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Teams hoping to finish strong in final month of football season

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Last Friday was a bit strange for some of our local high school football teams. Starr’s Mill was handed their first loss of the season, Fayette County picked up their first win of the season and the McIntosh Chiefs came roaring back from a 20 point deficit to capture their second region win in a row. Nobody could have predicted all three of those results, which is, as they say, why they play the games. This week, Starr’s Mill looks to get back on track, while McIntosh and Fayette County are hoping to just keep winning.

Region 4-AAAAA

Starr’s Mill lost a heartbreaker to Lovejoy, 27-26 in overtime last week and though several missed extra points that led to the loss seem magnified, Coach Mike Earwood stated that the team had other chances to put the game away and didn’t. Starr’s Mill put 20 points on the board in the first half but Lovejoy controlled the clock for much of the second half and won in overtime when Starr’s Mill missed an extra point. Antonio Scott ran for over 150 yards and two touchdowns and Earwood cited good play from Bradley Connor on defense. Robert Hawkins will continue kicking duties this week as Keegan Hanie is still out due to injury.

This week’s opponent is East Coweta (3-2), which got wins over Banneker, 34-7 and Mundy’s Mill, 20-14, before having a bye week last Friday. Though it should go without saying, Starr’s Mill must eliminate mistakes in order to get a win over the Indians, which has very good team speed.

Fayette County (1-5) got the losing monkey off their back with a 39-17 win over Union Grove last Friday. The challenge will be to keep the momentum going against a very talented Lovejoy team. Coach Tommy Webb was hoping that his Tigers would break through last week and they did. Everything seemed to fall in to place as Channing Welch scored several touchdowns and Ri’Chard Davis got into the endzone. It was the first time all season that Fayette County had scored more than one touchdown in a game.

Lovejoy (3-2) has won three games in a row and has an impressive running game.

Region 4-AAAA

Last year, McIntosh got two consecutive wins when they handed Fayette County a 24-6 loss on Oct. 10 and then beat Riverdale the following week 10-6. The Chiefs have just won two in a row this season, beating Alexander 34-13 on Sept. 18 and then defeating Lithia Springs 28-26 last week. McIntosh would like to see a three game winning streak and the team is full of believers.

“They are starting to see what happens if they play hard all the time,” said Coach Butch Prosser. The team has been getting increasingly good performances from the offensive line and tailback Charles Castleberry. Fans should also be encouraged by the team not giving up last week, despite being down 20-0 at the half.

This week, McIntosh celebrates their homecoming and will host Northgate (4-2) which lost to Creekside 28-3 last week. In the Vikings four wins this season they have only allowed 12 points total.

Sandy Creek had their homecoming last week and defeated Douglas County 21-12. The team got another good performance from the defense, despite a few lapses, and had a balanced offensive attack with Reggie Ellington and Jamal Rome picking up yards on the ground and quarterback Josh Haney connecting on passes with a number of receivers including Tim Russell and Brent Brewer.

The Patriots will travel to take on Lithia Springs this week. Lithia Springs (2-4) has lost two games in a row to Northgate and McIntosh.

Whitewater (4-1) is off to a great start this season, having won three in a row and scoring over 31 points in each of those wins. The Wildcats are getting consistently good team efforts on both sides of the ball. Their opponent this week in a special Saturday night game is Landmark Christian School (2-4), a Class A team. Whitewater defeated Temple, another Class A school 13-12 in the season opener.

Landmark picked up a big win last week, defeating region opponent Mt. Zion, Carrollton 40-8. Though the War Eagles struggled against some tough Class A opponents this season, Coach Kenny Dallas feels those games have prepared his team for his region schedule. In Landmark’s four losses the team has only amassed 29 points total, while in their two wins they have scored a total of 94 points.

Our Lady of Mercy begins their region 5-A schedule tonight with a game at Whitefield Academy. Though the Bobcats lost to Bowdon 48-13 last week, Coach Curtis Barrineau feels that his team may have played the best game they have played all year. The Our Lady of Mercy offense moved the ball up and down the field on numerous occasions against a tough defense. Jason Bryant rushed for over 100 yards thanks to a solid effort from the offensive line. The Bobcats also got a standout performance once again from Bernard Michel on defense.

“Now that we are starting our region schedule, it’s a whole new season for us,” said Barrineau. “As far as I’m concerned, we are 0-0.”

All games are scheduled to be played at 7:30 p.m. Whitewater will host Landmark on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.