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Page 2C
•Reporter
August 31, 2022
MCMS comes from behind to beat Henderson
By Michael Smallwood
michael.smallwood@mcschools.org
The Monroe County Middle School
Football team outlasted a tough Henderson
team for a 26-20 win in a rain soaked game
in Jackson.
The Tigers got on the board first with
a nice 65 yard touchdown run to take an
8-0 lead. In the first half the Bulldogs had
trouble getting on track. Untimely penal
ties and errant snaps seemed to plague the
young Bulldogs. However, the Dogs were
able to put a drive together that culminated
with a Jordan Singleton 10 yard pass to big
tight end Isaiah Hendricks for the score. The
2 point attempt was no good as the condi
tions were worsening. Conveniently, the
game entered a 45-minute lightning delay as
the half ended.
When the game restarted in the 3rd quar
ter, Henderson took a 14-6 lead on another
big rim. However, the Bulldogs were able to
answer right back. Seventh grader Mason
Stephens took the handoff and busted loose
for a 60 yard TD rim. The 2 point conver
sion attempt failed. Now trailing 14-12, the
Bulldogs gave up yet another long TD run
but were able to hold off Hendersons 2 point
attempt to keep the game at 20-12 going into
the 4th quarter. The Bulldog defense stiff
ened in the 4th quarter holding Jackson to
a 3 and out to start. The Bulldogs were able
to get some balance in their offense, slowing
down Hendersons attacking defense. Jordan
Singleton hit Daniel Jungberg on a 40 yard
pass down the sideline for a touchdown. The
extra point attempt failed again leaving the
Bulldogs trailing 20-18.
Once again the defense stepped up to
the task forcing Henderson to punt with
less than 3 minutes to go in the game. The
Bulldogs began the drive at their own 35
yard line. Using short passes to Chaz Stokes
and Issiah Hendricks, along with some
strong running by Ladarian Zellner the
Dogs were able to move to the Tiger 45 yd
line. With about a minute left, the Dogs
went back to 8th grader Daniel Jungberg.
Singleton dropped back and fired the ball
down field. Jungberg, who had several
steps on the safety, had to go up and snatch
the ball out of the air then race another 15
yards for a touchdown. The Bulldogs were
able to convert the 2 point conversion on a
Stephens’ run up the middle. After trailing
the entire game, the Bulldogs now led 26-20
Mason Stephens runs for yards against
Henderson. (Photo/Jill Burnsed)
with a minute remaining. The defense, led
by Jayden Coleman, Ta Dorian Grier and
Trace Hill, were able to squash Hendersons
last attempt to score.
MP grad, Trinity Christian writer says it should be a good one Fri.
If anyone has mixed
emotions about this Fridays
showdown at The Pitt, its Rob
Grubbs. Grubbs is a 1983
Mary Persons graduate who
covers Trinity Christian foot
ball for the Newnan Times-
Herald. A sports writer
who’s also a software
consultant, Grubbs
agreed to answer a few
questions from the Re
porter about the Lions.
You can follow his work
at www.times-herald.
com.
Q. Rob, most people
in Monroe County
have probably not heard
of Trinity Christian. What
should MP fans know about
the Lions?
A. In the annals of Georgia
High School football, Trinity
Christian is still a new kid
on the block (especially
compared to a program like
Mary Persons). Their first
varsity season was in 2011
when they competed in the
GISA.
Their original head coach,
Chris Hanson, was a punter
in the NFL, including three
seasons with Bill Belich-
ick and the New England
Patriots (2007-09). Coach
Hanson is still an assistant
coach in the program.
The program had an
overall vision to grow, and
in 2017 they brought in
program builder Kenny Dal
las to take them to the next
level. Coach Dallas, who
took Landmark Christian to
a state title game in 2011 is
no stranger to success.
After leaving Landmark,
he become defensive coor
dinator at Eagles Landing,
where he was part of four
state championships.
In his first season at Trin
ity, he took the Lions to the
GISA state championship. In
2018, the program transi
tioned to GHSA, and won
the championship just four
seasons later. After winning
the Class-A Private state
championship in 2021, the
Lions made the unprec
edented jump to Class 4A.
Q. How big was that state
title season last year and
how much of that talent is
back this year?
A. Once in GHSA, the
Lions’ focus became to repli
cate the success of ELCA.
After making the team
to the playoffs in 2018
and 2019, the Lions hit on
something special in 2020.
After a season where many
top players missed time with
injury, they put all the pieces
together at the end of the
season and made a playoff
run that took them to the
2020 state championship,
where they lost to Prince Av
enue (also on Mary Persons
schedule this year). The 2020
team only had three seniors,
so expectations for 2021
were high, and they rose
to meet those when they
capped an undefeated season
by defeating Prince Avenue
in a rematch in the champi
onship game last December.
Q. How upset was Trinity
Christian that the GHSA
moved them from Class A-
private where they do very
well to Class AAAA-public?
That must be quite a jump?
A. They wanted it. It was
part of their overall vision
backin 2017. They were not
required to move all the up
to 4A, but they chose to.
They want to play and
compete with teams that
were their natural rivals
based on location.
They wanted to
face Starr’s Mill,
Whitewater, and
Fayette County,
which are all with
15 minutes of their
campus.
They are now
in the region with
those schools and
will be playing all
of them for the first time in
the weeks ahead. They have
invested heavily in their
facilities and their inff astruc-
ture to meet the challenge.
Q. Trinity has opened the
season with two losses, one
year after losing zero games.
What can we take from that
and should that worry MP,
that we might be facing an
angry team?
A. The Lions’ first loss of
the season was to Wood
ward Academy, one of the
top teams in Class 6A this
year. That was not totally un
expected, but the loss to Fel
lowship Christian last week
raised an eyebrow or two.
I would not say the Lions
are angry, perhaps resolved
would be a better term.
There are still a lot of good
football players on that team
that won a championship 10
months ago. They have a lot
of pride in their craft.
Q. What players should
MP be most concerned
about, and on the converse,
what is PC’s biggest weak
ness which might be an op
portunity for the Bulldogs?
A. The Lions have a lot
of talent on defense. Aaron
Gates (No. 6) is probably
their best athlete. The Florida
Gator commit is a lockdown
corner and a game-changing
wide receiver. They also
have defensive end Ethan
McDowell (committed to
Miami-Ohio), Ryan Earl
(committed to Furman), and
Shawn Braxton (committed
to Davidson) that played a
lot last year.
The Lion defensive front is
outstanding, and is anchored
by junior Cam Matthews,
who is a game changer.
Where the Lions are trying
to improve is on offense.
They lost nine of 11 starters
on offense, including four
year starting quarterback
David Dallas who is now at
Georgia Southern.
The offense is now in
the hands of senior Henry
Brodnax (No. 16). They are
still growing as a unit and
working to find an identity.
Q. You’re an MP gradu
ate so we know you’re
doing your part, but do TC
coadies know much about
the Mary Persons tradition,
or is this just another non
region game for these guys?
A. Sadly, they do not have
a lot of knowledge of the rich
tradition an history of Mary
Persons. They did get intro
duced back in the summer
when the Bulldogs came up
to Trinity for a day of 7-on-7,
but in a year of such transi
tion for them (defending
champions and significant
move up in classifications),
you can forgive them for be
ing distracted. Coach Dallas
and his staff do know I am a
graduate, and they told me
early on they expected me
to wear their colors to the
game (purple). I told them
my blood was forever black
and gold.
Q. OK Rob last time we
talked you balked on a pre
diction, noting you couldn’t
pick against your alma
mater but that Newnan fans
might do violence to you.
Are Trinity Christianfans
more tolerant? Are you will
ing to share your hunch?
A. There are several factors
that come into play here.
I think there is too much
pride in the Trinity defense
to allow Duke Watson to
run for almost 300 yard
like he did last week, so for
Mary Persons to win, they
will need exploit some of the
youth in the back end of the
Lions defense.
Some play action that will
allow Logan Hickman (his
granddad was my principal
backin 1983) to buy some
time and find some receivers
running free.
On defense, the Bulldogs
will have to stop the Lions
started back, Jamarion Har
ris, who is a tough inside
runner and then force Brod
nax to make plays to beat
you. From a historical per
spective, the game reminds
me a lot of a game I attended
at MP when I was in the
fourth grade (1974). Mary
Persons hosted a private
school from the Atlanta area
that year (St. Pius X) that no
one knew much about. That
Tailor Grace
Norsv/orthy
We hope you
have aw
amazing
Senior i/ear
A and
JL Competition
Cheer
Season!!!
We love you!
Paddy,
Momma, and
Tgier
Have a great cheer season! We love you.
Pad, /Wont, McKenzie and McCfane
Mayeie Smifli
was before the stadium was
flipped in 1979, so we sat on
the current visitors section.
It was a huge coaching
matchup between Coach
Pitts and St. Pius Coach
George Maloof. Between
the two, they had 599 career
coaching wins. Coach Dallas
and Coach Nelson are of the
same pedigree.
As you can tell, I am try
ing to avoid the question,
but since Trinity lost their
last two, I do not see how a
former champion can lose
three in a row, so I will pick
them to pull the game out
somehow at the end. (Plus, I
must meet with Coach Dal
las and his staff once a week,
so I need to save face).