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August 9, 2017
Phone: 770-867-6397
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Section B
★★★★
High School Football
Setting the tone
BRINGING HIM DOWN
Bethlehem Christian Academy defenders swarm around a Briarwood Academy player during a
controlled scrimmage at BCA last week. The Knights kick off their regular season Friday at 8 p.m.
when they visit Piedmont Academy in Monticello. Photos by Jessica Brown
Knights to open up regular season at Piedmont Friday
By Scott Thompson
Sports Editor
When Bethlehem Chris
tian Academy pulled off
a 13-6 stunner over Pied
mont Academy to kick off
last season. Knights coach
Lance Fendley felt like it
was the jumping point for
a strong start that helped
his team reach the state
playoffs for the first time
in school history.
Fendley is hoping for a
similar outcome this year
as the Knights travel to
Monticello on Friday to
take on the Cougars in their
season opener at 8 p.m.
“The first game gets you
going and kind of helps
set the tone for the year,”
Fendley said Monday.
“When you’re playing a
formidable opponent that’s
as legendary (in GISA) as
Piedmont is. you’ll find out
a lot about your team from
the get-go, what you’re
made of and what you can
handle. With that history,
it shouldn’t be difficult for
our kids to get ramped up.”
Energy and intensity was
something Fendley said
was lacking Friday when
the Knights faced Briar-
wood Academy in a con
trolled preseason scrim
mage and were pushed
around.
Playing primarily on
possessions that started
from midfield, the Knights
gave up touchdowns on 10
of 13 possessions and man
aged just four touchdowns
out of 10 of their own.
“We didn’t play very
well. We played soft.
We played timid and we
weren’t very physical,”
Fendley said after the
scrimmage, adding that the
See Knights on Page 3B
LOOKING FOR IMPROVEMENT
BCA’s Makyal Cooper brings down a
Briarwood Academy player during last week’s
scrimmage, which the Buccaneers prevailed
in. The Knights open up their regular season
Friday at Piedmont Academy at 8 p.m. and
will be trying to make it two in a row over the
Cougars following a 13-6 victory last year in
Bethlehem. The GISA Class AAA Knights are
coming off a 4-7 season in 2016, while the
Class AA Cougars went 2-8 in an uncharac
teristic down year.
FIGHTING THEM OFF
Chandler Maxwell and the Knights will look for improvement on both sides of the ball this week
after a shaky performance in their scrimmage against Briarwood.
NEW SYSTEM
New Apalachee defensive coordinator Randy
Holland, who came over from South Gwinnett, will
see his defense in action Friday as the Wildcats
host Dunwoody in a preseason scrimmage at 7:30
p.m. Photo by Jessica Brown
Winder-Barrow,
Apalachee get final
tune-ups this week
By Scott Tkompson
Sports Editor
When the Winder-Bar
row and Apalachee football
teams compete in their pre
season scrimmages Friday,
both teams’ coaches will
have plenty to look for and
evaluate as the Bulldoggs
and Wildcats have their final
tune-ups before the 2017
campaign kicks off.
Winder-Barrow travels to
Flowery Branch for a 7:30
p.m. kickoff. The teams, for
mer region foes before Wind
er-Barrow made the jump to
GHSA Class AAAAAA in
2016. also met in the presea
son last year with the Bull
doggs winning handily.
But the Falcons, who had
their first losing season since
2004 last year, are under new
leadership as former Jef
ferson coach Ben Hall has
taken over after posting a
44-8 mark in four seasons
with the Dragons.
“There are a lot of
unknowns with them having
a new staff, and scouting and
preparing for them would be
difficult,” said Winder-Bar
row coach Heath Webb, who
is entering his fourth season
with the Bulldoggs. “With
that in mind, I think we real
ly need to make sure we’re
taking care of us and execut
ing our assignments.
While the Bulldoggs
return a solid contingent of
starters on both sides of the
ball this year, their two line
backer spots on defense are
still up for grabs between
three players — seniors
Sterling Sumpter and Kenny
Kemp and junior Aaron Bag-
ley.
Webb hopes those posi
tions will begin to solidify
ahead of the Bulldoggs’ sea
son opener next week when
they host Clarke Central.
And he’ll look to the offen
sive and defensive lines,
which feature a mix of vet
erans and newcomers, to set
the tone early.
“I think the biggest thing is
I want to see us be physical
on both lines of scrimmage.
If we can establish that up
front, I think the rest of it will
fall into place.”
Meanwhile, the Wildcats
will host Dunwoody 7:30
p.m. Friday at R. Harold
Harrison Stadium.
The Wildcats are entering
year three under coach Steve
Sims and are coming off a
2-7-1 mark in 2016, when
they were much more com
petitive than 2015 when they
went winless.
Sims said taking the next
step toward the program’s
first playoff berth since 2009
will require more leadership
and he believes the scrim
mage with Dunwoody could
be a good starting point.
“We’ve got to have lead
ers step and get lined up
and play with confidence,”
Sims said. “I want to see our
offensive line assert them
selves and give our guys in
the backfield a chance to
make some plays.
“If we can get that block
ing up front, I think we’ve
got some guys at the skill
positions who can make
plays for us.”
Sims will have several
interesting things to watch
for Friday — how new start
ing quarterback junior AJ
Millbrooks plays and how
sophomore backup AJ Forb-
ing can do in order to allow
the Wildcats to move Mill-
brooks around some.
He’ll also get a chance
to see where his defense is
at under new coordinator
Randy Holland, who came
over from South Gwinnett.
“We need to make sure
we’re getting lined up and
where we’re supposed to
be,” Sims said. “We’re still
working through a lot of that
terminology. Any time you
change a system, it just takes
a little time to get it right. So,
we’U line up and see how
we’re able to execute.”
Perhaps the biggest advan
tage for the Wildcats, in that
respect, is they’ll have an
extra week after the scrim
mage to prepare for their
Aug. 25 season opener at
River Ridge.
“I like the schedule that
way,” Sims said. “The point
is to have them ready to
go by game one and we’ve
still got a couple of weeks
before we get to that point.
It’s always said that teams
improve the most from week
one to week two so this
scheduling gives us a chance
to treat the scrimmage like
week one and then have an
extra week to make adjust
ments.”
High School Volleyball
Apalachee gets off to strong start with second-place finish in tourney
By Scott Thompson
Sports Editor
The Apalachee High
School volleyball team’s
youth apparently didn’t
faze the Wildcats much this
weekend as they finished
4-1 and finishing second
out of 24 teams in Sat
urday’s Northeast Geor
gia Queen of the Court
Tourney, co-hosted by
Apalachee, Winder-Barrow
and Loganville.
The Wildcats kicked off
their season with a 2-0 win
over White County (25-15,
25-16), 2-0 win over Cedar
Shoals (25-11. 25-5), 2-0
win over Lakeview Acad
emy (25-19. 25-22) and
2-0 win over Duluth (25-
15, 25-22). Apalachee lost
2-0 in the championship
match to Brookwood (21-
25, 22-25). Junior Nakia
Hooks led all scorers with
43 kills and was 95 per
cent serving (35 for 37)
with 22 assists. Sophomore
Elbe Alfonso had 37 kills
and was 93 percent on her
serves (52 for 56) with 13
aces. Sophomore Oliv
ia Swift finished with 64
assists and was 97 percent
on her serves (32 for 33)
with 9 aces.
“I knew we had a chance
to be good but was not sure
if we would perform this
well so early,” Apalachee
coach Joey Alfonso said.
“We showed very good
teamwork and sportsman
ship. Our girls really seem
to be a family and show
great support for one anoth
er. We’ll see if we continue
to improve for the long haul
and show consistency.”
Apalachee resumes play
Thursday with a visit to
North Oconee at 5 p.m.
Meanwhile, Winder-Bar
row went 1-3 Saturday, los
ing to Chestatee 2-1 (22-25.
25-17, 9-15) and then top
ping Lakeview Academy,
2-1 (17-25. 28-26, 16-14),
before dropping matches
to East Hall, 2-0 (19-25,
15-25), and Northgate, 2-0
(23-25, 23-25). The Bull
doggs (1-4) also lost at
Walnut Grove Tuesday. 2-1
(13-25, 26-24, 18-25) and
will resume play Thursday
at North Hall with match
es against North Hall and
West Forsyth.