lot of experience back,” Wofford said. “We have a much improved offensive line, a much improved re-ceiving corps. The receivers should produce a whole lot more than they did in the past. Our offense in general will produce lot more than we did. We have a lot more weapons than we had last year. Hopefully we can get the production out of the running back position that we need.”

Josh Malone and Jawaad Meyers will get the bulk of the carries at running back, though Nigel Adams, a starter at linebacker, will see some action in that role as well. They will benefit from the best offensive line of Wofford’s tenure at Central with returning starters E.J. Price, Marcellus Cooper and Omari Jackson joining new starters Elijah Hutson and Tony Gray. Price, a 6-foot-6,

275-pound junior, has nearly 30 offers, with Georgia and Auburn as his early favorites.

The coach also is high on second-year starter Eric Forrest at quarterback. The senior completed 63 percent of his passes for 1,805 yards with 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season.

“In this system, the quar-terbacks I’ve had have got-ten a lot better in the second

year,” Wofford said. “That’s always an improvement year. It was that way with (former starter) Eman (Westmore-land). It took some time to get used to the system and my coaching style. Eric also had to get used to Gwinnett County football in (Class) AAAAAA. It was a lot to get used to because it’s a whole different league compared to where he came from.”

Forrest has a deep wide receiving corps at his dis-posal, led by Chris Shelling (pictured), Major Bellamy and Azaviar Kufour. Shelling caught a Gwinnett-best 82 passes last season for 795 yards.

DefenseWhile the offense sput-

tered last season, Central put together a solid body of work defensively. That’s the goal again this season with seven returning starters.

“With the first unit, we’re sound on all three levels, D-line, linebackers and secondary,” Wofford said. “Overall, the defensive

speed is faster than we’ve been in awhile. The overall speed and experience is different this year. This is a good group. It could be the best defensive group we’ve had since I’ve been here from a talent standpoint.”

The linebackers are particularly impressive, with high Division I prospects in Adonis Thomas (Florida commitment) and Adams, a talented junior with a Vanderbilt offer. Fellow line-backers Tim Gary and Tyler Miller also are playmakers.

“The linebackers look real good,” Wofford said. “They can run and they’ve got size. Having two guys out there who are 220-plus and can run is something we haven’t had since I’ve been here. Tim Gary is a very, very smart athlete and linebacker who can make plays. Tyler Miller is a kid who got a lot of experience last year and a kid who’s very fundamentally sound.”

Omar Lopez, Marcheal Jackson, Greg McPherson and Jordan Tolbert lead the way along the defensive front, while the contributors in the secondary are led by Deshawn Oliver, Elliot Cum-mings, Michael Witherspoon, Dre Jackson and Kaseem Bagley.

Changing the lookCentral enters the football

season with a new home and a new look.

Gwinnett County Public Schools completed the Black Knights’ fieldhouse earlier this month, allowing them to move from the older building to the new location adjacent to the home stands. But that isn’t the only change.

The players’ game attire will look distinctly different, too.

The team has switched from Nike to Under Armour for its uniforms and also has altered the look of its hel-mets. The black helmet will no longer have white, but will feature a yellow stripe down the middle and an all-black facemask.

Central even had to order extra helmets for its 96 varsity players, the most its head coach has worked with during his Central tenure.

“That’s a good problem to have,” Wofford said.

Etc.Senior Ricky Ortiz, an

all-county goalie on the soccer team, will handle both the punting and kicking duties. … Central’s two new coaches are both working with the linebackers — Col-lins Hill grad David Wright, previously a head coach in Mississippi, and Eric Bona, who coached previously at his native Franklin County. … Wofford led Central to a 6-4 mark in 2012, the pro-gram’s first winning season since 2006, before slipping to 2-8 last year.

— Will Hammock

Central GwinnettMascot: Black Knights Coach: Todd Wofford (16-24 at Central, 16-24 overall) Region: 8-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2006

2014 scheduleAug. 29 at Collins HillSept. 5 Mundy’s MillSept. 12 at South GwinnettSept. 19 ShilohOct. 3 at DaculaOct. 10 BrookwoodOct. 17 at GraysonOct. 24 ArcherOct. 31 at ParkviewNov. 7 Berkmar

2013 results (2-8)Collins Hill L 22-0Clarke Central L 37-12Berkmar W 15-12South Gwinnett W 41-14Grayson L 27-19Archer L 41-20Brookwood L 23-14Parkview L 21-13Dacula L 24-6Shiloh L 31-14


1 Chris Shelling WR 122 Major Bellamy WR 114 Vern Bellamy DB 105 Adonis Thomas LB 126 Tim Gary LB 117 Dre Jackson DB 128 Michael Witherspoon DB 129 Omar Lopez DE 1210 Azaviar Kufour WR 1111 Sidney Willis DE/LB 1112 Nick Partlow QB 1013 Marcheal Jackson DL 1214 D.J. Irons QB 915 Eric Forrest QB 1216 Derrick Lawrence RB 917 Lunden Young WR 1218 Elliot Cummings DB 1019 Kaseem Bagley DB 1120 Tyshon Golphin DB 1221 Jeff Days RB 1022 Jawaad Meyers RB 1123 Nigel Adams LB 1124 Josh Malone RB 1225 John Stafford DB 1226 A.J. McCain DB 1127 Noah Barkley RB 1128 Keith Molette RB 1229 Cedrick Belle DB 12

30 Dominique Atkins DB 1031 Josh Peters DB 1033 Dominic Atkins RB 1034 Jamar Elhajj LB 1235 Micah Maxey LB 1136 Kennith Kearse DB 1037 Johnny Louisil RB 1038 Josh Miller DB 1039 Ruben Jimenez DB 11

40 Calvin Parks DB 1041 Ahmed Staples LB 1143 Deshawn Oliver DB 1144 Chakai Simmons LB 945 Jadarious Davis DB 1146 Tyler Miller LB 1247 Victor Omotor DB 1148 Elijah Robertson LB 1149 Kennan Guzman DL 11

50 Jordan Tolbert OL 1252 Dewayne Christian DL 1253 Farook Ogunfuyi LB 1154 Marcellus Cooper OL 1255 Greg McPherson DL 1256 Brandon Jones DL 1257 Tim Wilkins OL 1058 Devin Billhimer DL 1060 Bella Sinanta LB 1162 Jakob Lindblad OL 1063 Omari Jackson OL 1264 Carlos Corona OL 1166 Torrey Cromwell OL 1170 Migel Palmer OL 1071 Abraham Salazar OL 974 Tony Gray OL 1075 Elijah Hutson OL 1177 E.J. Price OL 1180 Jordan Smith WR 1081 Sam Westmoreland WR 1282 Chris Craig DB 1283 Ishmail Elmore WR 1084 Tyrone Gould WR 985 Quenton Meheau WR 1086 Kionte Williams WR 1087 Erron Price WR 1188 Jallah Zeze WR 990 Ricky Ortiz K/P 12

Central Gwinnett rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Eric Forrest (6-0, 210, Sr.)RB Josh Malone (5-8, 180, Sr.)or Jawaad Meyers (5-8, 170, Jr.)WR Chris Shelling (5-8, 165, Sr.)WR Major Bellamy (5-8, 155, Jr.)WR Azaviar Kufour (5-11, 195, Jr.)WR Lunden Young (5-9, 170, Sr.)or Sam Westmoreland (6-2, 170, Sr.)OL E.J. Price (6-6, 275, Jr.)OL Marcellus Cooper (6-0, 275, Sr.)OL Omari Jackson (5-8, 200, Sr.)OL Elijah Hutson (6-2, 240, Jr.)OL Tony Gray (6-4, 245, Soph.)PK Ricky Ortiz (6-1, 185, Sr.)

DefenseDL Omar Lopez (5-10, 230, Sr.)DL Marcheal Jackson (6-1, 205, Sr.)DL Greg McPherson (5-10, 250, Sr.)or Jordan Tolbert (5-9, 245, Sr.)LB Adonis Thomas (6-4, 220, Sr.)LB Nigel Adams (6-0, 220, Jr.)LB Tim Gary (5-10, 195, Jr.)LB Tyler Miller (6-0, 175, Sr.)DB Deshawn Oliver (5-9, 190, Jr.)DB Elliot Cummings (6-0, 175, Soph.)DB Michael Witherspoon (6-1, 170, Sr.)DB Dre Jackson (5-10, 180, Sr.)or Kaseem Bagley (5-7, 140, Jr.)P Ricky Ortiz (6-1, 185, Sr.)


206403-1

Find out what to see, where to go and who's coming

to town in the Fall issue of

ARTS PREVIEWpublishing Sunday,

September, 28th!Gwinnett

Daily Postgwinnettdailypost.com

205682-1

WE DELIVER!2695 Sugarloaf Pkwy & 124, LAWRENCEVILLE

(770) 237-0006

We Proudly Support Archer High School Football!

FREE JET’S BREAD®Purchase any Large Pizza with Premium Mozzarella Cheese

& 1 Topping and get a 12 pc. Jet’s Bread®

$999Expires 11/1/14. Extra or premium toppings, extra sauces and dressings, tax and delivery additional. Must present coupon. Prices subject to change without notice. SUGARLOAF LOCATION ONLY.


OffenseCollins Hill graduated

pretty much every contribu-tor off last season’s prolific offense, which scored 40 or more points eight times and averaged 48 points over the last seven games to spark a run to the Class AAAAAA quarterfinals.

The Eagles have one catch, four yards and one touchdown returning from last year’s unit, and must replace both the county’s leading passer, Tyler Her-man, and the Daily Post offensive player of the year, Tyler Henderson. Hender-son rushed for 1,634 yards and 24 TDs and caught 32 passes for 389 yards and five more scores as a senior.

“We are as young and as green as we’ve ever been since I’ve been here,” Collins Hill head coach Kevin Reach said. “But our kids’ work habits have been very good. It’s been a great offseason. Our kids understand the success we’ve had the last six years and they want to continue that success. We’re confident. We’re going to find those kids who are diamonds in the rough and come play well on Friday nights.”

Thomas Harris’ return brings some experience, having contributed at run-ning back when he was a sophomore until a knee injury slowed his career down. He will share time in the backfield with Jeremy

Lewis and sophomore Monty Horn, who will be the Eagles’ starting quarterback.

“He’s won the job,” Reach said of Horn. “He’ll be our starter. He’s done a good job. We’re excited about where he’s at. He’ll have three years at that position.”

Collins Hill will have its large group of contributors at wide receiver as usual, with Canyon Slade, Jordan Bertrand, Codi Russell, Des Howard, Malik Lewis, Blake Randall, Shane Flanigan and Reggie White in the rotation. Justin Black and Robert Sny-

der will be the tight ends.Braxton Hale is the most

experienced member of an offensive line that also in-cludes Kyle Henschel, Drew Martin, Steven Harwell and Michael Faulkner.

DefenseThe defense should be a

strength for the Eagles, par-ticularly with a front seven that Reach thinks “will be as good as we’ve ever had.”

Senior Miles Fox, an Old Dominion commitment, is a force in the middle of the defensive line, while junior

Tomon Fox (pictured), no relation to Miles but a top Divi-sion I prospect, led the county last year with 13 sacks.

Reach also expects big things out of the other defensive end, 6-foot-5, 220-pound Shaq Heriveaux.

“Tomon’s a special kid,” Reach said. “He’s got so much upside. When we first got him, I knew he could be a good player. But he had an outstanding year and led the county in sacks. He has such a burst of speed and he’s so strong. Miles is the best I’ve ever had the opportunity to

coach along the defensive front. He’s got such good push and he’s got a motor that doesn’t quit. All three of them had great springs and they’re very energetic. We had a tough time blocking any of those three with our young offensive line in the spring. It seemed like they were in our quarterback’s lap every time we turned around. We had a real tough time blocking them.”

Snyder, Emmanuel Bel-mar, Miles Parker, A.J. Terry, Malik Blakely, Khalil Blakely and Jonathan Postell are in the linebacker rotation. The secondary is led by Bertrand, a returning starter at safety.

“We’re going to have to get some big plays from our defense,” Reach said. “They’re going to have to get as many three-and-outs as possible and try to help us with good field position.”

Run of successThe Eagles have made the

playoffs for six straight sea-sons, as well as nine of the last 10, and that’s the goal again this season, despite the graduation of 38 seniors off last year’s 11-2 team.

Last year’s team reached the quarterfinals before a disappointing 35-32 loss to McEachern.

“I look at McEachern and they’re ranked No. 1 in the state right now, and we’re a first down away from beating them last year and playing in

the semifinals,” Reach said. “I felt like we outplayed them in the second half. We did it with kids who bought into what we’re selling. It’s kind of the same thing we’re doing here. Just because we don’t have a lot of experience on offense doesn’t mean we can’t be successful. We’ve kind of moved on from that game. We overcame every-body’s expectations from last season. I don’t think anybody had us making the playoffs. We told our kids we’ve made it six straight years. You don’t want to be the one that misses the playoffs.”

Etc.Reach said the team is still

looking for a successor to the only football announcer in school history, James “Frosty” Plunkett, who died suddenly earlier this year. “I’m look-ing for one right now. We’re going to miss Frosty. A lot of the highlight stuff we had, his voice was always on there. The thing about Frosty, more important than his voice, was that he was always willing to give back to the community. He was always willing to help kids behind closed doors. It was always anonymous. He always had a deep heart for caring for kids.” … Collins Hill added two new coaches, Rick Ritland from Johnson-Gainesville and Michael Gunn, the longtime head coach at Athens Academy.

— Will Hammock

Collins HillMascot: Eagles Coach: Kevin Reach (32-17 at Collins Hill, 32-17 overall) Region: 7-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2013

2014 scheduleAug. 22 at DaculaAug. 29 Central GwinnettSept. 5 at South GwinnettSept. 19 at North GwinnettSept. 26 MeadowcreekOct. 3 at Mountain ViewOct. 10 DuluthOct. 24 at Mill CreekOct. 31 Peachtree RidgeNov. 7 Norcross

2013 results (11-2)Central Gwinnett W 22-0Dacula W 21-13Habersham Cent. W 55-3Mountain View W 42-13Peachtree Ridge W 35-28Norcross L 28-0Meadowcreek W 68-0North Gwinnett W 53-28Duluth W 49-14Mill Creek W 45-34Walton W 41-7Alpharetta W 48-0McEachern L 35-32

CARPET • UPHOLSTERY • HARDWOOD • TILE & GROUT

Dry in 1 Hour

770-682-3132 • heavensbest.com

Football Season can get a little messy...For Quality Service at Affordable Prices call:


1 Jordan Bertrand WR/DB 112 Jeremy Lewis RB/DB 113 Blake Randall WR/QB 124 Codi Russell WR/DB 115 Canyon Slade WR 116 Shaq Herriveaux DL 127 Bobby Sheehan LB 118 Tomon Fox DL/TE 119 Emmanuel Belmar LB 1111 Reggie White DB/WR 1012 Angelo Crockett WR/DB 1013 A.J. Carter RB/DB 1114 Des Howard WR/DB 1015 Kono Smith RB/DB 1016 Monty Horn QB 1017 Johnny Nguyen QB 1118 Malik Lewis WR 1219 Antonio Oliver WR/DB 1120 Khalil Blakely LB 1121 Miles Parker LB 1222 Anthony Krajec WR/DB 1123 Mitch Davis LB/TE 1124 Jalen Wertz DB 1125 Chris Evans RB/DB 11

26 Elisha Jappah WR/DB 1227 Askri Smith RB/DB 1028 A.J. Terry RB/DB 1229 Thomas Harris RB 1230 Malik Blakely LB 1131 Bryce Callendar RB/DB 10

32 Mark Flores DB 1034 Jonathan Postell RB/LB 1040 Robert Snyder FB/LB 1142 Justin Black FB/DL 1244 Kalen Shaw RB/DB 1148 Derek Sykes RB/DB 12

52 Braxton Hale OL/DL 1253 Larry Warren OL/DL 1254 Johnathan Clegg OL/DL 1155 Steven Harwell OL/DL 1156 Austin Bullock OL/DL 1157 Jonathan Husbands OL/DL 1161 Courtlynd Mallory OL/DL 1163 Joseph Schneider OL/DL 1265 Drew Martin OL/DL 1267 Shammond Woods OL/DL 1268 Kyle Henschel OL/DL 1270 Kyle Weaver OL/DL 1272 Aaron Sonkesak OL/DL 1073 Nathaniel Wellington OL/DL 1074 Justin Rivers OL/DL 1075 Michael Faulkner OL/DL 1181 Justin Macauley WR 1282 George Perez K 1083 Shane Flanigan WR 1286 Tariq Williams WR/DB 1288 Rafael Castillo WR/DB 1289 Antonio Oliver WR/DB 1190 Miles Fox DL 1291 A.J. Wellington DL 12

Collins Hill rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Monty Horn (6-0, 175, Soph.)RB Thomas Harris (5-11, 175, Sr.)or Jeremy Lewis (5-11, 170, Jr.)WR Jordan Bertrand (6-1, 200, Jr.)WR Codi Russell (5-7, 152, Jr.)WR Canyon Slade (5-8, 160, Jr.)WR Des Howard (5-11, 165, Soph.)or Malik Lewis (6-3, 175, Sr.)TE Robert Snyder (6-3, 220, Jr.)LT Braxton Hale (6-2, 265, Sr.)LG Drew Martin (6-0, 200, Sr.)C Kyle Henschel (6-0, 225, Sr.)RG Steven Harwell (6-2, 210, Jr.)RT Michael Faulkner (6-3, 245, Jr.)PK George Perez (5-9, 160, Soph.)

DefenseNG Miles Fox (6-1, 275, Sr.)DE Tomon Fox (6-3, 220, Jr.)DE Shaq Heriveaux (6-5, 220, Sr.)OLB Robert Snyder (6-3, 220, Jr.)OLB Emmanuel Belmar (6-3, 220, Jr.)ILB Miles Parker (6-1, 205, Sr.)or Malik Blakely (5-11, 200, Jr.)ILB Khalil Blakely (5-11, 205, Jr.)or A.J Terry (6-1, 215, Sr.)CB Des Howard (5-11, 170, Soph.)or Reggie White (6-0, 180, Soph.)CB Jeremy Lewis (5-11, 170, Jr.)SS Jordan Bertrand (6-1, 200, Jr.)FS Anthony Krajec (6-0, 170, Jr.)or Mark Flores (6-1, 170, Soph.)P Robert Snyder (6-3, 220, Jr.)


206407-1

to support Gwinnett County high school football!PROUD

204522-1

This special offer courtesy of Gwinnett Daily Post

December 31, 2014. Attn Server: Comp to MKTG$

Proud to Support Gwinnett County High School Football - Some of Georgia’s Finest!


2013 GWINNETT AREA FOOTBALL LEADERS (returners in bold)

RUSHINGLast name School Gms. Att. Yds. TD YPGLeggett N. Gwinnett 15 280 1734 23 115.6Ellis Peachtree Ridge 12 237 1677 30 139.8Abernathy GAC 11 154 1664 20 151.3Henderson Collins Hill 13 225 1634 24 125.7Fuller Lanier 12 260 1590 20 132.5Boyd Norcross 14 222 1476 14 105.4Brown Brookwood 11 262 1439 13 130.8Brent Grayson 10 206 1128 9 112.8Thomas Buford 14 135 1064 16 76Nails Archer 12 171 1026 6 85.5Moore Meadowcreek 10 189 954 5 95.4Wilson Buford 14 105 906 18 64.7Rosser Parkview 10 177 906 7 90.6Shavers Shiloh 7 97 779 10 111.3Harris Mountain View 9 146 767 1 85.2Bush Norcross 14 159 752 12 53.7David Mill Creek 10 73 672 6 67.2Felton Mill Creek 9 77 651 6 72.3McCall Grayson 10 107 650 3 65Adams C. Gwinnett 10 137 643 4 64.3Governale Mill Creek 10 87 630 12 63Grove Dacula 13 140 629 8 48.4Burnette Duluth 7 102 627 1 89.6Evangelister Dacula 9 77 595 1 66.1Griffin Berkmar 10 106 580 3 58Redman Hebron 9 145 560 6 62.2Venable GAC 10 60 554 9 55.4Cooper Buford 13 49 547 5 42.1Sullivan Winder-Bar. 10 116 545 5 54.5McDuffie Shiloh 10 46 527 4 52.7Mayes Dacula 11 105 521 3 47.4Stark Wesleyan 8 94 511 6 63.9Fraise Dacula 13 69 483 3 37.2Cook Lanier 12 91 462 3 38.5Gantt Buford 14 47 462 7 33Sirleaf Dacula 13 79 449 5 34.5Garrard Wesleyan 10 83 443 2 44.3Brown S. Gwinnett 11 92 439 4 39.9Preston Duluth 10 73 406 1 40.6Baity Lanier 12 61 386 3 32.2Hawkins Mill Creek 9 59 369 7 41Garrett Norcross 13 42 343 4 26.4Mathis Apalachee 5 66 340 4 68Robinson S. Gwinnett 5 49 331 3 66.2Brashear Dacula 13 42 323 2 24.9Vallery S. Gwinnett 11 75 301 2 27.4Robinson Wesleyan 11 52 285 3 25.9Tiller Archer 12 71 278 3 23.2Junius Winder-Bar. 8 54 277 2 34.6Wood GAC 12 28 273 4 22.8Edwards N. Gwinnett 11 63 270 3 24.6Barry Grayson 10 54 265 4 26.5Skinner Apalachee 5 63 260 1 52Eliis Peachtree Ridge 2 43 245 3 122.5Thrasher Peachtree Ridge 12 73 245 0 20.4Chapple GAC 12 53 241 4 20.1Riddle Berkmar 10 45 234 2 23.4Lacey Parkview 10 31 220 2 22Green Winder-Bar. 10 42 216 1 21.6Terry Duluth 10 47 211 6 21.1Woods S. Gwinnett 5 58 200 1 40Barnes Lanier 9 29 196 0 21.8Walker Parkview 8 50 192 1 24Catching Berkmar 8 26 176 1 22Jackson Apalachee 5 30 172 0 34.4Hester Winder-Bar. 6 41 153 2 25.5Fontaine Mill Creek 4 32 132 2 33Billings Apalachee 5 23 123 0 24.6Borders Peachtree Ridge 3 7 110 1 36.7Hoxie Buford 5 21 106 2 21.2

RECEIVINGLast name School Rec. Yds TD YPRScott N. Gwinnett 72 1057 10 14.7N. Brown N. Gwinnett 61 1041 21 17.1Slayton GAC 31 940 8 30.3Shelling C. Gwinnett 82 795 3 9.7Harper Hebron 46 776 7 16.9Lynch Norcross 41 774 3 18.9Parmer Archer 57 752 9 13.2Burton Peachtree Ridge 53 673 6 12.7Stewart Shiloh 30 670 5 22.3Davis Archer 35 658 11 18.8McDonald Collins Hill 42 656 6 15.6Keel S. Gwinnett 37 637 5 17.2England Collins Hill 36 633 9 17.6

Williams GAC 41 622 8 15.2Valentine Lanier 21 600 10 28.6Johnson Peachtree Ridge 27 587 5 21.7Allen Brookwood 34 528 3 15.5Whitner Mountain View 33 524 4 15.9Jones Collins Hill 41 524 7 12.8Terry Duluth 42 518 6 12.3A. Brown N. Gwinnett 33 513 8 15.6Herndon Norcross 28 498 6 17.8Selman Hebron 42 474 3 11.3Killian S. Gwinnett 29 456 2 15.7Price Brookwood 25 417 3 16.7Singleton Archer 32 416 5 13Neal Buford 31 413 2 13.3Campbell Peachtree Ridge 29 407 4 14Fraise Dacula 22 394 7 17.9Ritland Mill Creek 20 394 3 19.7Henderson Collins Hill 32 389 5 12.2Nauta Buford 19 389 5 20.5Terry Berkmar 23 387 4 16.8Redmond Archer 37 383 6 10.4Johnson Meadowcreek 24 380 1 15.8Newton Duluth 17 378 3 22.2Shah S. Gwinnett 31 364 1 11.7Imatorbhebhe N. Gwinnett 29 358 2 12.4Riley C. Gwinnett 20 323 0 16.2Henderson Shiloh 23 322 4 14Felton Mill Creek 14 322 4 23Jeter Mountain View 29 303 0 10.5Bellamy C. Gwinnett 26 296 2 11.4Nails Archer 26 279 0 10.7Redman Hebron 24 279 1 11.6Boyd Parkview 14 278 2 19.9Davis Collins Hill 28 277 2 9.9Leazer Lanier 18 272 4 15.1Cook Wesleyan 23 263 2 11.4Leggett N. Gwinnett 23 260 1 11.3Smith Collins Hill 11 255 2 23.2Barnes Lanier 21 253 3 12.1Joseph Mountain View 25 248 2 9.9Autry Norcross 25 241 2 9.6Glisson Hebron 41 227 1 5.5Davis Duluth 20 221 2 11.1Lacey Parkview 17 221 2 13Holcomb Mountain View 19 217 0 11.4Robinson Peachtree Ridge 21 216 0 10.3Cannon Wesleyan 22 213 1 9.7Thomas C. Gwinnett 10 210 4 21Sweeney Brookwood 12 209 1 17.4Curry Mill Creek 13 209 3 16.1Langston S. Gwinnett 10 208 1 20.8Brice Hebron 17 204 1 12Duley Wesleyan 22 202 2 9.2Mials Shiloh 20 198 2 9.9Brown C. Gwinnett 20 198 1 9.9Lovin Dacula 14 188 3 13.4Phan GAC 10 181 1 18.1Asseh Grayson 8 181 2 22.6Brown Brookwood 14 180 0 12.9Cobb Peachtree Ridge 16 172 1 10.8Riddle Berkmar 12 168 0 14Polhill GAC 13 165 3 12.7Reese Buford 8 164 3 20.5Curry Buford 11 159 2 14.5Brent Grayson 18 156 0 8.7Sullivan Winder-Bar. 15 155 2 10.3Collins Brookwood 10 153 0 15.3Ellis Peachtree Ridge 21 152 1 7.2Poole Buford 8 151 3 18.9Elrod GAC 8 145 2 18.1Stephens Collins Hill 9 145 1 16.1Fuller Lanier 16 144 0 9Williams Duluth 15 144 1 9.6Anderson Winder-Bar. 11 133 1 12.1Dennis Norcross 9 132 2 14.7Ragsdale Mill Creek 6 132 0 22Thomas Buford 5 131 1 26.2Brashear Dacula 8 129 1 16.1Hall Berkmar 9 129 0 14.3Mack Wesleyan 15 123 0 8.2Brown Lanier 11 122 0 11.1Hull Mill Creek 8 112 2 14Robinson S. Gwinnett 8 110 2 13.8Jackson S. Gwinnett 7 107 0 15.3Lackey Peachtree Ridge 7 107 0 15.3Aube Brookwood 6 107 0 17.8McDuffie Shiloh 4 100 0 25

PASSINGLast name School Comp. Att. Pct Yds TD Int Herman Collins Hill 215 336 .640 2968 34 10Sphire N. Gwinnett 190 325 .585 2639 34 14Tiller Archer 202 290 .697 2370 28 6Thrasher P’tree Ridge 183 304 .602 2364 18 5Chapple GAC 113 182 .621 2130 21 9Holliday Hebron 167 313 .534 1906 13 15Forrest C. Gwinnett 169 270 .626 1805 10 10Bush Norcross 121 235 .515 1795 14 8McLane Brookwood 115 221 .520 1747 7 12David Mill Creek 77 137 .562 1331 12 6Cook Lanier 88 161 .547 1286 16 8Bell Duluth 95 202 .470 1276 14 10Shim S. Gwinnett 78 157 .497 1067 9 5Brown S. Gwinnett 68 110 .618 1030 7 7Peery Mountain View 76 151 .503 1000 8 7Halsey Shiloh 70 148 .473 953 4 9Mitchell Buford 57 87 .655 901 10 1VanGorder Buford 46 69 .667 786 9 3Grove Dacula 55 98 .561 775 9 6Chambers Parkview 58 118 .492 740 5 8Aspinwall Wesleyan 85 160 .531 734 5 3Urzua N. Gwinnett 48 74 .649 660 6 1Morris Berkmar 37 71 .521 589 3 5Cooper Winder-Bar. 58 108 .537 589 5 8Larimore Shiloh 41 76 .540 555 9 4Freitas Mountain View 49 110 .446 548 2 5Brice Grayson 36 84 .429 477 6 2Stark Wesleyan 27 53 .509 280 4 2Schuessler Grayson 19 36 .528 223 1 4Tolbert Lanier 14 24 .583 218 3 1Warner Berkmar 23 88 .261 197 1 6Parmer Archer 4 6 .667 191 4 0Hartford C. Gwinnett 26 63 .413 189 1 1Warner Dacula 12 33 .364 166 2 3Rodriguez Apalachee 10 28 .357 165 3 3Scott Mountain View 12 17 .706 160 1 1Hurstman Hebron 9 15 .600 138 1 2

TACKLESLast name School Gms TotalMouhon Norcross 14 181McWilliams Norcross 14 180Shaw Lanier 11 170Frazier Norcross 14 141Viengxay Lanier 12 138Sechrest N. Gwinnett 15 135Carter Norcross 14 125McCain Brookwood 12 117Singleton Archer 12 113Fennell Grayson 10 111Heath Shiloh 10 109Newsome Shiloh 10 107Ramsey Winder-Bar. 10 106Bowles Shiloh 10 104Patterson Parkview 10 103Elford N. Gwinnett 15 101Young N. Gwinnett 15 101Carothers GAC 12 101Wallo Hebron 10 100Kouassi Norcross 14 99Cooper Dacula 13 98Park Collins Hill 12 97Landers Lanier 12 95Baggett Winder-Bar. 10 94Miller Archer 12 92Lee Archer 12 90Exford Shiloh 10 90Bertrand Collins Hill 13 89Cooksey GAC 12 89Brashear Dacula 13 88Houston Buford 15 87Sensabaugh Collins Hill 13 87Ball Lanier 12 85Cross N. Gwinnett 13 84Lewis Parkview 10 84Rogers Buford 15 83Dancy Brookwood 12 83Isles Brookwood 12 83Price Brookwood 12 82Harris Peachtree Ridge 12 82Sawyer N. Gwinnett 15 80King C. Gwinnett 10 80Brown Berkmar 10 78Bradford N. Gwinnett 15 78Jones Mountain View 10 78Kimble-Brinson Parkview 10 77

Mollica Dacula 12 77McNair Duluth 8 77Leonard Mill Creek 10 76England Collins Hill 13 75Saint-Amour N. Gwinnett 15 75Knight Brookwood 12 75Wise Berkmar 10 75Waiters C. Gwinnett 9 75Smith Buford 15 75Reid S. Gwinnett 11 74Kithcart Norcross 14 73Ficklin Dacula 13 72Issahaku Norcross 14 71Glisson Hebron 10 70Dickhute Mill Creek 10 68Lawson Parkview 10 68Kim N. Gwinnett 15 67Cook Dacula 13 67McSwain Lanier 12 67Scott Winder-Bar. 10 67Grier Berkmar 10 67Sciara Mill Creek 10 66Robinson Wesleyan 11 66Pucciarello N. Gwinnett 14 65Sirleaf Dacula 13 65Gillis Archer 12 64Russell Winder-Bar. 10 64Thomas Collins Hill 13 64Smith Collins Hill 13 64Middleton Brookwood 12 64Brown Lanier 11 63Oliver C. Gwinnett 9 62Williams Lanier 12 62Marty Hebron 8 62Long Duluth 8 61Lyman N. Gwinnett 15 61Davis Peachtree Ridge 12 61Rose GAC 12 61T. Fox Collins Hill 12 60Mozingo Mountain View 10 60Hayes Grayson 10 59Ubakanma Duluth 10 59Wagner Parkview 10 59Miller Lanier 12 58Sims Winder-Bar. 10 58Stipe Wesleyan 11 58Robinson Brookwood 12 57Jones Duluth 9 57Bennett Duluth 9 56Armstrong Archer 12 56Barry Grayson 10 56Galloway Norcross 14 56Moye Parkview 10 56Whitner Mountain View 10 56Thomas Buford 14 56

SACKSLast name School TotalT. Fox Collins Hill 13Soumahoro Berkmar 12Jones Mountain View 11Russell Winder-Bar. 9McSwain Lanier 9Gordon Buford 9Kouassi Norcross 8.5Barry Grayson 8Ubakanma Duluth 8Thomas Collins Hill 7.5Huff Shiloh 7Otiwu Mill Creek 6Carter Norcross 6Nauta Buford 6Sawyer N. Gwinnett 6Cross N. Gwinnett 6Martinez S. Gwinnett 6

INTERCEPTIONSLast name School TotalEngland Collins Hill 9Williams Lanier 6Bartlett Dacula 5Hall Berkmar 5Davis Peachtree Ridge 5Stackhouse N. Gwinnett 4Noil Norcross 4Issahaku Norcross 4Hayes Grayson 4Hina Grayson 4


OffenseDacula’s outstanding

depth at running back might reveal one of the county’s most explosive offenses.

The Falcons return more than 2,300 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns scat-tered between five backs. And that’s without last year’s quarterback Aaron Grove, who led all 2013 rushers with 629 yards.

Carries will be split between Kelan Fraise (pic-tured) (483 yards in 2013), C.J. Mayes (521 yards), Jacque Evangelister (595 yards), Bijan Sirleaf (449 yards), Jakob Brashear (323 yards) and Kevin Ficklin.

Needless to say, Dacula has no qualms about win-ning on the ground.

“I think we have trust in all those guys,” Falcons head coach Tommy Jones said. “They run the ball well, and they’re all going to get some time.”

Fraise split time between tailback and wide receiver last year, catching for 394 yards. Lawson Cook, Gideon Owusu, Patrick Adebomowo and tight end Johnathan Grant will handle the bulk of the receiving game.

Wesley Whitehead and David Hendrick are actively competing to replace Grove at quarterback.

“They each do something different from the other,”

Jones said. “That battle may go through the first couple of games.”

The offensive line is the least experienced spot on the field for Dacula, with only one starter back. Luckily, it’s Devon Mims, a 300-pound standout left tackle.

Matthew Agnew, Ethan Ward, Ethan Stokes, Steven Hayes round out the rest of the Falcons’ starting lineup in the trenches.

DefenseWith a whopping 10 re-

turning starters, Dacula has a well-seasoned defense that should hold up well in highly competitive Region 8-AAAAAA.

But many of those start-ers, however, also take snaps on offense. That includes all of the Falcons’ running backs, most notably Fraise and Mayes in the secondary and Sirleaf at nose guard.

“Obviously, that’s a concern,” Jones said. “We try not to play our kids both ways full time. They might be

starters on defense and in the rotation on offense.”

On the line, Sirleaf, who amassed 16 tackles for loss last year, is surrounded by Jordan Sanders and Markell Clark, providing Dacula with fresh legs up front on de-fense while Sirleaf handles B-back duties on the other side of the ball.

Azeem Cooper and Jakob Brashear are back to lead the linebacking corps after combining for 186 tackles last season. Lawson Cook also returns

to improve on a 72-tackle campaign in 2013.

Fraise and Mayes will anchor the Falcons’ corners, while Evangelister and Fick-lin patrol the middle at the safety positions.

Staying the courseDacula’s seven-win

improvement from 2012 to 2013 proved to be biggest turnaround in Gwinnett County. After a 3-4 start last season, the Falcons won their final three games of the

regular season to clinch the playoffs, then rattled off a pair of postseason victories for surprising 8-5 finish.

This year, the challenge is not regressing back to 2012 form, the program’s worst season in 26 years.

“You worry when you have a group of juniors that’s had some success that they for-get what it took to get there,” Jones said.

“We try to remind them on a daily basis that the reason we had some success last year was that they were hungry and they played with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder.”

If Dacula plans to win a Region 8-AAAAAA title, there might not be a better time now.

Jones, who replaced longtime coach Kevin Maloof last season after a seven-year stint at Lumpkin County, says the region has leveled out to a point that any team could steal the top spot.

Of course, that’s much easier said than done.

“This is as much parity as I’ve seen,” Jones said. “Every team in this region is formidable, and they can beat you on any given night. The difference between go-ing 8-2 and 2-8 is razor thin. There’s a very small margin. A lot of times, it comes down to intangibles.”

— Mitch Blomert

DaculaMascot: Falcons Coach: Tommy Jones (8-5 at Dacula, 35-48 overall) Region: 8-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2013

2014 scheduleAug. 22 Collins HillSept. 5 at Mill CreekSept. 12 at BerkmarSept. 19 South GwinnettSept. 26 at ShilohOct. 3 Central GwinnettOct. 17 at BrookwoodOct. 24 GraysonOct. 31 at ArcherNov. 7 Parkview

2013 results (8-5)Mill Creek L 41-28Collins Hill L 21-13South Gwinnett W 35-29*Grayson W 14-7Archer L 31-14Brookwood W 21-7Parkview L 28-21Shiloh W 21-7Central Gwinnett W 24-6Berkmar W 33-7West Forsyth W 36-31Peachtree Ridge W 28-21Colquitt County L 42-17

*double overtime


2 Kelan Fraise RB/DB 123 Giovanni Lugo QB/K/P 126 Logan Layson WR/DB 117 Azeem Cooper LB/TE 128 Bijan Sirleaf FB/DL 129 Patrick Adebamowo WR/QB 1210 Wesley Whitehead QB 1111 Earnest Williams TE/OLB 1212 Austin Berlin DB/WR 1113 Kenny Rainey FB/LB 1115 Demarco McInnis WR/DB 1116 Cooper Morgan WR/DB 1117 David Hendrick QB/P 1018 Lawson Cook OLB/WR 1219 DeAndre Price WR/DB 1020 Jakob Brashear RB/OLB 1121 Kevin Ficklin DB/RB 1222 Malik Carrasco FB/DL 1023 Gideon Owusu WR/DB 1224 Verkarry Pickens WR/DB 1125 Jacque Evangelister DB/RB 1226 Shamar Esson WR/DB 1027 Jaylon Jones DB/WR 1028 C.J. Mayes RB/DB 1229 Chase Isler WR/DB 1030 Antonio Yin K 11

31 Jamie Arroyo FB/LB 1132 Ty Harris OLB/RB 1034 ChamRon Turner RB/LB 1035 Keion Scott WR/DB 1136 Kenneth Holder OLB/WR 1038 Justin Ortiz WR/DB 1041 Bryce Lackey K/P 1142 Chanz Wallace WR/DB 1143 Markell Clark DL/TE 1144 Gregory Palmer DL/TE 11

45 Johnathan Grant TE/LB 1146 Amare Boyd WR/DB 1047 Austin Manning TE/DL 1049 Tevin Galloway TE/DL 1150 Jordan Sanders DL/OL 1251 Tyler Thrash OL/LB 1052 Isaiah Davis DL/OL 1053 Jordan Dixon DL/OL 1254 Cory Ames LB/OL 1155 Brenon Mims OL/LB 10

56 Tyler Dubreeze OL/LB 1057 Ethan Stokes OL/DL 1158 Chase Francis OL/LS 1159 Roy Dunkley OL/DL 1260 Ethan Ward OL/DL 1261 Corey Porch OL/LB 1162 Daniel John OL/DL 1163 Keaton Waller OL/DL 1165 Alex Brown LB/OL 1266 Dez Ikpa DL/OL 1067 Allen Daniels DL/OL 1068 Devon Mims OL/DL 1270 Austin Smith DL/OL 1271 Steven Hayes DL/OL 1272 Brandon Jones DL/OL 1074 Tyler Brown OL/DL 1077 Dunnovan Smith OL/DL 1178 Matthew Agnew OL/DL 1180 Justin Donellan WR/DB 1081 Sabrina Siebel K 1182 Phillip Hoke WR/K/P 1083 Nathanel Louis WR/DB 1085 Lemuel Thomas WR/DB 1187 Johnny Thomas WR/DB 1088 Babila Fomuteh TE/LB 10

Dacula rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Wesley Whitehead (6-1, 180, Jr.)or David Hendrick (6-1, 180, Soph.)TB Kelan Fraise (5-8, 165, Sr.)FB Bijan Sirleaf (5-7, 240, Sr.)WR Lawson Cook (5-11, 190, Sr.)WR Gideon Owusu (6-0, 165, Sr.)TE Johnathan Grant (6-3, 210, Jr.)LT Devon Mims (6-2, 300, Sr.)LG Matthew Agnew (6-1, 250, Jr.)C Ethan Ward (5-10, 260, Sr.)RG Ethan Stokes (6-3, 215, Jr.)RT Steven Hayes (6-4, 285, Sr.)K Antonio Yin (5-11, 160, Jr.)

DefenseDE Jordan Sanders (6-3, 270, Sr.)NG Bijan Sirleaf (5-7, 240, Jr.)DE Markell Clark (6-2, 260, Jr.)SLB Jakob Brashear (6-1, 210, Jr.)MLB Cory Ames (6-0, 200, Jr.)WLB Azeem Cooper (6-1, 210, Sr.)RLB Lawson Cook (5-11, 190, Sr.)FS Jacque Evangelister (5-9, 170, Sr.)SS Kevin Ficklin (5-8, 175, Sr.)CB C.J. Mayes (5-8, 175, Sr.)CB Kelan Fraise (5-8, 165, Sr.)P Bryce Lackey (5-10, 160, Jr.)


Dusty Hayes • Class of 2001 • Dacula High School

www.hayescdj.com


Hayes Family Dealerships Wish Good Luck to

All Gwinnett County Football Teams This Season!

2059

28-1


OffenseOne of the biggest challenges

for Jason Conner in his second season as head coach is striking a balance between the now and the future.

The former includes as many as seven returning starters in the skill positions, led by second-year starter Thad Bell (pictured) and speedy receivers like senior Devin Terry and sophomore Khalil Newton.

The latter features five junior first-time starters on the line, as well as sophomore quarterback Marcellos Sparks, who will likely share time with Bell under center this fall.

“Marcellos has displayed that he’s a dynamic player with the ball in his hand,” Conner said. “He’s just young. He doesn’t have the understanding of the offense Thaddeus has. He is our future at quarterback. Right now, because of understanding of the game, Thaddeus has taken the next step. He had a great offseason. Both will see action.

“I’m a firm believer in building. We feel we can win now, but we also want to prepare for the future. This is the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve returned (one) starting receiver, much less four with experience, and three running backs. … I’m excited about the skill positions and development.”

As optimistic as Conner is, he also knows the development of the young line, which will be led by William Hunter and Darius McCray, is just as important both this year and beyond.

“We don’t return a player with

experience playing on Friday night on the offensive line, and that’s an area of concern, of course,” Con-ner said. “But we still have some

guys who can play. We had some injuries during summer, but they will be returning at some point. That forced us to give some other

guys work.”

DefenseThe returning experience is

much more spread out on the Wildcats’ defense, though it’s clear where the strength of the unit is coming into the season.

With seniors Rodney Jones and MyQuon Foote back after starting at linebacker a year ago, Con-ner agrees the team will build its defense from the middle out.

“MyQuon has really bought into our weight-training program,” Conner said. “He’ll play our nickel position, but he can also drop back and play some safety. Rodney Jones is a leader. He’s really taking over the defense and becoming the quarterback of the defense.

In our packages and checks, it’s encouraging to see.”

While there are no such return-ing starters in the secondary, Con-ner also has high hopes for that portion of the defense.

“Looking at all summer (dur-ing 7-on-7 drills), we felt like the secondary was our strength now,” Conner said. “We’ve got three or four corners we can put in who are tall and good in man-to-man, like Jordan Davis. Jelani Brown was hurt most of last year, but he’s back and he can cover with great quickness.

“(Theo) Burnette may be our most physical corner. He’s got a lot of ability to play the position. And we moved Devin Terry to strong safety because we want to keep our best players on the field as much as possible. Khalil Newton may be the best natural football player of the group.”

Back in blackIn addition to a few new play-

ers, the Wildcats will also sport a different kind of a new look when they take the field for the season opener against Wheeler on Aug. 22 at Cecil Morris Stadium.

They will be outfitted in new uniforms for the second straight season, which will feature a much darker tone.

“They’ll be all black at home and all white on the road with black helmets,” Conner said. “We like to change it up. We talked to the kids and they like to change it up, too. The kids like the black. They enjoy it and they’re fired up, so that’s a good thing.”


DuluthMascot: Wildcats Coach: Jason Conner (3-7 at Duluth, 3-7 overall) Region: 8-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 1994

2014 scheduleAug. 22 WheelerAug. 29 at NorthviewSept. 5 Lakeside-DeKalbSept. 19 Mill CreekSept. 26 at NorcrossOct. 3 Peachtree RidgeOct. 10 at Collins HillOct. 24 North GwinnettOct. 31 at Mountain ViewNov. 7 at Meadowcreek

2013 results (3-7)Berkmar L 9-3South Gwinnett L 42-28Peachtree Ridge L 55-17Norcross L 38-3Meadowcreek W 34-7North Gwinnett L 52-21Mill Creek L 43-3Habersham Central W 27-14Collins Hill L 49-14Mountain View W 26-15


2 Khalil Newton WR/FS 103 Jelani Brown WR/CB 124 Thad Bell QB 125 Theo Burnette RB/CB 126 Jared Virgo RB/CB 127 Deon Powell TE/DE 128 Marcellos Sparks QB 109 Nyles Preston RB/LB 1210 Josh Newton WR/CB 1211 Tyrik Price WR/S 1212 Jalil El Amin Alexander QB 913 Devin Terry WR/S 1214 Daymonti Bush WR/DB 1216 Joshua Jenkins K/P 1017 Tyler Velasquez QB 1118 MyQuon Foote TE/S 1221 Dominic Thomas RB/S 1122 Jordan Davis WR/CB 1223 Christian Pinkney WR/CB 1024 Trenton Palmore WR/CB 1125 Xavier Robles WR/CB 10

26 Marcus Webster RB/CB 927 Coleman McDonald WR/S 1128 Corey Burnett WR/S 1029 Trevon Burnette WR/CB 1230 Robert Bennett WR/S 10

32 Cordell Creighton RB/LB 1033 Elijah McDade WR/S 1034 Erick Crockett RB/LB 1135 Corey Less RB/LB 1238 Bailey Romanchuck WR/DB 10

40 Rodney Jones RB/LB 1248 Verrell Sayles WR/CB 1050 Isaiah Moore LG/DE 1251 Aaron Black RG/DE 1152 Troy Price LT/DT 1153 Franklin Viloria C/DT 1154 William Hunter G/DT 1155 Nazhee Rivera G/DT 1256 Darius McCray RT/DT 1158 Reggie Rumph G/DE 1159 Brandon Baker G/DT 1265 Geohvanni Perez G/DT 1171 Nick Banks LT/DE 1272 Donald Boone LT/DT 1074 Hugo Cuevas LT/DT 1080 Khiree Seabrook WR/CB 981 Corey Denson WR/CB 1282 Brandon Loftin WR/S 1084 Kedarius Davis TE/DE 1085 Cameren Carter TE/DE 1086 Dominique West WR/CB 10

Duluth rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Thad Bell (Sr.)or Marcellos Sparks (Soph.)RB Theo Burnette (Sr.)or Nyles Preston (Sr.)WR Khalil Newton (Soph.)WR Devin Terry (Sr.)WR Josh Newton (Sr.)WR Tyrik Price (Sr.)OL William Hunter (Jr.)OL Frankie Viloria (Jr.)OL Darius McCray (Jr.)OL Troy Price (Jr.)OL Donald Boone (Soph.)K Joshua Jenkins (Soph.)

DefenseDE Kedarius Davis (Soph.)or Cameren Carter (Soph.)DT Darius McCray (Jr.)DT Nazhee Rivera (Sr.)or William Hunter (Jr.)DE Deon Powell (Sr.)WLB Corey Less (Sr.)or Nyles Preston (Sr.)MLB Rodney Jones (Sr.)SLB MyQuon Foote (Sr.)CB Jelani Brown (Sr.)CB Jordan Davis (Sr.)or Theo Burnette (Sr.)FS Khalil Newton (Soph.)SS Devin Terry (Sr.)P Joshua Jenkins (Soph.)



OffenseFor the second straight

year, the theme of the Spartans’ offense can be summed up in one word — speed.

Well, explosiveness might also be a good word to de-scribe the big-play capabil-ity GAC will possess with the return of two Super Six selections and major college prospects in running back Micah Abernathy (1,664 yards, 20 TDs last season) and receiver Darius Slayton (pictured) (31 receptions, 940 yards, 8 TDs).

The playmaking abil-ity goes even beyond that pair, with others like fellow seniors Jaelen Venable and Justin Phan adding to the depth at the skill positions.

The only question mark could be at quarterback, where two-year starter Rafe Chapple must be replaced.

But even there, the Spar-tans may have an answer with the emergence of sophomore Davis Mills, who showed plenty of promise during the summer 7-on-7 season.

“He’s working hard to grow and develop,” GAC coach Tim Hardy said. “There’s no replacement for experience. You have to go get that on a Friday night, but he’s doing a great job (so far). We really like the direction he’s moving in.

“He can throw. He can throw well. He can throw a

variety of passes, mix things up with touch or strength if it needs to be. (He’s) an effec-tive runner.”

Protecting the new signal caller will the a line led by re-turning starters Ford Higgins and Carter Cox.

DefenseAs loaded as the offense

seems to be with talent and experience, the defense also won’t be lacking in either, and it’s no secret where the biggest strength of the unit lies.

The defense’s six return-ing starters include all four

linebackers, with a pair of Division I commitments anchoring the position in Georgia Tech-bound Tyler Cooksey and Navy commit Paul Carothers, who com-bined for 190 tackles.

“It really starts in the middle,” Hardy said. “Those guys are a tandem. They’re as good as anybody around, those two inside lineback-ers. They just can play, read, work, they’re physical, they’re smart, they’ve got football sense. I mean, that gives us a great chance right there. They erase a lot of things.”

While the other two units within the defense aren’t quite as experienced, they aren’t lacking in talent.

Mitchell Milovich returns on the defensive line, while Slayton will once again be called upon to pull double duty at cornerback, and he won’t be alone.

As good as Abernathy has been on offense, many of the colleges recruiting him have been doing so with the idea of him playing in the secondary.

While he wasn’t needed there much last year, he will be called upon to see the

field a lot more this year to form a formidable pair of bookend cover corners with Slayton at times, though Hardy admits it will take some juggling to make sure everybody stays fresh.

“For us, we need to have three starting corners … for two positions,” Hardy said. “We need other backs to hand the ball to and other receivers for couple of plays. So, it’s sort of that constant rotation, so we’ve really been focusing on developing that. We’ve got some guys on both sides that are ready for prime time. So any given

game, we could go back-and-forth.”

Playoff testsWhen last year’s non-

Region 6-AA schedule was made, the idea was to provide a challenge that would help prepare the team for the Class AA state playoffs, given the fact that playing in a five-team region, the chances of making the postseason was good.

Nobody could’ve fore-seen the six non-region foes, which included several traditionally strong programs, combining to go 15-45.

That meant the Spartans never played in any close games until their regular season finale against Lovett and their second-round play-off game against Calhoun, which they lost by a com-bined four points.

This year’s non-region slate should be considerably more formidable, with Benedictine, North Oconee and Eagle’s Landing Christian having posted a combined 31-6 record last season, with all three making their respective classifications’ state playoffs.

New look SpartansThe Spartans will sport

new uniforms in 2014, with new white helmets replacing the red ones they’ve worn for several seasons to go with red home jerseys and white pants.


Greater Atlanta ChristianMascot: Spartans Coach: Tim Hardy (20-6 at GAC, 29-21 overall) Region: 6-AA Last playoff appearance: 2013

2014 scheduleAug. 22 BenedictineAug. 29 North OconeeSept. 5 at ELCASept. 19 Hapeville CharterSept. 26 at BEST AcademyOct. 3 KIPP AtlantaOct. 10 at Pace AcademyOct. 24 Holy Innocents’Oct. 31 at LovettNov. 7 at Wesleyan

2013 results (10-2)Stone Mountain W 48-26Savannah W 41-6Apalachee W 56-14Chamblee W 45-0Howard (Tenn.) W 67-20Thomson W 56-12Westminster W 49-3Hapeville Charter W 52-7Wesleyan W 42-7Lovett L 17-14Rabun County W 34-0Calhoun L 31-30

204981-1


2 Darius Slayton WR/DB 123 Jaelen Venable RB/DB 124 Micah Abernathy RB/DB 125 Berkley Boglin QB/DB 116 Will Kenworthy K/P 127 Marcus Young RB/DB 118 Liam Sullivan WR/DB 119 Justin Phan WR/DB 1210 Joshua Pickens RB/OLB 1111 Jake Rose RB/OLB 1212 Drew Dinsmore QB/DB 1014 Jonathan Waters WR/QB/DB 1115 Connor Markham WR/OLB 1116 Davis Mills QB/DB 1017 Harrison Sloan WR/DB 1018 Jonathan Rose WR/DB 1019 Malcolm Cunningham WR/DB 1120 Alex Rowe RB/DB 1121 Trey Nelson RB/DB 1223 Julian Wright WR/DB 12

24 Davis Markham WR/DB 1025 Trent Fowler WR/DB 1026 Derek Coffman WR/DB 1127 Johns Hamilton WR/LB 1030 Erik Smith WR/DB 10

31 Joshua Irvin WR/DB 1032 Brandon Washington FB/DL 1035 Malclom Liggon TE/OLB 1036 Paul Carothers RB/ILB 1241 Brice Gamble RB/OLB 10

42 Tyler Cooksey TE/ILB 1244 Aiden Jarrett TE/ILB 1151 Chris Moss OL/DL 1252 Carson Cox OL/DL 1253 Nicholas Bray OL/DL 1154 D.J. Coker OL/DL 1255 Ford Higgins OL/DL 1156 Mitchell Milovich OL/DL 1257 Devin Cochran OL/DL 1158 Justin Ellard OL/DL 1059 Charlie Edwards OL/DL 1070 Robbie Chandler OL/DL 1072 Cam Olsey OL/DL 1073 Lawrence Phillips OL/DL 1074 John Jefferson OL/DL 1175 Carson Costas OL/DL 1077 Ben Masters OL/DL 1178 Cam Norton OL/DL 1282 Harrison Kerr TE/OLB 1287 Brooks Buce K/P 10

Greater Atlanta Christian rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Davis Mills (6-2, 180, Soph.)RB Micah Abernathy (6-1, 190, Sr.)FB Paul Carothers (6-1, 225, Sr.)WR Justin Phan (5-7, 140, Sr.)WR Darius Slayton (6-2, 185, Sr.)WR Trey Nelson (5-8, 170, Sr.)or Joshua Pickens (6-1, 205, Jr.)TE Tyler Cooksey (6-3, 225, Sr.)or Harrison Kerr (5-11, 180, Jr.)OL Ford Higgins (6-1, 240, Jr.)OL D.J. Coker (6-0, 265, Sr.)OL Carson Cox (6-0, 265, Sr.)OL Nicholas Bray (5-11, 280, Jr.)OL Devin Cochran (6-6, 280, Jr.)K Will Kenworthy (6-1, 175, Sr.)or Brooks Buce (5-11, 165, Soph.)

DefenseDL Mitchell Milovich (5-11, 225, Sr.)DL Ben Masters (6-3, 225, Jr.)DL Carson Cox (6-0, 265, Sr.)OLB Jake Rose (6-1, 190, Sr.)ILB Tyler Cooksey (6-3, 225, Sr.)ILB Paul Carothers (6-1, 225, Sr.)OLB Joshua Pickens (6-1, 205, Jr.)DB Darius Slayton (6-2, 185, Sr.)DB Micah Abernathy (6-1, 190, Sr.)DB Alex Rowe (6-0, 175, Jr.)DB Berkley Boglin (5-11, 155, Jr.)P Will Kenworthy (6-1, 175, Sr.)or Brooks Buce (5-11, 165, Soph.)


Hennessy Lexus of Gwinnett wishes a safe and successful 2014 season

to the Gwinnett High School teams.

Hennessy Lexus of Gwinnett

Your Lexus dealer. Pursuing perfection.

2015 RX350

198645-1

Your premier dealer selling the finest new & preowned vehicles.3383 Satellite Blvd. w Duluth, GA 30096 w 770.680.1000

www.lexusgwinnett.com


OffenseGrayson’s near-complete turn-

over on both sides of the ball in 2013 allowed plenty of young play-ers an opportunity to make positive first impressions with head coach Mickey Conn.

Even after a 4-6 season, the team’s worst in eight years, Conn was certainly impressed.

“It was a great opportunity for young kids to play,” he said. “I’m hoping that varsity experience will carry over into this season and be a positive for those guys.”

On the stat sheet, no one shined more than Cameryn Brent (pic-tured), who debuted with 1,128 yards and nine touchdowns in his first year as a starter.

Now a junior, Brent has spent the offseason focused on improving his strength and durability. He sur-passed 1,000 pounds in the team’s weightlifting program despite his 5-foot-8, 190-pound frame.

“He looks good,” Conn said. “He has great vision, good balance. A really, really strong kid. Just a strong, physical runner.”

Brent is suddenly the veteran of the Rams’ backfield with the depar-ture of Aares McCall, who rushed for more than 1,400 yards during his last two years at Grayson.

His new accomplices are juniors Jordan Hightower and Ernest Tiller, who will get carries from the H-back position.

Chase Brice returns at quar-terback, and will begin his first full season as Grayson’s starter after taking over for an injured Hunter Schuessler during the last six games of the 2013 season.

But Schuessler is far from an afterthought in the offseason, de-

spite his absence at signal caller. He made the transition to wide receiver in the offseason, a project Conn deemed very successful.

“It’s been a great move for him and the team,” Conn said. “He’s really excelled in the passing leagues and the 7-on-7s. A 6-foot-4 target out there can put a lot of pressure on the defense.”

Schuessler will share targets with Miami (Ohio) commit Ced-ric Asseh, David Stinson, Austin Nash, Evan Sturgill and tight end Ryan Carriere.

Justin Young, Grayson’s starting defensive end and a Georgia com-mit, will also catch passes from the tight end and fullback positions, when needed.

Chris Martin, a two-way starter in the trenches, is the Rams’ lone returning starter on the offensive line. Center Cole Inman joins the team from nearby George Walton Academy in Monroe. Matt Wilkins, Blake Soden, Payton Shaddix, Jalen

Jackson and Will Taylor make up the rest of Grayson’s big men up front.

DefenseYoung’s breakthrough 2013 sea-

son earned him a spot in Athens, and his 2014 campaign could see him transform into one the state’s elite defensive ends.

The 6-foot-4, 260-pounder has played a healthy variety of positions for Rams over the past two sea-sons, and that should continue in his senior year, according to Conn.

“He’s a really athletic kid, and we need to use him to the best of his ability,” Conn said. “He’s going to need to be an unselfish player, which he is, and he’s going to have to be used in a lot of different roles.”

Young is the hub of a monstrous front seven, which averages 260 pounds up front and 225 at line-backer.

“Our front seven on defense should be pretty good,” Conn said. “You win a lot of ball games with a

good front seven on defense.”Wisconsin commit Mohamed

Berry and Daniel Fennell, who led the team with 111 tackles last sea-son, anchor the linebacking corps. Denzel Wright, a 260-pounder, moves from center, where he started in 2013, and will be used to clog up the middle at inside line-backer. Kiminzki Flint also enters his senior year as a starter.

Jordan Hayes leads the Grayson secondary for one last season be-fore he ventures to Duke in 2015. Germell Jenkins will assist him at safety, with Tiller, Adesola Abisoye, Matthew Greenway and Jordan Cornelius serving at cornerback.

Prized punterBefore the 2013 season, Austin

McGugan was a typical offensive lineman for Grayson.

One year later, he’s one of the nation’s top punters.

Kohl’s Football Kicking Camps has McGugan ranked 18th nation-ally, and tops in Georgia.

At 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds, McGugan’s size was utilized on the offensive line until last year, when he demonstrated a new ability.

“He’s been a lineman all his life,” Conn said. “Then last year we discovered a hidden talent.”

Early challengesEven after a losing record in

2013, Grayson is not easing up when it comes to scheduling non-region opponents.

The Rams open the season with Class AAAAA state semifinal-ist Gainesville on Aug. 29 before visiting Langston Hughes, which reached the second round of the Class AAAAAA state playoffs last year.

The two foes combined for a 22-4 record last season.

“Both teams are really well coached,” Conn said. “I’m hoping that’ll prepare us going into the re-gion, because we open with Archer right out of the gate.”

Archer, the defending Region 8-AAAAAA champion, was 11-1 last season, meaning Grayson could be sitting pretty in 2014 with a 3-0 start to the year.

“I hope teams take us lightly, but I don’t think they will,” Conn said. “I know that our coaches and our players have worked really hard preparing this season. I’m excited to get back out there and get this taste out of our mouths.”

— Mitch Blomert

GraysonMascot: Rams Coach: Mickey Conn (114-45 at Grayson, 114-45 overall) Region: 8-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2012

2014 scheduleAug. 29 GainesvilleSept. 5 at Langston HughesSept. 12 at ArcherSept. 19 ParkviewSept. 26 at BerkmarOct. 3 South GwinnettOct. 10 at ShilohOct. 17 Central GwinnettOct. 24 at DaculaOct. 31 Brookwood

2013 results (4-6)Colquitt County L 21-6North Gwinnett L 35-0Parkview W 34-10Dacula L 14-7Shiloh W 44-3Central Gwinnett W 27-19Berkmar W 37-7South Gwinnett L 28-21Archer L 34-21Brookwood L 30-27*

*overtime

Call now for Advertising & Booth Reservations in the Gwinnett Daily Post’s Looking to Promote Your Business Right Here in Your Own Community?Looking to Promote Your Business Right Here in Your Own Community?

Call now for Advertising & Booth Reservations in the Gwinnett Daily Post’s

For more information & advertising call 770-963-9205 ext 1218. Tickets on sale soon!

STAGE AND VIP TICKET SPONSOR:

BAG SPONSOR:

Showcase your goods & services Thursday, October 23rd, 2014

at the Gwinnett CenterLimited Number of Booths Available!

2060

19-1


1 Mohamed Barry LB/RB 122 Chase Brice QB 103 Germell Jenkins DB/WR 124 Kiminzki Flint LB/RB 125 Jordan Hayes DB/WR 126 Deshaun Warren RB 127 Hunter Schuessler TE/QB 128 Cedric Asseh WR 129 Daniel Fennell LB/RB 1210 Riley Knight QB 1011 Mohammed Abdul-Qawee DB 1212 David Stinson WR 1213 Jordan Hightower WR 1114 Abisha Devonish DB 1115 Ernest Tiller DB/RB 1116 Austin Nash WR 1117 Garland Peters LB 1118 Omari DeBose DB 1019 Schnyder Boucard LB/TE 1120 Zik Okoye LB 1121 Adesola Abisoye DB 1122 Matthew Greenway DB 1023 Andrew Hayes RB 1124 Noah Rall WR 1125 Ishmail Abdul-Qawee LB 1027 Trevious Frazier WR 1126 Jeremy Jones DB 1228 Bryce Smith LB 1129 Jameel Allen WR 12

30 Justin Lester LB 1131 Darryl Gorie LB 1232 Evan Sturgill WR 1033 Cameryn Brent RB 1134 Jordan Cornelius DB 1035 Jacob Gregory TE/LB 1036 Blake Soden OL/DL 1237 Elijah Barnes TE/LB 1038 Andrew Bridges LB 1039 Cory Barron RB/DB 1040 Cameron Davis WR/DB 1041 Jake Killian DB 10

42 Kyle Smolarsky DB 1243 Quintin Thames RB/DB 1044 Denzel Wright LB/OL 1145 Emmanuel Coulter TE 1046 Drew Hopkins DB 1047 Sam Warren LB 1048 Joey Chavez QB 1049 Myron Woods RB 1050 Matt Wilkins OL 1251 Luke Seal OL 1052 Austin Hoyt K 1253 Manny Perez OL 11

54 Patton Shaddix OL 1255 Chris Martin DL/OL 1156 Steven Banks DL 1057 Justin Young DL/OL 1258 Ellison Hubbard DL 1059 Dalton Harnois OL 1060 C.J. Royal DL 1061 Austin McGugan P 1263 Thomas Boest OL 1065 Clarke Hubbard OL 1068 Michael Sharp DL/OL 1172 Jalen Jackson OL 1074 John Taylor OL 1075 Cole Inman OL 1276 Darius Stevens DL/OL 1177 Will Taylor OL 1078 Jordan Heath OL 1080 Trevon Barbour WR 1181 Amir Burns DB 1082 Tyrone Pinkston WR 1083 Anthony Lazenby TE 1084 Brayon Velasquez DB 1086 Miguel Solis DL 1087 Ryan Carriere TE/LB 1188 Alex Russell TE/LB 1190 Bryce Morias DL/OL 1191 Mykelle McDaniel DL 1197 William Van Pamelen K 999 Danny Conlin K 11

Grayson rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Chase Brice (6-3, 190, Soph.)RB Cameryn Brent (5-9, 190, Jr.)RB Jordan Hightower (5-9, 155, Jr.)WR Cedric Asseh (6-1, 190, Sr.)WR Hunter Schuessler (6-4, 190, Sr.)TE Ryan Carriere (6-4, 220, Jr.)LT Jalen Jackson (6-4, 264, Soph.)LG Matt Wilkins (6-1, 255, Sr.)C Cole Inman (6-2, 270, Sr.)RG Chris Martin (6-2, 260, Jr.)RT Will Taylor (6-4, 260, Soph.)K Austin Hoyt (5-9, 185, Sr.)

DefenseDE Justin Young (6-4, 265, Sr.)NG Chris Martin (6-2, 260, Jr.)DE Mykelle McDaniel (6-4, 265, Jr.)OLB Mohamed Barry (6-2, 220, Sr.)LB Daniel Fennell (6-3, 230, Sr.)LB Denzel Wright (6-1, 260, Jr.)OLB Kiminzki Flint (5-11, 190, Sr.)S Jordan Hayes (6-1, 175, Sr.)S Germell Jenkins (6-1, 190, Sr.)CB Ernest Tiller (5-9, 155, Jr.)CB Adesola Abisoye (5-11, 160, Jr.)P Austin McGugan (6-1, 230, Jr.)



OffenseHebron won its first two

games of the 2013 season, scoring 23 and 36 points in each of those respective wins. But points became scarce after that as the Lions averaged just over 11 points per game the rest of the season, all of which were losses.

But that was a young team, and with several key players returning, head coach Kevin Shaffer is opti-mistic about 2014.

“We’re so far ahead of where we were this time last year,” said Shaffer, who is entering his second season as head coach of Hebron. “We feel that we’ve started to develop something that will teach these kids how to be competitive and successful in football and in life.”

Hebron’s skill positions are virtually intact, led by junior Connor Holliday (pic-tured), a three-year starter at quarterback.

Holliday had the opportu-nity to hone in some of his skills over the summer as Hebron competed in some of the 7-on-7 passing league tournaments. That time, along with the tutelage of new offensive coordinator Greg Lester, has helped Hol-liday make a big surge in his development.

“He’s looked very natural, especially in the pocket,” Shaffer said. “He’s really taken a big leap from where he had been.”

Holliday will have two experienced receivers as targets in Trey Selman and Jacob Harper, who com-bined for over 1,200 yards receiving last year. William Brice will also give Shaffer’s offense more options at slot receiver.

Hebron also has its lead-ing rusher from last season returning in Andrew Red-man, who Shaffer calls his

“go-to guy” in the ground game.

The offensive line lost three starters, but Shaffer is excited about the two he has coming back in juniors John Dussling and Evan Barnes.

Dussling, a 6-4, 225-pound offensive tackle, already has two years start-ing experience under his belt, while Barnes, who is 6-3 and 225-pounds, is a

two-year starter.“Both of those guys have

a lot of potential and are very athletic,” Shaffer said.

Hebron also looks solid on special teams with both its kicker and punter return-ing.

DefenseHebron is one of the few

teams in Region 8-A that runs a spread offense, and the 3-4 scheme on defense it had last year struggled at times against the many wing-T offenses it faced.

For 2014, Shaffer and defensive coordinator Blake Murphy have changed to a 3-5 with the hope that pulling down a fifth linebacker will

help slow down some of the powerful running attacks they will face.

“That will give us a lot of versatility,” Shaffer said. “We can spread things out but can also play in coverage if we have to.”

One of the newcomers for Hebron this fall is Luke Crawford, a 6-5, 220-pound junior that has emerged as one of the top linebackers.

Crawford, who also dou-bles on offense as tight end, has impressed Shaffer with his athletic skills that previ-ously had just been seen on the basketball court.

Another young linebacker in sophomore Sean Heflin has also shown promise and should give Hebron depth at that position.

The secondary is an-chored by Harper and Selman at the corners and Redman at safety. That trio won’t be tested much in the way of passing attacks this season, so its strength will need to come in its ability to tackle.

Dussling and Barnes will also be counted on to anchor the front line at defensive end. If the rigors of playing both ways can be withstood, Hebron’s defense stands a good chance on improving its 35 points per game allowed last year.

All-star staffShaffer’s seven years in

the NFL allowed him to cross the paths of many other NFL

players, a resource he has tapped to bolster his coach-ing staff. Greg Lester is one of those, who came from Dutchtown to be his offen-sive coordinator. Lester was a member of Georgia Tech’s 1990 national championship team as a receiver.

Also helping at receiver is community coach Bryant Johnson, the 17th overall pick in the 2003 NFL draft out of Penn State. John-son spent nine years in the league with Arizona, San Francisco, Detroit and Houston.

Others helping are Keion Carpenter (former Buffalo Bill and Atlanta Falcon) at secondary, Antwan Lake (Lions, Falcons and Saints) with the defensive line and Terrence Melton (Falcons, Saints, Panthers, Ravens) with the linebackers and defense.

Safety firstOne of the first things

fans will notice with Hebron’s uniforms this year is that the helmets have a new color in charcoal gray.

What may not be so noticeable, though, is that these helmets achieved the highest rating at five stars for safety in a test conducted Virginia Tech in 2013.

Hebron has helmets from two companies, Riddell and Xenith, and are both designed to reduce the risk of concussion.

— Scott Smith

Hebron ChristianMascot: Lions Coach: Kevin Shaffer (2-8 at Hebron, 2-8 overall) Region: 8-A Last playoff appearance: N/A

2014 scheduleAug. 22 at East JacksonAug. 29 Mt. VernonSept. 5 at CommerceSept. 19 at Towns CountySept. 26 Prince AvenueOct. 3 at LakeviewOct. 10 ProvidenceOct. 24 George WaltonOct. 31 Athens AcademyNov. 7 at Athens Christian

2013 results (2-8)Lakeview W 23-7Cross Keys W 36-20St. Francis L 41-16Pinecrest L 37-0George Walton L 50-20Athens Christian L 35-8Prince Avenue L 57-7Commerce L 48-12Athens Academy L 21-7Towns County L 34-19

3-SHOW PACKAGES ON SALE NOW!

STARTING AT $100800.278.4447 • BroadwayInAtlanta.com


1 Trey Selman WR/DB 122 Victor Gipson RB/DB 104 Nash Bullock WR/DB 105 Troy Allen QB/DB 97 Luke Crawford TE/LB 118 William Brice WR/LB 129 Alex Brice WR/DB 1010 Connor Holliday QB/DB 1111 Trent Donahue TE/WR/DE 1216 Chandler Schultheis WR/DB 1117 Jacob Harper WR/DB/K 1225 Andrew Redman RB/LB 1228 Jacob Rorke WR/DB 930 Aaron May OL/DL 931 Andrew Wallo RB/DB 9

41 Brendan Harrison RB/LB 944 Ethan Reynolds TE/DL 1250 Ryver Morrow OL/DL 954 Ben Ulrich OL/DL 1055 Sean Heflin OL/LB 1056 Christian Cortman OL/LB 1058 Michael Sullivan OL/LB 1060 Carson Foraker OL/DL 968 Tyler Pritchett OL/DL 972 Evan Barnes OL/DL 1173 Austin Thomas OL/DL 975 John Dussling OL/DL 1176 Chris Fisher OL/DL 1077 Nic Talley OL/DL 982 Gabe Marty TE/DL 12

Hebron Christian rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Connor Holliday (6-1, 160, Jr.)TB Andrew Redman (5-8, 165, Sr.)WR Jacob Harper (6-0, 155, Sr.)WR Trey Selman (6-2, 175, Sr.)WR Chandler Schultheis (6-0, 150, Jr.)TE Luke Crawford (6-4, 220, Jr.)LT John Dussling (6-3, 240, Jr.)LG Michael Sullivan (5-10, 220, Soph.)C Sean Heflin (5-8, 170, Soph.)RG Ethan Reynolds (5-11, 175, Sr.)RT Evan Barnes (6-3, 230, Jr.)K Victor Gipson (5-9, 165, Soph.)

DefenseDE John Dussling (6-3, 240, Jr.)NG Gabe Marty (6-0, 205, Sr.)DE Ethan Reynolds (5-11, 175, Sr.)LB Andrew Redman (5-8, 165, Sr.)LB Luke Crawford (6-4, 220, Jr.)LB Sean Heflin (5-8, 170, Soph.)LB William Brice (5-10, 175, Sr.)LB Victor Gipson (5-9, 165, Soph.)CB Chandler Schultheis (6-0, 150, Jr.)CB Jacob Harper (6-0, 155, Sr.)FS Trey Selman (6-2, 175, Sr.)


LIVE SCORINGfriday footballSign up at twitter.com and follow gdpfootball. You’ll get Gwinnett football scoring updates and key game stats every Friday night as well as breaking news during the week. Twitter allows you to get updates directly to your cellphone, wire-less device or computer.

Gwinnett Daily Post

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014 33 •gwinnettprepsports.com32 SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014 •

County schools on four-year championship streak in the state’s highest classification

The mantra for Gwinnett County football teams, just get to the playoffs, never wavers.

With such a dogfight to earn one of the four postseason spots from difficult Regions 8-AAAAAA and 7-AAAAAA, the first mission is just to get there. Then when a Gwinnett team is firmly in the state bracket, a deep run and even a state championship becomes a legitimate mission.

“You’ve got lots of big schools and lots of good coaches, so when you’ve got those two things and lots of good athletes, you’ve got some outstanding teams (in Gwinnett),” Brookwood head coach Mark Crews said. “With the good coaches and good programs here, the competition breeds outstanding teams. I know this sounds arrogant, but if you can make the top three in Region 7 or Region 8, you’ve got a chance to play for a while. That’s proven to be true the last couple of years. If you can compete in our leagues week in and week out in Gwinnett, you’ve got a chance to play for a while if you can stay healthy.”

Crews’ comments have been backed up by playoff results, particularly the last two seasons.

Gwinnett teams have won the past four state championships in Georgia’s largest classification, with three dif-ferent schools (Norcross in 2012 and 2013, Grayson in 2011 and Brook-wood in 2010) claiming the title. It

doesn’t necessarily take a No. 1 seed to win it all, either. Norcross was a No. 2 seed last season and Peachtree Ridge won in 2006 as a No. 4 seed.

With each passing year, the num-ber of local teams with realistic state championship hopes seems to increase.

“It just shows what kind of football is played in our county,” Norcross head coach Keith Maloof said. “Archer is on the rise, North (Gwinnett) is right there every year, Mill Creek could be really strong this year, Grayson and Brookwood have won state titles. You don’t know where to turn. Somebody’s always right there ready to grab it.”

Crews’ Brookwood team is one of the lower seeds to have success in recent seasons.

The Broncos defeated higher-seeded Lambert 35-16 in the 2013 first round, one year after defeating unbeaten, Region 5-AAAAAA champion Las-siter 24-21 in the first round. Both of the Gwinnett regions’ No. 3 seeds also won in 2012 — Parkview 20-17 over Walton and Mill Creek 41-39 over Alpharetta.

The same held true last season

when third-seeded North (34-10 over Milton) and Brookwood knocked off higher seeds, but Peachtree Ridge represented Gwinnett with a more shocking result. The fourth-seeded Lions blasted 5-AAAAAA champion Lassiter 59-20 in the first round.

The county’s other No. 4 seed in AAAAAA, South Gwinnett, gave 6-AAAAAA champion Alpharetta a good battle in the first round. Alpharet-

ta was then promptly routed 48-0 by Collins Hill, the No. 2 seed from Gwinnett’s 7-AAAAAA.

Those results back up what local coaches preach throughout the season. The Gwinnett teams that make the playoffs, regardless of seeding, have a very good shot of making a deep run. And once those teams get deep, the state title aspirations get even more real.

“We’ve done pretty well with (beat-ing higher seeds in the playoffs),” Crews said. “We beat 10-0 Lassiter as a 4 seed. We beat 10-0 McEachern as a 4 seed a few years ago. You’ve got to think our 4 seeds are pretty good teams most of the time.”

Winning one round will be tougher than usual this season, though. Gwin-nett two’s AAAAAA regions will meet each other in the first round, which will send half of the county’s eight playoff teams home immediately. It’s the worst-case scenario for local coaches that cycles around every three

years, forcing them into survival mode against other Gwinnett teams for an 11th week, like a regular-season ad-dendum vs. another Gwinnett foe.

For the four local teams who survive that round, the expectations will be very high. History shows they should be, with Gwinnett seeking its fifth straight state title in the largest class.

“It wasn’t always that way, but now it’s sort of like everybody expects those championships to come out of Gwinnett,” Crews said.

By Will [email protected].

GWINNETT HOPES TO BRING HOME A FIFTH STRAIGHT TITLE2010 • Brookwood 2011 • Grayson

2012 • Norcross 2013 • Norcross


OffenseKorey Mobbs got a

promotion earlier this sum-mer, replacing Billy Wells as Lanier’s head coach, but the first-time head coach still plans to call the plays on offense this season.

The 33-year-old will work with considerable offensive talent, most notably running back Tario Fuller (pictured). The Purdue commitment rushed for 1,590 yards and 20 touchdowns as a junior.

“Tario is the energy of our football team,” Mobbs said. “He is a returning team captain. He does a lot for us as a coaching staff with getting guys in order that we don’t have to do. His energy is contagious for us. It helps us as coaches a lot.”

The Longhorns, who will continue to run the high-tem-po, no-huddle spread offense they transitioned to last sea-son, also want to get plenty of offensive touches to backs/slot receivers Marcella Baity and Ashton Barnes. Wideout Tim Leazer also is coming off a big junior season.

One major offensive change is at quarterback. The 2013 starter, Canyon Cook, will start at safety and promis-ing 6-foot-4 junior Tahj Tolbert will be the No. 1 quarterback.

“Last year Tahj Tolbert played a lot of significant time for us in meaning-ful moments,” Mobbs said. “He’s 6-4, 205, throws the ball really well. We felt like his progress was such that

we could try to do what’s best for the team and utilize Cook’s athleticism else-where. That transition has been better than we could have imagined. Cook is a su-per kid. He just has a good time playing the game.

“Cook was the region quarterback of the year last year and he will play some quarterback for us too this year. But he understands he wants to do what’s best for the team and we’re going to utilize

him a bunch of different ways.”The offense line has im-

pressive size and is anchored by Travis Taylor (6-3 1/2, 290) and Taylor Barber (6-5, 300) at the tackle spots. Greyson Davis, a spot player last year, steps in as the starting center.

DefenseLanier will sport a differ-

ent look this season under defensive coordinator David Willingham, with a shift to the 3-4.

“We felt like it gave some of our athletes on the defen-sive front more opportunity to make plays, especially with Derrick Brown,” Mobbs said. “We’re replacing techni-cally all of our starters at linebacker, but Jeremy Taylor is moving to linebacker from safety, so we’ll have three new starters on the lineback-ing crew. We feel like from a secondary standpoint, we re-ally have three guys returning back there and when you add Cook, we have guys that are athletic and can make plays. We will rely on our defensive front to disrupt and make plays. Although we’re replac-

ing three starters at lineback-er, we feel like we’re pretty athletic at that position.”

Brown, a 6-4, 290-pound junior, is ranked as one of the nation’s top defensive linemen recruits in his class. With more than 20 offers, he has Georgia, Auburn, Alabama and Florida among his favorites.

He will work at end alongside 320-pound anchor Darius Daniels. Derriyon Shaw also is an important player at defensive end for a Lanier team that lost Duke commitment Trevon McSwain, who transferred to Lambert earlier this year.

Taylor moves from safety to join a young, but impres-sive linebacking group that also includes Devin Miller and Juwuan Jones. Jorrdan Jones, Stefan Ball, Kymani Brown and Cook are among the top contributors in the secondary.

Change at the topWells left Lanier to become

athletic director at North Hall, which is closer to his home, and left the football program for one of his top assistants.

Mobbs coached at Col-lins Hill for five years before joining Lanier when the school opened. He is a 1999 Parkview grad, having played on the Panthers’ first state championship team in 1997.

“The program was in great shape,” Mobbs said. “You talk about five years worth of hard work and dedication. When

we got here, we knew it was going to be a building process and Coach Wells did a tre-mendous job of seeing that through and putting a tremen-dous plan in place and kind of grooming me for the spot. I feel like we haven’t missed a beat because of the plan that’s been put in place. The leadership at the school has been tremendous. It helps when you have guys who are ready to take it and run with it. And we’ve got great kids.”

Etc.Lanier reached a number

of milestones last season, in-cluding a school-record nine wins, the program’s first play-off game and victory and its first home playoff game. That success should help as the Longhorns move into a new classification and region. “I think it will be huge. Although we’re moving to a different region, our kids have been to the playoffs, our kids have won a playoff game. We’ll have about 40 seniors, which for a program of our size is pretty significant. We feel like we have great numbers in the program 9-12, which can only be a good thing.” … The staff has two new coaches — longtime Norcross as-sistant and Parkview grad Jay Warren will coach the defensive backs and former Apalachee assistant and Central Gwinnett grad Bryan Allen will coach the defen-sive line and kickers.

— Will Hammock

LanierMascot: Longhorns Coach: Kolby Mobbs (0-0 at Lanier, 0-0 overall) Region: 8-AAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2013

2014 scheduleAug. 22 at LambertSept. 5 at Clarke CentralSept. 12 Flowery BranchSept. 19 Cedar ShoalsSept. 26 at LoganvilleOct. 10 GainesvilleOct. 17 at HeritageOct. 24 SalemOct. 31 Winder-BarrowNov. 7 at Apalachee

2013 results (9-3)Apalachee W 42-14Oconee Co. W 24-7Franklin Co. W 27-0Madison Co. W 34-8Monroe Area L 56-28Eastside W 40-10Chestatee L 20-17*Stephens Co. W 31-14Lumpkin Co. W 41-7Walnut Grove W 41-0Carver-Atlanta W 26-7Alexander L 42-28

*double overtime

206031-1

blitztheMade possible in part by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

For sale at many Gwinnett county newspaper sales locations starting August 23rd

Gwinnett’s Friday night football coverage every Saturday in a publication all its own


1 Marcella Baity RB 112 JaCorey Holder DB 123 Kymani Brown DB 124 Stefan Ball DB 125 Jeremy Taylor LB 126 Canyon Cook DB 127 Bolaji Ojolola WR 128 Tario Fuller RB 129 Devin Miller LB 1110 Tahj Tolbert QB 1111 Tim Leazer WR 1212 Jorrdan Jones DB 1213 Brian Tromp WR 1214 Sylvester Rouzan LB 1215 Ahmed Deen DB 1216 Mason Harwood K 1217 Noah Fritz QB 1018 Daniel Scott WR 1219 Alex Wyant WR 1020 Ashton Barnes RB 1121 Alex Joyner DB 1222 Isaiah Dozier DB 1123 Miles Beckwith WR 1224 Demetrius Cress DB 1125 Juwuan Jones LB 1026 Stephen Bowens LB 1227 Marcko Baity RB 1028 Ethan Wilson DB 10

29 Aaron Vaz DB 1130 Marcus Milhouse DB 1231 Marshall Spurlock WR 1232 Will Bryan LB 1133 Isaiah Speight WR 1234 Bernard Nuckles WR 1235 Shaun Hunter LB 1136 Austin Moulder WR 1237 Justin Beckwith RB 10

38 Emmanuel Moses DB 1139 Amari Rouzan DB 1040 Josh Stroud DB 1041 Brandon King LB 1042 Justin Bobb DB 1144 Colton Ready LB 1146 C.J. Burress LB 1048 Ryan Persinger LB 1050 Logan Davis OL 12

51 Joseph Kuria DL 1252 Christian Barfield OL 1153 Trystin Akin OL 1154 Dalton Bien OL 1255 Kevin Hubbard DL 1256 Travis Taylor OL 1257 Darius Ruffin LB 1158 Matt Hunter OL 1260 Brian Willis OL 1163 Hunter Beasley OL 1064 Greyson Davis OL 1268 Giovanni Diaz OL 1073 Juan Marin OL 1174 Taylor Barber OL 1275 Josh Brown OL 1276 Drew Allen OL 1077 Darius Daniels DL 1278 Hunter Beasley OL 1079 Luke Wilder OL 1280 Derriyon Shaw DL 1181 Michael Allen DL 1082 Cole Paschall WR 1183 Quinton Gresham WR 1284 Logan Bell DE 1286 John Borella WR 1088 James Clark DE 1290 Derrick Brown DL 11

Lanier rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Tahj Tolbert (6-4, 205, Jr.)RB Tario Fuller (6-0, 195, Sr.)RB/WR Ashton Barnes (5-10, 180, Jr.)RB/WR Marcella Baity (5-7, 180, Jr.)WR Tim Leazer (6-4, 185, Sr.)WR Bolaji Ojolola (6-3, 185, Sr.)or Bernard Nuckles (5-11, 190, Sr.)LT Travis Taylor (6-3 1/2, 290, Sr.)LG Juan Marin (6-0, 265, Jr.)C Greyson Davis (6-0, 260, Sr.)RG Luke Wilder (6-3, 300, Sr.)RT Taylor Barber (6-5, 300, Sr.)PK Mason Harwood (5-11, 165, Sr.)

DefenseDE Derrick Brown (6-4, 290, Jr.)NG Darius Daniels (6-0, 320, Sr.)DE Derriyon Shaw (6-3, 215, Jr.)OLB Devin Miller (5-11, 195, Jr.)ILB Juwuan Jones (6-2, 220, Soph.)ILB Jeremy Taylor (6-0, 205, Sr.)OLB Sylvester Rouzan (5-10, 190, Sr.)or Shaun Hunter (5-10, 185, Jr.)FS Canyon Cook (6-0, 180, Sr.)SS Stefan Ball (5-10, 170, Sr.)or JaCorey Holder (5-10, 175, Sr.)CB Kymani Brown (5-10, 170, Sr.)CB Jorrdan Jones (5-11, 170, Sr.)P Mason Harwood (5-11, 165, Sr.)



OffenseGraduation has forced

the Mustangs to look to new faces, and there are quite a few large sets of shoes to be filled, including last year’s leading rusher Ryan Moore and playmaking receiver Laquan Johnson.

While the newcomers may lack starting experience, they do have many other qualities that have head coach George Pugh very excited.

“We’ve had some athletic players (over the years),” Pugh said. “But we really haven’t had any type of size at Meadowcreek. It’s been one of our Achilles heels. The future is going to be very bright.”

Indeed, several of new-comers who will be counted on to contribute this year possess a combination of size and athleticism that has been rare at Meadowcreek.

That includes skill posi-tion players such as senior Kalu Onumah (6-foot-5, 215-pounds) at quarterback, Terrell Davis (6-2, 215) at receiver and running back Brandon Jackson (5-11, 185), whom Pugh calls “one of the strongest kids on our team.”

“I’ve been impressed with Kalu Onumah so far,” Pugh said. “He’s thrown the ball extremely well, and he’s a very sharp kid. … I’m mostly impressed with his leadership.

“Terrell Davis (pictured) at wide receiver, Darin Ham-monds at slot and Darryl Wimbush at X (receiver) gives us a good group of skill guys Meadowcreek hasn’t had since I’ve been here. It’s a good nucleus. We’ve just got to keep jell-ing.”

Size is also a commodity that the Mustangs will have on the line, especially on the right side, where seniors Antonio Jarrett (6-6, 355) and Hal Drayton (6-3, 285) are set to line up at tackle

and guard respectively.

DefenseFrom a personnel stand-

point, the Mustangs’ defense figures to revolve around the line, in particular, a pair of experienced and athletic seniors in Deandre Smith and Oliver Niyungeko, who could be a force with speed off the edge.

“They’re solid bookends,” Pugh said. “Both kids are about 6-3, 220. And between them, we’ve got a young man we think is going to

grow into a positive at nose guard in Keenan Cason. (The line) will be the strength of our defense.”

That doesn’t mean Pugh doesn’t have hopes for other areas of the defense.

The linebacking corps, led by Aaron Buick, figures to be young, but solid, while Aaron Craft is someone Pugh believes can step up in the secondary.

While Pugh sees plenty of potential with his defensive personnel, there is one area that must be addressed.

Penalties and other mis-takes have been a problem on both sides of the ball, but they can be especially glaring on defense, some-thing the Mustangs have been addressing during the offseason.

“We’ve got to get on the right people (on the field) and be ourselves, something we’re working really hard on,” Pugh said.

“Discipline gives us a chance to win. We have to be very disciplined team. We can ill afford to beat ourselves.”

Numbers gameMany head coaches

have tried to change the culture at Meadowcreek over the years besides Pugh, including Pugh himself from 2003-04, with only four wins since 2002 to show for it.

But last year’s lone win — a 21-14 win over Habersham Central last October — and a preseason scrimmage win over McNair have instilled hope throughout the Mead-owcreek community.

And that, says Pugh, has led to another change that he says could have a more tangible effect on the program.

“Those two games we won last year helped in-crease our numbers,” Pugh said, referring to the larger numbers of players coming out for the team this season. “When you have numbers, you have competition at every position. We haven’t had the numbers to generate that kind of competition. So when you get on the field, the first competition you see is somebody from Norcross (or some other team).

“Our kids now have that pride. That’s something we’ve got to get over here. People believe we’ve got a chance to compete against anybody. With the schedule we’ve got, if we can find a way to win one or two of those, only God knows what we can do from there.”


MeadowcreekMascot: Mustangs Coach: George Pugh (2-28 at Meadowcreek, 8-33 overall) Region: 7-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 1988

2014 scheduleAug. 29 NewtonSept. 5 at RockdaleSept. 12 ClarkstonSept. 19 Peachtree RidgeSept. 26 at Collins HillOct. 3 Mill CreekOct. 10 at NorcrossOct. 24 Mountain ViewOct. 31 at North GwinnettNov. 7 at Duluth

2013 results (1-9)Shiloh L 48-7Berkmar L 35-7North Gwinnett L 63-0Duluth L 34-7Mill Creek L 47-0Habersham Cent. W 21-14Collins Hill L 68-0Mountain View L 49-13Peachtree Ridge L 47-0Norcross L 59-14


3 Eric Rivera K 104 Terrell Davis WR/DL 126 Kalu Onumah QB 127 Brandon Jackson RB/LB 128 Darion Hammons QB/DB 119 Quevella Calhoun P 911 Daquan Harris WR/DB 1212 Darrell Wimbush WR/DB 1213 Jeremiah Patton WR/DB 1216 David Wing RB/DB 1020 Travon Redditt WR/DB 1123 Jamarious Craft WR/DB 1125 Hershell Pierre LB 1227 Neil Whitaker WR/DB 1228 John Nguyen WR/LB 1029 Keion Williams WR/DB 1030 Threeney Dunbar WR/DB 1232 Saye Kulah TE/LB 1233 Kyree Rogers RB/DB 1136 Corey Wilkins WR/DB 11

37 Desean Williams WR/DB 1038 Brandon Bledsoe WR/DB 1141 Giani Muhale RB/LB 1142 Dallon Hammons TE/LB 1243 Donte Reese WR/DB 1046 DeAndre Smith TE/DL 1247 Jai’Sean Hopkins-PaytonRB/LB 11

51 William Giron RB/LB 1152 Oliver Niuyngeko OL/DL 1253 Keanan Cason OL/DL 1154 JaQuan Janerette OL/DL 1155 Hal Drayton OL/DL 1256 Robert Johnson OL/DL 1257 Joseph Adams OL/DL 10

58 Airon Buick TE/DL 11

64 Zavion Henry TE/DL10

65 Tyler Masters OL/DL 10

70 Duane Foxworth OL/DL 12

72 Diri Ibeauwici OL/DL 11

73 DeAndre Paige OL/DL 10

74 Eszavion Franklin OL/DL 12

76 Antonio Jarrett OL/DL 10

77 LaMarcus Bailey OL/DL 11

78 Kadeem Stewart OL/DL 12

80 Shadiah Toppin WR/DB 11

81 Craig Lockett WR/DB 11

82 Antonio Richmond WR/DB 12

83 Michael Edwards WR/DB 12

85 Terrence Newborn WR/DB 11

86 Kameron Jackson WR/DB 86

87 Mike Ball WR/DB 11

87 Zadarrien Stone WR/DB 10

90 Zaire Maddison DL/LB 10

Meadowcreek rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Kalu Onumah (6-5, 215, Sr.)RB Kyree Rogers (5-11, 190, Jr.)or Brandon Jackson (6-0, 195, Sr.)FB Giani Muhale (5-9, 195, Jr.)WR Darrell Wimbush (6-1, 175, Sr.)WR Dallon Hammons (6-0, 195, Sr.WR Terrell Davis (6-1, 205, Sr.)WR Darion Hammons (5-11, 195, Jr.)LT Oliver Niyungeko (6-4, 245, Sr.)LG Diri Ibeawuci (5-11, 255, Jr.)C Robert Johnson (5-9, 200, Sr.)RG Hal Drayton (6-2, 285, Sr.)RT Antonio Jarrett (6-6, 345, Soph.)K Eric Rivera (5-10, 165, Soph.)

DefenseDE Oliver Niyungeko (6-4, 245, Sr.)NT Keanan Cason (5-10, 220, Jr.)DT DeAndre Smith (6-3, 222, Sr.)MLB Saye Kulah (6-0, 190, Sr.)MoLB Airon Buick (5-11, 190, Soph.)SLB Hershell Pierre (6-0, 190, Jr.)WLB Brandon Jackson (6-0, 195, Sr.)CB Jamarious Craft (6-1, 175, Jr.)CB Threeny Dunbar (5-9, 175, Sr.)FS Darion Hammons (5-11, 195, Jr.)SS Neil Whitaker (6-0, 200, Sr.)P Quevella Calhoun (5-8, 160, Fr.)



OffenseAfter sporting Gwinnett’s high-

est-scoring offense among Class AAAAAA teams during the 2013 regular season, Mill Creek hopes to keep that momentum going into this year.

A huge, veteran offensive line is the biggest cause for optimism, along with Daniel David (pic-tured), a third-year starter, at quarterback. The group averaged 40.3 points last season and was held under 30 points just once.

David, an Appalachian State commitment, completed 77 of 137 passes (56 percent) for 1,331 yards and 12 touchdowns as a junior, but he did just as much damage as a runner with 672 yards and six more scores.

“Daniel’s been a lot more vocal this summer,” Mill Creek head coach Shannon Jarvis said. “His role has changed. His sophomore year he played within his role and the older kids were leading the team and it was somewhat like that last year.

“But him and a lot of the seniors have embraced their roles of being more vocal this year.”

David could stay busier in the passing game this season, thanks to the development of wide receiv-ers like David Curry, Micah Pulley, Braden Canamare, Broderick Norwood and Joseph Hall.

Despite those improvements, the Hawks will rely on their usual strong running game. Johnathan Hawkins, with offers from likes of Florida State and N.C. State, is in line to be the feature back, but the coaching staff also expects a big season from

fellow back Brian Efianayi.Those two have the benefit of

running behind a big offensive line led by Kaleb Kim (Auburn com-mitment), Josh Fannin (Middle Ten-nessee), Chad Walker and Bobby Klemm. Jake Lund also provides a quality blocker at tight end.

DefenseA change at defensive coordina-

tor has paid dividends already for the Hawks.

Former Parkview assistant (2003-05) and Etowah head coach (2006-11) Bill Stewart took over the defense and brought new energy to a unit that struggled at times last season. He stresses running to the football, something Jarvis said his players have appreciated in the spring and summer.

“It’s a total different style as far as being aggressive,” Jarvis said of Stewart, who joined the Hawks March 1, in time for spring prac-tice. “Bill has brought a relentless attitude to those players. Even when you’re misaligned or there’s a breakdown, pursuit to the football is still his No. 1 priority. The kids have really enjoyed that.”

Veteran safety Chris Dickhute and cornerback Kijhani Sebastien head up a secondary with plenty of experience, with Gerard Butler and Zac Turner also coming back.

Samaj Starling, Lund, Tylon Craighead and Tyler Vernon are key players along the defensive front, while Furman commitment Tyler Voyles, Aaron Anderson and Sidney Otiwu form a strong line-backing corps.

Coming up shortA 6-4 season wasn’t a major

success for the Hawks, who al-ways have playoff aspirations. They lost the wrong four games, all to region opponents Norcross, North Gwinnett, Peachtree Ridge and Collins Hill.

The losses all hurt, but the games with Peachtree Ridge and North were particularly gut-wrench-ing. After trailing, Mill Creek rallied for a late score against Peachtree Ridge only to miss the potential game-tying extra point in a 31-30 loss. It then led No. 1-ranked North Gwinnett by 19 points near the midway point of the fourth quarter

before losing a stunner 50-47.“I think every year everybody

in our region knows it’s a fine line (between being in or out of the playoffs),” Jarvis said. “Somebody’s going to be left out. When you are that team that gets left out, you want to do everything that much more, that much better to get there next season. You just know there’s that fine line between winning and losing on Friday nights and you try to make sure you cover every aspect, all scenarios of the game, because they’re all going to be close games.”

Etc.Mill Creek earned a spot in the

annual Corky Kell Classic for the first time, though the Hawks won’t get to play in the Georgia Dome for the first time since the event moved to McEachern. But they’re still very excited about the oppor-tunity and an early-season date against state power Colquitt Coun-ty. “It’s exciting,” Jarvis said. “With it comes responsibility and that’s what we’re preaching to the kids. We’ve always played Dacula (in the opener) and we’ve always had to be ready to play that first week with a huge rivalry. But still it’s excit-ing to be in that event with your program and your players. We still have to be ready to play because it’s a big game for the opener.” … In addition to Stewart, Mill Creek added two other coaches — Boo Mitchell and North Gwinnett grad Jonathan Loudermilk. Mitchell, the wide receivers coach, had been coaching at Peachtree Ridge.

— Will Hammock

Mill CreekMascot: Hawks Coach: Shannon Jarvis (53-54 at Mill Creek, 53-54 overall) Region: 7-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2012

2014 scheduleAug. 23 Colquitt County*Aug. 29 at West ForsythSept. 5 DaculaSept. 19 at DuluthSept. 26 North GwinnettOct. 3 at MeadowcreekOct. 10 Mountain ViewOct. 24 Collins HillOct. 31 at NorcrossNov. 7 at Peachtree Ridge

*at McEachern, 11:45 a.m.

2013 results (6-4)Dacula W 41-28Brookwood W 44-10Mountain View W 42-3Peachtree Ridge L 31-30Norcross L 27-13Meadowcreek W 47-0North Gwinnett L 50-47Duluth W 43-3Habersham Central W 61-0Collins Hill L 45-34


1 David Curry WR/QB 122 Daniel David QB 123 Joseph Hull WR 124 Aaron Anderson LB 115 Brian Efianayi RB/LB 126 Gerard Butler DB/WR 127 Brodrick Norwood WR 128 Bryson King K 129 Jake Richards P/K 1210 Malik Turner WR 1111 David Agyeman WR 1212 Miles Riley WR 1113 Robbie Brazelton DB 1214 Braden Canamare WR 1215 Micah Pulley WR 1216 Cameron Turley QB 1017 Jason Chase DB 1218 Chase Turner DB 1119 Bryce Hall DB 1120 Tyler Voyles LB 1221 Kijhani Sebastien DB 1222 Stanley Otiwu DB 1123 Keetone Glover DB 1124 Johnathan Hawkins RB 1225 Tylon Craighead DE 1226 Shayne Nichols WR 1127 Caleb Peters DB 1128 Daniel Leconte RB 11

29 Peyton Moore DE/TE 1130 Zac Turner DB 1231 Anthony Imbordino LB 1132 Riley Snider TE 1133 Kishawn Miller DB 1134 Sam Mason LB 1135 Sidney Otiwu LB 1136 Adam Sanders TE 1237 Chris Dickhute DB 1239 Daniel Lohman K 11

40 Cole Henderson LB 1241 Jack Luker LB 1142 Braxton Richburg WR 1143 Micah Bull LB/FB 1144 Jamar Hall DB 1046 Preston Norwood DB 1047 Zack Presto RB 1148 Blake Pullen FB 1149 Avery Champion DL 1150 Moe Oladele-Samagbeyi OL 11

51 Ryan Cox DE 1052 Kaleb Kim OL 1253 Collin Janowski OL 1054 Bobby Klemm OL 1255 Mitchell McEnaney OL 1057 Chad Walker OL 1260 Jack Patterson OL 1162 Ryan Matuszak OL 1265 Robbie Bell OL 1167 Nick Campbell OL 1068 Cole Ragon OL 1170 Trevon Middleton OL 1173 Tyler Fannin OL 1074 Jack Franklin OL/DL 1078 Josh Fannin OL 1280 Christian Cangelosi WR 1181 Jake Lund WR 1282 Nick Rice DB 1083 Andre Davis DE 1286 Derentez McKinnon WR 1187 Tyler Vernon DE 1191 Brenton King K 1092 John Hunt DL 1193 Johnny Nguyen DL 1194 Kameron Banks DL 1195 Mike Johnson DL 1197 William Itoka DL 1198 Semaj Starling DT 12

Mill Creek rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Daniel David (6-1, 180, Sr.)RB Johnathan Hawkins (5-11, 200, Sr.)FB Micah Bull (5-11, 205, Jr.)HB Malik Turner (5-7, 145, Jr.)WR Micah Pulley (6-0, 160, Sr.)WR David Curry (6-1, 170, Sr.)TE Miles Riley (5-11, 165, Jr.)ST Kaleb Kim (6-4, 280, Sr.)SG Robbie Bell (6-5, 265, Jr.)C Josh Fannin (6-3, 300, Sr.)QG Chad Walker (6-2, 280, Sr.)QT Bobby Klemm (6-5, 315, Sr.)PK Bryson King (5-9, 150, Sr.)

DefenseDE Tylon Craighead (5-11, 205, Sr.)DT Semaj Starling (6-0, 335, Sr.)DT Jake Lund (6-2, 235, Sr.)DE Tyler Vernon (6-3, 210, Jr.)LB Sidney Otiwu (5-11, 195, Jr.)LB Tyler Voyles (6-0, 200, Sr.)LB Aaron Anderson (5-11, 185, Jr.)FS Zac Turner (6-0, 170, Sr.)SS Chris Dickhute (6-1, 210, Sr.)CB Gerard Butler (5-11, 160, Sr.)CB Kijhani Sebastien (5-9, 155, Sr.)P Jake Richards (6-0, 195, Sr.)


Aqualand Marina on Lake Lanier is the largest inland marina in the United States. But don’t let our size fool you: At Aqualand, expect the warm, personal feel of a small lakeside resort. Let our experienced, helpful staff work to give you the best of the boating life.

6800 LIGHTS FERRY ROADFLOWERY BRANCH, GA

(770) 967-6811

NEW CLIENT

SPECIALMention this ad to receive

discounted slip fees!

CALL TODAY!

AMENITIES INCLUDE:

• 1,791 total slips (accommodate vessels up to 110’ LOA)• Covered and open slips• Dockside picnic areas• On-site dining at the Dockside Grill• Lanier Aqua Rentals (boats and PWCs)• Ship’s Shore• Windsong Sailing Academy

• Pavilions available for events• Lake Lanier’s only self-service boat yard• Expert marine repairs through Aqualand’s approved contractors• Hauling and launching via 25-ton Travelift• Lodging, dining and shopping choices within 4 miles• Private boat ramps

• Private bathrooms, bath houses and laundry facility• Pump-out available• 24-hour front-gate security• Shore power• Fresh water hook-ups• Slip telephone hook-ups• Gas and fresh water available at the fuel dock• Public boat launch facility daily use fee 5.00

http://aqualandmarina.com

206552-1


OffenseAfter losing its starting quarter-

back in the first game of the 2013 season, Mountain View’s offense faced a setback that would plague it the entire year.

Two young sophomores in Alex Scott and Sam Freitas were thrust into battle, and the duo fought their way through the season, guiding the Bears to 16 points per game in their two wins.

Scott and Freitas are once again back for 2014, vying for the start-ing job. Even though head coach Doug Giacone has yet to name a starter, he’s confident that their time on the field last year will pay big dividends.

“They both took their lumps last year but they gained a lot of experience,” Giacone said. “That’s something that is so valuable. We’re going to try and be bal-anced but we also have to look at our personnel and maximize to its strength.”

One of those strengths should come out of the backfield in run-ning back Nick Harris (pictured), who rushed for over 800 yards last year as a sophomore.

Harris will have some beef to run behind in center Kendel Wright and guard Bryce Coleman.

Wright has multiple offers from several FCS schools, along with schools in the Sunbelt Conference and service academies. Added to the experience of Coleman, a three-year starter, the starting five up front looks solid.

Mountain View also looks to be deep at wide receiver, led by senior Kielan Whitner. Whitner led the Bears with over 500 receiving

yards last year, which is currently the most in school history, and also sports offers from several Sunbelt Conference, MAAC, Conference USA schools, along with the ser-vice academies.

Wright will be joined by senior Andre Joseph, who also was the team’s top kick returner last year. Giacone is also looking for another pair of juniors in Cameron Hankins and Jalen Virgil to contribute at receiver.

Giacone feels that the key for his offense this year will be to find some depth on the offensive line. Even though he feels good about his starting group, he wants to add to the rotation, especially since most of those players will have to line up on defense.

“We’ve had a really good spring and summer,” said Giacone, who has six returning starters on offense. “Our whole staff has returned and we haven’t lost any players, so there hasn’t been a whole lot of new teaching. Instead, we’re able to focus more on the things that we want to do.”

DefenseWith four returning starters on

defense, Giacone has several holes to fill for 2014. But a closer look shows that Mountain View has talent in every area of its 3-5-3 stack.

Leading the way up front is Jordan Jones, a 6-3, 245-pound tackle. Jones was a force last year, leading the team in sacks, tackles

and tackles for loss.His athleticism and experience

will allow for Giacone and defen-sive coordinator Nick Bach to use Jones in different packages.

“He’s a very active player,” Gia-cone said of Jones. “He was our top tackler last year and can play as a down lineman or standing up on the outside. That’ll help give us some different looks.”

Sawyer Soucie leads the line-backer corps at the Mike position and is coming off what Giacone called an excellent spring and summer, while junior Austin Brown is projected to make an impact on the outside.

The area that Giacone has seen develop the most is the secondary, led by Whitner, an all-region selec-

tion at cornerback.Another pair of juniors in Dijon

Joseph and Kaiden Smith have also made an impression on Giacone, while cornerback Johnny Thomas and free safety Joseph return.

“We’re looking for good things from our secondary,” Giacone said. “They’ve really developed and matured and should allow us to be more diverse defensively.”

Jeff Hollingsworth is set to return as the placekicker but is facing competition for the starting job from Ty Booker, while Giacone will have to find a new punter.

Etc.After starting varsity play in

2009, Mountain View is finally starting to see some of its “home-grown” kids make their way through the system.

This year’s junior class may be the best example of that, something that has Giacone very excited.

“They may be the most talented class we’ve ever had,” Giacone said.

Two years ago, that squad went 4-3 through its freshman schedule and was even more impressive last year on junior varsity, going 6-1 with its only loss coming to Nor-cross on a last-second field goal.

Young programs also often see turnover in both the player and coaching ranks, and this past offseason was the first in which Mountain View didn’t lose any coaches.

In fact, the Bears added another assistant in Nate Blase from Wood-stock to help with the offensive line.

— Scott Smith

Mountain ViewMascot: Bears Coach: Doug Giacone (5-15 at Mountain View, 5-15 overall) Region: 7-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: N/A

2014 scheduleAug. 22 South ForsythAug. 29 at ParkviewSept. 5 Kennesaw MountainSept. 19 NorcrossSept. 26 at Peachtree RidgeOct. 3 Collins HillOct. 10 at Mill CreekOct. 24 at MeadowcreekOct. 31 DuluthNov. 7 at North Gwinnett

2013 results (2-8)Archer L 37-0Pebblebrook L 17-13Mill Creek L 42-3Habersham Central W 27-0Collins Hill L 42-13Peachtree Ridge L 38-13Norcross L 37-6Meadocreek W 49-13North Gwinnett L 40-7Duluth L 26-15


2 Andre Joseph WR/DB 123 Johnnie Thomas DB 124 Alex Scott QB 115 Richie Ramos WR/LB 116 Cameron Hankins WR 117 Tyler Towe DB 128 Austin Brown RB/LB 119 Basil Anderson WR 1210 Dijon Joseph DB 1111 Jalen Virgil WR/DB 1112 Jake Harkness QB/DB 1013 Kaiden Smith WR/DB 1114 Devin Johnson WR 1215 Braiden Koester QB/LB 1016 Michael Sobczyk WR/LB 1017 Sam Freitas QB 1118 Joe Thomas RB/DB 1019 Devin Robinson WR 1120 Jake Tupper RB/LB 1121 Andrew Pettit TE/LB 1122 Gerald Moore WR/DB 1123 Josh Alvord WR/DB 1124 Drew Allen LB 1025 Keilan Whitner WR/DB 1226 Mark Gwynn WR/DB 1127 Cezar Gibbs WR/DB 10

28 Spencer Cottrell RB/LB 1029 Jeff Hollingsworth K/P 1230 Jonathan Thompson DB 1131 Chaz Westbrooks LB 1232 Nick Harris RB 1133 Eric Montalvo LB 1134 Chris Ebron WR/DB 1235 Sawyer Soucie TE/LB 1237 Tyreek Springer TE/LB 11

40 Daniel Catapano RB/DB 1041 Tre Verrett RB/LB 1042 Jordan Jones TE/LB 1243 Jacob Adams RB/LB 1144 Michael Chambley LB 1250 Drake Durden OL/DL 1151 Kendel Wright OL 1252 Antonio Abbatiello OL/LB 1153 K’Maron Patterson OL/DL 11

54 Cameron Rice OL/DL 1155 Justin Smith OL/DL 1057 Ethan Nagel OL/DL 1058 Bryan Alvarenga OL/LB 1059 Trevor Adams OL/DL 1160 Bryce Coleman OL/DL 1261 Robbie Howe OL/DL 1062 Melad Rasoli IR 1063 Marius Gutsu OL/LB 1064 D’Anthony Ravenell OL/DL 1073 Alex Gubanich OL/DL 1175 Patrick Walker OL/DL 1276 Spencer Manuel OL/DL 1277 Jared Gee OL/DL 1180 Alex Childers WR/LB 1081 Spencer Buko WR/DB 1082 Kaiden Hall TE/LB 1084 Pierre Tugman WR/DB 1185 William Baynard WR 1286 Dylan Hill WR/DB 1087 Tyler Porter WR/LB 1090 Keashaun Hill TE/DL 1191 Ty Booker K/P 1192 Zac Montrief K/P 1093 Yerly Fuentes OL/DL 10

Mountain View rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Alex Scott (6-0, 205, Jr.)or Sam Freitas (6-0, 180, Jr.)RB Nick Harris (5-10, 205, Jr.)RB Andre Joseph (5-9, 180, Sr.)WR Kielan Whitner (6-1, 185, Sr.)WR Jalen Virgil (6-1, 185, Jr.)TE Andrew Pettit (6-2, 195, Jr.)or Jake Tupper (5-9, 180, Jr.)LT K’Maron Patterson (6-0, 265, Jr.)LG Bryce Coleman (5-11, 245, Sr.)C Kendel Wright (6-3, 280, Jr.)RG Spencer Manual (5-9, 240, Sr.)RT Patrick Walker (6-5, 265, Sr.)PK Jeff Hollingsworth (5-9, 160, Sr.)

DefenseDE Drake Durden (6-2, 230, Jr.)NT Patrick Walker (6-5, 265, Sr.)DE Cameron Rice (6-2, 230, Jr.)LB Sawyer Soucie (6-0, 210, Jr.)LB Jordan Jones (6-3, 245, Sr.)LB Erick Montalvo (5-11, 195, Jr.)S Michael Sobczyk (6-3, 200, Soph.)S Austin Brown (6-0, 195, Jr.)FS Andre Joseph (5-9, 180, Sr.)CB Kielan Whitner (6-1, 185, Sr.)CB Dijon Joseph (5-10, 185, Jr.)or Kaiden Smith (6-2, 180, Jr.)P Jeff Hollingsworth (5-9, 160, Sr.)



OffenseOne might think that a team

looking to replace the bulk of the starters from skill positions that helped the Blue Devils roll up 4,706 total yards and 28.7 points per game in last year’s state title repeat would be the main concern of the offense this fall.

To be sure, with only senior receiver Jared Pinkney returning, coach Keith Maloof is looking for several newcomers among the skill players to step up and assert themselves to fill voids left by the graduation of such stars as Clinton Lynch, Myles Autry, A.J. Bush and Josh Boyd.

True, the Blue Devils do have some athletic individuals with plenty of potential to make plays, starting at quarterback, where seniors Griffin Barker and Jacob Gassert are still battling for the starting job, while sophomore receiver Jared Simpkins and junior running back Jamir Billings could have an impact.

But as much as the Blue Devils are searching for answers at the skill positions, the offensive line is just as big a concern, with senior tackle D’Andre Plantin the only returning starter.

Still, while the line might also not be quite as big as it has been dur-ing the team’s run to the last two Class AAAAAA state titles, Maloof is confident newcomers like juniors Devin Bennett and Kyle Jones could open up some new possibili-ties for the offense.

“This year’s a totally different group,” Maloof said. We could be a little more versatile with pulling our guards. In the past, we couldn’t do that. This group will add a little

to (the offense) in some areas, but take a little away (in others), too. The biggest adjustment will be not having experience on Friday nights. We’ve got to get game time under our belts. Until you do that, you don’t really know anything.”

DefenseLike on offense, the Blue Devils

have to replace a lot of important parts on a unit that ranked third in the county in average scoring

defense last year.While there may not be the

known commodities like they had last year with big-time college signees Lorenzo Carter and Kevin Mouhon, Maloof is excited about several individuals, especially returning starters on the defensive line in seniors J.B. Kouassi (pic-tured) and Dorian Kithcart.

And while there isn’t much other experience in terms of starters, several other players did see

action last season, and appear ready to take their turn in the main rotation, including senior twin linebackers Devonte and Devon Goodbeir, who will flank fellow senior Jermone Pledger.

The same can be said of the secondary, which will be manned by four new starters, including another set of twins in cornerback Ferdinand Aka and safety Frederic Aka.

“These guys (this year) have worked together all summer, so we look to be further ahead than we were last year,” Maloof said.

“These guys have been in the program (several years). It’s not like breaking in a new group. On of-fense, we have some sophomores we’re looking to help us. With the defense, it’s more guys waiting their turns.”

Hoping for quicker startWith sky-high preseason ex-

pectations and a national televi-sion audience facing them this time last year, the season opener against nationally ranked Booker T. Washington of Miami was nearly disastrous for the Norcross.

While the Blue Devils were able to recover from a jarring 55-0 loss, as well as another loss two weeks later to North Gwinnett that left them 1-2 to start the season, they eventually recovered by winning their final 12 games to grab their second straight state title.

Maloof knows his team can’t afford another slow start with so many new players taking the field.

And while this year’s season opener won’t be quite as daunting as last year’s, Norcross’ pre-Region 7-AAAAAA slate won’t be any less challenging.

“We open by scrimmaging Lowndes after we knocked them out of playoffs (last year),” Maloof said. “They’re going to want to prove themselves. Then there’s Brookwood. We knocked them out of playoffs (last year), and they want to prove themselves. Tucker, you know they’re going to want to prove themselves after they moved to AAAAAA. Milton is a team on the rise. So before we get into our region schedule, we play teams at a high level.”


NorcrossMascot: Blue Devils Coach: Keith Maloof (131-50 at Norcross, 143-61 overall) Region: 7-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2013

2014 scheduleAug. 23 Tucker*Aug. 29 BrookwoodSept. 5 at MiltonSept. 19 at Mountain ViewSept. 26 DuluthOct. 3 at North GwinnettOct. 10 MeadowcreekOct. 24 at Peachtree RidgeOct. 31 Mill CreekNov. 7 at Collins Hill


2013 results (13-2)BT Washington (Fla.) L 55-0Parkview W 21-7North Gwinnett L 36-17Duluth W 38-3Mill Creek W 27-13Habersham Central W 49-3Collins Hill W 28-0Mountain View W 37-6Peachtree Ridge W 24-20Meadowcreek W 59-14Etowah W 28-0Brookwood W 32-9Lowndes W 28-7Colquitt County W 14-9North Gwinnett W 31-14


1 Jared Simpkins WR 102 Ferdinand Aka DB 123 Frederic Aka DB 124 Kwaylon Crane WR 125 Jermone Pledger LB 126 Kendrec Grady DB 117 Josh Alexander WR 128 Jaden Grayer DB 119 Damon Woodcock DE 1210 Ricky Reed WR 1011 Jacobe Burrell WR 1012 Jacob Gassert QB 1213 Max Tracey QB 1014 Jared Pinkney WR 1215 Jordan Brown WR 1216 Griffin Barker QB 1217 Kendrew Wynn DB 1118 Baron Radcliff QB 1019 Santonio Mapp RB 1120 William Bailey DB 1221 Dominick Sims TB 1222 Jamir Billings TB 1123 Kyle Varnell WR 1224 Jarett Cole DB 1125 Necholas Sermons TB 1026 Darien Brown DB 1227 Hijahi Portis FB 1228 Tavante Gammage WR 1229 Eddie Appiah RB 1130 Da’Meon Williams DB 1031 Nathanael Thomas FB 1232 Antonio Bailey LB 1233 Asante Long RB 1134 Monty Montgomery LB 1035 Rasheed Higgs LB 11

36 Mykhi Thomas DB 1137 Justice Jenkins RB 1238 Harry Cokley DB 1139 Daryel Monson DB 1140 Khamari Lowder LB 1041 A.J. Johnson DB 1242 Chris Allen LB 1143 Blake Bingham K 1244 J.B. Kouassi DE 1245 Kenny Watson DT 1146 Quan Bristol RB 1147 Devon Goodbeir LB 1249 Luke D’Agostino DE 1150 Eric Farrell OL 11

51 Devonte Goodbeir LB 1252 Tommy Hixon DT 1153 DaVontre’ Abram OL/DT 1254 Darral Porter FB/LB 1055 Kyle Jones OL 1156 D’Andre Plantin OL/DT 1257 Bradley Nguyen LB 1158 Dorian Kithcart OL/DT 1259 Malik McClain LB 1160 Isaiah Brown OL 1161 Marcel Alfred OL/DE 1062 Josh Fajardo DE 1163 Henry Shyu OL 1164 C.J. Murdock DT 10

65 Chris Myler OL 1266 Justin Siech OL 1067 Luis Sanchez DT 1168 John David Alday OL 1269 Peter Hasson OL 1170 Josh Madden OL 1171 Philip Davis OL 1172 Matthew Fajardo DE 1173 Andrew Stoudemire OL 1074 Devin Bennett OL 1076 Andre’ Harding OL 1077 Sam Dingle OL 1078 Pierce Brennan OL 1079 Jonathan Osagie OL 1180 Robert Sims WR 1081 Rashawn Lindsay WR 1182 Asheel Ferdinand WR 1283 Nathan Swanson TE/DE 1284 Sam Delmerico TE 1185 Maliak Cole WR 1186 Jamal Coleman WR 1187 Jordan Palmer WR 1188 Aubre Williams WR 1289 Will Spagnoli TE 1190 Robert Beal DE 1091 Shane Jackson DB 1192 Isaiah Efojie TE/DE 1193 Trevell Grissom DT 1194 Andres Rosero TE 1195 Devonta Williams DE 1296 Jalen Broadnax DT 1297 Daniel Poland K 1298 Anthony Moran-Hickey TE 1199 Brian Alcocer DB 12

Norcross rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Griffin Barker (5-11, 189, Sr.)or Jacob Gassert (6-0, 174, Sr.)RB Jamir Billings (5-9, 173, Jr.)FB Hijahi Portis (5-9, 217, Sr.)WR Jared Pinkney (6-5, 228, Sr.)WR Jared Simpkins (5-8, 150, Soph.)TE Nathan Swanson (6-4, 196, Sr.)QT D’Andre Plantin (6-4, 271, Sr.)QG Philip Davis (5-9, 205, Jr.)C Kyle Jones (5-10, 174, Jr.)SG Josh Madden (5-8, 237, Jr.)ST Devin Bennett (6-1, 298, Soph.)K Blake Bingham (5-10, 163, Sr.)

DefenseDE J.B. Kouassi (6-2, 221, Sr.)DT Dorian Kithcart (6-0, 271, Sr.)DT Jalen Broadnax (6-2, 235, Sr.)DE Damon Woodcock (6-1, 210, Sr.)WLB Devonte Goodbeir (5-8, 171, Sr.)MLB Jermone Pledger (5-11, 220, Sr.)SLB Devon Goodbeir (5-8, 174, Sr.)CB Da’Meon Williams (5-10, 159, Soph.)CB Ferdinand Aka (5-9, 150, Sr.)FS Jarett Cole (5-10, 175, Jr.)SS Frederic Aka (6-1, 172, Sr.)P Blake Bingham (5-10, 163, Sr.)



OffenseNorth Gwinnett lost its

starting quarterback, two receivers with more than 2,000 combined receiving yards and the county’s lead-ing rusher.

Yet head coach Bob Sphire is still excited about his offense. And for good reason.

Despite the sizable turn-over — only three returning starters are back — the Bulldogs continue to have a deep receiving corps, a committee of competitive running backs and an ambi-tious offensive line.

“We lost a lot on both sides of the ball,” Sphire said, “but a good program should lose a lot, and they should expect guys to step up and fill voids.”

North Gwinnett is es-pecially deep at the wide receiver position, despite the departure of Nate Brown and Caleb Scott to SEC teams.

The new wideout duo is Almonzo Brown — no rela-tion to Nate — and Daniel Imatorbhebhe (pictured), who take over the outside re-ceiver positions left by their predecessors.

Imatorbhebhe is commit-ted to Missouri, where Nate Brown signed, and Almonzo Brown has a chance to end up in Columbia as well with an offer from the Tigers at hand.

The Bulldogs’ list of capable receivers goes on, with playing time split among

Josh Imatorbhebhe, Kyler Knudsen, Harold Johnson, Andy Summers, K.J. Han-cock and Horace Buckley.

North Gwinnett’s wideouts will catch passes from first-year starting quarterback John Urzua, who started a pair of games last season while 2013 starter Hayden Sphire nursed a leg injury.

“He learned a lot under Hayden last year,” Bob Sphire said. “He’s really looked like the kind of leader that you want out there tak-ing snaps.”

Urzua will ocassionally share snaps with Ayinde Russell, a transfer from Mays who started at quar-terback for the Raiders last season. Russell’s athleticism will also be utilized in vari-ous other schemes.

“They’re competing to be the best they can be, and they’re extremely supportive of each other,” Sphire said.

“(Russell) will be a valu-

able part of the team, and will get on the field.”

North Gwinnett is rebuild-ing its run game after the departure of C.J. Leggett, who rushed for a county-best 1,734 yards last year and is now enrolled at Georgia Tech.

Sphire doesn’t anticipate a single back to handle the bulk of carries, as Leggett did, but rather a unit of rushers to collaborate in the backfield. That group includes Kameron Pickett, Jordan Frye, Jordan Wed-dington and Ryan Lovelace.

“I think it may be the most competitive position in our program right now, in terms of fighting for opportunities to get on the field,” Sphire said. “I like the competition, and the way it’s playing out. That could go a lot of direc-tions.”

Mitch Hyatt is the lone returning starter on the of-fensive line, but one of the nation’s best at the position.

The 6-foot-6, 290-pound left tackle is committed to Clemson, picking the nearby ACC school over a slew of offers from across the country.

Jay Hearn is the only other lineman with extensive varsity experience. Alex Mollette, D.J. Jordan, Robbie Hirschmann, Troy Fortin and Chris Sibilia round out the Bulldogs’ offensive line group.

DefenseNorth Gwinnett’s defense

didn’t take as hard a hit from

graduation, with seven start-ers slated to make a return in 2014.

That includes three linebackers, three defensive backs and one lineman, standout defensive end Anree Saint-Amour.

A leader on and off the field for the Bulldogs, Saint-Amour is the first player in program history to clear 1,200 com-bined pounds in the squat, clean and bench press, with 1,225 total pounds.

“He’s tenacious on the field – he really works to be the best he can be,” Sphire said. “He’s really become a skilled athlete at that posi-tion.”

Michael Germano and Dixon Yellett join Saint-Amour on the defensive line, with position depth provided by Jude Uwagerikpe, Kelton Dawson and Jake Adams.

North Gwinnett gets a combined 236 tackles back between seniors Parker Sechrest and Avery Elford. Austin Kim, Aaron Hartz, Matthew Andryusky, Desmond Fields, Mitchell Gladstein, Harrison Barron and TraiChean Moore make up the rest of the Bulldogs’ linebacking corps.

Jaye Stackhouse returns at cornerback after a dy-namic junior campaign that included four interceptions. Ali Edwards, Greg Burns and Delon Smith are also slotted at the corners.

Returning starter Connor Kleid and Azuma Onyiri will

see varsity time at safety.

Chasing down gloryNorth Gwinnett has yet

to win fewer than 10 games since 2006, when Sphire took over the program.

But the Bulldogs are still without a state title, with a pair of championship game losses. That includes last season, when they lost to Norcross in the finals despite beating the Blue Devils dur-ing the regular season.

Coming up short again was certainly a disappoint-ment, but a lesson well-learned.

“Those are things to build off of,” Sphire said. “There were a lot of gut-check wins last season, and a lot of games where we pulled a rabbit out of a hat in a lot of ways. The players that were on that team and out on the field last year, it’s something you build off of. Those are character-builders.”

North Gwinnett’s 2014 schedule is anything but easy, with non-region con-tests against McEachern, North Cobb and Hillgrove before region play begins.

Sphire is hoping the dif-ficult matchups will have the Bulldogs battle-tested for region games, as they have in previous years.

“If you’re going to defeat the devil, you have to go into the den of the devil, at some point,” Sphire said. “So let’s go ahead and jump right in.”

— Mitch Blomert

North GwinnettMascot: Bulldogs Coach: Bob Sphire (91-15 at North, 237-70 overall) Region: 7-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2013

2014 scheduleAug. 23 at McEachernAug. 29 North CobbSept. 5 at HillgroveSept. 19 Collins HillSept. 26 at Mill CreekOct. 3 NorcrossOct. 10 at Peachtree RidgeOct. 24 at DuluthOct. 31 MeadowcreekNov. 7 Mountain View

2013 results (13-2)Camden County W 34-14Grayson W 35-0Norcross W 36-17Meadowcreek W 63-0Duluth W 52-21Mill Creek W 50-47Habersham Cent. W 41-0Collins Hill L 53-28Mountain View W 40-7Peachtree Ridge W 44-22Milton W 34-10Archer W 34-32Hillgrove W 35-31McEachern W 27-21Norcross L 31-14

206487-1

220 West May Street, Winder 30680 • 800-282-7872

“WORKING HARDER FOR YOU”

www.akinsford.comSEE AKINS FOR ALL YOUR NEW OR PRE-OWNED VEHICLE NEEDS

WE WON’T BE UNDERSOLD!

Akins Ford, Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep wishes the NORTH GWINNETT HIGH SCHOOL BULLDOGS

the Best of Luck in the 2013 Football Season!


1 Jaye Stackhouse DB 122 Azuma Onyiri DB 122 Trevor Deyton QB 103 Ayinde Russell QB 124 Grayson Fowler QB 115 Kameron Pickett RB 116 Cade Fortin QB 97 Josh Imatorbhebhe WR 117 Jimmy Urzua QB 98 Almonzo Brown WR 129 John Urzua QB 1210 Chase Young DB 1111 Kenneth Hancock WR 1112 Matthew Andryusky Rover 1113 Harold Johnson WR 1214 Andy Summers WR 1215 Daniel Imatorbhebhe WR 1216 Liam Quin QB 1017 Colby Jenkins DB 1118 Alijah Edwards DB 1219 Horace Buckley WR 1120 TraiChean Moore Rover 1121 Ryan Lovelace RB 1022 Connor Kleid DB 1223 Brad Harvey Kicker 1224 Avery Elford Rover 1225 Brian Eberhardt WR/LB 1026 Cade Cash DB 1127 Jordan Frye RB 1128 Austin Kim Buck 1229 Greg Burns DB 1230 Jordan Weddington RB 1231 Javier Russell DB 1132 Turner Cho RB 9

32 Jay James RB 1233 Jordan Redmond DB 1034 Torron Murray DB 1135 Noel Spencer DB 1136 Ashan Brown DB 1137 Dante Black RB 938 Harrison Barron Rover 1239 Brandon Ogene Buck 1140 Cameron Butler RB 941 James Mospanyak Rover 1242 Delon Smith DB 1143 Parker Sechrest LB 1244 Moises Arias LB 1145 Justin Lewis RB/Rover 1046 Cole Kovalchik Rover 1147 Lane Blackburn Rover 9

48 Brian Hall WR 1049 Desmond Fields LB 1250 Troy Fortin OL 1051 Robert Hirschmann OL 1152 Alejandro Taveras LB 1053 Hunter King OL 1254 Dutch Fink LB 1055 Alex Mollette OL/DL 1156 Aaron Hartz LB 1257 Mitchell Gladstein LB 1158 Jay Hearn OL 1259 Michael Germano DL 1160 William Guilshan OL 1261 David Echard OL/DL 1062 Brandon Botts OL 1063 Alex Morris OL 10

64 Chandler Hood OL 1065 Trey Sheppard OL 1166 Kyle Wilcox OL 1167 DJ Jordan OL 1268 Johan Tobar OL 1169 Nick Moring K 1070 Chris Sibilia OL/DL 1071 Anree Saint-Amour DL 1272 Sean Maginn DL 1073 Knox Denning OL/DL 974 Jake Adams DL 1175 Mitch Hyatt OL 1276 Sam Strickland DL 1077 Taemin Song OL 1078 Wiley Chandler DL 1179 Chris Valera DL 1180 Keison Forte WR 1081 Kyler Knudsen WR 1282 Wilton Pinkerton WR 1183 Ernest Lyons WR 1284 Payne Walker WR 985 Brennan Small WR 1186 Jae Sulton WR 1187 Josh Horn WR 1088 Brandt Cameron WR 1289 Drew Jordan DL 1090 Jude Uwagerikpe DL 1191 Dixon Yellett DL 1094 Devon Repass DL 1095 Kelton Dawson WR/DL 1096 James Saint-Amour LB 1097 Walker House LB 1098 Sergey Hartsthorne K 1299 Garrett Stephenson DL 11

North Gwinnett rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB John Urzua (6-3, 175, Sr.)RB Kameron Pickett (5-10, 200, Jr.)WR Almonzo Brown (6-1, 210, Sr.)WR Daniel Imatorbhebhe (6-4, 220, Sr.)WR Harold Johnson (6-0, 185, Sr.)WR Josh Imatorbhebhe (6-2, 200, Jr.)LT Mitch Hyatt (6-6, 280, Sr.)LG D.J. Jordan (6-0, 240, Sr.)C Troy Forten (5-10, 235, So.)RG Jay Hearn (6-2, 280, Sr.)RT Alex Mollette (6-2, 235, Jr.)K Brad Harvey (5-11, 200, Sr.)

DefenseDE Arnee Saint-Armour (6-3, 238, Sr.)DT Michael Germano (5-10, 225, Jr.)DE Dixon Yellett (6-1, 210, So.)OLB Austin Kim (5-8, 155, Sr.)ILB Avery Elford (5-10, 180, Sr.)ILB Parker Sechrest (6-1, 210, Sr.)ILB Aaron Hartze (6-0, 200, Sr.)OLB Matthew Andrysky (5-10, 180, Jr.)S Connor Kleid (5-7, 160, Sr.)CB Jaye Stackhouse (6-1, 195, Sr.)CB Ali Edwards (5-10, 170, Sr.)P Brad Harvey (5-11, 200, Sr.)



A look at ESPN’s top-ranked high school foot-ball seniors in the state of Georgia and where they have committed:

1. Trenton Thompson, DT, Westover2. Mitch Hyatt, OT, North Gwinnett (Clemson)3. Chuma Edoga, OT, McEachern (Southern California)4. Roquan Smith, LB, Macon County5. Preston Williams, WR, Lovejoy (Tennessee)6. Terry Godwin, WR/DB, Callaway (Georgia)7. Taj Griffin, RB, McEachern (Oregon)8. Arden Key, DE, Hapeville (South Carolina)9. Jonathan Ledbetter, DT, Tucker (Alabama)10. Adonis Thomas, LB, Central Gwinnett (Florida)11. Andrew Butcher, DE, Alpharetta (Tennessee)12. Mekhi Brown, LB, Carver (Alabama)13. Jordan Colbert, LB, Griffin (Auburn)14. Rashad Roundtree, S, Lakeside-Evans15. Micah Abernathy, RB/DB, GAC16. Natrez Patrick, DE, Mays (Georgia)17. Chauncey Rivers, DE, Stephenson (Georgia)18. Austin Bryant, DE, Thomas County Central (Clemson)19. Jayson Stanley, WR, Creekside20. Eric Swinney, RB, Sandy Creek (Ole Miss)21. Quarte Sapp, LB, Milton22. Keyston Fuller, WR, Griffin (Duke)23. Darius Slayton, WR/DB, GAC24. Kaleb Kim, OL, Mill Creek (Auburn)25. D’Andre Walker, DE, Langston Hughes26. Bailey Sharp, OL, Sprayberry (Auburn)27. Sage Hardin, OL, Marist (Georgia)28. Nick Wilson, OL, Milton (Stanford)29. Dallas Warmack, OL, Mays (Alabama)30. Mike Horton, OL, Lakeside (Florida)

31. Shadell Bell, WR, Columbia (Clemson)32. Venzell Boulware, OT, Creekside33. Arrington Farrar, S, Woodward Academy (Stanford)34. Marquel Harrell, OL, Creekside (Auburn)35. Jalen Wilkinson, TE, Coffee (Florida State)36. Zach Giella, OT, Augusta Christian (Clemson)37. Gary McCrae, LB, Randolph-Clay (Georgia)38. Christian Owens, TE, Griffin (Georgia)39. Cameron Stewart, WR, Shiloh (Central Florida)40. Tyler Queen, QB, North Cobb (Auburn)41. Anree Saint-Amour, DE, North Gwinnett42. Cole Minshew, OG, Coffee (Florida State)43. Dexter Neal, WR, Stephenson (South Carolina)

44. Brandon Sandifer, OG, Northside-Warner Robins45. Khane Pass, S, Carver-Columbus (Louisville)46. Brian Bell, LB, Lowndes (Florida State)47. Quay Picou, DT, Buford (Tennessee)48. Trevon McSwain, DE, Lambert (Duke)49. Lorenzo Nunez, QB/DB, Harrison (South Carolina)50. Octavis Johnson, DB, Clinch County (South Carolina)51. Will Bryan, OG, Franklin County (Georgia Tech)52. Mon Denson, RB, LaGrange (South Carolina)53. Montrell Custis, CB, Lovejoy (Alabama)54. Duke Shelley, CB, Tucker55. Montavious Atkinson, LB, Langston Hughes (Auburn)56. Quentez Johnson, DT, Cedar Grove (North Carolina State)57. Tyler Cooksey, LB, GAC (Georgia Tech)58. Austin Smith, LB, Buford (Tennessee)59. A.J. Gray, QB/DB, Washington County (Geor-gia Tech)60. Russell Ude, DT, Westminster61. Johnathan Hawkins, RB, Mill Creek62. J.K. Britt, S, Newnan (North Carolina)63. Aaron Williams, S, Carver-Atlanta (Nebraska)64. Kentavious Thomas, RB, Baldwin (Mississippi State)65. Ken Allen, DT, Elbert County66. Jeremy McDuffie, CB, Shiloh67. Titus Davis, DE, Stockbridge (Central Florida)68. Daniel Fennell, LB, Grayson69. Austin King, QB, Alpharetta (North Carolina State)70. Nick Dawson, DE, ELCA71. Nick Polino, OG, Buford (North Carolina)72. Zach Morris, DE, Ringgold (Duke)

73. Marquies Price, DE, Peach County (Duke)74. Mikell Lands-Davis, RB, Alexander (Georgia Tech)75. Kwan Stallworth, OG, M.L. King76. Omahri Jarrett, RB, New Manchester (Georgia Tech)77. Tyrone Riley, LB, Calvary Baptist78. Tario Fuller, RB, Lanier (Purdue)79. T.J. Rahming, WR, McEachern (Duke)80. Antoine Wilder, S, Hapeville (South Carolina)81. Trey Derouen, OG, Parkview (Mississippi State)82. Christian Matthew, QB, Hardaway (Wake Forest)83. Kevin Johnson, QB, Pace Academy (James Madison)84. Daniel Imatorbhebhe, WR, North Gwinnett (Missouri)85. D.J. Pearson, QB, Northview (Arkansas State)86. Jonathan Greenard, DE, Hiram (Louisville)87. Nekyle Lundie, WR, Tucker88. Christopher Calhoun, LB, Centennial (Wake Forest)89. Evyn Cooper, RB/DB, Buford90. Logan Hunt, LB, Warren County91. Jordan Hayes, S, Grayson (Duke)92. Chandler Jones, OG, McEachern (Louisville)93. Connor Redmond, TE, Archer (South Carolina)94. Mohamed Barry, LB, Grayson (Wisconsin)95. Almonzo Brown, WR, North Gwinnett96. Anthony Folkerts, TE, Valwood (Rutgers)97. Joshua Thomas, RB, Buford98. Justin Young, DE, Grayson (Georgia)99. Tyler Cross, DT, Chapel Hill (Syracuse)100. Patrick Jasinski, LB, Blessed Trinity (Central Florida)

ESPN RECRUITING RANKINGS

GAC running back Micah Abernathy (4) scores a touchdown against the Wesleyan last season. (Photo: Karl L. Moore)


JOIN THEJOIN THE

SUN, AUGUST 31 MON, SEPT 1 - LABOR DAY TUES, SEPT 16 WEDS, SEPT 17B R A V E S v s M A R L I N S B R A V E S v s P H I L L I E S B R A V E S v s N A T I O N A L S B R A V E S v s N A T I O N A L S

NEWSBOYS FREE CONCERT

Presented By and

BOBBY COXBOBBLEHEAD GIVEAWAY

Presented By

COLE SWINDELLFREE CONCERT

Presented By and

TOM GLAVINEBOBBLEHEAD GIVEAWAY

Presented By

U P C O M I N G E V E N T S

O N L Y 16 R E G U L A R S E A S O N H O M E G A M E S L E F T

FRI 8/29-SUN 8/31 vs MARLINS

MON 9/1-WED 9/3 vs PHILLIES

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

LABOR DAY: MON, SEPT 1

MON 9/15-WED 9/17 vs NATIONALS

FRI 9/19-SUN 9/21 vs METS

MON 9/22-WED 9/25 vs PIRATES

EVERY MONDAY$8 Terrace View Tickets presented by

EVERY TUESDAY$15 Club Level Tickets presented by

EVERY WEDNESDAY$15 Outfi eld tickets + FREE Taco Mac Gift Card

CHEVRON VALUE PLAN Starting at only $69 and includes 4 tickets, 4 hotdogs, 4 Cokes, free parking & a souvenir program

COLLEGE STUDENT DISCOUNT Show your college ID and get 50% OFF Upper Box Tickets

T I C K E T S P E C I A L S /specials

WEDS, SEPT 17B R A V E S v s N A T I O N A L S


Presented By

R E G U L A R S E A S O N H O M E G A M E S L E F T

NATIONALS

PIRATES PIRATES

Starting at only $69 and includes 4 tickets, 4 hotdogs, 4 Cokes, free parking & a souvenir program

Show your college ID and get 50% OFF Upper Box TicketsShow your college ID and get 50% OFF Upper Box Tickets

WEDS, SEPT 17WEDS, SEPT 17B R A V E S v s N A T I O N A L S


Presented By

R E G U L A R S E A S O N H O M E G A M E S L E F T

NATIONALS

Starting at only $69 and includes 4 tickets, 4 hotdogs,

Show your college ID and get 50% OFF Upper Box TicketsShow your college ID and get 50% OFF Upper Box Tickets

/specials


OffenseWith a new coach other

than Cecil Flowe patrolling the sidelines for the first time in 21 years, there are bound to be changes in all facets of the game for the Panthers.

But the new spread offense that 1994 Parkview graduate, former assistant and former Loganville head coach Eric Godfree brings may seem like a radical departure from the ground-based sets the Panthers and their fans have become accustomed to.

Godfree says that may not be entirely the case, though he admits it’s enough of a change to present a challenge to players and coaches alike, though he is confident the personnel is in place to make it work.

“It’s a spread style that’s high tempo, so it really is a big change in that aspect,” Godfree said. “A lot of what we’re doing in the running game is the same as what we did at Loganville. It’s a fun offense, but you’ve still got to be disciplined.”

In that respect, the return of junior quarterback Jack Chambers (pictured), who gained valuable experience as a sophomore last season by throwing for 740 yards and five touchdowns, should help with the transition.

But outside of him, there is little other experience among the skill position players, with fellow junior

Johnathan Boyd, who led the Panthers in receiving yards (278 on 14 catches, in-cluding two TDs), as the only other returning starter.

Therefore, Godfree says the Panthers will have to lean on that pair for leader-ship to help out promising newcomers like receivers Segree Shettleworth, Blake Bilz, Garrett Fowler and Tyler Fleetwood, who moves over from quarterback.

“It’s really good having

Jack back at quarterback, and he’s really taken well to the new role,” Godfree said. “Really the only (receiver) with Friday night time is Boyd. There’s not much ex-perience, but they’ve done a really good job this summer of picking it up.”

On the other hand, there is plenty of returning experi-ence on the offensive line, led by Mississippi State com-mit Trey Derouen and fellow senior Jake Cooper, which

Godfree is excited about.

DefenseWhile the offense will

have a new look, Godfree is hoping for the defense to continue to be the staple it has been over the years.

The unit will get a boost with major college prospect G.G. Robinson shifting over from offense to bolster the defensive line.

“He is put together so well, he runs well and he’s

very athletic,” Godfree said of the massive senior. “He has a frame and ability that one doesn’t come across very often.”

In addition, other return-ers like linebackers Austin Wagner (59 tackles last season) and Stephen Moye (56 tackles) have Godfree feeling pretty good about the Panthers up front.

“Our front seven is pretty experienced,” Godfree said. “I feel pretty good about it. … We’ve got some good, experienced guys who know what’s going on.”

The secondary will also welcome back some

experience with the return of senior Laronn Veal and junior Cameron Khalil, while David Draper will also help bring some athleticism to the cornerback position.

As for the rest, Godfree can only say right now that he’s pleased with the energy he’s seen from his entire defense so far in practice, though he knows bigger tests lie ahead.

A new eraIt’s tough for anyone to

fill the large shoes left by Flowe, who guided the Pan-thers to 196 wins and four state championships over his long tenure. It may be perhaps even more difficult for someone like Godfree, who played for Flowe’s first Parkview team back in 1993 and served under him during his most successful season.

And he freely admits his mind will wander back to those days — at least for a few minutes — when the Panthers open his first sea-son as head coach Aug. 29 at home against Mountain View.

“When it will hit me will be Friday night when we get out in the Big Orange Jungle,” Godfree said. “It’ll all be real then. I have all the respect for Coach Flowe. It won’t be the same, but I’m sure I’ll hear his voice. I’m very excited about it. I’m looking forward to a fun season.”


ParkviewMascot: Panthers Coach: Eric Godfree (0-0 at Parkview, 53-50 overall) Region: 8-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2012

2014 scheduleAug. 29 Mountain ViewSept. 5 Peachtree RidgeSept. 12 BrookwoodSept. 19 at GraysonSept. 26 ArcherOct. 10 at BerkmarOct. 17 South GwinnettOct. 24 at ShilohOct. 31 Central GwinnettNov. 7 at Dacula

2013 results (3-7)P’tree Ridge L 28-14Norcross L 21-7Grayson L 34-10Archer L 27-7Brookwood L 10-0Dacula W 28-21Shiloh L 23-21Central G. W 21-13Berkmar W 14-7South G. L 35-21


1 Jean-Charles Adou DB 122 David Draper WR/DB 123 Cameron Khalil WR/DB 114 Ethan Walton LB 125 Cameron Watson RB 126 Koran Neal DB 127 Tyler Fleetwood QB/DB 118 Jack Chambers QB/DB 119 Johnathan Boyd WR/DB 1110 Garrett Fowler WR 1111 Chase Cesar DB 1213 Blake Bilz WR 1114 Kyle Atwood DB 1115 Laronn Veal LB 1216 Jaylen Askew WR/DB 1017 Ricky Allen WR/DB 1218 Patrick Linton WR 1119 Devin Orr TE/K/P 1120 Micah Whitley RB 1221 Stephen Moye LB 1122 Amir Outerbridge WR 1223 Steven Dubose WR/LB 1124 Eric Autry K 1225 Deon Slade RB 1026 Caleb Mitchell QB 1027 Akhil Burroughs RB 1228 Spencer Walker DL 1229 Daniel Omuto DB 1230 Eli Sherrill DB 1131 M.J. Hart LB 1132 Zack Palmer WR/DB 1033 Blake Manuel DL 1234 Will Chandler K 1135 Carlos Goodwyn RB/DB 11

37 Jalandis Walker DB 1138 Chancey Whitley DB 1039 Jace Patterson LB 1040 Gabe Walker LB 1141 Maurice McIntyre DB 1042 Cameron Jones WR 1043 Joseph Mathew WR 1044 Austin Wagner LB 1145 G.G. Robinson TE/DL 1246 Jaylen Gross WR 1047 Noah McCalop TE/LB 10

48 Cody Barnes WR 1049 Jameson Coats DB 1050 Jonathan Luong LB 1051 Josh West OL/DL 1252 Hanock Berhane OL/DL 1053 J.R. Hyde LB 1054 Noah Baughmann OL/DL 1155 Richard Lewis OL/DL 1256 Niel Wempe OL/DL 1257 Noah Mills OL/DL 1158 Jacquez Hogan OL/DL 11

59 Reed Parker OL/DL 1160 Fred Sanchez OL/DL 1161 Jackie Phan DL 1162 Winston Forrest OL/DL 1263 Colin Scott OL/DL 1064 Brandon Jones OL/DL 1065 Dakota Byrd OL/DL 1266 David Wempe OL/DL 1171 Brian Bowker OL/DL 1172 Shane Carroll OL/DL 1274 Alex Flores OL/DL 1175 Jake Cooper OL/DL 1276 Brooks Britt OL/DL 1177 Jimmy Erwin OL/DL 1178 Trey Derouen OL/DL 1279 Davian Pope OL/DL 1080 Navid Syed WR 1081 Segree Shettleworth WR/DB 1282 Jose Dunn WR 1083 Justin Autrey WR 1284 Austin Herrin WR 1085 Amir Harris RB 1086 Demarius Smith WR 1087 Patrick Jones DB 1188 Malik Huggins WR 1289 Francisco Rivas WR 1091 Caleb Crump WR 1092 Phillip Lyron WR 1093 Jay Patel WR 1094 John Trapp DL 1085 Deontre Thomas DB 1097 Noah McCalop TE/LB 1098 Kentavius Rhodes DL 11

Parkview rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Jack Chambers (5-10, 160, Jr.)RB Cameron Watson (5-7, 190 Sr.)or Akhil Burroughs (5-6, 163, Sr.)RB Tyler Fleetwood (6-1, 190, Jr.)WR Blake Bilz (5-10, 146, Jr.)or Garrett Fowler (6-0, 170, Jr.)WR Segree Shettleworth (5-9, 155, Sr.)or Patrick Linon (5-10 171, Jr.)WR Johnathan Boyd (6-1, 197, Jr.)LT Jimmy Erwin (6-3, 300, Jr.)or J.R. Hyde (6-0, 235, Soph.)QG Jake Cooper (6-3, 282, Sr.)C Josh West (6-0, 263, Sr.)RG Brooks Britt (6-2, 295, Jr.)RT Trey Derouen (6-4, 325, Sr.)K Eric Autry (6-3, 170, Sr.)

DefenseDE G.G. Robinson (6-4, 284, Sr.)DT Niel Wempe (6-1, 255, Sr.)DE Spencer Walker (6-1, 236, Sr.)MLB Austin Wagner (5-7, 189, Jr.)SLB Stephen Moye (6-3, 230, Jr.)WLB Ethan Walton (6-0, 225, Sr.)OLB LaRonn Veal (6-1, 190, Sr.)CB Jaylen Askew (5-8, 155, Soph.)CB Cameron Khalil (6-0, 160, Jr.)SS Jean-Charles Adu (5-9, 176, Sr.)or Zack Palmer (Soph.)FS David Draper (5-8, 179, Sr.)P Devin Orr (6-7, 198, Jr.)



OffensePeachtree Ridge head coach

Mark Fleetwood calls his offense an “up-tempo, run-based spread.”

Despite the title, the Lions have a dangerous passing game as the cornerstone of their offense this season. They boast a talented second-year starting quarterback in Chance Thrasher, and he’s been given more than enough receiving talent.

Thrasher, a Coastal Carolina commit, passed for 2,364 yards and 18 touchdowns in his first year as a starter. He is committed to Coastal Carolina.

Fleetwood is more than im-pressed with the senior’s offsea-son development, which included adding more than 20 pounds to his 6-foot-2 frame.

“At quarterback, it’s always a plus when he’s a returner and he has 12 games under his belt,” Fleetwood said. “I’m hoping that his decision-making grows like he has over the last year.”

Thrasher’s top targets include Tyler Campbell (pictured), who caught for 407 yards and two touchdowns last season, and DeAngelo Gibbs, a promising sophomore who already has a slew of Division I offers. Connor Heyward, brother of Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end and former Peachtree Ridge standout Cam-eron Heyward, is also slotted in the starting lineup.

The rest of the receiving corps includes Malik Murray, Christian Sutton, Walton transfer Chad Clay, Cam Brown and Malik Robinson.

“We’re two deep at every re-ceiver position,” Fleetwood said.

Impressive, but the Lions are far from abandoning the run game.

Jordan Ellis, who rushed for 1,677 yards and a county-best 30 touchdowns last season, is off to Virginia. His 2013 backup, Na’ceem Antenor, takes the reins in the backfield.

Marquez Jackson has been called up after a solid JV season, and Riverside Military Academy transfer Joseph Garuba is back at Peachtree Ridge after playing for the Lions in ninth grade with a stop at Central Gwinnett his sophomore year.

Three offensive linemen return, including Miles Pate, who has sev-eral offers from FCS and mid-major programs. Seniors Blake Best and Alex Higgins are back, alongside newcomers Drew Lovely, Mark Lovely and Braxton Glover.

DefensePeachtree Ridge’s 3-5 defense

is highlighted by a swarming group of speedy linebackers that have earned a wealth of respect from Fleetwood in the offseason.

“We can fly at linebacker,” Fleet-wood said. “We’re really fast. I’m excited there.”

Josh Forrest and Prince Benton lead the brigade, alongside new-comers Breon Dixon, Kam Jones and Jace Capps.

The aggressiveness at lineback-er helps offset the inexperience on the defensive line, where Matt Bell is the only returning starter.

Tyler Sims, Levi Canales and Adrian Hill will also see snaps up front.

Joe Smith is the elder states-man of the secondary, tallying 34 tackles in 2013 from the free safety

position. Juniors Clay and Baylen Buchanan make their starting debuts at cornerback.

Star snapperOffensive lineman Best is a

regular in the Peachtree Ridge athletic department. The 6-foot-2, 241-pound senior is a three-year starter in both football and base-ball.

But Best has another qual-ity about him that has paved his entrance to the SEC — long snap-ping.

Best is committed to Kentucky as a preferred walk-on, where he will focus specifically on the disci-pline, which holds a much greater

value on special teams than meets the eye.

“Half of all the protection for the punter is the long snapper,” Fleet-wood said.

Best’s ticket to Kentucky was secured by academics. He holds a 4.0 grade point average and scored a 31 on his ACT. As a result, he can still play for the Wildcats tuition-free through an academic scholarship.

“He’ll be a freebie for them,” Fleetwood said. “He won’t cost them anything.”

Early challengesWith two teams in the Class

AAAAAA championship game last year, Region 7-AAAAAA continues to be the frontrunner for football in Georgia.

With that in mind, Fleetwood is making 100 percent sure his team battle-tested in time for region play with a strenuous lineup of non-region foes to open the season.

Peachtree Ridge hosts Archer on Aug. 29, before back-to-back road trips against Parkview and McEachern.

“If you’re going to play 15 games in a year, you’re not going to play a bunch of softies,” Fleetwood said.

The last four games of the regu-lar season could define the Lions’ entire year. They face North Gwin-nett, Norcross, Collins Hill and Mill Creek, all of which sported winning records in 2013.

“I don’t care what their records are at the end of the year,” Fleet-wood said. “You get a good idea where you are if you can play with those teams.”

— Mitch Blomert

Peachtree RidgeMascot: Lions Coach: Mark Fleetwood (20-23 at P’tree Ridge, 28-25 overall) Region: 7-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2013

2014 scheduleAug. 29 ArcherSept. 5 at ParkviewSept. 12 at McEachernSept. 19 at MeadowcreekSept. 26 Mountain ViewOct. 3 at DuluthOct. 10 North GwinnettOct. 24 NorcrossOct. 31 at Collins HillNov. 7 Mill Creek

2013 results (8-4)Walton W 23-17Parkview W 28-14Duluth W 55-17Mill Creek W 31-30Habersham Central W 49-0Collins Hill L 35-28Mountain View W 38-13Norcross L 24-20Meadowcreek W 47-0North Gwinnett L 44-22Lassiter W 59-20Dacula L 28-21


1 Connor Heyward WR 102 Christian Sutton WR 113 Malik Murray WR 114 Breon Dixon LB 105 Baylen Buchanan DB 116 Tyler Campbell WR 127 Zane Ashley QB 108 DeAngelo Gibbs DB/WR 109 Chance Thrasher QB 1210 Chad Clay DB/WR 1111 Malik Staples RB 1112 Cam Brown WR 1113 Daniel Mamane K 1214 Malik Robinson WR 1115 Rupert Jones DB 1216 Tohmas Brooks FS 1218 Joe Smith DB 1219 Tray Davis DB 1220 Na’ceem Antenor RB 1221 Travis Bowers RB 1222 Marquez Jackson RB 1125 Joseph Garuba RB 1228 Zey Lacet DB 1229 Stephon Bailey RB 1030 Terry Turner WR 1231 Mitchell Henderson DB 1232 Savin Wilson DB 1033 Tyler Murphy DB 1234 Ellison Lamont WR 10

35 Harrison Savignano WR 1236 Hogan Kim RB 1037 Sean Conley OLB 1038 Cole Williams OLB 1039 Henry Nguyen WR 1140 Emanuel Nnaife DB 1041 Damarius Thornton WR 1142 Ryan Kyle RB 1043 Jace Capps LB 1244 Trey Pratt DB 1045 Brandon Hendricks LB 1146 Alan Suarez WR 1247 Lee Wells DB 10

48 Dartanyon Robinson RB 1149 Prince Benton LB 1150 Daniel Webster OL 951 Josh Forrest LB 1252 Kam Jones LB 1053 JJ Stewart OL 1154 Jacob McEachin DL 1255 Marc Lovely OL 1056 Tanner Adkins OLB 1058 Joshua Johnson DL 1059 Christian Moon OL 1060 Adrien Hill DL 1261 Reginald Enoch OL 10

62 Maxwell Bell OL 1163 Alex Higgins OL 1264 Braxton Glover OL 1265 Blake Best OL 1266 Sam Robbins OL 1068 Matt Bell DL 1169 Tyler Sims DL 1270 Levi Canales DE 1271 Julian Uche OL 1072 Miles Pate OL 1275 Drew Lovely OL 1276 Bryce Jones OL 977 Duke Holland OL 1078 TJ Laniyonu OL 1079 Alex Toth DL 1081 Dondre Sanderson WR 1082 David Parker DB 1083 Kevin Lewis WR 1185 Kristian Collins WR 1086 Ndinawe Murdock WR 1087 Harrison Arnold K 1189 Touri Holston WR 1091 Matt Hilton DL 1292 Eden Smith DE 1194 Ronald Heard DL 1195 Zaniel Phillips K 1096 Jordan Ogelsby DL 1197 Dustin Nguyen K 1098 Chase Tucker WR 10

Peachtree Ridge rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Chance Thrasher (6-2, 215, Sr.)RB Na’ceem Antenor (5-6, 185, Sr.)RB Marquez Jackson (5-7, 160, Jr.)WR D’Angelo Gibbs (6-1, 200, Soph.)WR Tyler Campbell (6-0, 170, Sr.)WR Connor Heyward (6-1, 195, Soph.)LT Miles Pate (6-2, 275, Sr.)LG Blake Best (6-2, 241, Sr.)C Alex Higgins (6-1, 235, Sr.)RG Drew Lovely (6-1, 276, Sr.)RT Marc Lovely (5-11, 186, Soph.)K Daniel Mamane (6-0, 179, Sr.)

DefenseDL Matt Bell (5-11, 240, Jr.)DL Tyler Sims (5-10, 230, Sr.)DL Levi Canales (5-10, 178, Sr.)LB Josh Forrest (6-2, 205, Sr.)LB Breon Dixon (6-0, 210, Soph.)LB Kam Jones (6-0, 202, Soph.)LB Prince Benton (6-0, 225, Jr.)LB Jace Capps (5-11, 185, Sr.)FS Joe Smith (6-1, 190, Sr.)CB Chad Clay (5-11, 175, Jr.)CB Baylen Buchanan (5-9, 160, Jr.)P Zaniel Phillips (5-8, 158, Soph.)



3-SHOW PACKAGES ON SALE NOW!

STARTING AT $100800.278.4447 • BroadwayInAtlanta.com

OffenseShiloh head coach Troy Hobbs

is curbing the excitement of having eight returning starters — four of them linemen — on offense in 2014.

“We haven’t played a lot together as a unit,” Hobbs said. “Offensive line-wise, we have a lot of experi-ence, but we’ve moved some guys around to fit our needs.”

Nevertheless, the Generals’ of-fense has plenty of talent scattered throughout the starting 11, with experienced backs and receivers to complement a powerful offen-sive line.

The eye-catcher of them all is Cameron Stewart, a three-star Central Florida commit who caught for 637 yards last season. With all the defensive attention he draws, Hobbs is looking for Eric White to pull down passes in single cover-age and Jeremy McDuffie to make his share of catches out of the backfield.

“We would like to be able to spread the ball around to every-body,” Hobbs said, “but Cameron has made a name for himself. He’s going to attract a lot of attention — not just by colleges, but by some defenses as well. Some of the other guys are going to catch the ball and make some plays for us.”

Shiloh has a pair of promising tight ends in Jordan Pennington and newcomer Jamarcus Hixson, who brings championship-tier ex-perience to the team after winning a state title with Griffin last season.

Who will throw the ball to them is still a question mark, as Zach Olivar and Alpharetta transfer Vito Priore continue to battle for the

starting quarterback job.“Whoever wins the job has the

opportunity to make us better,” Hobbs said.

The run game is led by Charles Shavers (pictured), who led Gwinnett County with 779 rushing yards through seven games last season before dislocating his knee against Brookwood.

Coincidentally, his future team-mate was on the other sideline of that game. Joshua Collins trans-ferred from the Broncos for this season and will see ample time in

the backfield.Left guard Cosley Leslie is in

his third year as a starter on the offensive line, rejoining fellow returners Juan Quero, Jamie Glenn and Jabari Dickson. The left tackle position is split between Dominic Taylor and 6-foot-6, 332-pound senior Daron Debroussard.

DefenseOver the past three years, se-

nior Amari Newsome has acquired the nickname “Angry Man” for his tireless leadership and aggressive

play at linebacker.With 107 tackles in 2013, New-

some returns as Shiloh’s emotional leader on defense and a tough customer for opponents looking for yardage up the middle. His role was magnified when 2013 start-ers Daron and Desmon Bowles headed to Stephenson in the offseason.

“Angry Man will lead by ex-ample,” Hobbs said. “He is our ultimate team leader and our defensive leader. He is going to be the man who gets us going.

Joining him at linebacker is Alex Fumbah, Rowojo Okala and Houston County transfer RoMar-cus Williams. Sophomore Cameron Sample is also expected to make a splash at the position.

The defensive line features a pair of returning starters at de-fensive end, led by Michael Pitts. Joshua Mitchell starts on the other side, with Ulrick McIntosh, Jordan Martin, Keston Alonzo and Leroy Watson also seeing time on the line.

McDuffie will serve as a two-way starter and also play safety, with some occasional snaps at corner-back. His brother, Julian McDuffie, is slotted to play cornerback as well.

The Generals’ secondary also includes Michael Stephens, Kevin Hill, South Gwinnett transfer Tuwile Wilson, D’Javier Jones and Myles Salem.

Aiming highThree different coaches have

stopped at Shiloh since 2010, but the Generals keep getting bet-ter. The 2013 season marked the team’s fourth straight year with an improved record, and their 5-5 re-cord was their best showing since 2003. That was the last time they reached the playoffs.

Hobbs says a playoff berth in 2014 is certainly within reach, but it means preparing his team for the rigors of region play with a challenging non-region schedule. Shiloh opens the season with Class AAAAAA state quarterfinalist Hillgrove, followed by a road trip to Westlake.

“I guess I took a leap of faith and said, ‘let’s see where we are,’” Hobbs said. “If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose. But we’re going to be ready when we go into Week 3 and start region play.”

— Mitch Blomert

ShilohMascot: Generals Coach: Troy Hobbs (8-12 at Shiloh, 8-12 overall) Region: 8-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2003

2014 scheduleAug. 29 HillgroveSept. 5 at WestlakeSept. 19 at Central GwinnettSept. 26 DaculaOct. 3 at BrookwoodOct. 10 GraysonOct. 17 at ArcherOct. 24 ParkviewOct. 31 at BerkmarNov. 7 South Gwinnett

2013 results (5-5)Meadowcreek W 48-7Redan W 56-0Berkmar L 29-14South Gwinnett W 21-14Grayson L 44-3Archer L 45-16Brookwood L 20-7Parkview W 23-21Dacula L 21-7Central Gwinnett W 31-14


1 Michael Stephens SS 112 Zach Olivar QB 123 Julian McDuffie DB 104 Joshua Collins RB 125 Eric White WR 126 Donavon Grier WR 107 Charles Shavers RB 128 Kevin Hill DB 109 Jeremy McDuffie DB/WR 1210 Alex Fumbah LB 1111 Jamarcus Hixson WR 1112 Eric Clay QB 1013 Jarren Williams QB 914 Vito Priore QB 1215 D’Javier Jones DB 1217 Jalen Hollinsworth WR 1218 Cameron Stewart WR 1219 Jordan Pennington WR 1220 Tyler Reese DB 1021 Clarence Felder LB 1222 Jasir Shaw RB 1123 Pervis Terrell WR 1024 Tuwile Wilson DB 1125 Michael Pitts DL 1126 Nic Lewis RB 1227 Devonte Womack DB 1028 Jared Taylor LB 1129 Jordan Williams DB 1031 RoMarcus Williams LB 1232 Nikolus Parham RB 1233 Rondi Gayle RB 1034 Kaleem Minor DB 11

35 Austin Butler RB 1136 Rowojo Okala LB 1237 Richard Chakkalapdavile SS 1038 Jalen Myers RB 1039 Michael Wright DB 1140 Marquese Stallworth LB 1241 Marcus Mays WR 1042 Teddy Williams LB 1243 Myles Salem DB 1244 Amari Newsome LB 1245 Vincent Scrutchins DB 1246 Daniel Nguyen K 12

48 Rashad Moore DB 1249 Keyth Searcy DB 1150 Jelin Littman LB 1251 Joshua Mitchell DL 1252 Aaron Reyes DL 1254 Dominic Taylor OL/DL 1155 Brandon Hooker DL 1156 Cameron Sample LB 1057 Edgar Derricho OL/DL 1158 Devante Wallace OL/DL 1259 Glenville Brown OL/DL 1060 Juan Quero OL/DL 12

61 Greg Jones OL/DL 1062 Antonio Cruz OL/DL 1063 James Knight OL/DL 1064 Akinyle Thomas OL/DL 1065 Aaron Smith OL/DL 1266 Cosley Leslie OL/DL 1267 Jason Leonard OL/DL 1268 Latrez El-Amin OL/DL 1069 Dallas Walker OL/DL 1070 Daron Debroussard OL/DL 1271 Justin Larry OL/DL 1173 Jamie Glenn OL/DL 1277 Jabari Dickson OL/DL 1279 Andre Tomlinson DL 1080 Tahquan Flythe WR 1081 Aaron O’Kelley WR 1082 Jailan Lawton WR 1183 Kirk Jones WR 1284 Tahquil Flythe WR 1085 Quincy Brooks DL/TE 1087 Desmond Hunter DL 1288 Anthony Walker WR 1289 Avery Harris K 1190 Reginal Cohen DL 1091 Alfago Shumake DL 1092 Ulrick McIntosh DL 1293 Leroy Watson DL 1194 Jordan Martin DL 1297 Fin Adeyeye DL 1198 Leonardo Contreras DL 1199 Keston Alonzo DL 12

Shiloh rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Zach Olivar (6-1, 170, Sr.)or Vito Priore (6-1, 180, Sr.)RB Charles Shavers (5-8, 165, Sr.)WR Cameron Stewart (6-2, 186, Sr.)WR Jeremy McDuffie (6-1, 180, Sr.)WR Eric White (5-11, 165, Sr.)TE Jordan Pennington (5-7, 178, Sr.)LT Dominic Taylor (6-3, 250, Jr.)LG Cosley Leslie (5-11, 293, Sr.)C Juan Quero (6-0, 250, Sr.)RG Jamie Glenn (6-3, 320, Sr)RT Jabari Dickson (6-2, 273, Sr.)K Avery Harris (5-9, 160, Jr.)

DefenseDL Michael Pitts (6-3, 217, Jr.)DL Ulrick McIntosh (5-9, 225, Sr.)DL Jordan Martin (5-7, 212, Sr.)DL Joshua Mitchell (6-0, 180, Sr.)LB Amari Newsome (5-9, 195, Sr.)LB Alex Fumbah (6-0, 192, Jr.)LB Rowojo Okala (6-1, 178, Sr.)S Jeremy McDuffie (6-1, 180, Sr.)S Michael Stephens (5-11, 178, Jr.)CB Kevin Hill (5-8, 162, So.)CB Julian McDuffie (5-11, 155, Soph.)P Jeremy McDuffie (6-1, 180, Sr.)



OffenseAfter starting seven freshmen

last year, South Gwinnett enters the season with a more mature offense, including an experienced quarterback and a cast of receivers with varsity time under their belts.

Quarterback Josh Shim, a key element of the Comets’ late-season push to reach the state playoffs last year, is back at signal caller af-ter passing for 1,067 yards in 2013 while platooning at the position with Malik Brown. He has shared snaps with a pair of sophomores, Seth Johnston and D.J. Walker, in the offseason.

Even without standout wideout and Indiana signee Coray Keel, who caught for 637 yards last year, South Gwinnett has plenty of reli-able targets for Shim. Elijah Shah caught for 364 yards as a fresh-man, and Noel Hussey provides varsity experience after starting last season.

The Comets will also count on Stephenson transfer Colby Ran-som and sophomore B.J. Johnson to catch passes in head coach John Small’s no-huddle spread offense.

“That doesn’t mean we’re going to throw it every time,” Small said. “We want to establish the run. We can be a one-back, two-back, very multiple offense formation.”

To make that plan function, South Gwinnett has running backs Isaiah Robinson (pic-tured) and Antonio Woods an-choring the backfield. Both play-ers were injured in Week 3 last season and missed the rest of the year, forcing the Comets’ turn to a

committee-based run game.Both players are fully healthy,

and Small expects the Comets’ ground attack to flourish as a result.

“Those two guys have had a tremendous offseason,” he said. “Great spring practices and sum-mers.”

The offensive line is captained by third-year starter Anthony Pit-tman, with support from Jamal Reed, Bruce Trigg, Roosevelt

Prime, Bryce Fusilier and Brodrick Dumas.

DefenseSmall is particularly keen on his

linebacking corps, which includes a pair of returning starters in Chace Reid (74 tackles in 2013) and Logan Wright.

Patrick Richards, Trevor Broth-erton, Malik Robinson, Justyn Brinston, Dominique Thomas and Tevin Beauford fill out the rest of

the group, which Small says is the most competitive position on the team.

“We feel good about our line-backers, Small said. “We have six or seven kids that can play. Some young kids that played last year, and some older kids. It’s a good mix.”

Defensive end Kyle Martinez returns on the defensive line after a stellar season that saw him tally a team-best six sacks. Fellow senior Jaylin Brown plays opposite of him, with junior Mackay Phillips inside at nose.

Andrew Buckmire leads the South Gwinnett secondary at

cornerback after hauling a pair of interceptions last year. Sophomore Demetrius Murray makes his debut in the starting lineup at the other corner, and junior Chris Skyers is back for another campaign at safety.

“Defensively, we’ve got to be able to eliminate the play on third down,” Small said. “We’ve got to be able to get off the field. We’ve struggled in that aspect.”

Clutch performancesSouth Gwinnett roughed through

a 1-4 start to the 2013 season and went 4-1 the rest of the way, rattling off wins over Berkmar, Grayson, Brookwood and Parkview to sneak into the postseason.

With back-to-back playoff sea-sons in the books, the Comets aim for a third straight trip, something that hasn’t been accomplished by the team since 2003.

“We want our kids to expect that we’re going to make it to the playoffs,” Small said. “We expect to get in, and when we get there, let’s keep making progress and move forward.”

Luckily for Small, he has a group of players that understands what it takes to do that.

Entering his 11th season at the helm for the South Gwinnett, he says this year’s senior class has the best leadership he’s witnessed during his time in the program.

“We’ve had some great leaders and some great players, but this group buys in — they get it,” Small said. “They understand the expec-tations and work ethic.”

— Mitch Blomert

South GwinnettMascot: Comets Coach: John Small (54-44 at South, 54-44 overall) Region: 8-AAAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2013

2014 scheduleAug. 22 at WaltonSept. 5 Collins HillSept. 12 Central GwinnettSept. 19 at DaculaSept. 26 BrookwoodOct. 3 at GraysonOct. 10 ArcherOct. 17 at ParkviewOct. 24 BerkmarNov. 7 at Shiloh

2013 results (5-6)Lincoln (Fla.) L 34-21Duluth W 42-28Dacula L 35-29*Shiloh L 21-14Central Gwinnett L 41-14Berkmar W 20-7Grayson W 28-21Archer L 48-31Brookwood W 30-28Parkview W 35-21Alpharetta L 41-23

*double overtime

We Proudly Support South Gwinnett High School Football.

Call today!855-815-3852

2176 Oak Road,SuiteCwww.audiologysnellville.com

[email protected]

FREE HearingScreening

Expires 9/13/13

Expires 9/13/13

15% OFFall Hearing Aid Batteries. *Limit 4 packs per customer.

GO COMETS!BUY ONE GET ONE

Expires 9/30/14

Expires 9/30/14

FREE!Call today!

855-815-38522176 Oak Road, Suite C

[email protected]

We Proudly Support South Gwinnett High School Football.

FREE Hearing Screening

all Hearing Aid Batteries.*Limit 4 packs per customer.


1 Isaiah Robinson RB 122 Josh Shim QB 113 Colby Ransom WR 124 Jaylen Fleming WR 105 Derrion Warner RB 116 Noel Hussey WR 127 Seth Johnston QB 108 Andrew Buckmire DB 129 Emmanuel Hopkins DB 1010 Demetrius Murray FS 1011 Domonic Thomas WR 1212 Sam Jackson DB 1113 Elijah Shah WR 1014 DJ Walker QB 1016 Eric Johnson WR 1217 BJ Johnson WR 1018 Christian Malloy WR 919 Bryce White WR 1020 Nadir Shah RB 1221 Xavier Dupree WR 1222 Antonio Woods RB 1023 Patrick Richards FS 1224 Trequan Alston DB 1125 KeAndre Land RB 1226 Jair Matthews DB 1127 Hanif Higgins DB 1228 Semaj Johnson WR 1129 David Dance DB 1230 Gary Magee TE 1231 Cerrel Ballard RB 1232 Khalil Higgins LB 1133 Trevor Ward FS 10

34 Logan Wright LB 1235 Tevin Beauford LB 1136 DeAndre Mckinley LB 1137 Trevor Brotherton LB 1138 Lajawanta Hooks RB 1139 Chris Skyers FS 1141 Cortez Murray FS 1242 Keith Hernandez LB 1043 Justyn Brinston LB 1144 Gabriell Nieves LB 1045 Brandon Hamlette DB 1246 Malik Robinson LB 1047 Dominique Thomas LB 11

48 Roberto Lindsay K 1249 Devin Whitmore LB 1250 Chace Reid LB 1251 Roosevelt Prime LB 1252 Daniel Miller OL 1153 Isaiah Tossie LB 1054 Justin Brown OL 1055 Chris White LB 1056 Ramon Granillo OL 1157 Jacob Johnson OL 1258 Jose Martinez DL 1059 Brodrick Dumas OL 1262 Anthony Pittman OL 12

63 J.T. Beck OL 1064 Kurt Voglezon OL 1065 Jamal Reed OL 1166 Jaquan Jackson DL 1067 Devyn Rucker DL 1068 Nathaniel Goines OL 1170 Bryce Fusilier DL 1271 Ruchell White OL 1172 Bruce Trigg OL 1173 Robert Cooper DL 974 Troy Tappin OL 1077 Timmothy Tillman OL 1278 Javonn Sims OL 1279 Kenneth Singleton OL 1080 Bradford Evans WR 1181 Jared Miller LB 1082 Bruce Heyward WR 1183 Jaspen Screws RB 1185 Mikey Lee WR 1186 Michael Adu WR 1187 James Pratt DB 1188 Jalin Harris WR 1289 Tariq Jackson WR 1190 Jaylin Brown LB 1291 Kyle Martinez DL 1292 Marcus Ricks DL 1093 Justin Mascoll DL 994 Iasaiah Coppin DL 1095 Victor Anderson DL 1296 Mackay Phillips DL 1198 Keenan Woods DL 12

South Gwinnett rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Josh Shim (5-11, 190, Jr.)RB Isaiah Robinson (5-6, 170, Sr.)WR Elijah Shah (5-9, 155, Soph.)WR Noel Hussey (6-1, 165, Sr.)WR Colby Ransom (6-1, 185, Sr.)WR B.J. Johnson (6-2, 180, Soph.)LT Bruce Trigg (6-4, 290, Jr.)LG Anthony Pittman (5-10, 230, Sr.)C Roosevelt Prime (5-11, 225, Sr.)RG Brodrick Dumas (5-11, 250, Sr.)or Bryce Fusilier (6-1, 290, Sr.)RT Jamal Reed (6-0, 260, Jr.)K Roberto Lindsay (5-7, 175, Sr.)

DefenseDE Kyle Martinez (6-2, 200, Sr.)NG Mackay Phillips (6-2, 250, Jr.)DE Jaylin Brown (6-2, 185, Sr.)MLB Chace Reid (5-10, 240, Sr.)MLB Logan Wright (5-10, 185, Sr.)MLB Devin Whitmore (5-11, 180, Sr.)OLB Patrick Richards (5-11, 165, Sr.)OLB Trevor Brotherton (5-8, 155, Jr.)S Chris Skyers (5-10, 150, Jr.)CB Andrew Buckmire (5-7, 155, Sr.)CB Demetrius Murray (6-1, 175, Soph.)P Elijah Shah (5-9, 155, Soph.)



OffenseEven on the first day of practice,

the difference was obvious.Wesleyan ran 25 plays in about

15 minutes. The Wolves, who re-turn all their skill players, are fast. A lot faster than last year and maybe as fast as they’ve ever been. It’s foot speed, indeed, but also ef-ficiency and experience.

“What excites me most is seeing guys like Josh (Garrard) and his teammates, their work ethic,” head coach Franklin Pridgen said. “They want things to be different than they were in 2013.

“We want to act differently, train differently, practice differently so we can play differently and get differ-ent results.”

Garrard, returning at running back after a productive sophomore season with 443 yards on 83 car-ries, was blunt.

“Two and nine is not good enough for us this year,” he said.

Wesleyan was young last year and it showed. The silver lining was that lots of players got plenty of experience. And that showed, too, this summer during workouts.

“We got more done over the summer than we ever have since I’ve been here,” Garrard said. “For one, we’re returning every player from skill position. That already helps. But just the amount of plays we’ve installed, the efficiency.

“By the McEachern passing camp at the end of June, we really were clicking on all cylinders. We competed with some pretty big schools there.”

Pridgen feels like the team is ahead of the curve.

“Josh is a great example,” he said. “When most 10th-graders play on our JV, Josh was a varsity starter on both sides of the ball. There’s just not a lot of 10th-graders that get that kind of exposure and experience. Josh will be the first one to tell you, there were moments when we were outmanned physically. But that’s the best lesson we can learn is to put young kids out there when we have to and let them perform at a high level.

“If we lose, we lose. But we don’t plan to do that in 2014. We think all the sacrifices and decisions we made in 2013 are ready to pay off this year and for the foreseeable future.”

The Wolves are running schemes that fit the personnel. They aren’t big up front, but there’s that speed and depth.

“We certainly expect to play a lot of guys, to always be fresh, to always play hard and to run plays that fit what we have,” Pridgen said. “We’re still running what I like to call the multiple-I offense. We’re just going to do so with a faster tempo applied. We still believe we have to run the football to be successful. We still believe in being as balanced as we can be. But if you’re talented at quarterback and you’re talented at receiver, then you should be able to throw the ball too.”

Garrard and Jordan Argilagos, also a junior, are the primary ball carriers. Wesleyan expects to use seven or eight different receivers, too. Returning wideouts include Christian Stark, who was the team’s leading rusher last season with 511 yards, Tucker Cannon (213 yards, 22 receptions) and Kyler

Duley (202 yards, 22 receptions).“Our tempo and pace of play

is going to be totally different and we’ve already seen that,” Pridgen said.

DefensePridgen wasn’t thrilled with the

way the defense played last sea-son, either.

“So we’ve kept what’s impor-tant and our priorities straight, but just about everything is open for review,” he said. “Every posi-tion. We’ve made changes to our coaching staff. So it’s not just the kids that have to be different.”

Pridgen calls the defensive scheme a flexible 3-5, but is fully

prepared to modify as necessary.“Our kids are so bright,” he said.

“It may be our greatest strength. We can do a lot of things that other schools can’t do just because of the intellect of our kids. So we can get a little more complicated and put a little more on them intellectu-ally and they handle it.”

Senior linebacker Ollis Rob-inson (pictured) is one of five returning starters on defense. Rob-inson led Wesleyan with 66 tackles last season. Also back are Jordan Mack, Kevin Stipe (58 tackles), John Morris and Stark.

Special teamsThe Wolves also return punter

and place kicker Jordan Weaver this season.

“He’s got a big-time leg,” Pridgen said. “He trains like a linebacker and I love that about him. He’ll help us and be a real weapon on special teams.”

Another big plus is long snapper Garrett Gottlich, who is a college prospect at the position.

“I don’t know when I’ve been this excited and optimistic about a season in the last several years,” Pridgen said. “I’m a realistic per-son, but I also like to see the light shining ahead. Maybe in years past that light ended being the oncoming train, but this year I do think it’s a new dawn.

“I think there’s an energy in our program and our community. Certainly in our coaching staff and in our huddle. So sky’s the limit for Wesleyan and we’re looking forward to it.”

— Christine Troyke

WesleyanMascot: Wolves Coach: Franklin Pridgen (61-34 at Wesleyan, 61-34 overall) Region: 6-AA Last playoff appearance: 2013

2014 scheduleAug. 22 at WalkerAug. 29 East HallSept. 5 at Stratford AcademySept. 19 KIPP AtlantaSept. 26 at Pace AcademyOct. 3 Hapeville CharterOct. 10 at BEST AcademyOct. 24 LovettOct. 31 at Holy Innocents’Nov. 7 GAC

2013 results (2-9)Holy Innocents’ L 17-14Salem L 26-0Stone Mountain L 36-35Brookstone L 24-17Jefferson County L 7-0Lakeview Academy W 28-7Hapeville Charter W 35-20Westminster L 35-14Lovett L 41-13GAC L 42-7Washington-Wilkes L 46-14


1 Cedric Lynch QB/WR/DB 112 Cole Brown WR/DB 123 John Krause WR/DB 124 Jordan Mack WR/DB 115 Kevin Stipe WR/DB 116 Kyle Rappe TE/LB 117 Christian Stark WR/DB 128 Banks Ramsey QB 910 Adam Moon WR/DB 1211 Drew Aspinwall WR/LB 1113 Rawley Smith RB/DB 914 Davis Koetter QB 1015 Ollis Robinson RB/H/LB 1218 Harrison Cook WR/DB 1019 Jordan Argilagos WR/DB 1120 Kyler Duley WR/DB 1021 Cole Mannion WR/DB 1123 Tucker Cannon WR/DB 1124 Josh Garrard RB/DB 1125 James Williams RB/LB 11

26 Jake McCleskey WR/DB 11

27 Jalen Hodges WR/DB 11

28 Jason McCleskey WR/DB 10

30 Colin Hall WR/LB 10

31 Mitchell Robinson RB/H/LB 10

35 Ryan Weed RB/LB 10

36 George Bielan RB/LB 9

42 Cory H. Miller TE/DE 10

44 Glenn Hogan RB/LB 11

46 John Morris TE/LB 10

48 Josh Payne TE/DE 9

50 Chapman Pendry OL/DL 10

52 Callen Davidson OL/DL 10

54 Garrett Gottlich OL/DE 12

55 Shelton Gottlich OL/DL 11

56 Wyatt Stall OL/DL 10

61 Conner Day OL/DL 11

63 Tyler Harper OL/LB 11

64 Tyler Lingle OL/DL 9

68 Tanner Moore OL/DL 11

70 Tony Taylor OL/DL 12

71 Michael Payne OL/DE 10

72 Will Barnard OL/DE 11

73 Sam Gottlich OL/DL 10

74 Patrick Ramsey OL/DE 10

75 Ryan Hughes OL/DL 11

76 Hale Porter OL/DL 12

77 Joseph Brown OL/DL 12

81 Grant Frerking WR/DB 10

82 Reed Thomas WR/DB 10

83 Drew Masters WR/DB 10

90 Sean McDonough P/PK 10

95 Jordan Weaver P/PK 11

Wesleyan rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Davis Koetter (6-1, 147, Soph.)or Banks Ramsey (6-4, 190, Fr.)RB Josh Garrard (5-10, 165, Jr.)RB Jordan Argilagos (5-10, 160, Jr.)WR Christian Stark (6-2, 180, Sr.)WR Tucker Cannon (5-9, 160, Jr.)WR Kyler Duley (5-10, 160, Soph.)OL Garrett Gottlich (6-3, 205, Sr.)OL Conner Day (5-8, 210, Jr.)OL Tanner Moore (5-8, 210, Jr.)OL Tyler Harper (6-0, 215, Jr.)OL Joseph Brown (6-1, 225, Sr.)PK Jordan Weaver (6-2, 180, Jr.)

DefenseDB Jordan Mack (6-3, 205, Jr.)DB Cedric Lynch (6-3, 185, Jr.)DB Cole Mannion (6-1, 170, Jr.)or Jalen Hodges (5-9, 150, Jr.)LB Kevin Stipe (5-7, 175, Jr.)LB John Morris (6-0, 175, Soph.)LB Ollis Robinson (6-0, 185, Sr.)LB Kyle Rappe (6-0, 170, Jr.)LB Christian Stark (6-2, 180, Sr.)DL Garrett Gottlich (6-3, 205, Sr.)DL Joseph Brown (6-1, 225, Sr.)DL Ryan Hughes (6-1, 200, Jr.)P Jordan Weaver (6-2, 180, Jr.)


206032-1

FOOTBALL IS BACK ANDBIGGER THAN EVER

ENTER TO WIN!

ENTER TODAY AT GWINNETTDAILYPOST.COM/CONTESTS

HIGH SCHOOL PICK THE WINNERS

SponSored by:

678-889-4090 • www.flatoutauto.com

Pick the right HS games & you

could win a

hd

One Winner Each Week!


OffenseProvidence head coach

Ken Robinson (pictured), at the helm of the program since its infancy three years ago, has always been on the defensive side of the ball. A linebacker during a sparking career at the University of South Carolina and then in the pros, Robinson tran-sitioned into coaching but stayed on the same side of the ball.

Still, he learned some valuable lessons, primarily from one of his mentors, Jim Lofton, at Greater Atlanta Christian.

“Run the ball, play-action pass,” said Robinson, whose program is about to start its first varsity season. “In my past, as a defensive coordi-nator, the teams I’ve always had more of a challenge with is those guys that ran the ball well. They threw the ball well, but their identity was, ‘We’re going to run the ball.’ Teams in the past that got in the spread, defending those as a coordinator, it affects you differently.

“I want to be able to run the ball. The key is being balanced, which means you need to be able to do both. But I think psychologically to an opponent, being able to run the ball just does some-thing to you. So we’re based out of the pistol.”

A number of players have been on the team since Day 1, including one of the

Storm’s primary offensive threats, Max Carter.

“He’s a real leader,” Robin-son said. “He embodies who we are.”

Quarterback Jeremy Hardnett, tackle Ben Ellison and guards Jack Smith and Will Ringold are also return-ing starters from the team that played a JV schedule last season.

DefenseRobinson, not surpris-

ingly, is his own defensive coordinator and basing the team out of a 3-4.

“I don’t think there’s anything magical about a

scheme,” Robinson said. “I believe, going back to my overall philosophy, it’s the people. It’s the kids in the program and obviously we have to do a good job as coaches teaching them what they’re going to see

“It’s what I know, it’s what I believe in, it’s what I can teach.”

The Storm have Ringold, Carter, Ellison and Hardnett as returning starters on defense. Joining them are Marvin Willis and Daniel Martin.

Numbers gameAll the small schools fight

a battle for deeper rosters. Robinson’s recruiting doesn’t stop just because the sea-son approaches. He was hoping to add at least two more players from the hall of Providence before the start of the season. For now, he’s got 20 guys.

“I don’t think it’s unique,” Robinson said. “Providence is probably a little bit more magnified, being a small school. I talk to coaches a lot, some in our region, and they’re dealing with the same things.”

Robinson isn’t letting that be an excuse though.

“You have to learn to

focus on what you can con-trol,” he said. “Would we love the numbers to be different? Yes. But it certainly gives me an opportunity to walk my talk.

“What are the things I can control despite the num-bers? How well we coach, how well we prepare them. Those are the things we focus on.”

The upside is Providence probably wasn’t going to have enough middle school uniforms to go around.

“The key is keeping them in the program,” Robinson said.

Jumping right inThe Storm are starting

off with a region schedule in competitive 8-A, which includes Hebron Christian, Commerce and Prince Av-enue Christian.

And their non-region schedule, with St. Francis and Whitefield Academy, is no joke either.

“We’re in a great region

and it’s an opportunity for the kids to play good foot-ball,” Robinson said. “It’ll be difficult and a challenge, but you never call a problem a problem. It’s an opportunity.

“Yes, it’s tough to grow a program, but the rewards of watching the kids develop are worth it.”

Coaching styleAnother thing Robinson

learned from Lofton was how to constructively motivate players.

“He had a way of chal-lenging kids without being antagonistic,” Robinson said. “Overall our staff is able to do that.”

As Robinson has built the Storm program, he’s only asked the players to give their best, whatever that is.

“I’m not interested in what you’re going to do on Aug. 29,” Robinson said. “All I’m interested in is what you’re going to do today. Whether it’s our varsity or middle school kids, I want you play-ing the game now.

“Every coach in this county says it — you will play the way you practice. If our kids have bad habits, I’m either coaching it or I’m allowing it. In either case, I’m the adult, I’m responsible. For me, that is the only thing — after brotherhood, it’s effort. You don’t have to run a 4.2 if you’re all out 5 flat. That’s all I ask.”

— Christine Troyke

Providence ChristianMascot: Storm Coach: Ken Robinson (0-0 at Providence, 5-16 overall) Region: 8-A Last playoff appearance: N/A

2014 scheduleAug. 29 at St. FrancisSept. 5 at Whitfield Acad.Sept. 19 George WaltonSept. 26 at LakeviewOct. 3 Athens ChristianOct. 10 at HebronOct. 17 CommerceOct. 24 at Athens AcademyOct. 31 Towns CountyNov. 7 at Prince Avenue Christian


1 Jeremy Hardnett QB/CB 11

8 Sam Clarke WR/DB 9

10 Mitchell Miller HB/CB 9

11 Kendall Adams Z/FS 10

32 Max Carter RB/LB 11

44 Daniel Martin WR/SS 10

45 David Sloan WR/LB 9

46 Griffin Hendricks OLB/TE 19

47 Colin Moncrief P/PK 12

52 Ben Powers OL/DL 9

55 Ben Ellison T/LB 11

58 Chandler Berthelsen T/LB 10

60 Jack Smith G 10

62 Marvin Willis DT 12

65 Eric Schmidt OL/DL 11

67 J.T. Vaughn OL/DL 10

68 James Berry OL/DL 9

70 Patrick Pu T/DT 9

74 Joshua Wright C/N 9

75 Will Ringold G/DE 11

Providence Christian rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Jeremy Hardnett (5-10, 160, Jr.)RB Max Carter (5-10, 165, Jr.)HB Mitchell Miller (5-9, 155, Fr.)WR David Sloan (5-9, 160, Fr.)WR Daniel Martin (5-9, 145, Soph.)Z Kendall Adams (6-1, 160, Soph.)T Ben Ellison (5-10, 185, Jr.)G Will Ringold (5-8, 175, Jr.)C Josh Wright (5-10, 215, Fr.)G Jack Smith (5-9, 200, So.)T Chandler Berthelsen (5-10, 170, Soph.)PK Colin Moncrief (5-11, 180, Sr.)

DefenseDE Will Ringold (5-8, 175, Jr.)N Joshua Wright (5-10, 215, Fr.)DT Marvin Willis (5-11, 180 Sr.)LB David Sloan (5-8, 160, Fr.)LB Max Carter (5-10, 165, Jr.)LB Ben Ellison (5-9, 185, Jr.)LB Chandler Berthleson (5-9, 170, Soph.)FS Kendall Adams (6-1, 160, Soph.)SS Daniel Martin (5-8, 150, Soph.)CB Jeremy Hardnett (5-10, 160, Jr.)CB Mitchell Miller (5-9, 155, Fr.)P Colin Moncrief (5-11, 180, Sr.)


Dusty Hayes • Class of 2001 • Dacula High School

www.hayescdj.com


Hayes Family Dealerships Wish Good Luck to

All Gwinnett County Football Teams This Season!

2059

29-1

LIVE SCORINGfriday footballSign up at twitter.com and follow gdpfootball. You’ll get Gwinnett football scoring updates and key game stats every Friday night as well as breaking news during the week. Twitter allows you to get updates directly to your cellphone, wire-less device or computer.

Gwinnett Daily Post


OffenseIn his previous nine seasons as

head coach of Apalachee, Shane Davis had never experienced a year like he did in 2013.

“I’ve never been part of an 0-10 season,” Davis said. “There were a couple of games we had the op-portunity to win but we didn’t do as good of a job as a coaching staff as we could have. We just didn’t get it done.”

Offensive production was steady last year but its numbers weren’t impressive, averaging right at 15 points per game. Davis knows that his offense will have to up its game this year to avoid a repeat of last year.

Davis and offensive coordina-tor Joel Miller, who is in his 10th year at that position, will keep their wing-T formation but have tweaked it a bit with more spread to give their backs more options.

That “tweak”, as Davis calls it, is designed to give the Wildcats more control of the ball with more time of possession.

One decision Davis will have to make is at quarterback, where he has two players in Alantae Bill-ings (pictured) and Bryan Wilson competing for the starting job.

Experience isn’t the issue as both players split time last year, but Billings has a slight advantage in that he started the last five games.

“We’ve just got to find the right one for what we’re trying to do,” Davis said.

Whoever gets the nod at quar-terback will have some talent at the other skill positions, led by two-way starter running back/defensive back Kyle Jackson.

Senior Kent Knowles, also a two-way starter, will be a part of an experienced group of wide receivers. Davis is also hopeful that transfer Ricky Wozun can contribute either at slot receiver or running back.

The offensive line is another area Davis says that will have to improve this year, and he is looking for senior Logan Jackson to lead that surge.

DefenseThe offense wasn’t the only area

that saw some “tweaks” in the offseason as the defensive side of the ball had a few small changes, as well.

The biggest change came with the title of defensive coordinator, as Charles Liggett was brought in to improve a unit that allowed 39 points per game.

Liggett came to Apalachee after

spending the last 10 seasons at Nature Coast High School near Orlando. Seven of those years were as defensive coordinator, while the last three were as head coach.

“I hired him because he seemed like a good fit,” Davis said. “We had some conversations and I felt like we could work together.”

Apalachee will base its defense out of a four-man front, led by se-nior lineman Christian Dufrene.

Despite the points allowed by Apalachee last year, Dufrene put together a solid year individually with 87 tackles.

Helping out behind Dufrene will be linebacker Dalton Bales, while Jackson starts at safety and Knowles at cornerback.

Rob Thompson also gives Davis and Liggett several options and he can play either at outside lineback-er or safety.

“We won’t know what we’ve got until we get out and see the kids play,” Davis said. “We’ve had a bit of a learning curve and we’ve done some different things to put ourselves in the best position.”

Uncharted watersThe 0-10 season suffered by

Apalachee last year surprised a lot of people. The Wildcats had been on a strong run, winning six or more games from 2006 to 2010, while adding nine more wins dur-ing the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

The apex of that stretch came in 2009, When Apalachee went 12-1 and brought home the first region football championship for a Barrow County school.

But the experience from last

year was a humbling one and gave Davis a new perspective.

“Last year was tough,” Davis said. “Years ago when we got here and tried to turn things around, the kids were fired up because it was something new. When you’ve been here a long time like we’ve been and had a season like we did (last year), it’s tougher to turn things around.

“Our priorities are still the same. We’re still working hard in the weight room and trying to control the things that we can and concen-trate on getting better.”

Etc.Part of the Wildcats’ offseason

training took form in what has become a popular summer activity in one of many 7-on-7 passing tournaments. Apalachee partici-pated in a tournament hosted by Walnut Grove, giving Davis a team a chance to compete, something he felt was necessary after last year’s winless campaign.

Davis also elected to forego his scrimmage game in the spring and play two scrimmages this fall, giving Davis what he feels is a better opportunity for his team to compete.

The first of those scrimmages was Aug. 8 against Morgan County followed by a scrimmage against defending Region 8-AAAA cham-pion Monroe Area.

“The good thing about two scrimmages is we can learn a lot about what we have,” Davis said. “It’s good to play other kids be-cause practice is so hard to simu-late the speed of a Friday night.”

— Scott Smith

ApalacheeMascot: Wildcats Coach: Shane Davis (47-50 at Apalachee, 47-50 overall) Region: 8-AAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2009

2014 scheduleAug. 29 at Woodland-HenrySept. 5 at Winder-BarrowSept. 12 at SalemSept. 19 GainesvilleSept. 26 Clarke CentralOct. 3 at LoganvilleOct. 17 Flowery BranchOct. 24 at HeritageOct. 31 Cedar ShoalsNov. 7 Lanier

2013 results (0-10)Lanier L 42-14GAC L 56-14Gainesville L 49-6Clarke Central L 43-19Flowery Branch L 42-20Loganville L 29-21Cedar Shoals L 35-6Salem L 27-7Heritage L 43-21Winder-Barrow L 27-20

(Photo: Jessica Brown)





Akins Ford, Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep wishes the APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL WILDCATS

the Best of Luck in 2013 Apalachee!

201696-1


1 Kyle Jackson 122 Alantae Billings 124 Quincy Rhines 125 Hunter Wagler 126 Rob Thompson 127 Elijah Johnson 128 Ricky Wozon 119 Dalton Bales 1110 Jamal Stewart 1111 Shane Burnett 1212 Bryan Wilson 1113 Jason Craig 1014 Darius Sims 1215 Wright Patterson 1216 Gunnar Wright 1017 Ryan Miller 1020 Kent Knowles 1221 Trevon Attucks 1122 Kevin Perez 1023 Jordan Cody 1025 Ethan Morris 1026 T.J. Lyons 12

27 Bryson Evans 1028 Isaac Hernandez 1129 Corey Phelts 1231 Dylan Staples 1132 Leo Rodriguez 1133 Stephen Massillon 1034 Austin Jones 1035 Logan Burkett 10

37 Jakarri Cooper 1240 Alex Philpot 1047 James Clonts 1148 Avery Bowles 1051 Chase Williamson 1052 Kyle Waite 1053 Michael Snead 1154 Tyler Ozburn 12

55 Zach Zephirin 1256 Blake Dodson 1157 Jonah Willard 1158 Christian Dufrene 1259 Logan Mastaw 1161 Logan Jackson 1262 Taylor Watkins 1063 C.J. McLocklin 1264 Chu Yang 1265 Logan McAllister 1266 Carl Yang 1167 Noah Creamer 1068 Julian Gomez 1269 Mickey Hitchock 1172 Kawan Jackson 1274 Jose Torres 1278 Michael Cannon 1079 Dalton Hood 1081 Devan Steele 1083 Nihad Muhanna 1084 Tyler Waite 1289 Ahshar Menard 11

Apalachee rosterNo. Name Year

OffenseQB Alantae Billings (6-2, 190, Sr.)or Bryan Wilson (5-11, 165, Sr.)RB Dalton Bales (5-8, 180, Jr.)WR Hunter Wagler (6-1, 180, Sr.)WR Ricky Wozon (5-8, 160, Jr.)WR Kent Knowles (6-0, 170, Sr.)TE/HB Leo Rodriguez (6-0, 185, Jr.)LT Michael Snead (6-1, 230, Jr.)LG Chase Williamson (6-1, 230, Soph.)C Mickey Hitchcock (5-11, 195, Jr.)RG Jonah Willard (6-0, 210, Jr.)RT Logan Jackson (6-0, 205, Sr.)PK Dylan Staples (6-1, 170, Jr.)

DefenseDE James Clonts (6-0, 185, Jr.)DE Christian Dufrene (6-0, 215, Sr.)DT Logan Jackson (6-0, 250, Sr.)DT Jose Torres (6-0, 280, Sr.)OLB Rob Thompson (6-0, 185, Sr.)ILB Dalton Bales (5-8, 180, Jr.)OLB Darius Sims (6-2, 185, Sr.)ILB Jamal Stewart (6-0, 215, Jr.)CB Kent Knowles (6-0, 170, Sr.)CB Kyle Jackson (5-8, 165, Sr.)FS Wright Patterson (6-0, 170, Sr.)P Shane Burnett (6-0, 175, Sr.)



OffenseConsistency on offense plagued

Winder-Barrow a year ago as the Bulldoggs averaged just under 14 points per game and were shut out twice. Offensive improvement for 2014 is a strong possibility, though, as a new regime has put a bevy of changes in place.

That new group is fronted by new head coach Heath Webb, who brings with him an entirely new offensive scheme.

“We’re going to be an up-tempo spread,” said Webb, who came to Winder-Barrow after holding the quarterbacks coach position at Peachtree Ridge. “We’re going to be more run focused and try to be more balanced. But we also want to be able to run the ball 40 times a game or throw it 40 times a game.”

Throwing or running the ball will be dictated in large part by Webb’s personnel. He and his offensive co-ordinator (Naja Lynn from Flowery Branch) have been moving players around in an order to find the right position for each one.

Webb already knows that he has a couple of experienced skill posi-tion players, led by junior running back CeCe Green (pictured).

Getting yards out of Green from the backfield is one of the things Webb is hopeful for as it will help open up the passing game, some-thing that senior 6-foot-4 wide receiver Brandon Hayes should benefit.

Both Green and Hayes have been getting attention from several D-I schools, but the key to their success will lie in the output from the offensive line and quarterback.

Webb feels that his offensive

line is pretty solid, but the quarter-back position is a tight race and a starter may not emerge until closer to the opener.

DefenseWhile the offense struggled

to put up points last season, the defense also had its issues. The Bulldoggs surrendered 33 points per game. Despite the disparity in those figures, Winder-Barrow still put two wins on the board, just the second time since 2008 the Bull-doggs had won that many games.

That number could rise in 2014 with a stiffer defense. Along with the hire of Webb, another of the many changes made in the offsea-son was Webb’s hiring of defensive coordinator Brandon Patrum from Lumpkin County.

“We’re going to go out of a 3-5 base,” Webb said.

Things up front shouldn’t be a problem for Webb, as senior defen-sive lineman Anthony Gates returns.

“He is a big kid with great ath-leticism,” Webb said. “I’ve got about a dozen or more colleges that have expressed interest in him.”

The linebackers also look to be deep for Webb, led by senior outside linebacker Jeremy Ramsey. The secondary looks to be young and will be tested often by a region that is known for offensive prow-ess, including state semifinalist Gainesville and 8-AAAAA’s newest member, Lanier.

Joey Junius, who saw lots of action last year as a sophomore, is set to anchor the defensive back-field at free safety, while the start-

ing cornerback slots may not be decided until the season opener.

Just like starting overWinder-Barrow’s once proud

program has had a rough go the past several years. The Bulldoggs have just six wins over the last six seasons, with their last winning campaign coming in 2003.

Webb was fully aware of this when he took the job. The rebuild-ing process began in earnest and the response to his efforts have been positive.

“It’s very similar to starting from scratch,” Webb said. “The biggest difference is our facilities are out-standing and we can just concen-trate on football.”

Starting from scratch is not

unfamiliar for Webb, as he was tapped to start up the football pro-gram at North Paulding, where he coached five seasons from 2007 to 2011. Four of those were against varsity competition and Webb had some success with a 17-23 record, including a 6-4 mark in 2010.

“We’ve been working to change the culture not just in the locker room, but also in the community,” Webb said. “We’re trying to get everyone to believe that we can be great and to get over that losing hump. I feel we are on the right path.”

Early indications are that Webb’s assessment is correct, as the booster club meetings have been full and the total number of kids in the football program has grown to about 125.

One of his first, and arguably most important, tasks was to as-semble a new coaching staff. Webb was allowed to hire eight new assistants as part of the new-look Bulldoggs.

Along with offensive coordinator Lynn and defensive coordinator Patrum, Webb hired Chris Davis, who was the head coach at Cedar Shoals the past two seasons, as his assistant head coach, Jeff Maddox from Apalachee as run-ning backs coach, Luther Price from Jacksonville University as receivers coach and Paul Hoch as linebackers coach from Northview.

Brian Evans and Elihue Foskey were also brought in as community coaches to help with the ninth-grade team, while veterans Van Samples and Devin Allison were the only holdovers.

— Scott Smith

Winder-BarrowMascot: Bulldoggs Coach: Heath Webb (0-0 at Winder-Barrow, 17-23 overall) Region: 8-AAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2003

2014 scheduleAug. 29 JeffersonSept. 5 ApalacheeSept. 12 at GainesvilleSept. 19 LoganvilleSept. 26 at SalemOct. 3 at Flowery BranchOct. 17 Cedar ShoalsOct. 24 at Clarke CentralOct. 31 at LanierNov. 7 Heritage

2013 results (2-8)Jackson County W 26-21Monroe Area L 40-14Gainesville L 68-0Salem L 60-37Heritage L 23-13Flowery Branch L 44-7Loganville L 18-0Cedar Shoals L 27-6Clarke Central L 13-7Apalachee W 27-20 (Photo: Jessica Brown)





Akins Ford, Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep wishes the WINDER-BARROW BULLDOGGS

the Best of Luck in the 2013 Football Season!

201695-1


2 Drezdin Williams DB 113 Will Mauldin WR 114 John Pritchett DL 115 Jeremy Ramsey OLB 126 Trey Tate LB 117 Cole Baggett OLB 128 Bradyn Randall WR 129 Jerry Scott DL 1110 Ryan Evans QB 1111 Will Sorrells QB 1012 Cale Horne WR 1113 Tyler Banks DB 1014 Noah Chapman QB 1115 Matt Newell QB 1016 Jay Branch WR 1117 Brandon Hayes WR 1118 Jamaal Cox DB 1119 Deon Williams WR 1020 Joey Junius DB 1121 CeCe Green RB 1122 Teague Moore DB 1024 Javonne Hughes RB 1025 Nathan Millwood LB 1026 Drake Power DB 10

27 Josh Williams OLB 1128 Dreven Davenport DB 1229 Mason White LB 1030 Santiago Carter LB 1232 Chance Kitchens RB 1033 Preston Mathis LB 1135 Austin Cha DB 1037 Jacob Lyle LB 1139 Dylan Morris LB 1042 Jake Lynn LB 10

43 Michael Snyder LB 1144 Bailey Brock OLB 1051 Jonathan Sanders DL 1152 Dylan Rivoli DL 1053 Akiham Griffin OL 1154 Antonio Santibanez LB 1155 Tanner Morton OL 1256 Frederick Shields OL 1057 Cole Sieveking OL 1058 Justin Simmons OL 11

59 Cullen Moore DL 1060 Brandon Reynolds OL 1261 Jay Harvey DL 1262 Albert Martinez OL 1064 Dylan Brown OL 1067 Matthew Fallick OL 1168 C.J. Cook OL 1169 Antonio Trimble DL 1170 Cameron Best OL 1072 Austin Lane OL 1073 Tristen Swords OL 1174 Christian Cardinal OL 1075 Jordan Creppel OL 1076 Kesean Dottin OL 1077 Eddie Billings DL 1078 Dalton Crowe DL 1279 Dustin Nix OL 1281 Nick Hinton WR 1084 Landon Brown WR 1185 Chris Pope WR 1087 Thomas Mitchell DL 1090 Alan Leighton K 1191 Zach Brooks DL 1097 Anthony Gates DL 12

Winder-Barrow rosterNo. Name Pos. Year

OffenseQB Ryan Evans or Noah ChapmanRB CeCe GreenWR Brandon HayesWR Cale HorneWR Bradyn RandallWR Jay BranchLT Tristen SwordsLG Justin SimmonsC Brandon ReynoldsRG Tanner MortonRT Ahikam GriffinK Alan Leighton

DefenseDE Jerry Scott or Antonio TrimbleNG Anthony GatesDE John PritchettLB Santiago CarterLB Jacob LyleLB Nathan MillwoodOLB Cole BaggettOLB Jeremy RamseyFS Joey JuniusCB Drezdin WilliamsCB Jamaul CoxP Jeremy Ramsey

PROBABLE STARTERS

2014 Gwinnett Prep Footbal Preview

Documents

Transcript of 2014 Gwinnett Prep Footbal Preview