North Forsyth

Jacob Smith Forsyth County News North Forsyth seniors Jonah Sexton, left, and Patrick Corrigan are two of 26 seniors on an experienced Raiders squad this season.

Senior-laden North Forsyth is eager for playoff appearance

By David Roberts

droberts@forsythnews.com

The makeup of North Forsyth’s football team will mirror that of its quarterback.

Tough, hard-nosed and eager.

Quarterback Drew Aucoin played special teams last year, and head coach Robert Craft says that the Raiders’ coaching staff jokes that Aucoin would start at linebacker if he wasn’t the quarterback.

“Drew’s been in our program for four years. He’s played a bunch on Friday nights in some special teams roles,” Craft said. “Our defensive coordinator jokes all the time that if he wasn’t our starting quarterback, he’d be starting at linebacker, probably. That just shows you his physical toughness, but also his mental toughness. I think as a quarterback you’ve got to have that, because you’re going to have some ups and you’re going to have some downs at that position.”

Aucoin will have the luxury of lining up behind an experienced offensive line.

Left tackle Elisha Samples is committed to East Carolina and right guard Elijah Edwards is committed to Mercer.

Eli Tompkins and Greg Toll occupy the other guard and tackle positions, but Craft said much of the offensive line’s experience begins with center JT Francis.

“It’s a group that our two offensive line coaches – Coach Cecil Flowe and Coach Blake Palmer – have really been grooming for the last several years,” Craft said. “Really, all of them played significantly last year – some even as sophomores. We took some lumps a little bit at times the last few years being younger, but it’s their time. They’re leaders of our football team, starting with JT as a center. Naturally, that guy commands a lot of respect, and he lives up to what we ask him to do.”

Francis [92 percent] and Tompkins [90 percent] were the Raiders’ top-graded offensive linemen last season.

Riley Smith, a Charleston Southern commit, is one of three senior tight ends and caught a team-high three touchdowns last season.

Smith’s 13 receptions for 198 yards leads all returning receivers.

Junior Garrett Achilles caught 16 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown last season and is a candidate to replace the production of Tucker Hartsfield, whose 38 catches for 549 yards led the team.

“Garrett’s going to have a big year,” Craft said. “He’s worked really hard and played a key role for us last year as a

See NORTH | 23

Aug. 20 – Alcovy at North Forsyth Aug. 27 – North Forsyth at Harrison Sept. 3 – Dalton at North Forsyth Sept. 10 – Etowah at North Forsyth *Sept. 17 – North Forsyth at Denmark Sept. 23 – BYE *Oct. 1 – West Forsyth at North Forsyth *Oct. 8 – Forsyth Central at North Forsyth *Oct. 15 – North Forsyth at Lambert Oct. 22 – BYE *Oct. 29 – North Forsyth at South Forsyth *Nov. 5 – Gainesville at North Forsyth

*Region 6-7A game

2020 results

6-4 Overall, 2-4 Region 6-7A

North Forsyth 28, Alcovy 3 North Forsyth 10, Harrison 9 North Forsyth 28, Hapeville Charter 14 North Forsyth 28, Etowah 0 *Denmark 20, North Forsyth 10 *North Forsyth 24, West Forsyth 10 *Forsyth Central 28, North Forsyth 27 *North Forsyth 34, Lambert 20 *South Forsyth 52, North Forsyth 7 *Gainesville 17, North Forsyth 0

*Region 6-7A game

trophy case

First varsity season: 1994 Playoff appearances: 9 (1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2019) Region titles: 1 (2001) State titles: 0

the coach Robert Craft

At North: 25-30, sixth season Overall: 74-49, 12th season

1 David Adesina 12 WR/DB 3 Garrett Achilles 12 WR/DB 4 Will Peltz 12 WR/K/DB 5 Riley Smith 12 TE/LB 6 Nick Ware 12 WR/DB 7 Patrick Corrigan 12 RB/LB 8 Trystan Davis 12 WR/DB 9 Logan Curry 11 WR/DB 10 Drew Aucoin 12 QB 11 Bentley Wheeler 12 WR/DB 12 Brody Rose 10 QB 13 Jonathan Lynn 10 WR/DB 14 Dillon Thomas 11 WR/DB 15 Chandler DeBlois 10 WR/DB/K 16 West Roberts 11 QB 17 Alex Breeden 10 QB 18 Zach Shirley 11 WR/DB 19 Ashton Green 11 TE/LB 20 Michael Okland 11 WR/DB 21 William Verdirame 11 RB/DB 22 JD Galligan 11 WR/DB 23 Caleb Bowen 11 RB/DB 24 Reece Davis 11 WR/DB 25 Lake Heffington 11 RB/LB 26 Tristan Graham 12 RB/LB 27 Evin Ilkevich 11 WR/DB 28 Luke Stalnaker 10 TE/DB 29 Jack Westbrook 11 WR/DB 30 Cole Leroy 11 RB/LB 32 Chris Nelson 12 DE 33 Mason Lawson 11 RB/DB 34 Maverick Lane 10 RB/LB 36 Tre’von Gordon 10 WR/DB 37 Hayden Watson 10 WR/DB 38 Ethan Hunter 11 WR/DB 39 Brody Hancock 10 LB 41 Jaxson Otteson 10 TE/DB 42 Jacob Shirley 10 RB/LB 43 Brayden Crump 10 TE/LB 44 Cooper Eglian 11 TE/LB 49 Warren Bowen 10 DL 50 Greg Toll 12 OL 52 Collin Miller 11 OL/LB 53 Matt Tucker 12 LB 54 Marcus Ioime 10 OL/DL 55 Chris Herock 11 OL/DL 56 Seth Daugherty 10 OL/DL 57 Braden O’Shields 10 OL/DL 58 Jacob Kenyon 12 DL 59 Grant Lively 12 OL 60 Evan Bann 10 OL/DL 61 Scott James 11 OL/DL 62 JT Francis 12 OL 63 Eli Edwards 12 OL/DL 64 Eli Tompkins 12 OL/DL 65 Miles Johnson 10 OL/DL 66 Hayden Densmore 10 OL/DL 67 Hector Villeda 11 OL/DL 68 JC Rouse 12 OL/DL 69 Carter Hicks 10 OL/DL 70 Dylan Parker 10 OL/DL 71 Shamar Williams 12 OL/DL 72 Austin Adams 10 OL/DL 73 Tyler Partain 12 OL/DL 74 Abdiel Espinoza 10 OL/DL 75 Aden Agunbiade 10 OL/DL 76 Beau Meyers 12 OL/DL 77 Elisha Samples 12 OL/DL 79 Colin Rigdon 11 OL/DL 80 Caleb Richardson 10 WR/DB 81 Cole Smith 10 WR/DB 82 Gavin Busse 11 WR/DB 83 Aiden Ruckh 11 WR/DB 85 Walker Roberts 10 TE/DB 86 Parker Goss 10 TE/DL 87 Aaron Redd 12 TE/DE 89 Jonah Sexton 12 TE/DE 99 Dylan Lyerly 12 LB

FROM 22 North

sophomore. He’s another guy who showed up a lot in different special teams roles. We have a few guys, like Riley at tight end, who we feel can create mismatches on the perimeter. Garrett is a guy who can play inside receiver, outside receiver. Will Peltz is a senior who we feel like is poised for a big year.”

As is the case on offense, North’s strength on defense is long the line of scrimmage.

Junior Chris Herock collected seven tackle for loss last season, which was second on the team, and finished with 57 tackles.

“Across the line on defense, [we’re] returning a couple guys there with Chris Herock, who’s played significantly since his freshman year,” Craft said. “I think if you wanted to start a football team, you would always start at the interior and then work your way out. So, we’re excited about that group and what they can do this year.”

The only player Herock trailed was reigning Forsyth County News Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Corrigan, who exploded for 112 tackles, including 14 stops behind the line, six sacks, 20 QB hurries and four fumble recoveries.

Corrigan also carried the ball 50 times for 291 yards and four touchdowns.

“He’s always trying to get better. He’s not satisfied,” Craft said. “He played a lot as a freshman even, then was a fulltime starter as a sophomore and last year was really a breakout year. We kind of knew that was always there and it was coming.”

North must replace defensive linemen Max Bryant and Dylan Lurie, as well as linebacker Aaron Griffin, though the Raiders return a pair of athletic linebackers in Tristan Graham and Dylan Lyerly.

Both players are also standouts on the wrestling mat and have reached the state championship match. Lyerly won the Class 7A 220 state championship in 2019-20, while Graham finished as the Class 7A 182 runner-up.

“Another senior who’s coming off some wrestling injuries is Tristan Graham,” Craft said. “We’re excited to get Tristan back. He played a lot last year. Dylan Lyerly will be an outside linebacker, then a couple of young guys – Cole Leroy, Collin Miller, who again are kind of in that group of juniors who are ready to play on Friday nights.”

David Roberts Forsyth County News North Forsyth senior Drew Aucoin will take the reins this season as the Raiders’ quarterback.

FROM 6 West

we run a lot of stretch, so getting outside on the perimeter and making perimeter blocks is something we’re all very successful at.”

They’ll open up running lanes for Ryder Stewart [76 carries, 343 yards, 3 TDs] and William Orris [67 carries, 283 yards], as well as Peyton Streko, who played last season at Forsyth Central.

Stewart stepped in last year as a freshman after Fofana tore his ACL. He rushed for a career-best 103 yards and scored a touchdown during West’s firstround playoff win against Meadowcreek.

“There was just something that we saw in Ryder,” Svehla said. “It sounds strange, but just watching him play freshman football, there was just something different about him. When we pulled him up and put him in, the thing he had was confidence. He wasn’t going to shy away from anything. If you watch that film closely, of all the things that he did, stepping up on blitzes and picking up blitzing linebackers was one of the things he did really well. He was a surprise. Yes, absolutely. I can’t say we saw that coming, but it’s nice to have a guy like that back.”

Streko rushed for 340 yards and four touchdowns last year with Central.

Delp, a four-star prospect with dozens of Division I offers, figures to draw attention from opposing defenses after catching 43 passes for 730 yards and nine touchdown in nine games last season.

Svehla said Delp could moonlight in the Wolverines’ defensive backfield.

“I think it’s something that we’ve certainly left the door open for him to do,” Svehla said. “We like our back end defensively, but sometimes there’s matchups where he’s just physically a better matchup because of his size and his agility. We’ll use him as needed, but right now obviously he’s primarily an offensive player.”

West’s secondary is a group Svehla feels particularly confident in, with returning starters at cornerback in Bryce Allen and Grey Brockman.

Allen set the program record with 23 pass breakups last season, while Brockman led the team with four interceptions and added nine pass breakups as a sophomore.

“I hope [Allen] sets it again, or I hope he catches the ball better — maybe set the school record for interceptions,” Svehla joked. “No, Bryce is just a good football player. Bryce is a coachable kid. Bryce had a really good year last year, and he had a really good year as a sophomore the year before I got there. He’s a quiet kid, but we really trust him. As you know, in the league that we play in, the opponents that we play in our non-region schedule, it’s hard to play the back end on defense. There are a lot of athletes that teams are throwing out there against you.”

Svehla hopes Raleigh Herbert [106 tackles, 11 TFL] and Riley McKee [69 tackles, 13 ½ TFL] can build on their impressive sophomore campaigns and help replace Haynes and Hudson Posey.

“Replacing [Haynes], that’s partly what I’m counting on these guys to do,” Svehla said. “We feel like Brady Gillis has done a nice job stepping in [and] Brody Sanderson has had a really, really good spring and summer for us. I don’t know if one guy is going to replace Kobe’s production, but I think a couple guys together can replace it.”

Senior Jay Helstone [83 tackles, 13 ½ TFL] has been a force at defensive line the past couple of seasons and is joined by returning starter Ben Holman [15 tackles, 8 TFL].

No. Name Year Position No. Name Year Position No. Name Year Position

1 Jay Helstone 12 DL 2 Ryder Stewart 10 RB 3 Bryce Allen 12 DB 4 Oscar Delp 12 TE/DB 5 Ashton van Horn 12 QB/WR 6 Braylan Bull 11 WR/DB 7 Brady Gillis 11 LB 8 Caleb Casas 10 WR/DB 9 Keegan Stover 11 QB 10 Hudson Brown 10 11 Raleigh Herbert 11 LB 12 Dylan Baggett 12 WR 13 Henry Delp 10 TE 14 Will Fulkerson 11 WR 15 Jaycen Harris 11 WR 16 JT Vaughn 17 Brian Tawuo 11 WR 18 Brady Taylor 10 RB/TE 19 Ethan Adamson 12 DB 20 Elisha Nash 11 DB 21 William Orris 11 RB 22 Peyton Streko 11 RB 23 Jazz Simpson 11 DB 24 Brody Sanderson 11 DB 25 Connor Reidy 12 DB 26 Peyton Sapp 11 RB/WR 27 Grey Brockman 11 DB 28 Cade Woodall 12 TE/LB 29 Luke Anderson 30 Tyler Wentzel 11 RB 31 Alex Poole 32 Riley McKee 11 LB 33 Carson Taylor 34 Dayshaun Parker 35 Colin Lawrence 12 FB 36 Orrin Adotevi 12 DB 37 Wyatt Kallam 10 LB 38 Griffin Kluba 11 39 Jerial Trembley-Gonzalez 40 Xavier Brown 12 DB 41 Aiden Cook 11 DB/RB 42 Garth Stewart 12 LB/DB 43 Cole Ruiz 44 Sam Spencer 11 45 Crawford Smith 10 RB 46 Lincoln Nelson 10 DB 47 Jack Stevens 10 DB/LB 48 Keegan LeBeouf 11 LB 49 Jackson Mallcott 11 DB 50 Peyton Wall 12 OL 51 Alex Hamm 10 OL 52 Billy McAllister 12 DL 53 Ben Holman 12 DL 54 Aodhan Shields 11 OL 55 Turner Bell 11 OL/DL 56 John Leonard 12 OL 57 Carder Paterline 10 OL 58 Adrian Beckham 10 OL 59 Ethan Knowles 10 60 AJ Seaberg 11 OL 62 Favian Ayala 10 OL 64 Josh Hollander 11 OL 66 Dixon Musgrove 11 LS/OL 67 Max Freeman 12 OL 68 Alex Valadez 12 DL 69 TJ Putman 11 OL 70 Anthony Guaracino 11 OL 71 Jacob Mann 10 OL 72 JaMichael Tweedy 73 Jack Duncan 11 OL/DL 75 Ryder Smith 11 DL 76 Hayden Meyers 11 OL 79 Jace Kile 11 OL 81 Logan Thomas 10 WR 82 Mac Moore 11 WR 83 Ethan DeSalvo 10 WR/DB 84 Cooper Johnson 12 TE 85 Conner Malcolm 88 Kevin Petraglia 12 89 Zack Hauck 11 TE 90 Tyler Hoffman 10 91 Nico Nunez 92 Riley Poppe 10 93 Saud Aziz 11 WR 94 Taylor Robinson 12 DL 95 Joe Zereini 10 OL/DL 97 Palmer Nelson 12 K 99 Ruth Talbot 11 K

Northview transfer Cody Dickey, and a pair of two-way players in Asher West and Hayden Songer. Denmark must also replace its top five receivers from last season, but Palmieri believes a group of juniors in Aiden Brozena, Lake Thoman and Che Ojarikre can help bridge the gap.

On defense, linebacker Austin DeCarlo [47 tackles, 11 TFL] also enjoyed a productive sophomore season and will help fill out the Danes’ linebacking corps.

West and William Hodges return on the defensive line, while

FROM 18 Georgia Southern commit Treston Jordan [43 tackles, 4 INTs, 4 Denmark PBUs] and Kenon Dicks [39 tackles, 5 PBUs, 2 INTs] will patrol the defensive secondary. But while Denmark’s defense returns a wealth of experience, the Danes will start a sophomore at quarterback and must break in a relatively young group of receivers. Still, Palmieri expects the same production as last year’s offensive, which twice hit the 50-point plateau. “Everybody offensively has got to step it up,” Palmieri said. “We’re not making any excuses that we’re young. At Denmark, we don’t make those excuses. We expect those kids to play at the same level the kids played at last year.”

No. Name

Year Position Hgt./Wgt.

1 Aiden Brozena 11 WR/DB 5’7 160 2 Kenon Dicks 12 WR/DB 5’10 185 3 Lake Thoman 11 WR/DB 5’10 170 4 Drew Clare 12 TE/LB 6’2 210 5 Amon Williams 11 RB/DB 5’10 180 6 Che Ojarikre 11 WR/DB 6’2 180 7 Hayden Fox 12 WR/DB 5’11 145 8 Dee Crayton 11 RB/LB 6’2 215 9 Treston Jordan 12 WR/DB 5’11 195 10 Jeremy Burchfield 12 TE/LB 6’1 175 11 McAndrew Okwei 12 WR/DB 5’7 155 13 Santino Gaudreau 12 WR/DB 6’0 190 14 Jacob Nelson 10 QB 6’4 160 15 Kohl Yearwood 11 WR/DB 5’11 165 16 Michael McClellan 10 QB 6’3 205 17 Jack Brenk 9 QB 5’11 175 18 Ty Woodruff 11 WR/DB 6’6 180 19 Ryan McDaniel 11 WR/DB 6’0 175 20 Jacob Smith 10 TE/LB 6’2 185 21 Aaron Moreno 11 RB/DB 5’9 170 22 Conner Kelly 10 RB/DB 5’9 150 23 Jelani Miller 11 RB/LB 5’9 180 24 Jack Wilkins 11 WR/DB 5’9 145 27 Anias Blackman 11 RB/DB 5’8 155 30 Austin DeCarlo 11 TE/LB 6’2 215 31 Ian Krutchen 11 WR/DB 6’0 160 32 Christian Martinez 11 RB/LB 5’10 180 33 Malachi Hutchins 11 TE/DB 6’2 205 34 Daniel Ferrer 10 RB/LB 5’7 185 35 Lane Grayson 12 TE/LB 6’0 210 36 Landon Armstrong 11 WR/LB 5’11 190 40 Samuel Lemos 12 TE/DL 5’8 230 44 Charley Croiner 11 TE/DL 6’1 215 49 Cameron Kenney 10 TE/LB 6’0 190 50 Brady Kilgore 11 OL/DL 5’10 245 51 Elijah Mitchell 12 OL/DL 6’0 240 52 Hayden Songer 12 OL/DL 6’1 250 53 Ethan Faust 10 OL/DL 6’2 205 54 Asher West 12 OL/DL 6’2 240 55 Billy Green 11 OL/DL 6’0 205 56 Joe Hibbard 11 OL/DL 5’9 215 57 Cody Dickey 11 OL/DL 6’1 240 60 Carson McArthur 12 OL/DL 5’10 225 63 Evan Floyd- Marthol 11 OL/DL 6’4 240 65 Ben Wagner 11 OL/DL 5’9 220 72 Jack Cook 11 OL/DL 6’4 250 74 Shamurad Umarov 11 OL/DL 6’6 285 77 Jake Seubert 12 OL/DL 6’1 250 80 William Hodges 11 TE/DL 6’2 205 82 Carson Cogland 11 WR/DB 5’11 145 84 Dylan Brozena 9 WR/DB 5’9 160 85 Hamilton Diboyan 11 K 5’10 150 92 Trey Glymph 12 K 5’8 165

No. Name Year Position Hgt./Wgt.

FROM 14 South

Chris Nelson and Josh Nelson. Chris Nelson won the Class 7A 200m state championship.

“Never. You’re never going to see those [guys]. Don’t prepare for them. Don’t even expect them,” Morris said with a laugh. “No, they’re going to touch it a lot. They’re going to get a lot of opportunities in the offense. Chris [Nelson] and Josh [Nelson] both are great kids. Yeah, they’re really, really fast and they’re great track athletes, but I tell people all the time they’re football players that run track, in my opinion. They’re really good football players. They’re exciting, they’re electric and we’re going to do everything we can to get them involved in as many different ways as we can.”

Alex Urias should also see time at the position after catching eight passes for 112 yards and a touchdown last season.

On the offensive line, South must replace one of the county’s top tackles in Ethan Patrick, as well as Braden Beecher, Bradley Hutcheson and Bryce Myers. Still, Mason Cooper returns at left tackle and Ian O’Dowd is a returning starter at guard.

O’Down, who also lines up on the defensive line, is one of several players who will see action on both sides of the ball.

Ben Harvey led the War Eagles with six sacks and seven QB hurries last year is also listed as a tight end.

Perhaps the brightest spot on South’s defensive line is junior Nathan Efobi, a 6-foot-4, 290-pound lineman who picked up offers from UGA and Georgia Tech since the end of last season.

“A lot of guys at the next level, they’re asking what he projects as,” Morris said. “I’ll be honest with you, I’m not sure yet. I think he’s 15, about to turn 16 here in a little while, which is crazy because he’s 6-foot-4, 290. He can move, and he’s a great kid on top of that. I mean, just works so hard. Whenever I tell them those things, you know, what kind of person he is besides just how big he is and how good he is, that’s one of the things they get excited about.”

Leading tackler Julian Bolanos graduated, as did fellow linebacker Alec Stephens, but seniors Cal Jacchia and Ian Diaz look to fill the gaps. Morris said juniors Cole Williams and Conner Futch, and sophomore Maverick Shippman, will also see playing time at linebacker.

South’s influx of linebackers is one of the reasons Morris decided to move Gavin Morris to safety, where he will patrol the defensive backfield alongside the likes of returning starters Austin Uidel, Chris Nelson and Josh Nelson.

No. Name

Year Position

1 Tanner Story 12 WR/CB 2 Zane Lamonde 12 QB/RB/LB 3 Avery Blanton 11 WR/LB 5 Jack Fayard 12 WR/DL 8 Jessie Lewis 12 K/OL/DL 12 Baylor Thompson 12 OL/DL 14 Tiemann Kirby 10 OL/DL 15 Isaac Bealer 10 WR/DB 16 Riley Anderson 10 K/WR/DB 18 Titus Wilson 10 WR/DB 21 Aaron Monroe 12 WR/LB 22 Luke Radtke 12 OL/RB/DE 24 Jackson Harris 11 WR/RB/CB 48 Andrew Williams 11 OL/DL 55 Bryce Kidd 9 OL/DL 58 Bralen Blanton 8 OL/DL 77 Curran Watters 8 OL/DL 80 Eli Shumate 10 OL/DL 81 Jin Ho 8 WR/DB

I’m excited about it.” Tanner Story, who will play wide receiver and cornerback, scored three touchdowns in Horizon’s win in the state championship game and finished the season with 834 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns.

Despite the gaudy numbers, Taylor believes Story is even better this year.

“Like night and day,” Taylor said. “I think last year he was getting his wheels under him, just getting his routes any everything. I think last year his confidence grew. I think it was [three] touchdowns in the championship game. He had a huge game in the semifinals. Every game he got better and better and better. Honestly, I’m not just saying this because he’s on my team, but I don’t think anyone can stay in front of the kid. He’s just that fast. His route-running is just superb.”

Horizon held its opponent to just one score on three separate occasions last season. Taylor expects the Warriors to be stout on defense again.

“Last year that was one of the things that held us in check, was defense,” Taylor said. “Sometimes offensively when we couldn’t get it going, our defense we lead us down. I

FROM 10 think we had one of the best defenses in the Horizon league. This year we’re not going to be that far off. I think we’re going to be pretty good on defense as well.” The Warriors open the season against Fideles Christian, but the stage is set for their home opener the following week against Unity Christian. Unity steamrolled through their schedule last season to finish 10-0 and capture the GAPPS Division I-AA state championship. Horizon hasn’t beaten the Lions since 2015, and the Warriors are hoping to make history one more time.

No. Name

Year Position

2 Mason Schreiber 9 WR/LB 3 Cole Ferguson 10 WR/DB 4 Jack Brumbelow 10 TE/LB 5 Jacob Stanley 11 WR/DB 6 Garrett Wiggins 11 TE/DL 7 JD Sexton 9 WR/DB 8 Clarens Decelien 10 WR/DB 9 Will Moffit 10 QB/ILB 10 Gilley Gage 11 WR/DB 11 David Navarrete 11 WR/DB 12 Brandon Peoples 11 WR/DB 13 Elijah Seaney 9 QB/DB 14 Shawn Shook 11 WR/DB 15 Brock Szakacs 9 QB/DB 16 Andrew Schrimsher 11 QB/DB 17 Dylan Peoples 10 WR/DB 18 Troy Hoover 9 WR/LB 19 Kyle Kornacki 11 WR/DB 20 Trey Farr 9 WR/DB 21 Brennan Hoskeer 11 WR/DB 22 Isaac Castleberry 10 WR/DB 23 Messiah Arnold 9 WR/DB 24 Sebastian Amerson 10 RB/LB 25 Ramon Smith 10 WR/DB 26 Aaron Schrimsher 10 WR/DB 27 Derrick McCord 11 WR/DB 28 Titus D’arcangelo 9 WR/DB 29 Braxton Woody 10 WR/DB 30 Dalton Cummings 11 RB/LB 31 Chas Calvin 10 TE/DL 32 Brody Clark 9 WR/DB 33 Ayden McEntyre 10 RB/DB 34 Dominick Davis 10 TE/DL 35 Cameron Frady 10 TE/LB 36 Ethan Redd 9 RB/LB 37 Parker Standridge 9 WR/DB 38 DJ Haskell 9 WR/DB 40 Caston Schmidt 9 WR/DB 41 Joey Hudson 11 RB/DB 42 Adrian Reyes 9 RB/LB 43 Lucas McIntyre 9 WR/DB 44 Tripp Morris 10 RB/LB 45 Nate Carder 9 WR/DB 46 Davis Downs 9 TE/DB 47 Austin Sizemore 10 TE/DB 48 Connor Maguire 11 OL/LB 49 Justin Leyva 10 DB/RB 50 Alex Day 10 OL/DL 51 Michael Acevedo 9 TE/LB 52 Caleb Harding 9 OL/DL 53 Cameron Simonds 9 OL/DL 55 Ian Jackson 11 OL/DL 56 Jayden Burden 10 OL/DL 58 Kai Maliszewski 9 OL/DL 60 Ezra Rodriguez 9 OL/DL 62 Ryan Murphy 11 RB/DL 63 Ian Touchstone 9 OL/DL 64 Ethan Mooneyham 9 OL/DL 65 Mason Johnson 10 OL/DL 66 Sawyer Schubiger 10 OL/DL 67 Rome Lamithe 11 OL/DL 69 Colton Smith 10 OL/DL 70 Nolan Gibbs 11 TE/DL 76 Rick Wiggins 9 OL/DL 77 Sean Davis 10 OL/DL 78 Kevin Parsons 11 OL/DL 80 Myles Glass 10 TE/LB 81 Andrew Frank 9 WR/DB 82 Miller Allen 10 WR/DB 83 Jack Groover 9 WR/DB 84 Daniel Nerey 10 K/P 85 Parsa Sohrabi 9 WR/DB 86 Lincoln Polk 9 TE/DL 87 Stephen Garrett 9 WR/LB 88 Luke Droegemueller 11 WR/K 89 Jeremiah Foote 9 TE/LB

No. Name Year Position No. Name Year Position

some of the ideas. Obviously not in a negative way. We’re going to be a little more tightend oriented, which I’ve never done before. We’re going to run some option, we’re going to run some pre-snap, post-snap RPOs, so it’ll be similar.”

Other than the four players Allison brought with him to the Forsyth County News Media Day – Moffit, Peoples, and juniors

FROM 20 Garrett Wiggins and Kevin Parsons – there are a number of playEast ers he is excited about. “I think a guy that will be a factor for us is David Navarrete,” Coach Allison said. “He’ll be a factor for us at receiver. Tripp Morris will be a factor for us at running back as well. Alex Day is an offensive guard that came from [Forsyth] Central. They talked about all being from North [Forsyth], but it never crossed my mind that they were all from North because we’ve put that behind us. We’re one team now.”

sweep, he can catch, we can put him in the backfield as a tailback, just like we did with Bryce.” On defense, Ryan Bartling looks to build on a massive junior campaign that saw him collect 77 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and four sacks from the defensive end position.

Bartling will shift to linebacker, where he’ll play alongside Brock Barbee and Nick Bohn.

Brock Barbee is the younger brother of Breckin Barbee, while Nick Bohn’s younger brother, Jake Bohn, is on the team as a freshman.

“For our guys, our guys have a lot of younger brothers who are on the team, so they already had connections and knew each other,” Coury said. “So, it’s been great to have all of those guys working together. We’re going to keep trying to grow. We want to get more kids out in the hallways to come play and join what we’re doing, but at the same time I’m very excited to be where we

FROM 12 are and to make that growth year to year.” Pinecrest In fact, Brock Barbee is penciled in as the Paladins’ starting running back. “He offers a lot of the same things that Alex did,” Coury said. “He’s a hard runner, he’s a gritty kid, and he’s gotten really good at seeing cut-back lanes and making cuts. I’m really excited about what he’s going to be able to do this year.” Pinecrest lists 27 players on its roster, which is a jump from 18 last season. More than half of those players are underclassmen, which bodes well for Pinecrest’s longevity among the 11-man ranks. That’s one of the reasons Coury designed last year’s offense to work in 8-man football and 11-man football. “This was our goal, right? We were in a position to play 8-man because of the number of guys that we had, but we built an offense that was easily transferrable,” Coury said. “So, we haven’t changed anything. We’ve been running the same stuff all summer that we ran all last year. We just have two tackles and a fullback now. So, everything is still the same — the route combinations, the numbering system. It was a very smooth transition offensively.”

No. Name

Year Position

1 Peter Birozes 9 WR/DB 2 Colin Brown 12 WR/DB 3 Jake Bohn 9 QB/LB 4 Ryan Bartling 12 FB/LB 8 Sean McCabe 11 QB/DB 9 Luke Coury 10 WR/DB 10 Matthew Mitchell 9 RB/DB 11 Breckin Barbee 12 QB/DB 13 Andrew Darlak 10 WR/DB 15 Alex White 10 WR/DE 17 John Olah 11 QB/DB 20 Brock Barbee 11 RB/LB 25 Johnny Lynch 9 FB/LB 30 Micah Talbott 9 FB/LB 34 Leo Groza 9 RB/LB 50 Nick Bohn 12 OL/LB 51 Jackson McCray 11 OL/DL 54 Bennet Gebelein 10 OL/DL 55 Aadi Sharma 9 OL/DL 56 Lewis Diaz 12 OL/DL 62 John Stubbs 12 OL/DL 70 Hunter Ellis 10 OL/DL 71 Chris Calupca 10 OL/DL 80 Sebastian SantaMaria 12 WR/DB 81 Max Groza 9 WR/LB 88 Tyler Komander 11 WR/LB

No. Name Year Position No. Name Year Position

FROM 8 Lambert

weight room. I think his last batch was 285. You see him without a shirt on and he just looks like a different dude. He’s a great kid, great football player, and we’re expecting great things from him.”

Getting Antwi the football will be the responsibility of either Ashton Smith, James Tyre or Levi Watson.

Smith [90-for-176 passing, 1,468 yards, 12 TDs, 7 INTs] and Tyre [47-for-71 passing, 687 yards, 10 TDs, 1 INT] split time at quarterback last season, but Watson said the job is still up for grabs.

“I feel like we’ve got three quarterbacks we can win with,” he said. “We’re in the middle of a three-way battle for who’s going to be the starter … I’m going to play a quarterback who is tough, who is trustworthy and who takes care of the football. Whichever one, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m going to play the one who has those traits.”

Harrison Peyton figures to take the majority of carries at running back after moving to the position halfway through the season last year.

“The region has no idea who that cat is right there,” Watson said. “He got hurt against Gainesville. I moved him to safety when I first got there; he was a linebacker. After the South Forsyth game we felt we needed a change, so we put him at running back. In the Gainesville game, when he broke his leg, it was the first series of the fourth quarter. He had 18 carries for 162 yards and had two 40-yarders called back for holding calls. The region’s about to find out who that cat right there is. I promise you.”

Peyton, who has offers from Georgia State, Air Force, Army and Lehigh, said he’s fully healthy now and looks forward to turning heads during his senior season.

“It’s been good. I’m just glad to be back,” Peyton said. “It was a really long process. It took a long time to heal, but I’m 100 percent now, and as Coach Watson said, ‘Y’all about to find out who I am.’”

Harrison will also patrol the defensive backfield along with Darren Guy, who played outside linebacker last season but made the switch during the offseason to safety.

Guy led the Longhorns in tackles last year with 92, adding 9 ½ tackles for loss and 2 ½ sacks.

Lambert’s linebacking corps figures to be a strength heading into the season, with returning starters such as Jake Johnson [50 tackles], Dawson Miller [74 tackles] and Brennan Schneider.

Both Johnson and Schneider figure to see time on offense at tight end, along with 6-foot-4, 210-pound junior Luke Logan, a transfer from Northview.

“He’s a big, tall athletic kid who can run. He plays baseball as well,” Watson said. “He’s going to raise some eyebrows in this region for us, too.

David Roberts Forsyth County News Lambert junior James Tyre figures to factor into the offense this season, including time at quarterback.