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O
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Barrow News-Journal
Award-winning local sports coverage
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Phone: 706-367-5233
Fax: 706-367-8056
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
Section B
★★★★
FOOTBALL WEEK 10 PREVIEW
AHS still in
With three weeks left in the
high school football regular sea
son in Geoigia, Clarke Central
has a firm grip on first place in
GHSA Region 8-AAAAA and
can clinch its second straight re
gion title this week with a win
overLoganville.
But after that, the state play
off picture is much murkier, and
Apalachee finds itself right in
the middle of that jumble. The
Wildcats, who are coming off a
42-0 thrashing of last-place John-
son-Gainesville last week, enter
their home matchup with Wal
nut Grove, set for 7:30 p.m. Fri
day, Oct. 22, in a six-way tie for
second in the region with three
playoff spots up in the air. In fact,
their final three opponents — the
Warriors, Loganville and Jackson
County — are all part of that six-
team tie, as are Eastside, which
they already beat, and Greenbrier,
which they lost to.
The best way for Apalachee (2-
5,2-2 region) to assure itself of its
first postseason berth since 2009
is to win its next three games.
That would also put the Wildcats
in play to host a first-round play
off game. Two wins in their next
three could get them in the play
offs, but that may require them
coming out on top of tiebreakers,
depending on the scenario.
Against Walnut Grove, the
Wildcats will be looking for
more of the success it had last
week, when they scored on all
six of their first-half possessions
and forced three turnovers in their
domination of Johnson. Running
backs Jeff Roberts (five carries,
58 yards, three touchdowns)
and Prince Tate (three carries,
82 yards, two touchdowns) had
brief but spectacular nights and
have given Apalachee two more
weapons in the backfield of the
run-heavy Wing-T offense to
go along with top rusher Colby
Sikes (679 yards, 7.6 yards per
carry, five touchdowns).
The Warriors (34, 2-2), who
were ofF last week, are hoping to
bounce back from a 40-7 loss to
Clarke Central on Oct 8 and will
be looking to snap a three-year
losing streak against the Wildcats.
They have struggled offensively
running for second-place region finish with three games left
Photo by Scott Thompson
Apalachee’s Jahmal Wallace stops Johnson’s Edgar Vazquez during the first half of Friday’s game. The Wildcats rolled to a 42-0 victory.
this season, averaging just over
12 points a game.
BCATO OPEN
REGION PLAY AT
JOHN Mil J EDGE
Bethlehem Christian Acade
my ran into a buzz saw last week
in two-time defending GISA
Class AA champion Thomas
Jefferson Academy, allowing
over400rushing yards in a40-14
home loss, just their second set
back of the season.
But things aren’t likely to get
any easier for the Knights (6-2)
this week as they take the trip
down to Milledgeville to take
on undefeated, two-time defend
ing AAA champ John Milledge
Academy in both teams’ Region
4-AAA opener.
The Knights fell behind 14-0
after a quarter in their Oct. 15
game against Thomas Jefferson
(7-1) and couldn’t recover. Josh
ua Adams, who finished with 97
yards on 18 carries, helped the
Knights cut the lead in half in
the second quarter with a 6-yard
touchdown run, but the Jaguars
responded with a 40-yard touch
down run and carried a 14-point
advantage into the half. Thomas
Jefferson tacked on two more
scores in the third quarter to blow
the game open before BCA
scored its second touchdown of
the night in the fourth on a 2-yard
pass from Ben Reed to Lawson
Wooten. The Jaguars, though,
returned the ensuing kickoff 72
yards for a score. Reed finished
9-of-19 passing for 163 yards for
the Knights and was intercepted
twice by the Thomas Jefferson
defense.
Against John Milledge, BCA
is running into a team that has
won 33 straight games dating
back to the start of the 2019 sea
son and has won 45 of its last 46,
the last loss coming to Frederica
Academy in the 2018 title game.
The Trojans, who had won
win via forfeit on Oct. 8, hav
en’t played since Oct 1 but will
enter Friday’s game averaging
40.5 points a game and allowing
just over 4 a contest. They’ve not
been scored on since a 31-3 win
over Bulloch Academy on Sept.
17.
John Milledge has had an ex
plosive and balanced offense to
this point in the year with junior
quarterback Briggs Eady leading
the charge. Easy has thrown for
914 yards and 11 touchdowns
with no interceptions while com
pleting 72 percent of his passes,
and he has 376 rushing yards
with an average of 7 per carry
and five scores on the ground.
Sophomore Javian Butts and
senior Chaze Goddard give the
Trojans two more strong options
out of the backfield, while senior
Marcus Prestwood has been
Eady’s top go-to guy at receiver.
Kickoff Friday is set for
7:30 p.m.
WINDER-BARROW OFF
THIS WEEK WITH BU
FORD LOOMING
Winder-Barrow will have its
second open week of the year
this week as the Bulldoggs pre
pare for a home showdown next
week with top-ranked and two-
time defending state champion
Buford.
After their offense struggled
mightily in back-to-back losses
the previous two weeks, the Bull
doggs righted the ship Oct. 15,
picking up a 35-7 win over Cen
tral Gwinnett at W. Clair Harris
Stadium behind a dominant run
game and a strong performance
from junior running back Aidan
Thompson.
Thompson scored four first-
half touchdowns, including
three in the second quarter, and
finished with 193 yards on 25
carries, as the Bulldoggs evened
their overall record at 44 and
their Region 8-AAAAAA mark
at 2-2.
The Bulldoggs built a 21-0
lead before the Black Knights (1 -
7, 04) logged their lone touch
down of the night. Thompson
helped Winder-Barrow respond
with his fourth touchdown of
the night, and Caiden Carruth
capped the scoring with a touch
down run in the fourth quarter.
CROSS COUNTRY ROUNDUP
BASA boys take fourth, Carroll fifth at Athens Christian meet
The Barrow Arts and Sciences Academy
boys’ team had five top-50 finishers Oct. 14
as the Blazers placed fourth overall out of 14
schools in the Kent Kramer Classic at Athens
Christian School.
Blazer teammates Jacob Carruthers and Mi
chael Fletcher finished 19th and 20th, respec
tively (19:18.97 and 19:19.29). to lead BASA.
Noah Norris finished 27th (19:52.76), Stephen
Casey was 37th (20:27.76), and Ajay Carroll
came in 45th (20:51.71). Athens Christian was
the team winner and had the individual winner
(Nathan Smith, 16:31.37).
In the girls’ race, BASA’s Smita Carroll fin
ished fifth overall (22:50.44) to lead the Lady
Blazers, who finished ninth overall out of 12
teams. Emma Busbee finished 24th (24:48.95).
and Devan Howard took 35th (25:54.30). Lyn
don Academy’s Katelynn Dollar was the indi
vidual winner (19:05.29), while Tallulah Falls
took the team victory.
BASA’s teams will be back in action Oct. 28
in the GHSA Region 8-A Public championships
at Social Circle High School. The girls’ meet
will start at 4:30 p.m., followed by the boys.
APALACHEE TEAMS HAVE FINAL
TUNE-UP BEFORE REGION
In other local action last week, Apalachee’s
girls finished ninth out of 18 teams and the
Wildcat boys finished 13th out of 20 teams Oct.
12 in the Mountain Invitational at Unicoi State
Park in Helen.
Averie Akin finished 16th overall (22:31) to
lead the Lady Wildcats, while her teammates
Katie Harper (24:32), Hailey Tedder (24:34)
and Abigail Zapata (24:35) finished 47th, 49th
and 50th. Austin Sigman (17th, 18:35) and Luke
Sigman (19:03) were the top Apalachee boys’
runners.
North Hall’s girls were the team winner and
had the individual winner (Clodagh O’Bryant.
19:57), while Chestatee took first in the boys’
race and Banks County’s Buck Ledford (16:30)
crossed the finish line first.
Apalachee’s teams will be back in action
at the same course Oct. 28 for the Region
8-AAAAA championships, starting with the
girls at 2:15 p.m., followed by the boys
WBHS TO HOST
REGION MEET SATURDAY
Meanwhile, Winder-Barrow’s teams are set
to host the Region 8-AAAAAA championships
Saturday, Oct. 23, at their home course behind
Russell Middle School.
The boys’ race will get started at 8 a.m., fol
lowed by the girls.
The WBHS boys are going for a second
straight region title.
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