LOCAL
THE CHAMPION, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8 - 14, 2019 • Page 15
FOOTBALL
The cousin/brothers have played together all of the football career, including during their time at Stephenson High School. Photo provided
Bembry cousins continue football careers at Georgia Southern
BY CARLA PARKER
Carla@dekalbchamp.com
Stephenson High School graduates
and family members Justin Birdsong,
Adrian Lane and Deonta and Isiah
Bembry have played football together
from Little League to high school and
are continuing that tradition in college.
Birdsong and his cousins, brothers
Deonta and Isiah, are members
of Georgia Southern University’s
football team. Birdsong is entering his
sophomore season and Deonta will be
a redshirt freshman after redshirting
(practiced but did not play in any
games) last season. After graduating
from Stephenson last May, Isiah will
join his brother and cousin at Georgia
Southern.
Lane is currently a sophomore at
Allen University in Columbia, S.C.,
but said he plans to transfer from
Allen after the season to join his three
cousins at Georgia Southern. Lane said
it has always been their dream to play
on the same college football team as
they did at the Little League, middle
school and high school levels.
“I just had to take a different path
to get [to Georgia Southern], but I still
expect to be there,” Lane said. “We’ve
grown up close all of our lives and our
bond is strong. Being separated just
feels different, but I just have to be
patient and make it do what it do right
down.”
Birdsong and Deonta said they
are excited to have Isiah join them at
Georgia Southern this season.
“When they told me that [Isiah]
was going to come, we were in the
room jumping around,” Birdsong
said. “I’m happy about it. We’ve been
playing together since we were [small
children], so I’m glad I can still be
with them. Even if they were just at the
school with me, that’ll be good, but the
fact that we can all still play football
together is perfect.”
“I’m ready to get to work,” Isiah
said.
Birdsong’s mother Kachervian
Pittman said she is thankful the boys
are all at the same school because she
and her siblings won’t have to decide
which games to attend as they would
have if they all had gone to different
schools.
“We are all thankful because
they said it couldn’t happen, that it’s
impossible, that it’s very rare that
family could [play for] the same
college,” Pittman said.
Demeche Bembry, father to
Deonta and Isiah and a graduate
of Stephenson, said he is happy
and blessed that the boys have an
opportunity to play together.
“I started coaching them when they
were 7 years old and it’s amazing to
see them go from 7 to 19 still playing
the game they love,” he said.
Birdsong said teammates have
been asking how the three of them
were able to get on the same team.
“We always find a way to make it
happen,” he said.
Due to injuries on the team,
Birdsong was able to play in eight
games as a freshman last season
and had two tackles and one pass
deflection. He didn’t practice this
spring due to a groin injury, which
allowed Deonta to practice with the
second-string group. They said they’re
both prepared to play more minutes if
called upon.
“I’m still going to [play] with
[second string], unless, God forbid, one
of the starters gets hurt,” Birdsong said.
“If that happens, I’ll have to step up
and [start] again. I’ll just go out there
and do my thing until the opportunity
comes.”
Lithonia baseball seeking funding to purchase equipment
BY CARLA PARKER
Carla@dekalbchamp.com
To be competitive
against other baseball teams
in the state, Lithonia High
School’s baseball team needs
equipment, such as a pitching
machine, to help them prepare
for tougher competition.
However, the program
does not have the funds to
purchase the machine and
hopes the public will help.
Lithonia coach Sam Marion
created a GoFundMe account
to help the program purchase
a Bata-2 pitching machine.
Marion said on the GoFundMe
page that the equipment is
“key for us to compete with
quality teams who have great
pitching as well as a key
component to trained kids.”
The Lithonia Bulldogs
made their second consecutive
appearance in the state playoffs
this past season but fell to No.
1-ranked Loganville in the first
round in a two-game sweep in
the best-of-three series. Marion
told The Champion that a
pitching machine could have
better prepared his players for
the pitchers they faced.
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 16
Infield at Lithonia High School’s baseball field was redone during the summer break. Photo by Carla Parker
