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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2021
Prep Calendar
THURSDAY, AUG. 19
Softball
Bethlehem Christian Academy at Briar-
wood Academy (doubleheader), 3 p.m.
Buford at Winder-Barrow, 5 p.m.
Volleyball
Winder-Barrow tri-match at Morgan
County: vs. Morgan County, 5 p.m.; vs.
Oconee County, 6 p.m.
FRIDAY, AUG. 20
Football
Apalachee at Winder-Barrow, 7:30 p.m.
Bethlehem Christian at Strong Rock
Christian, 7:30 p.m.
SATURDAY, AUG. 21
Cross Country
Apalachee and Barrow Arts and Sciences
Academy at AHS Season Opener, 8 a.m.
Winder-Barrow at Northeast Georgia
Championships, Athens Christian School,
8 a.m.
Volleyball
Apalachee and Bethlehem Christian at
Monroe Area playdate, 8 a.m.
TUESDAY, AUG. 24
Softball
Edmund Burke Academy at Bethlehem
Christian (doubleheader), 3:30 p.m.
Eastside at Apalachee. 6 p.m.
Winder-Barrow at Habersham Central,
6 p.m.
Volleyball
Apalachee and Winder-Barrow in tri
match at WBHS: Winder-Barrow vs.
Apalachee, 5 p.m.; Apalachee vs. Archer,
6 p.m.; Winder-Barrow vs. Archer, 7 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 25
Softball
Apalachee at Grayson. 6 p.m.
Volleyball
Franklin County at Bethlehem Christian,
5 p.m.
Battle
continued from IB
Self-inflicted wounds
have in fact been common
issues for the Wildcats
and Bulldoggs in the last
couple of years, and each
team saw some of those
pop up in their preseason
scrimmages. The Wildcats
were set back by fumbles
and crucial penalties that
derailed promising drives
on offense in a 14-14
tie against Commerce at
home on Aug. 6. The Bull
doggs lost the three-quar
ter varsity portion of their
Aug. 12 home scrimmage
against Gainesville 21-7,
with the Red Elephants
coming away with a 28-
14 victory after the junior
varsity-led fourth quarter.
Gainesville blocked an
early punt and returned it
for a touchdown and then
blocked a Winder-Barrow
field-goal attempt later in
the first half and convert
ed it into a 72-yard touch
down drive to go up 14-0.
Down 14-7 late in the
third quarter, the Bull
doggs had an opportuni
ty to go down the field
and tie the game after
Gainesville missed a 37-
yard field-goal try. And
they got off to a promis
ing start, working the ball
down to the 10-yard line
before the Gainesville de
fense stiffened and forced
a fourth-and-long situa
tion. A dropped pass by
the Bulldoggs on the goal
line turned the ball over on
downs, and the Red Ele
phants immediately ripped
off a 93-yard touchdown
run to go back up by two
scores.
“If I had a pencil eras
er and could go back and
erase those big plays and
our poor play in the red
zone, I would,” Dudley
said. “Overall, we were
pleased with the effort. It
was totally necessary, and
I was glad that we got to
see a quality opponent like
Gainesville. There was
more good than bad out
there, but a lot of things
to work on. I was not real
pleased with our execu
tion, and there’s things we
have to improve upon if
we’re going to have a shot
against Apalachee.”
The main key, Dud
ley said, will be elimi
nating the big plays by
Apalachee, which returns
its top offensive playmak-
er from last year in senior
Colby Sikes, a quick and
elusive running back who
can also catch passes out
of the backfield and pose
problems for opposing
secondaries.
“He’s their go-to guy,”
Dudley said of Sikes, who
headlines a multi-pronged
Apalachee backfield that
also includes sophomore
Prince Tate, who put to
gether an encouraging
freshman season for the
Wildcats, as well as se
niors Deven White and
Jacob McCluskey among
others. “They have a great
deal of speed in their run
game, I think maybe even
more so than we’ve seen
in the past couple of years.
They’re very dangerous
and we’ve got to avoiding
giving up the home run
shots, those long runs that
(Sikes) has made a good
career on. But if you over
play him, the other guys
will get you. So we’ve got
to be disciplined.”
As it breaks in two new
quarterbacks with soph
omore Howard Holloway
and senior Isaiah Skinner
both seeing action in cer
tain situations, Apalachee,
already a run-heavy of
fense in the Wing-T/pistol
hybrid system, will likely
lean heavily on the back-
field and a veteran offen
sive line that returns mul
tiple starters — including
senior left tackle Elijah
Harris, who was an all-re
gion selection in GHSA
8-AAAAA last fall.
“Hopefully we do a
good job of executing our
misdirection stuff and cre
ate some chances for big
plays,” Lotti said.
Both coaches have
struck an optimistic note
on their lines of scrim
mage on the offensive and
defensive sides, and those
matchups will likely prove
pivotal in the final out
come.
“We’re definitely going
to have to have a big night
up front,” Lotti said, point
ing to what he sees as an
explosive Winder-Barrow
offense in its own right.
Junior Conyer Smith,
who took over as the
Bulldoggs’ starting quar
terback halfway through
the 2020 season, is back
this year and is expected
to be ready to go for the
opener despite leaving
last week’s scrimmage
early with a bruised knee.
Smith has a handful of re
ceivers to throw to, with
senior Stewart Allen chief
among them, while junior
Aidan Thompson leads
a committee of running
backs looking to replace
the production of graduat
ed 1,000-yard rusher J.C.
Green.
“We need to be able to
shut their run down and
tackle in space, which is
something we’ve not done
a good job of,” Lotti said.
“(Smith) has done a good
job settling into (the quar
terback) role for them.
He’s a big physical kid
with a big arm, but he can
also run it.”
“They’re big up front on
defense and stout,” Dudley
said of Apalachee, “so we
need to do a good job of
being balanced. You’ve got
some of the best matchups
in this game up front, so
there’s a good probabili
ty they could cancel each
other out. The first game
is always about condition
ing, turnovers and penal
ties and how well you can
manage all those.”
And though the game is,
for practical purposes, one
of a handful of non-region
games for both teams with
no bearing on postsea
son prospects, the pride
stakes aren’t lost on Dud
ley or Lotti, who believe
the game should offer up
a good test of the intensity
of their teams.
“We realize it’s an emo
tional game that means a
little more than maybe the
other non-region games,
and we’re looking for
ward to it,” Dudley said.
“They’ve got a really good
team, and I think you’ll
see both teams hammer
ing tongs right down to the
very end.”
Photo by Kyle Funderburk
Apalachee’s Gustavo Solis (21)and the Wildcats’ defense will be looking to hold down Winder-Barrow’s offeense
in the 18th “Battle of Barrow” Friday, Aug. 20.
Photo by Scott Thompson
Winder-Barrow senior Alex Cha returns as part of a
veteran Bulldogg secondary that will look to limit
Apalachee’s big plays Friday.
August 11, 2021
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Photo by Scott Thompson
Winder-Barrow junior quarterback Conyer Smith
will be looking for a big game against the Bulldoggs’
cross-county rivals this week in the 2021 season opener
for both teams.
The
4 Barrow News-Journal
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