SPORTS
Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
Unties
gainesvilletimes.com
Thursday, November 1,2018
HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY I State Preview
TRAINING FOR A TITLE
Gainesville’s boys cross country squad practices sprints Wednesday at the school’s track.
Gainesville boys, girls both earned spot to
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
the state meet
The Gainesville High girls cross country team practice on Wednesday.
BY NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesvilletimes.com
When Gainesville cross country coach
Richard Corbett took over both the girls
and boys teams earlier this year, he
knew he wanted to change the culture
early on.
Instead of beginning practice at the
start of the school year like the previ
ous regimes typically had, he decided
to set up a summer practice regiment.
Corbett’s program opened on June 11th
of this year, and he said he wasn’t sure
what to expect in terms of turnout.
The 40 or 50 students that showed up
from day one were both a pleasant sur
prise and a sign of what was to come for
Gainesville cross country.
“At that point, I kind of knew, ok,
we’re going to have something going
here,” Corbett said.
As the season winds to a close with the
Class 6A meet taking place this Friday
and Saturday at Carrolton High School,
Corbett’s suspicions have proven to be
correct.
The Gainesville teams swept the 8-6A
region meet on Oct. 25, with both boys
and girls teams earning automatic bids
to the state championship in Carrolton.
It was the first time either team had won
the region since moving up to Class 6A
three years ago, and the first time the
girls have ever qualified in the higher
classification.
“Since it is our first state meet
together, I feel like we’ll just give it our
best,” Gainesville runner Ashley Sosa
said. “As a team, I think we’re going to
do great. I believe in my team, so I feel
like we’re going to be great.”
Sosa’s confidence is a feeling that
began with the renewed passion Corbett
brought to the program and one that
has permeated both the boys and girls
squads from the start of the season.
Corbett said his relationship with the
athletes is what pushed both teams over
the top in terms of dedication to the
program, and the results have already
shown. His passion and enthusiasm for
cross country, combined with positive
results from the get-go urged the pro
gram on to its most successful regular
season since changing classifications.
“Once (coach Corbett) got here, we
had a lot of changes,” said senior Miguel
State schedule
Friday’s schedule
■ Class 6A boys: 9 a.m.
■ Class 6A girls: 9:45 a.m.
■ Class 5A boys: 10:30 a.m.
■ Class 5A girls: 11:15a.m.
■ Class A private schools boys: noon
Saturday’s schedule
■ Class 3A boys: 11 a.m.
■ Class 3A girls: 11:45 a.m.
■ Class 4A boys: 12:30 p.m.
■ Class4Agirls:1:15 p.m.
Lopez, who finished first individually
in the region meet. “He got everything
right. He got everybody to come to prac
tice. It changed a lot. It got bigger.”
Corbett’s presence had a particularly
strong effect on a girls team that had
not gotten much attention from the pro
gram’s previous head coach.
“The girls felt that they were kind of
being overlooked, overshadowed,” Cor
bett said. “... I think they started see
ing what the boys were doing and (said)
‘Hey, if we buy in on this same program,
we’re going to be that good.’ I think it
State qualifying teams
Class A
Riverside Military Academy;
Individual, Luke Gaddis, Lakeview
Academy
Class AAA
North Hall boys and girls
Cherokee Bluff boys and girls
Class 4A
Flowery Branch boys and girls
Class 5A
Johnson boys and girls
Class 6A
Gainesville boys and girls
was just a steady buy-in, just trusting and
seeing the attention I was giving them.”
By the midpoint of the season, several
members of the girls team had even
approached Corbett with their beliefs
that this would be the year the Lady Red
Elephants would qualify for the state
meet.
But Corbett was already way ahead of
them.
“I had already booked nine hotel
rooms back in June,” he said. “I felt like
■ Please see STATE, 2B
ATU\NTA FALCONS
Looking
for depth
after bye
Falcons doing best to
patch squad together
Associated Press
Injuries have piled up at a staggering rate
for the Atlanta Falcons.
They’ve lost both starting safeties and both
starting guards for the sea
son. Their best linebacker,
Deion Jones, won’t return
for another two weeks at the
earliest.
Their top running back,
Devonta Freeman, is out
until December. Their place-
kicker and career franchise
scoring leader, Matt Bryant,
is iffy to return this week at
Washington.
And starting cornerback Robert Alford was
added to the injury report Wednesday after
being held out with an ankle injury.
Despite so much hardship, defensive
tackle Grady Jarrett likes that the front office
decided to solve the issues in-house and let the
NFL trade deadline pass without a move.
“You can see that we’re an organization
that believes in our own players,” Jarrett said.
“The next guy stepped up and guys that didn’t
have much experience, now
their play is going up. It’s
been tough, but we haven’t
complained about it. It’s not
going to be an excuse, ever.”
Jarrett gave the Falcons a
big lift nine days ago, return
ing from an ankle injury
that sidelined him for two
games and getting two sacks
in a narrow win over the Jarrett
New York Giants. They’ll
need more players to do something similar as
Atlanta (3-4) returns from a bye week to visit
the Redskins (5-2).
Ben Garland will make his first start at right
guard after Brandon Fusco’s season ended
against New York. Wes Schweitzer, who made
an emergency start at center Oct. 14 against
Tampa Bay, will make his fifth start at left
guard.
Ninth-year veteran Zane Beadles, signed
this week after getting no offers in free agency,
is getting a crash course at backup tackle with
right-side starter Ryan Schraeder struggling at
times this year.
The Falcons have allowed 10 sacks and
27 additional hits on quarterback Matt Ryan
while losing their first two road games.
The refigured line could face a long after
noon in trying to stop Matt
Ioannidis, Ryan Kerrigan
and Jonathan Allen, who
have combined for 14 sacks
and 22 QB hits.
Ryan has thrown 13 touch
down passes and no intercep
tions in his past five games
and likely won’t hand off the
ball much against a defense
that allows just 80 yards rush
ing per game. But Atlanta is
finally healthy at receiver with Mohamed
Sanu and Calvin Ridley to complement star
wideout Julio Jones.
“We have a lot of really good playmakers
who can stretch the field,” center Alex Mack
said. “It gives (opponents) a lot of ground to
cover and it lets you move down the field fast
and make it difficult for defenses.”
Deion Jones returned to the field Wednes
day, but worked on the side with trainers as
he recovers from a broken right foot sustained
in the season-opening loss at Philadelphia. He
can’t get back soon enough for a defense that
ranks third-worst in scoring average and yards
allowed per game.
If Alford can’t play, rookie Isaiah Oliver
will take his place opposite left cornerback
Desmond Trufant. Oliver, a second-round
draft pick, has made one start and gave up the
winning TD catch against Cincinnati, but has
improved with experience.
Falcons at Redskins
When: 1 p.m. Sunday
Where: Washington
TV: Fox
Ryan
Jones
COLLEGE FOOTBALL I SEC Banter
No. 4 LSU
No. 1 Alabama faces No. 4 LSU in
Baton Rouge this Saturday in an SEC
West slug fest, a contest carrying con
ference and national championship
implications.
To the winner goes a perch atop col
lege football’s toughest division and
the inside track to the SEC Champion
ship Game, not to mention the College
Football Playoff.
CBS will televise the evening affair,
with kickoff slated for 8 pm ET,
marking the 8th straight year the net
work will showcase LSU-Alabama in
primetime.
Speaking of primetime, this much
not proven
is certain: Saturday’s sun will find its
home in the western sky, darkness will
descend along the banks of the Missis
sippi River just outside Tiger Stadium,
and it will be... Saturday night in
Death Valley.
LSU-Alabama is an annual clash
of Southeastern Conference heavy
weights. Every snap, block, tackle,
catch, punt, kick, turnover, point, and
bad referee call - all are magnified
in this game, all are potentially game
defining. With an average halftime
score over the past 10 years of Ala
bama 9, LSU 5, quite literally every
inch counts.
to be on the level of Alabama
A price is paid for those precious
inches, as the game itself is heavy,
big, and bludgeoned. Noting the
notoriously physical element of this
matchup, former LSU head coach
Les Miles described the hits deliv
ered between Alabama and LSU as
“sincere.”
Elite talent is featured prominently,
with future NFL stars all over the
field, pieces of machinery in the pro
fessional football player-producing
factories that are LSU and Alabama.
The stakes are seemingly always
high when Alabama and LSU collide,
and this year is no different.
It is an iconic college football
rivalry in its purest form, alongside
the classics of Michigan-Ohio State,
Auburn-Alabama, and others.
Except, it’s not. It’s not a rivalry at
all anymore.
It is, instead, the rivalry that isn’t.
A true rivalry involves some degree
of back-and-forth. Rivals trade victo
ries and defeats. Perhaps one team in
a rivalry — given the natural ebb and
flow of football, coaching changes, a
run of good luck — might win three or
four straight.
BEN PREV0ST
SECBanter@hotmail.
com
■ Please see PREV0ST, 3B
