Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
PAGE 3B
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WBHS
continued from 1B
AHS
continued from IB
is hopefully starting to come around, and the kicking
game has gotten better.”
Habersham lost most of its offensive production
from a year ago with the graduation of two players —
quarterback Joshua Pickett and running back Jackson
Clouatre — and has been relying on several different
players to try to fill that void.
Sophomore Carson Parker has taken the reins at
quarterback and presents a dual threat, accounting
for six touchdowns through four games — three
through the air and three on the ground. Simarcus
Burney (team-high 376 rushing yards, 5.7 yards a
carry and two touchdowns) adds another threat in the
back field.
As he adjusts to being the varsity starter in Habersh
am’s spread offense, Parker has faced some struggles
in the passing game, throwing seven interceptions
and completing only 43.8% of his passes through
four games. And the Bulldoggs, who have excelled
in intercepting passes the last two seasons and have a
veteran-laden secondary, will be focused on prevent
ing Parker from getting comfortable.
“The thing about that is he’s probably their top
rusher, and so we’ve got to be able to control him
in the run game and can’t let him eat us up with the
play-action pass,” Dudley said. “And then on offense,
we want to get the ball down the field in the passing
game better than we have in the past few weeks. And
some of that has got to be the play-action set up by
the running game. Every aspect of football plays to
gether, and we’re always striving to be balanced and
make sure we’re taking what the opponent gives us.
“It’ll be a good game, up in the mountains, with
a good, fall atmosphere. We had a great win (last
week) against a tough Cedar Shoals team, and we’ve
got to keep that trend up and win the turnover battle
(against Habersham) because that’s one stat that can
really make the difference.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
Apalachee (0-4, 0-1 region) led
17-10 at halftime before the Glad
iators tied the game in the third
quarter on a 31-yard touchdown
run — a play during which Clarke
Central’s quarterback appeared to
cross the line of scrimmage be
fore stepping back behind it and
getting off an overhanded option
pitch to a receiver, who took it
the distance. Then, trailing 24-17
with less than two minutes left
and punting from deep in their
own end zone, the Wildcats drew
a roughing the kicker call on a
punt attempt and thought they had
recovered a loose ball when the
punt appeared to touch the Clarke
Central returner, setting off a mad
scramble for the ball. Officials,
though, ruled that the ball had
not touched a Gladiator, costing
Apalachee about 40 yards of field
position. A loose ball on an errant
backward pass by the Wildcats
with under a minute to go was
then scooped up by Clarke Cen
tral and returned for a touchdown
to seal the Gladiators’ victory.
Minus that last snafu, “it’s prob
ably the best we’ve played since
I’ve gotten here (in 2018), consid
ering who we were playing,” Lotti
said. “No matter what seemed to
get thrown at us, we just kept bat
tling back. It was a very physical
game on both sides of the ball, and
I felt like our kids grew up a little
bit. And I believe the kids felt that
way, too. Now it’s about how we
prepare so we don’t take a back
ward step. Our opponents haven’t
been easy so far, and now we’ve
got another powerhouse coming
in.”
Eastside, a state quarterfinal
team last fall that has gotten off
to another strong start this year,
enters Friday’s matchup at 3-1
overall and is coming off a 65-0
blasting of Johnson-Gainesville in
its region opener last week. The
Eagles led 51-0 at halftime over
the Knights and rolled up 481
rushing yards, including 181 and
two touchdowns on just nine car
ries from talented senior running
back Dallas Johnson, who has 687
yards on the ground at 8.6 yards
a carry and eight touchdowns
through four games.
Johnson, a senior with multiple
Division I offers, and his fellow
backs run behind a big offen
sive line that features 6-foot-5,
325-pound senior guard and two-
way starter Jalen Farmer, who has
committed to Florida. The Eagles
also boast another big D-I pros
pect in junior inside linebacker
Jean Claude Joseph III, who has
collected offers so far from Mich
igan, Mississippi State, Tennessee
and Maryland among others.
“They’ve got dudes, as we call
them, all across the board,” Lot
ti said. “And we’ve got to come
ready and stay focused.”
Meanwhile, Apalachee will
hope to build off the continued
improvement Lotti has seen from
the offense the last two games.
The Wildcats tallied over 200
yards rushing last week before a
10-yard loss on a fumble and the
yardage lost on the lateral that
went for the scoop-and-score by
Clarke Central bumped them back
down. Senior Jeff Roberts had a
breakout game with 108 yards on
11 carries, including a 77-yard
touchdown run on the second play
from scrimmage, and has shown
he can provide the Wildcats with
a third weapon in the backfield to
go along with fellow senior Colby
Sikes and sophomore Prince Tate.
“We saw some really good things
on offense before Clarke Central
made some great adjustments in
the second half,” Lotti said. “But
then our defense stepped up and
kept us in it. We were really dis
couraged by how the game ended,
but we’re trying to play the cards
we’re dealt. We know we’re going
to have our hands full again with
Eastside and that they’re a team
that’s going to be in contention
to go deep in the state playoffs. If
they’re gracious enough to give us
something, we’ve got to cash in.
We did a much better job of stay
ing out of our own way, and we’ve
got to continue to stay fundamen
tally sound and fight on.
“Because we’re so close.”
BCA
continued from IB
surface at Victor Lord
Park, and we were very
appreciative for the op
portunity to use that facil
ity. But I think it’s a point
of pride. (Athletic direc
tor) Tim Early and our
other administrators did a
great job researching and
Ending the right company
to do this, and the timing
has worked really well."
Friday’s game should
come with significant
build-up, as BCA returns
home with its first-ev
er 5-0 record, having
outscored its opponents
160-62 over the course of
the road winning streak.
Last week, in their lon
gest trip of the season
to Damascus near the
Georgia-Florida line, the
Knights picked up argu
ably their most impres
sive win of the year to
date, topping Southwest
Georgia Academy 35-14.
BCA got another strong
performance from junior
quarterback Ben Reed,
who threw for 197 yards
on 9-of-13 passing and
two touchdowns while
adding a pair of scores on
the ground and finishing
with 56 yards on 11 car
ries. Sophomore running
back Joshua Adams went
over the 100-yard rushing
mark again, racking up
166 yards on 20 carries
and a 4-yard touchdown
run while also catching a
33-yard touchdown pass
from Reed. Senior Chan
dler Cavoretto added a
55-yard touchdown re
ception.
“In football, we talk
about quality wins, and
every win is special, but I
feel like out of the games
we’ve won the last couple
years this was probably
our signature win to this
point, because, perenni
ally (Southwest Georgia
is) one of the top four
or so teams in their clas
sification,” said Lane,
whose Knights are one
of two undefeated teams
remaining in GISA Class
AAA — the other being
two-time defending state
champion and Region 4
foe John Milledge Acade
my, winners of 28 straight
games.
“I thought our kids han
dled the game very well,”
Lane said of the Sept. 17
victory over the Warriors.
“Everything seemed to
hit just perfect for us, and
a pretty large group of
people went down there
to support our kids. We
played a pretty complete
game, and it was just
gratifying to see their
hard work pay off.”
Including the win at
SWGA, BCA has now
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Atlanta Highivay in Statham, 7 miles East of Winder
avenged three losses
from its 2020 record and
will have the chance to
atone for another one Fri
day against Towns Coun
ty. The Indians, a GHSA
Class A program, enter
the game at 3-1 and win
ners of two straight and
are coming off a 38-17
triumph last week over
Lakeview Academy.
Senior running back
Kyle Oakes, who had a
big game for the Indians
in their 28-14 win over
the Knights in Hiawassee
a year ago, returns and
is the main threat for the
Towns County offense,
while Lane described the
Towns County defense as
“stingy” with a talented
three-man front.
“Coach (Jason) Roque-
more has done a fantastic
job there. He’s in year
three now, and you can
see how their program
has gradually improved,”
Lane said. “They’re a
fundamentally-sound,
well-coached team.
These guys present may
be a different challenge
than what we’ve seen to
this point. Running back-
wise, this is probably the
best kid we’ve seen so far.
They’re a physical group,
and, again, it’s going to
come down to blocking
and tackling. Hopefully
our kids will be ready for
the challenge.”
Lane said he recognizes
the anticipation of a team
that is having unprec
edented success at this
point in the year finally
getting to play in front of
a larger chunk of its fan
base and student body,
but that the Knights are
sticking to the same even-
keel mentality from week
to week.
“You have to always
keep things in perspec
tive,” he said. “One of the
things we’ve talked about
is you have to be humble
with the success you’ve
had, but hungry to contin
ue the journey. Our kids
are typical teenagers, and
we know they’re excited
about playing at home.
But as coaches, we look
at it a little bit differently
and try to break it down
into one week at a time.
We’re trying to go 1-0
each week, and hopefully
you can add up enough of
those 1-0 weeks to make
a successful season at the
end.
“We’ve got the road
routine down pretty
good; now let’s see if we
can figure out how to do
things when we’re not
having to go on the road.”
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