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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016
High School Football: Apalachee
Taking steps
BIG PLAYMAKER
Apalachee senior wide receiver Ethan Morris, seen here in action on Oct. 28
against Gainesville, was the heart of the Wildcats’ offense this season, catch
ing 50 passes and scoring five touchdowns. The Wildcats finished the sea
son 2-7-1 overall and 0-5 in GHSA Region 8-AAAAAA. Photo by Jessica Brown
Wildcats look toward future after
showing signs of improvement
By Scott Thompson
Sports Editor
It would be difficult to
justify a two-win season
improvement, but when
looking at Apalachee's
2016 campaign compared
to the winless 2015 one,
there were definitely signs
of progress.
A year ago, the Wildcats
were frequently throttled
by opponents. They scored
just 39 points and were
shut out six times. Defen
sively, they surrendered
more than 30 points in
eight out of their 10 games
and more than 40 points on
six occasions.
But this season, the
Wildcats notched victories
over Walnut Grove (14-13
on Sept. 16) and Monroe
Area a week later. They
also tied Union Grove
22-22 on Sept. 2 and were
competitive in all of their
contests with the exception
of 45-9 loss to Lanier on
Oct. 21.
And in further contrast,
they were shut out just
once in 2016 and gave up
more than 30 points just
twice.
“If you go back and look
at last year, our games just
weren’t even close,” said
Apalachee coach Steve
Sims, who just finished up
his second year with the
program.
The Wildcats were 2-7-1
overall and 0-5 in GHSA
Region 8-AAAAAA play.
“We were in position to
win a handful of games
this year, and maybe next
year, we will be in position
to win even more.” Sims
said. “Obviously we’ve got
to get to the point where
we’re able to compete in
and win region games. We
need to crawl before we
can walk.”
Perhaps the most notice
able improvement came
from Apalachee’s offense,
which still had troubles
but managed to score
128 points on the season.
While the running game
was inconsistent behind a
young and inexperienced
offensive line, the pass
ing game was productive
behind 1,300 yards and
eight touchdowns from
senior quarterback Ryan
Miller.
Miller’s favorite target
was senior wide receiver
Ethan Morris, who caught
50 passes to finish just shy
of the single-season school
record and five touchdown
passes, including one in
the Wildcats’ 49-21 loss to
Habersham Central in last
week’s finale.
“Ethan was a big go-to
guy for us all year, a big
third-down conversion
guy.” Sims said of his star
receiver. “We might not
have been in some of our
games without some of the
big plays he made.”
But as the Wildcats
struggled through the rig
ors of region play, a slew
of injuries and a lack of
depth proved to be the
main factors in the disap
pointing finish.
“We definitely looked a
lot different by the end of
the year in terms of who
we had starting, and so
depth did prove to be our
biggest issue,” Sims said.
“And that may be the case
for one more year. We’ve
got a small senior class
that will be coming up next
season, but our numbers in
the ninth and 10th grade
are pretty good, and we
should have another good-
sized ninth-grade group
coming up.
“It’s a process of mak
ing sure you’ve got enough
quality players to make it
through a season.”
And while the Wildcats
will take several hits to
graduation this year —
including Morris, Miller,
the entire secondary and
a host of other defensive
players — next year’s team
will return several kids
who started or received
significant playing time in
2016.
The most promising unit
may be the offensive line,
which started two juniors,
a sophomore and a fresh
man, plus junior Parker
Miller (Ryan’s brother) at
tight end.
Two-way players AJ
Millbrooks, Josh Agben-
ou and Brandon Barnard
are among those who
Sims expects to take on
increased leadership roles
next season.
Sims is encouraged by
the starting point for 2017,
and as its numbers contin
ue to grow, the program
could be inching closer to
its high-mark 12-1 season
in 2009 and further away
from the dismal one-win
stretch of 2013-2015.
“We’ve definitely made
progress, and if we can
continue to make more,
I think our fans will be
pleased,” Sims said. “We
just need a little more
patience.”
Football Pickers Contest: Week 11
Fields goes perfect 10-0, correctly
matches tiebreaker point total
Ronnie Fields of Winder could have
not have been more perfect in the Barrow
News-Journal’s football contest last week.
Fields went 10-0 and also correctly pre
dicted the number of points that would be
scored between Dacula and Winder-Bar
row (56) to wallop the field of competitors.
Angela Smith of Winder also logged
a 10-0 performance, but was off by 23
points on the tiebreaker.
The contest continues this week and can
be found on this page.
Other results
Contestants missing one game last week
were: Michael McDaniel of Monroe,
Kenny Coleman of Monroe. Ken Moore
of Winder, Charles Perry of Winder, Pam
Yarbrough of Maysville and Don Rutledge
of Auburn
Contestants missing two games were:
Larry McDaniel of Monroe, Rebecca
Freeman of Bethlehem, Johnny Suggs
of Hoschton, Dale McDaniel of Monroe,
Greg Prickett of Monroe, Tommy Nabors
of Winder. Vince Sparacello of Winder.
Charles Garrett of Winder. Eddie Wallace
of Winder, Dale Kennedy of Bethlehem
and Bill House of Winder.
Contestants missing three games were:
Nathan Freeman of Bethlehem, Deborah
Prickett of Monroe, Bill Cartmill of Wind
er, Rhonda Kennedy of Bethlehem and
William Bennett of Winder.
Contestants missing four games were:
Elaine Moore of Winder, Caleb Prickett
of Monroe, Michael Cameron of Winder.
Robin Fisher of Dacula, David McDan
iel, Sr. of Lawrenceville, David McDan
iel, Jr. of Cumming, Billy McDaniel of
Lawrenceville, Tony Bennett of Winder.
Susan White of Winder and Vinson Wall
of Dacula.
Contestants missing five games were:
Larry Manders of Winder, Natalie Hicks
of Loganville, Brandon Shedd of Auburn
and Gloria McDaniel of Lawrenceville
Contestants missing 6 games were: Ste
ven Fisher of Dacula.
ENTER TO WIN
$ 50 PER WEEK
RULES OF THE GAME
• One Entry Per Person.
• Entries may be completed on the provided form and
photocopies will be accepted.
• Contest entries must be turned in by 5 P.M. on Fridays at the
Barrow News-Journal Office located at 77 East May Street,
Winder, GA. Contest entries may be mailed but must be
postmarked by Friday of each week.
• To determine tiebreaker, pick the total number of points
scored in the first game listed each week.
• For questions about contest call 770-867-6397.
/ \
Circle Your Predictions
For This Week’s Winners
1. Winder-Barrow @ Dalton*
2. Auburn @ Georgia
3. Georgia Tech @ Virginia Tech
4. Baylor @ Oklahoma
5. Kentucky @ Tennessee
6. West Virginia @ Texas
7. LSU @ Arkansas
8. Ole Miss @ Texas A&M
9. Notre Dame vs. Army (at San Antonio)
10. Stanford @ Oregon
tiebreaker:
Name:
Address:
Phone:
Barrow News-Journal
Barrow County News E$t. 1893 • Barrow Journal Est. 2008 Merged August 2016
Newspaper Football Contest
\ /
And the winner is...
Ronnie Fields
of Winder
for the week of November 2 nd
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