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Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
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gainesvilletimes.com
Thursday, November 8, 2018
GA. TECH FOOTBALL
GERRY BROOME I Associated Press
North Carolina quarterback Nathan Elliott has a pass
blocked by Georgia Tech’s Anree Saint-Amour during
a game on Saturday, Nov. 3 in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Jackets turn
up the heat
defensively
BY CHARLES ODUM
Associated Press
ATLANTA — Geor
gia Tech’s spread-option
offense has had more
help this season in post
ing big scoring totals.
The Yellow Jackets’
defense has set up a lot
of those points with a dra
matic jump in takeaways.
Georgia Tech (5-4, 3-3
Atlantic Coast Confer
ence) has won four of
five games, including two
straight, as it prepares to
host Miami (5-4, 2-3) on
Saturday night.
Led by senior defen
sive end Anree Saint-
Amour, the Yellow
Jackets’ defense has
forced 10 turn
overs in those
four wins, lead
ing to 59 points.
“When you’re
more aggressive,
you probably
get more take
aways,” coach
Paul Johnson
said Tuesday.
The more aggres
sive defense is result of
changes made by first-
year defensive coordina
tor Nate Woody and his
3-4 scheme.
In 2017, Georgia Tech
had only 10 takeaways on
defense. Only four of 128
FBS teams forced fewer
turnovers.
This season, the Yel
low Jackets have forced
20 turnovers, tied for the
eighth-highest total in the
nation.
The sudden jump in
big plays caught the
attention of Miami coach
Mark Richt.
“Their defense has
done a good job with turn
overs,” Richt said, noting
the Yellow Jackets “dou
bled their number. And
in this last game, they
Johnson
picked off three passes
and scored 17 points off
those turnovers.”
Last week’s 38-28
win at North Carolina
marked the fifth time
this season the Yellow
Jackets have forced
three turnovers. The
takeaways have helped
Johnson’s offense score
38.3 points per game to
rank third in the ACC.
Saint-Amour has three
forced fumbles and two
interceptions, including
one of the three thefts in
last week’s win. He also
has four sacks and 10
tackles for loss.
“I thought he would
be a really good player,”
Johnson said. “I
don’t know if you
ever know he’s
going to have
those kinds of
sacks and tack
les for negative
plays. I think
he’s a good fit
for what we do
defensively.”
Saint-Amour
set career highs with nine
tackles and three quar
terback hurries against
the Tar Heels.
Georgia Tech led 35-28
with less than three min
utes remaining when
Saint-Amour’s leaping
interception set up a
clinching field goal. On
Monday, he was named
the ACC’s defensive line
man of the week.
Saint-Amour said
Georgia Tech has added
more emphasis to forcing
turnovers this season.
“In practice we always
emphasize takeaways,”
he said. “Thursday we’re
always trying to get picks,
working on ball skills.
Just practicing every
day, every week and
■ Please see TECH, B2
NFL
Falcons sign
Bruce Irvin
BY CHARLES ODUM
Associated Press
The Atlanta Falcons
made a move to bolster
their lackluster pass rush
by agreeing to a one-year
deal with defensive end
Bruce Irvin on Wednes
day, reuniting the vet
eran with coach Dan
Quinn.
Irvin, cut by the Oak
land Raiders on Satur
day, became a free agent
after clearing waivers on
Tuesday with $3.8 million
remaining on his con
tract. The Falcons play at
Cleveland on Sunday.
Irvin, 31, is an Atlanta
native. He celebrated his
return home by posting
on his Twitter account
“Man it’s time! You can’t
put a price on the chance
for me to play for my
people and city! It’s big
ger than money!”
Irvin was expected
to arrive in Atlanta on
Wednesday night and
join practice on Thurs
day. Quinn said Irvin will
play against Cleveland.
The Falcons rank
27th in the league with
17 sacks. Takk McKin
ley has a team-leading
5 sacks, but Vic Beasley
has only one. Beasley led
the league with 15 sacks
in 2016.
The Falcons hope Irvin
adds new punch to the
pass rush.
“He’s definitely a big
addition to our team,”
said defensive tackle
Grady Jarrett, who has
three sacks. “As a player
and as a person, we know
the personality he plays
with matches what we
want to portray or have
up front, that dog men
tality. We’re ready to go
hunt.”
Quinn said the home
coming and the chance to
play in a familiar scheme
were motivating factors
■ Please see FALCONS, 3B
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PAYOFFS
A team mentality
AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Gainesville’s Quintavious Hayes, left, and Lenny Chatman celebrate after scoring a touchdown during a game against
Winder-Barrow on Friday, Oct. 19 at City Park Stadium.
Gainesville Highs Jordan Williams credits
team bonding activities for late-season success.
BY NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesvilletimes.com
It’s never easy to keep morale high
during a losing streak. For the Gaines
ville High football team, the secret
was in the sauce — the wing sauce,
that is.
The Red Elephants opened the
season with seven-straight losses, but
lineman Jordan Williams said team
bonding events kept the play
ers close through the tough
stretch of games. One of the
team’s favorite activities, win
or lose, is visiting Wild Wing
Cafe to take advantage of the
restaurant’s all-you-can eat
wing buffet.
Like most aspects of the
players’ lives, the trips quickly
turned into competitions. So
who among the players can
put down the most chicken wings in
one sitting?
“It’s between me or AJ [Toliver]”
Williams said. “Sometimes we team
up, and whichever team loses has to
pay the tip for everybody. ”
It wasn’t long before the Red Ele
phants went from eating wings to eat
ing W’s.
Following a Week 9 bye, Gainesville
rattled off a pair of victories against
Winder-Barrow and Apalachee before
narrowly losing to Lanier on the road,
6-2. After giving up at least 16 points
in each of the first seven games of
the year, the Red Elephants allowed
only 6.5 points per game over the final
three.
The team’s 2-3 region record was
just good enough for it to sneak into
the playoffs as a No. 4 seed, extending
the program’s streak to 19 consecutive
postseason appearances. Gainesville
(2-8) will face top-seeded Creekside
(7-3) on the road Friday night in the
first round.
“That off week after being
0-7 was important, because
the changes that we made at
that point made us a better
football team,” Gainesville
coach Heath Webb said. “And
obviously, it kind of picked up
from there.”
Webb said switching from
a base four-man front to a
base three-man front helped
to make Gainesville’s defensive line a
dominant force in stopping the run. In
addition to that, a couple of personnel
tweaks and an increased emphasis on
designing running plays for athletic
quarterback Gionni Williams contrib
uted to the consistency of the Gaines
ville offense.
Once the team won its first game,
things started to snowball from there,
according to Webb.
“It definitely had a wonderful
impact on our practice, just form
the sense of the guys seeing that the
Playoff schedule
Friday’s games
Class 6A
■ Gainesville at Creekside
Class 5A
■ Buford vs. Miller Grove
Class 4A
■ Flowery Branch at Ridgeland
Class 3A
■ North Hall at Lakeview-Fort
Oglethorpe
Class A private schools
■ Riverside Military at George
Walton Academy
process is taking hold, and just the
relief, get the monkey off their back
so to speak,” he said.
After that first win, Williams said
it became much easier to work hard
during the week. After a dreary
stretch of losses, practice started to be
more enjoyable and physical for Wil
liams and other members of the team.
“That’s what kept us going all
through practice, and that started
translating on the field on Friday,” he
said.
Now with a little more spring in
their step following a successful final
month of the season, the Red Ele
phants turn their attention to Creek
side, in an effort to extend their season
past the round one of the playoffs for
■ Please see RED, 2B
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
SEC teams still have plenty to play for
BY DAVID BRANDT AND STEVE
MEGARGEE
Associated Press
The calendar has barely hit Novem
ber and the Southeastern Conference
championship game matchup is already
set: Alabama will meet Georgia for the
league title.
It’s the earliest in the season that both
division winners have been decided
since the league split into two groups in
1992.
Both are trying to remain focused
before their Dec. 1 showdown in Atlanta.
“When you become lackadaisical, that
is when you slip up as a team,” Georgia
offensive lineman Andrew Thomas said.
“We are working to get better because
we have to win out the rest of the way to
be where we want to be. ”
No. 1 Alabama (No. 1 College Football
Playoff) clinched its division with a 29-0
win over LSU while No. 5 Georgia (No. 5
CFP) beat Kentucky 34-17 to secure its
spot in the title game.
While the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs
try not to look ahead to the SEC cham
pionship game, the other 12 teams are
playing with a sense of urgency with
plenty of unanswered questions to be
answered during the final weeks of the
regular season:
KENTUCKY’S PERFECT 10
Kentucky’s hopes of reaching the SEC
championship game for the first time
disintegrated with its loss to Georgia,
but the 12th-ranked Wildcats (7-2, 5-2
SEC, No. 11 CFP) still have a chance to
post their first 10-win season since 1977.
A 10-2 finish would make Kentucky a
prime candidate for a New Year’s Six
bowl.
Kentucky’s biggest challenge may
come Saturday when the Wildcats
close their SEC schedule at Tennes
see, where they have lost 16 straight
and haven’t won since 1984. Kentucky
follows that up by hosting Middle
Tennessee and visiting Louisville.
“We have to be motivated the same
way again this week, and each and
every week,” Kentucky coach Mark
■ Please see SEC, 3B
