Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2021
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
PAGE 3B
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Barrow News-Journal
searching for sports stringers
Smith
continued from 1B
The Barrow News-Journal is seeking
help with its weekly sports coverage in
Barrow County and is asking those in
terested in freelance writing and string
ing to contact us.
Experience with sportswriting and a
general familiarity with the high school
sports we cover are preferred. Experi
ence with photography and willingness
to take photos at events are also pre
ferred.
Those interested can contact Barrow
News-Journal editor Scott Thompson at
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com.
You are also welcome to submit re
sumes and any relevant writing samples.
At the end of daily practices, in the locker
room after victory, he is always reminding
his young charges that the best way to lose
exalted status is to beat yourself.
Teams always reflect the personality
of their head coach. This Bulldog team is
being conditioned to not take anything for
granted.
Those who were around in 1980 see an
attitude with Kirby’s sixth team that reflects
a throwback to the last Bulldog team to win
a national championship. This is a BIG
TEAM, little me, team. It has exceptional
talent. It has excellent leadership and telling
depth.
While I am advocate of worrying about
the next opponent, the next series, the next
play, I have reached the conclusion that the
team that can best beat Georgia, is Georgia.
Loran Smith is a syndicated columnist
around the state and a University of Geor
gia sports radio announcer. He can be
reached at loransmith@sports.uga.edu.
Football continued from 1B
Photo by Scott Thompson
Bethlehem Christian Academy will try to snap a two-game skid this week when it travels to Westfield School.
they stand against what has
become a national power
house. And that’ll be no
different for Winder-Bar
row on Friday when it
welcomes the top-ranked
Wolves to W. Clair Har
ris Stadium for a Region
8-AAAAAA battle.
The Bulldoggs (4-4, 2-2
region) are coming off a
bye week that followed
a 35-7 win against Cen
tral Gwinnett where they
showed life again offen
sively after lackluster per
formances against Dacu-
la and Shiloh and stayed
right in the mix for a third
straight playoff berth with
this week’s game and next
week’s key matchup at La
nier, the regular-season fi
nale lingering.
“The open week came
at a good time for us, and
we’ve been working on
some stuff,” Winder-Bar
row coach Ed Dudley said.
“When you’re playing the
No. 1 team in the state,
we’re really focusing on
us and trying to play mis
take-free. They turn close
games into blowouts quick
ly by capitalizing on other
teams’ mistakes, so we’re
focusing on us and trying
to get better.”
Buford (7-1, 4-0) comes
into Friday’s game aver
aging almost 36 points a
game on the year while
allowing a shade under 7
points, but it has kicked it
into another gear against
region opponents. Since a
7-0 loss to Chaminade-Ma-
donna (Florida) on Sept.
17, the Wolves have posted
four straight shutouts — all
in region play, including a
56-0 thumping of Lanier
last week — and have aver
aged 48 points on that span.
And, just to get it out of
the way, Buford’s lineup is
about as deep as it’s been
in the last decade in terms
of recruits. The Wolves
boast four senior Power
Five commits on offense
— quarterback Ashton
Daniels (Stanford), run
ning backs CJ Clinkscales
(Boston College) and Vic
tor Venn (Colorado) and
receiver Isaiah Bond (Flor
ida). On defense, the list is
even more impressive with
six players committed to
FBS schools — safeties
Jake Pope (Alabama) and
Malik Spencer (Michigan
State), linebackers Aubrey
Smith (Colorado) and VJ
Payne (Kansas State), cor-
nerback Ryland Gundy
(Pittsburgh) and defensive
lineman Josiah Wyatt (Ap
palachian State).
A daunting challenge for
sure, but, for Dudley, it all
comes down to what his
own team can control.
“You really have to be
able to execute your normal
offense and defense against
a team like Buford,” he
said. “If you go in thinking
you’re going to blitz every
play and really just disrupt
what they can do, you’re
going to make mistakes
that they’ll feast off of. If
you think you can run a
bunch of tricks on them of
fensively, it’s just not going
to happen. So, for us, we’ve
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got to get better at blocking
and tackling and limit their
yards after contact and
yards after catch because
they make big plays off of
those.
“Defensively, we’ve
been really strong most of
the year and I’m proud of
that unit. And offensively,
to have a chance against
them, we’ve got to find
ways to move the ball. At
the end of the day, our kids
and coaches want to play
the very best competition,
and we’re looking forward
to seeing what we can do
this week.”
BETHLEHEM
CHRISTIAN AT
WESTFIELD
Bethlehem Christian
Academy ran into the
meat-grinder portion of
its schedule the last two
games with blowout losses
to a pair of defending GISA
state champions, including
a 53-14 thumping at the
hands of two-time reign
ing AAA title holder John
Milledge Academy.
The Trojans jumped out
to a 47-0 halftime lead be
hind a potent rushing attack
and had the game well in
hand before BCA notched
touchdowns on a pass from
Ben Reed to Ty Whiting
and a run by David Walter-
house.
But. despite being out-
scored 93-28 over the last
two weeks and seeing their
AAA power ranking drop
to seventh — GISA is us
ing the MaxPreps computer
ratings system to determine
playoff seeding and will
take the top 10 teams in
the final rankings — BCA
coach Bruce Lane believes
his team is still well-posi
tioned as the Knights enter
their final two regular-sea
son games, including an
important and difficult test
at Westfield School on Fri
day night in Perry.
“Every time you go out
and play somebody, you
learn something about
yourself, and, while we’ve
improved, we’ve still got
to trust the process of try
ing to build a culture of
winning here,” said Lane,
whose team now stands
at 6-3 overall. “We’ve
learned, playing against
two programs that have
long been established, that
there’s a process you have
to go through in getting
there. We’ve made some
progress. We’re sitting here
with six wins. All of our
goals are still in front of
us to win more games than
any other team in school
history, to make the play
offs, and possibly host and
win a playoff game.
“I think it’s good to play
folks like we have the last
two weeks, and, like I told
those teams in the post
game huddles, those are the
programs we’re trying to
emulate here.”
BCA will face another
one of those “established”
programs Lane talks about
in its trip to Westfield this
week. The Hornets (6-1)
have been rolling lately
with five straight victories,
including a 50-14 rout of
Creekside Christian last
week, and have averaged
40.6 points during that
span.
Junior quarterback Hunt
er Kirkley, a Dodge Coun
ty transfer, has thrown for
1,038 yards and 14 touch
downs while completing
62% of his passes and
also has 12 rushing touch
downs under his belt while
racking up 516 yards on
the ground at a clip of 8.3
yards a carry. Senior Por
ter Faulk leads the team
in rushing with 743 yards
and eight touchdowns and
has touchdown reception,
while senior Noah Black
mon (23 catches, 6 touch
downs) has been Kirkley’s
top receiving target.
“The quarterback is the
trigger guy who makes
things go, and they’ve got a
solid offensive line that can
put some stress on you,”
said Lane, who was West
field’s head coach prior to
joining BCA and will make
his first trip back there
since leaving following the
2019 season.
“I love those kids down
there and am happy to see
them continue to have suc
cess. They’ve got a great
fan base,” said Lane, who
will look for his new team
to get a massive victory
to help with playoff posi
tioning. The Knights enter
this week rated seventh in
AAA. which would put
them on track to host a
first-round game in the 10-
team field. But losses to
the Hornets and Creekside
the final two weeks would
lessen that possibility and
could jeopardize their play
off chances altogether.
“Our kids have prepared
really well. We really hav
en’t had a bad practice this
year, and our attitude has
been great despite coming
off two bad losses,” Lane
said. “We’re at the point
as a program where we’re
still worrying about our
selves in our preparations.
We can’t control our op
ponent’s skill level, depth
or size, but we can control
our effort and attitude. We
know we could fall com
pletely out of the picture if
we don’t take care of our
business, but that’ll all sort
itself out. We just have to
make sure we’re playing
fundamentally sound, with
effort and enthusiasm.”
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