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Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
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gainesvilletimes.com
Thursday, November 15, 2018
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
SEC Banter
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Thoughts from
fans of every
SEC team
So, I bought a puppy at a school
fundraising auction Sunday.
Upon sharing the news with my
mother, she asked in an all-too-
familiar tone, “What on earth were
you thinking?!?”
She then suggested I name the
puppy after her childhood dog,
Boudreaux Brown, “Bou” for short
(pronounced “Boo” for those not
raised in south Louisiana).
Her question is one I hear often
from loved ones, friends, and my
internal Banter monologue: What were you thinking?!?
For example, I recently played a 195-yard par-3 over
water, stiff breeze into me, and I chose to hit a 5-iron.
Kerplunk, straight into the drink. What was I
thinking?
I ordered pizza using the Domino’s app the other day.
It’s quite neat, with that pizza tracker and whatnot.
As I neared checkout, the app asked the following
question, one that still haunts me: “Extra cheese on your
pizza today?”
After careful deliberation, I clicked “No thanks.”
What on earth was I thinking?!?
My own struggles answering this question aside, I
have several Banter stand-ins across the South to help
me gauge the temperature of SEC fans, help me know
what they’re thinking.
These stand-ins are my SEC spies, if you will, who
constantly feed me inside SEC scoops. Careful though —
they might try to sell you a puppy.
Here’s what SEC fans are thinking with two - just two!
— games remaining in the regular season.
■ SEC Fans in General and All of College Football:
We’ve seen this movie before.
■ Georgia: We got a shot at ‘Bama if Tua doesn’t...
ah, whatever, we got no shot.
■ Florida: Lose to Kentucky for the first time since
1986, beat LSU, lose to Mizzou, barely beat South Caro
lina. This season is bumpier than an alligator’s tail.
■ South Carolina: Yeah, we’re a serial 7-5 or 8-4
team, but it’s no sweat because we have a cool state flag
and care more about eating and drinking and Charleston
and the beach and Garden & Gun.
■ Tennessee: We might be bowl eligible! Nothing
beats Memphis on New Year’s Eve in the Liberty Bowl
against a pathetic Big 12 team!
■ Missouri: Resisting the strong sarcasm urge, I note
the Tigers can finish a respectable 8-4 if they win out,
and both remaining contests are on CBS’ SEC broad
cast package, providing nice exposure for the Mizzou
program.
BEN PREVOST
SECBanter@hotmail.
com
■ Please see BANTER, 2B
COLLEGE BASKCTBALL
Lady Bulldogs
fall to UCLA
on the road
BY BETH HARRIS
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES —
Michaela Onyenwere was
everywhere in the fourth
quarter for UCLA.
She scored 11 of her 25
points in the final period,
when the Bruins ended
the game on an 18-4 run to
upset No. 14 Georgia 80-69
on Wednesday.
The 5-foot-ll forward
also hauled down a team-
high 11 rebounds, helping
UCLA to a 31-30 edge on
the boards.
“She plays like she’s
6-5,” Georgia coach Joni
Taylor said. “She’s
aggressively post
ing, she rebounds.
She’s a fun player
to watch. We got
caught sometimes
on the block not
moving our feet
and she was able
to go around us
and draw some
fouls.”
Kennedy Burke added
21 points for the Bruins
(2-1), who trailed by 12
points early in the third
quarter before producing
a 31-point fourth quar
ter. They hit 13 of 17 free
throws over the final four
minutes.
“It started on defense,”
Burke said. “My team
mates trusted me to have
more pride on defense by
having more ball pressure
and rebounding.”
Taja Cole led the Bull
dogs (2-1) with 22 points, 10
rebounds and eight assists.
Gabby Connally added 19
points.
“The intensity of the
game, getting down to
the wire, everybody’s
anxiety was going,” Cole
said. “We got to do a bet
ter job of relaxing. They
forced us into some turn
overs at the end.”
Burke made 1 of 2 free
throws to launch the game
ending offensive burst.
Cole’s two baskets were the
only points Georgia scored
after controlling most of
the game.
“They rushed us,” Tay
lor said. “We did a good job
of controlling tempo in the
first half. We just didn’t set
tle in the third and fourth
quarter offensively.”
UCLA tied the game for
the last time on Burke’s
basket that made
it 65-all. Lajahna
Drummer fol
lowed with a
three-point play,
and the Bruins
scored their final
10 points on free
throws.
UCLA tied the
game 49-all on
Burke’s steal and fast-
break layup with 58 sec
onds left in the third.
Connally’s layup put Geor
gia up 51-49 heading into
the fourth.
The Bruins got back into
it in the second quarter on
a basket by Burke that left
them trailing 30-28. But
UCLA went 1 of 4 from
the free-throw line over
the final 1:28. Connally
hit a 3-pointer and made
another basket to keep
Georgia ahead 40-31 at the
break.
The Bulldogs ran off 13
straight points to take their
largest lead, 22-10, of the
first half. Three straight
UCLA turnovers fed into
fast-break baskets in the
spurt.
Taylor
Building a tradition
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
Riverside Military’s Khalid Duke carries the ball in a game against Lakeview on Oct. 12 at Jock Horner Field.
Riverside Military Academy credits seniors’
commitment to program for recent success
BY SARAH WOODALL
swoodall@gainesvilletimes.com
The secret to Riverside Military
Academy’s success on the football
field this season wasn’t so much
their current flock of talent, or the
process of building a playoff-caliber
program.
Sometimes, all it takes is a little bit
of trust in the person next to you to
see change happen.
Riverside Military has been a
revolving door of students of many
different backgrounds and places
coming and going in short incre
ments. But within the Eagles locker
room is a core group of football play
ers that remained.
Despite all the bumps in the road
that involved back-to-back, to back
losing campaigns, a coaching change
and even dealing with the high-turn-
over rate within the school,
those many veterans on the
Eagles chose to weather a
storm.
“People had a chance to
leave, but they came back,”
senior quarterback Isaac
Teasley, a three-year starter
for the Eagles, said Tuesday.
“Trusting in them to come
back and play with us one
more year and one more
year again is what created this team,
the best them we’ve had in a long
time. Trusting in your teammates is
the biggest thing you can take from
this team we have now.”
That same group is now in the
midst of something truly special
under coach Nick Garrett, now
headed to the second round of the
state playoffs for the first time since
2006. The No. 23 seeded Eagles
(6-5), who knocked off No. 10 seeded
George Walton Academy for
the program’s first GHSA
playoff victory last week,
have an opportunity to keep
the magic going when they
face No. 7 seed and ninth-
ranked Fellowship Christian
(9-1) this Friday night in
Roswell.
“This year has been really
special, for all of us,” said
linebacker Harry Kim, part of a
large senior class of 15 at Riverside
Military.
Kim certainly has been a big part
of maintaining that belief in the
locker room as a four-year starter
for the program. He pointed to coach
Garrett for really flipping
the script in Year 2 of his
tenure.
“My first year, we were
1-9. My second year, 2-8
and last year we were 2-8.
Now, we’re in the playoffs,
first time in 10 years,” said
Kim, whose 150 tackles cur
rently leads Class A for 2018
according to Garrett. “We’re
making history and all of
that. It’s great, you know?”
While notching a rare playoff upset
over George Walton was memorable,
Kim said his happiest moment this
season occurred in the team’s top-
10 win over No. 6 Commerce on Oct.
26, which clinched the school’s first
playoff berth in nine years.
“It’s like a dream come true
finally, after three years of working
and it’s finally paid off, even if it’s
your senior season,” Teasley said.
“It’s great to finally get it. ”
About 80 percent of last
year’s roster was accounted
for going into 2018 according
to Garrett, extremely rare
for a program at Riverside
Military. Garrett believes
it’s due to the team’s core
putting Garrett’s philosophy
to action.
“The core guys that have
been here for a multitude of years
all made the decision to come back,”
Garrett said. “Those kids were con
tacting our other kids, and telling
them that ‘This was going to be our
year, make sure you come back,
make sure you got your paperwork
lined up.’... As we moved along, our
kids have truly defined our true char
acter of what Eagle football is all
about. It got us to this point.... People
ask us, ‘Are you surprised as a staff?’
And we say absolutely not. We’ve
been talking about it from Day 1 —
expect to win.”
And that philosophy goes deeper
than wins and losses added Gar
rett. It applies to everything about
a cadet’s academics, athletics and
life. The evolution of his players
have been so noticeable, Garrett has
received e-mails from the majority
of parents in this large senior class,
sharing encouraging messages of
■ Please see EAGLES, 2B
Teasley
Garrett
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
SEC loaded with future NFL draftees
BY KRISTIE RIEKEN
Associated Press
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Ala
bama set an SEC record with 12 players
taken in the 2018 NFL draft, including
four in the first round.
The top-ranked Crimson Tide are
sure to have several high draft picks
in next year’s draft, too, but there are
players at many other SEC schools
that are also likely to hear their names
called in the first round of the 2019
draft.
According to several mock draft
boards the SEC could have first-round
ers from as many as nine schools.
Not surprisingly the top-
rated SEC prospect with two
weeks left in the regular sea
son is from Alabama. Offen
sive tackle Jonah Williams is
picked by some to be drafted as
high as No. 2 after starting all
39 games in his career with the
Crimson Tide and earning All-
America honors at left tackle
last season.
“He’s one of those guys that’s
a perfectionist” Alabama coach Nick
Saban said. “He wants to be the best
player and he’s one of the guys that’s
willing to do the things that you have to
do to be the best player. ”
Other possible first-round picks from
Alabama include defensive tackle
Quinnen Williams, safety Deionte
Thompson, defensive lineman Rae-
kwon Davis, linebacker Mack Wilson
and running back Damien Harris.
LSU has two top-20 prospects in
cornerback Greedy Williams and
linebacker Devin White. Williams led
the SEC with six interceptions as a
redshirt freshman last season and has
two interceptions and 28 tackles and
has defended eight passes this year.
White ranked first in the country with
96 assisted tackles last season and has
89 tackles, including seven for losses, a
forced fumble and two fumble recover
ies this year.
Kentucky hasn’t had a player taken
in the past two drafts with the Wildcats’
most recent draft pick coming when
Josh Forrest was selected by
the Rams in the sixth round
in 2016. Their drought should
end this year with outside line
backer Josh Allen expected to
be chosen in the first round. If
he is, it will give the Wildcats
a first-round pick for the first
time since Bud Dupree was
selected by the Steelers with
the 22nd overall pick in the
2015 draft.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops isn’t
shy about bragging about his star
player and called him the: “best defen
sive player in the country,” on his radio
show last month.
Allen, who is a senior, leads the SEC
in tackles for losses (16) and sacks (11)
and his five forced fumbles lead the
nation. The 6-foot-5, 260-pound Allen
has 65 tackles and has recovered two
fumbles.
Mississippi could have two first-
round picks with offensive lineman
Greg Little and wide receiver A.J.
Brown both projected to be top-25
selections. The Rebels entered the sea
son with three first-round prospects,
but receiver D.K. Metcalf could choose
to return for another season after suf
fering a season-ending neck injury
which required surgery last month.
Brown’s 72 receptions and 1,047
yards receiving both lead the SEC and
he’s had five 100-yard receiving games
this season, including three in a row.
The 6-1,225 pound Brown became the
school’s all-time leading receiver in a
loss to Texas A&M on Saturday. He has
2,711 yards receiving to move in front
of Shay Hodge, who had 2,646 yards
receiving from 2006-09.
“Been around a lot of great receiv
ers here at Ole Miss, for him to be the
all-time leading receiver, that’s a pretty
special accomplishment for him,” Mis
sissippi coach Matt Luke said. “He’s
been very unselfish, playing inside,
playing outside. He’s very versatile.
That will do nothing but help him going
forward, his ability to do a bunch of dif
ferent things.”
Georgia, which had three first-round
picks selected in the 2018 draft, could
have another one next year in corner-
back Deandre Baker. He flirted with
the draft last offseason before return
ing for his senior year.
Saban
