The Oconee Leader

For hundreds of photos and updates about Oconee events and people, go to theoconeeleader.com

Issue 34

Volume 11

SPARTANS l TITANS l WARRIORS l WOLVERINES

Athens Academy Spartans - page 3

Thursday, August 25, 2016

North Oconee Titans - page 4

High School football preview

Oconee County Warriors - page 6

Prince Avenue Christian Wolverines - page 8

Page 12

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Thursday, August 25, 2016

Thursday, August 25, 2016

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Page 10

Prince Avenue Christian cheerleaders

North Oconee JV

Gracie Ricketts

Millie Bryant

Delainey Saxon

Bonnie Kate Collinsworth

Chria Sharp

Chloe’ Ferguson

Kaylee Smith

Lilly Henderson

Anna Kate Thurmond

Hope Hewatt

Lolly Titshaw

Paige Holcombe

Lauren Veness

Ivey Meeks

McNeal Wilfong

Abbigail Merhar

Claire Wright

PACS JV

Aug. 25 Winder Barrow

Sept. 8 Newton

Sept. 1 @ Gainesville

Sept. 15 @ Loganville

Sept. 8 @ Habersham

Sept. 22 @ Monroe Area

Sept. 15 Jefferson

Sept. 29 @ Cedar Shoals

Sept. 22 Dacula

Oct. 6 Walnut Grove

Sept. 29 @ Apalachee

Oct. 13 Buford

Oct. 6 Lanier

Aug. 25 Riverside Military

Aug. 25 Riverside Military

Sept. 1 @ Providence Chris-

Sept. 1 @ Providence Christian

tian

Sept. 8 @ Hebron Christian

Sept. 8 @ Hebron Christian

Sept. 15 @ Athens Academy

Sept. 22 George Walton

Sept. 22 George Walton

Oct. 13 @ Commerce

Oct. 3 Athens Christian Oct. 13 Commerce Oct. 17 @ Oglethorpe Co.

Oconee Co. MS

Sept. 1 Haymon-Morris

Sept. 1 @ Eastside

Sept. 8 East Jackson

Sept. 8 @ West Jackson

Sept. 15 @ Bear Creek

Sept. 15 Russell

Sept. 22 @ Westside

Sept. 22 Haymon-Morris

Sept. 29 West Jackson

Sept. 29 @ East Jackson

Oct. 6 @ Russell

Oct. 6 Bear Creek

Oct. 13 @ Oconee

Oct. 13 Malcom Bridge

U. of Georgia

PACS middle school

Oconee Co. JV

Sept. 1 Clarke Central

Malcom Bridge MS Haley Barker

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Georgia Tech

Sept. 3 North Carolina (Atl.)

Sept. 3 Boston College

Sept. 10 Nicholls State

Sept. 10 Mercer

Sept. 17 @ Missouri

Sept. 17 Vanderbilt

Sept. 24 @ Ole Miss

Sept. 22 Clemson

Oct. 1 Tennessee

Oct. 1 Miami

Oct. 8 @ South Carolina

Oct. 8 @ Pittsburgh

Oct. 15 Vanderbilt

Oct. 15 Georgia Southern

Oct. 29 Florida (Jacksonville)

Oct. 29 Duke

Nov. 5 @ Kentucky

Nov. 5 @ North Carolina

Nov. 12 Auburn

Nov. 12 @ Virginia Tech

Nov. 19 UL Lafayette

Nov. 19 Virginia

Nov. 26 Georgia Tech

Nov. 26 @ Georgia

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PR OFESSIONAL

Your Guide to Professional Service Providers in Oconee County

Thursday, August 25, 2016

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Oconee County varsity cheerleaders Sydney Field Abreanne Alesi Molly Grace Stotts Lauren Davis Emma Kraby Pryce Lofton Abigail Cheatham Anna Caroline Pascall Erika Burgess Anna Catherine Bowden Amadi Daughrity Emily Bannister Leah Grace Wiggins Emalee Nichols Rachael Buffa Coach Alyssa Moore Coach Chelsey Stump

Oconee County JV cheerleaders Mary Cain Rue Jessie Chambers Anna Higgins Anna Ambartsumian Katelyn Higgins Faith Ezzard Emelia Muilenburg Coach Alyssa Moore

‘Titans’

Stephens County and Madison County.

“What you did was you lost the elephant in the room but you gained parity across the board,” Tuley said. “In the old regions, there were three, maybe four schools, you have Buford, us, Stephens and North Hall and there was a separation. Now, give Madison their due. If they play well, they can be right in there in the mix. You have a six-team region and most people would probably leave us out of the discussion and Madison out of the discussion. You have four teams that could win it. I don’t think there are a whole lot of regions that you can say that about.”

With a strong region, Tuley said they will be well prepared for teams in the state tournament if they are one of the four teams able to qualify this year.

Continued from page 4 “That is a big tree to cut down and chew it all up but we will cross that bridge when we get to it,” Tuley said. “Right now, we are a team that must take each game one at a time.”

Since becoming eligible for qualifying for the state tournament in 2008, the Titans have qualified for the postseason each year.

“Our No. 1 goal is, we have been in the playoffs eight straight years and No. 9 is big and important. Based on where we are right now starting so many sophomores, we only have nine seniors on the whole squad,” Tuley said. “When you look at that and you are starting as many as 10 or 11 sophomores, if we are able to keep that intact, we are proud.”

For coverage this season, see theoconeeleader.com. Connect with The Oconee Leader sports department on Twitter @ocleadersports and on Facebook at facebook.com/oconeeleadersports

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Page 8

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Prince Avenue Christian Wolverines

By Matthew Caldwell

“Right now, it’s about attitude, effort, working hard and getting those guys to be the best they can every day and represent their school, their family and their community.

Those are the kinds of things I am trying to get them to buy into right now.”

TheOconeeLeader.com

For the fourth time in program history, the Prince Avenue Christian Wolverines will enter a football season with a new head coach.

Richard Ricketts was coach the first two years of the program in 2005 and 2006. Mark Farriba coached the team from 2007-2012 and Jeff Herron coached the team from 2013-2015.

Herron resigned in the spring to take the Grayson job and Greg Vandagriff was hired in April.

“It’s been like 1,000MPH. We practiced Monday, Tuesday, Thursday in June.

During July we went Monday-Thursday. The kids have been great,” Vandagriff said. “It’s been wide open. I haven’t been able to move yet. Between hiring coaches and figuring out what players to put in what position and trying to find a house, it’s been a fast summer.

“Typically after being at a program, I could look through and know what teams will be our toughest and we have to survive these games. The hardest thing right now is without knowing everybody else, Commerce is good, Athens Academy is good, the predictor of looking through.

Right now we are truly going to take it one week at a time, be the best we can that week and then we will look at the next week. We open up with the No. 2 team in the state who got beat in the state champi-

2016 schedule Aug. 19 Aquinas (win 35-14)

- Head coach Greg Vandagriff

Aug. 26 @ Riverside Military Sept. 2 Athens Christian

onship. No week can we overlook anybody right now.”

The Wolverines ran the Wing-T offense for several years and had a lot of success with it, reaching the playoffs every year since 2010 and advancing to the state championship game in 2011.

“We have a really good quarterback with Grant Roland coming back,” Vandagriff said. “Three-hundred of the carries aren’t coming back but I feel good with Noah (Campbell) carrying the ball. I feel good with (Thomas) Huff carrying the ball. Our O-line is huge. The things that will allow us to be successful are our O- and D-line. They can compete with any team at any level, especially single-A. Coach Herron did a great job getting them prepared.

Our kids, skill-wise, know how to compete. Without knowing what everybody

else has coming back, I think we will be in the middle of every ball game and have a chance to have a great year.

“They ran a 3-4 (on defense) so all five of the front five are back from last year. We are trying to slide them around and put them in the right position that worked for a four-man front. Up front, we will be good. In the backside, it is trying to find the skills to put in the right position for coverage-wise and everything.”

The Wolverines scrimmaged Jackson County a week before opening the season and they came away with a 31-7 victory. They opened the season against Aquinas.

“The greatest improvement comes from your scrimmage to week one.

You have the ability to improve 50-60 percent from a scrimmage to week one,” Vandagriff said. “From a

scrimmage to week one, then from week one to week two, you have the ability to improve 60, 70, 80 percent. Some of those kids will expose some of our kids. Speed will expose those who can’t run.

Sometimes the bad thing in single-A is when our ones are in, the twos on the other side can’t give them the look to be successful. That exposure will be huge in the first couple of weeks.

“Right now, it’s about attitude, effort, working hard and getting those guys to be the best they can every day and represent their school, their family and their community. Those are the kinds of things I am trying to get them to buy into right now. Obviously we want to win a state championship. Right now (the goal is) to win a region and do the best we can and let the chips fall where they may in the playoffs.”

Sept. 9 @ Towns County Sept. 23 @ George Walton Academy Sept. 30 Commerce Oct. 7 Lakeview Academy Oct. 14 @ Hebron Christian Academy Oct. 28 @ Providence Christian Nov. 4 Athens Academy

More online...

To see a full recap and a photo gallery of Prince Avenue Chrisitan’s 35-14 win against Aquinas, see theoconeeleader.com.

2016 Prince Avenue Christian Wolverines No. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 15 16 17 18 20 21 22 24 26 28

Name Elijah Hynes Grant Roland Tyler Roberts Andrew Bray Jake Haynes Evan Treadwell Christian Parrish Bryson Seay Daniel Calderon Mack Simmons Dax Marshall Nick Brown Sam Wessinger Trey Stiles Jack Johnston Chandler Smith Curry Liu Landon Ragle Jared Pringle Rod Platt

Grade 10th 11th 11th 12th 9th 10th 10th 9th 11th 10th 9th 12th 11th 9th 9th 12th 11th 9th 12th 10th

No. Name Grade 32 Thomas Huff 12th 33 Shelby Davis 10th 34 Josh Cartey 12th 44 Noah Campbell 12th 46 Shane McCormick 9th 50 Del Ruff 11th 51 Forde Norris 12th 52 Collin Sweet 12th 53 Carter Sexton 12th 54 Daniel Parrish 11th 55 Jacob Lill 9th 56 Josh Hilton 10th 57 John Shumaker 12th 58 James DeLaurier 11th 60 Luke Wells 11th 62 Landon Wallace 9th 72 Dalton Owens 12th 73 Harrison Jump 11th 75 Chase Barker 10th

Thursday, August 25, 2016

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North Oconee varsity cheerleaders

Hollis Brown

Julia Walker

Kendall Brown

Taylor Wilhelm

Avery Dewitt

Ashleigh Willis

Kaitlin Grout

Anna Barnett

Amelia Hamil

Alyssa Gladney

Kyler Hardigree

Charlotte Hudson

Anna Jerald

Halli-Gray Beasley

Lucy Smith

Tori Morgan

Amy Stanaland

Coaches:

Grace Callaway

Hillary Sanders

McKinsey Haley

Claire Sarver

North Oconee JV cheerleaders

Elena Denny

Callee Maughon

Dabney Earnhart

Nina Palomino

Miranda Guffey

Lauren Peck

Ava-Cate Beasley

Payton Ryan

Anna Carlyle

Anderson Shipp

Fiona Cashin

Hayden Westbrook

Emma Lou Conliff

Emma Young

Taylor Crowe

Coach:

Elizabeth Harris

Angela Harris

Page 7

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Page 6

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Oconee County Warriors

By Matthew Caldwell TheOconeeLeader.com

The last two seasons for the Oconee County Warriors have been successful ones, reaching the second round of the state tournament both years and winning the region last season, and bringing back excitement to the program after some down years.

“The kids hear it a whole lot more than I do. I am removed from it but it is nice to see the excitement back,” said head coach Travis Noland. “That’s what we wanted to do. Our goal is to try and get better every year. We are looking forward to the challenges in front of us this fall.”

The Warriors non-region portion of the schedule features home games against Clarke Central, Morgan County and Eastside.

They play Walnut Grove and Cedar Shoals on the road.

“It will be a tough challenge for us,” Noland said.

“Our schedule is very hard.

When we get through the non-region schedule, we will be ready for a tough region because our nonregion is a lot tougher this year than it has been in the past.”

Noland said he hopes the tougher non-region schedule will prepare his team for a tougher region schedule and for postseason play.

“I hope it prepares us to

“... It is nice to see the excitement back. That’s what we wanted to do. Our goal is to try and get better every year.”

- Head coach Travis Noland

2016 schedule take that next step,” Noland said. “We have to get to the playoffs first but in the same token, by the time we play our five region teams, if we are fortunate enough to get in there, we will be prepared to see anybody in the state because we will have already seen a lot of high caliber opponents.”

Their first region game is on the road but just minutes away from Oconee County High School – Oct. 7 at North Oconee. The Warriors and Titans are region opponents again for the first time since the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

After hosting St. Pius X on Oct. 14, the Warriors play back-to-back road games against Stephens County and Madison County before closing the regular season at home against Jefferson.

Last year, the Warriors beat Jefferson 36-35 in double overtime in a game

that helped propel them to a region championship the following week.

The Warriors went 9-3, won the region championship for the first time since 2004 and went to the second round of the state playoffs for a second straight year.

They lost last year’s senior quarterback, Zeb Noland, but will have another senior quarterback this year – Sam Middlebrooks transferred from North Oconee to Oconee for this year.

“We feel good about what we are capable of doing but we have to go do it,” Coach Noland said. “As time goes on and the challenges present themselves, it will be interesting to see. I know how we have handled it in the past but anytime you have a new starting quarterback, we will have to see what he can do, how he can handle and how we adjust from there.

“We have four starting offensive linemen. We lost a tight end and a tackle and a quarterback. Everybody else is back. We have seven or eight starters back.

“We have a lot of guys that have played but we lost some key starters. We have to have some guys step up and we will see how that goes because we won’t know those answers until week one after we have the two scrimmages.”

This is Noland’s third year as head coach of the Warriors.

“The biggest thing is the day-to-day, weekly expectation of what we are trying to do, why we are trying to do it and how we are trying to do it. That part has been good,” Noland said. “I used to tell our coaches every day of that first season three or four years from now they won’t know but one way, and we are almost to that point.

“We have been grinding

Aug. 26 Clarke Central Sept. 2 @ Walnut Grove Sept. 9 Morgan County Sept. 16 @ Cedar Shoals Sept. 23 Eastside Oct. 7 @ North Oconee Oct. 14 St. Pius X Oct. 21 @ Stephens County Oct. 28 @ Madison County Nov. 4 Jefferson but it’s been a good summer. We have got a lot done. We are way ahead as far as our install and that kind of stuff goes. We are ready to play football. We are excited about getting started.”

As for what will make the 2016 a successful one for the Warriors, Noland said, “It’s the same one that makes every season successful.”

“We have to play well

2016 Oconee County Warriors No. Name Grade 1 Corderius Paschal Jr 2 Jared Hood Jr 3 Jeff Thurmond So 4 Tre Whitehead Jr 5 Roques Dowdy Sr 6 Blaize Williams Jr 7 Jarvis Stephens Jr 8 Dylan Pettway Jr 9 Champ Bell Sr 10 Kyland Canady Sr 11 Cameron Conglose Jr 12 Sam Middlebrooks Sr 14 Max Johnson Fr 15 Crawford Miller Jr 16 T Donnan Jr 17 CJ Brewer Jr 18 Austin Mcgalliard Sr 19 Brady Rhines So 20 Caleb Shelton Jr 21 Ethan Smith Sr 22 Tyler Hart So 23 Wyatt Woodward Jr 24 Christian Casey Sr 25 Jake Dickens Sr 26 Jordan Claxton So 27 Jackson Manders So 28 Walton Jackson Sr 30 Coby Pickett So 31 David Stearns So 32 Anthony Bethea So

No. Name Grade 33 Jamal Davis Jr 34 Bailey Burrows So 35 Darantay Ford Sr 38 Julian Benitez So 40 Collin Worsham Sr 41 Josh House Jr 42 Miles Pettway So 44 Darion Goodrum So 45 Daniel Nash So 47 Parker Skiles Sr 48 Hunter Reynolds Jr 50 Andrew Fleming Jr 51 Abe Noland Sr 52 Josh Palmer Sr 53 Chase Boswell So 54 Gage Middleton Jr 55 Brandon Short So 57 Gavin Adcock Sr 59 Sheffield Morse Jr 61 Gus Smith Jr 64 Will Worthington Jr 66 Matt Maultsby Sr 67 Derrick Chaney Jr 72 Bo Brigman So 77 Ethan Cummings So 78 Nikolai Mcarthur Sr 82 Zach Donahue So 83 Brian Hector So 84 Sam Shurtleff So 88 Jace Bernales Jr

as a team, we have to take care of the football and we have to give ourselves a chance to win every game by how we prepare,” Noland said. “In high school football, the biggest thing is making sure you’ve got a chance to win the game so that you can win the game.

We are going to try and be fundamentally sound and work hard and take one week at a time, one day at a time.”

Thursday, August 25, 2016

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Athens Academy cheerleaders

Eden Avolio

Lili Hollis

Emily Ballard-Myer

Gracie Irvin

Mary Brooke Barber

Barrett Jones

Callie Bard

Maggie Jordan

Reed Barkley

Lucy Kemp

Claire Bartlett

Jarrett Kemp

Liza Boswell

Charlotte Knight

Cooper Camp

Isabel Lane

Kate Cowles

Mary Lane

Lucy Devaney

Annie Miller

Hannah Dillard

Sally Osteen

Kennedy Drake

Cardy Pennington

Grace Ferguson

Anna Sennowitz

Cate Hardman

Claire Simms

Hart Hequembourg

Reese Trigleth

Frances Herrin

Isabella York

‘Spartans’

Continued from page 3

have back that a lot of people aren’t taking about is our offensive line and defensive line are back.

“We have a lot of work to do but it was nice going out and the kids knew what to do.”

The Spartans went 9-2 last season, falling to Christian Heritage 22-14 in the first round of the state tournament. They finished second Region 8-A behind Prince Avenue Christian, who was the only team the Spartans lost to in the regular season.

“Our goals never change,” Alexander said. “First goal is make the state playoffs, second one is win a region championship and third is win a state championship. Those three things we preach every day.

“We have to run the ball better. Last year we ran the ball well at times but there were times we didn’t run the ball. That is one thing we challenged our guys. We will run the ball better this year.

We will try and put as many tight ends on the field as we can.

“We have a lot more depth than we had last year. We have kids playing one way in a lot of places. We are excited about that. We did in some spots but not a lot. It is one of those things we try to play as many kids as we can.”

Junior Varsity Sept. 1 Athens Christian 6 p.m.

Sept. 8 Lakeview 6 p.m.

Sept. 22 @ Hebron Christian 6 p.m.

Sept. 29 @ George Walton 6 p.m.

Oct. 06 @ Commerce 6 p.m.

Oct. 13 Oglethorpe County Oct. 20 @ Social Circle 6 p.m.

Oct. 27 Prince Avenue 6 p.m.

Middle school Aug. 25 Hebron Christian 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 1 Athens Christian 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 8 @ Bethlehem 5:30 p.m.

Sept. 15 Prince Avenue 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 22 Oglethorpe Co. 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 29 @ George Walton 4:30 p.m.

Oct. 6 Commerce 4:30 p.m.

Oct. 13 @ Loganville 5:30 p.m.

Page 5

Page 4

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Thursday, August 25, 2016

North Oconee Titans

By Matthew Caldwell TheOconeeLeader.com

Going into this upcoming season, North Oconee head coach Terry Tuley said the Titans will have “a lot of young kids that will have to grow up in a hurry.”

He didn’t place much importance on winning their two scrimmages but wanted to see what they need to work on and fix it for their first game of the season.

The Titans won their first scrimmage 13-10 against Dawson County but lost 7-0 to Apalachee.

“It is real important how we get started. Our first two scrimmages, I don’t think we have to win those and we won’t go into it with that kind of thing in mind, but it has to be a demonstration of what we know and what we don’t know, and the ability to turn around real quick and put Band-Aids on those areas that need it,” Tuley

“You have four teams that could win it. I don’t think there are a whole lot of regions that you can say that about.”

2016 schedule Aug. 26 @ Grovetown Sept. 2 @ Morgan County Sept. 9 Cedar Shoals Sept. 16 @ Clarke Central Sept. 23 @ Winder-Barrow

- Head coach Terry Tuley

Oct. 7 Oconee County Oct. 14 Jefferson

said. “(Senior leadership) is critical this year because of where we are at. We are not taking seniors and then if you don’t have a senior, you insert a junior. This team, the insertion point is sophomores. You won’t find many teams where your sophomore class is your leadership. That is not going to happen. It has to come from our seniors.”

The Titans will have a new quarterback for the third straight year. Last

year’s quarterback, Sam Middlebrooks, transferred to Oconee County. Turner Daniel will be taking snaps at the position this year.

“Losing Sam was a big blow,” Tuley said. “Turner Daniel is an adequate quarterback. We didn’t have concerns of, ‘We are in trouble, we lost our starter and we have nothing,’ but we had already moved Turner to a linebacker spot.

Now you have to reprogram. He has to change

mentality. He is going to a linebacker position where he has to a glass senior but now he has to be cerebral.

The good news is it happened early enough where we had the whole summer. We adjusted a little bit of what we are doing .Sam threw for 1,500 yards last year. Turner might not throw for that many but Sam rushed for 200 yards.”

Tuley said they are returning one starter on offense, lineman Harrison

Oct. 21 @ Madison County Oct. 28 St. Pius X Nov. 4 @ Stephens County Clark. William Webb was hurt last year but Tuley said he would have started last season.

On defense, the Titans have three returning starters – Will Newman, Joey Albright and Grant Fordham.

The GHSA reclassi-

fied schools for this year and next year. The Titans will remain in Region 8-AAAA. They won’t have to play Buford, who moved up to Class AAAAA, but they gained St. Pius X, Oconee County, Jefferson, Please see ‘Titans’

Page 9

2016 North Oconee Titans No. Name Grade Position Height/weight 1 Stan Lacksen 9 QB/DB 5’ 11” 150 2 John Bohler 11 K 5’ 11” 165 3 Kaleb Sherrer 10 QB/DB 5’ 10” 140 4 Brian Mauldin 12 RB/DB 5’ 8” 160 5 Dylan Wilhelm 9 QB/DB 6’ 1” 170 6 Jermaine Browner 11 RB/DB 5’ 4” 135 7 Mason Vanderford 10 WR/DB 6’ 0” 165 8 JohnThomas Dukes 10 RB/DB 6’ 1” 185 9 CJ Ward 10 TE/LB 6’ 2” 210 10 Anthony “AJ” Long 10 WR/DB 5’ 5” 135 11 Chase Trest 12 WR/DB 6’ 1” 155 12 Griffin Trest 9 QB/DB 6’ 1” 135 13 Thomas Dowis 9 K 5’ 11” 140 14 Turner Daniel 11 QB/LB 6’ 1” 185 15 Garrett Paxson 10 TE/LB 6’ 2” 210 16 Mika Fick 10 WR/DB 6’ 2” 170 17 DJ DeFabio 10 QB/LB 6’ 1” 170 18 Kyle Sherrer 10 WR/DB 6’ 1” 160 19 Hayden Bagley 10 WR/DB 5’ 9” 135 20 Graham Baumgardner 9 RB/DB 5 ‘7” 135 21 Turner Hargrave 1 1 RB/LB 5’ 11” 195 22 Jay Hamil 10 WR/DB 6’ 2” 170 23 Jack Carter 11 WR/DB 5’ 8” 130 24 Rashad Finch 9 WR/DB 5’ 11” 145 25 Gavin McNeill 11 WR/DB 5’ 10” 155 26 Colton Spillers 10 WR/DB 5’ 6” 135 27 Drew Stanley 10 WR/DB 6’ 3” 155 28 Cameron Christian 11 RB/DB 5’ 10” 160 29 Mercer Boling 12 TE/LB 6’ 2” 185 30 Benson DeBord 10 WR/DB 6’ 0” 155 31 Grant Fordham 11 WR/DB 6’ 2” 170 32 Woody Barks 9 RB/LB 5’ 9” 205 33 William Batalis 9 WR/DB 5’ 11” 155 34 Ryan Zornig 11 WR/DB 5’ 11” 145 35 Joey Albright 12 WR/DB 6’ 1” 170 36 Hunter Payne 11 OL/DL 6’ 1” 175 37 Michael Hotcaveg 9 RB/LB 5’ 6” 140 38 Jacob Warrington 11 WR/DB 6’ 1” 160 39 Spencer Bolen 10 QB 6’ 0” 177 40 Adam Weynand 9 RB/DL 6’ 2” 185 41 Josh Davantes 11 FB/LB 5’ 10” 175 42 Gabe Antis 9 OL/DL 5’ 10” 175 43 Mac Channell 11 RB/LB 5’ 10” 180

No. Name Grade Position Height/weight 44 Will Newman 12 RB/LB 6’ 0” 190 45 Bennett Toci 9 RB/LB 5’ 9” 145 46 Garrison Lovett 10 WR/LB 6’ 0” 165 47 Houston Ripley 10 OL/DL 6’ 1” 200 48 Daniel Teasley 9 WR/DB 6’ 1” 145 49 Daniel Kim 12 RB/DL 5’ 6” 195 50 Yash Patel 10 OL/DL 5’ 9” 130 51 Tanner Peterson 12 OL/LB 5’ 5” 185 52 Reed Smith 11 OL/DL 6’ 2” 220 53 Sullivan Brooks 11 OL/LB 6’ 0” 205 54 Christian Parr 11 OL/DL 6’ 3” 215 55 Zack Odum 10 OL/DL 6’ 0” 170 56 Will Albright 9 OL/DL 6’ 0” 205 57 Jeremiah White 11 OL/LB 6’ 0” 230 58 Spencer Foster 9 OL/DL 6’ 3’ 180 60 William Webb 12 OL/DL 6’ 2” 220 61 Hayden Moore 12 OL/DL 6’ 1” 285 63 Patrick Purcell 9 OL/DL 5’ 8” 165 64 Greyson Lovett 9 OL/DL 5’ 11” 210 67 Caleb Jones 10 OL/DL 6’ 4” 250 71 Charlie Hurst 11 OL/DL 5’ 10” 180 73 Harrison Clark 12 OL/DL 6’ 2” 255 74 Seamus O’Brien 10 OL/DL 6’ 2” 210 75 Elliott Hood 11 OL/DL 6’ 0” 215 76 Dominick Abounader 9 OL/DL 5’ 4” 200 77 Jesup Daniel 11 OL/DL 5’ 9” 290 79 Key Hines 10 OL/DL 6’ 3” 230 80 Nick Crowe 9 WR/LB 5’ 7” 145 81 Mark Bowden 11 WR/DB 6’ 4” 170 82 John Thomason 10 WR/LB 5’ 9” 140 83 Carson Curry 9 TE/LB 5’ 10” 155 84 Ryan Coates 10 WR/DB 6’ 0” 155 85 Jared Strickland 12 WR/DB 6’ 1” 140 86 Slade Masterson 10 WR/DB 6’ 5” 160 87 Blake Goodman 10 WR/DB 5’ 8” 140 88 Johnny Barone 11 WR/DB 5’ 9” 145 89 Aidan Caughy 9 WR/DB 5’ 7” 135 90 Kyle Poole 10 TE/LB 6’ 2” 230 91 Carlos Sauceda 9 K 5’ 7” 140 92 Asa Bennett 9 WR/DB 5’ 10” 140 93 Kajari Willoughby 9 RB/LB 5’ 9” 150 96 David Chapeau 10 P 5’ 10” 150 97 Genaro Villanueva 10 K 5’ 10” 105

Thursday, August 25, 2016

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Page 3

Athens Academy Spartans

By Matthew Caldwell TheOconeeLeader.com

Year two of the Joshua Alexander era at Athens Academy is happening in year 39 of the football program, and Alexander said he is more comfortable going into this year with the experience he got last year.

“I didn’t know what I was getting in to. I had been in Gwinnett County for over 10 years. Coming over here was fun because you play the same people every year, they learn how to defend you,” Alexander said. “We want to change offensively and defensively every year and do what our kids do well. We will look different than we were last year.

“We don’t know how good we will be. This is the 39 year for us playing football at Athens Academy. We call it Team 39.

Anytime we play, we want to win but as long as we give it all we’ve got every time we go out and give a good showing, that is what we want to do.”

The Spartans will have new jerseys, a new helmet logo and a new quarterback after graduating Drew Richardson, but they have eight players on offense and eight players on defense coming back.

Jacob Hudson, who plays point guard on the basketball team, takes over at the th

“Our goals never change.

First goal is make the state playoffs, second one is win a region championship and third is win a state championship.”

- Head coach Joshua Alexander

2016 schedule Aug. 19 @ Walker (win 23-8) Sept. 2 @ Lakeview Academy Sept. 9 Athens Christian Sept. 23 Towns County Sept. 30 @ Riverside Military Oct. 7 @ Hebron Christian Academy Oct. 14 Providence Christian Oct. 21 George Walton Academy Oct. 28 Commerce Nov. 4 @ Prince Avenue Christian quarterback position.

“It carries over a lot with how to handle the ball, the pressure of handling the ball, leading the team in every aspect of athletics.

The two match very well,” Alexander said about being

a point guard and quarterback.

With a new quarterback, the Spartans went to six 7-on-7 events over the summer.

“We had a great offseason. We had great atten-

dance every day at weight training. We had a great summer with everybody there lifting, pushing, pulling and doing everything they do. We participated in six 7-on-7s and had a lot of luck there. We had a lot of success. We are excited to see what we are going to do,” Alexander said. “We have a lot of kids back.

The one thing we did lose is Drew Richardson but Jacob has done a great job filling the shoes.

“We have Ed Ferguson, who has done a great job for us. He will play some running back, wide receiver and linebacker for us. Alex Chronos, Drew Swan and Sam Blasingame at linebacker. We have some corners coming back in Owen Roberts, Taylor Boswell. One thing we do Please see ‘Spartans’

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2016 Athens Academy Spartans No. Name Grade Pos. 2 Sam Blasingame 12 WR/LB 3 Matt Moseley 12 WR/DB 4 Jacob Hudson 12 QB/DB 5 Payton Bowles 10 RB/DB 6 John Cunningham 12 WR/DB 7 Owen Roberts 11 WR/DB 8 Henry Trapnell 11 RB/DB 9 Kurt Knisely 9 RB/LB 10 Alex Chronos 12 WR/LB 11 Rolf Reynolds 12 WR/DB 12 Barrett McLanahan 10 WR/LB 13 Doug Clements 10 WR/DB 14 Franklin Burns 10 WR/DB 15 Jack Thomas 10 QB/LB 16 Wes Wilson 10 QB/DB 18 Charlie King 11 P/K 19 Cole Reynolds 9 WR/DB 20 Tae Clay 10 RB/DB 21 Ed Ferguson 12 WR/LB 22 Taylor Boswell 11 WR/DB 23 JD Bearden 11 WR/LB 24 Drew Swan 12 RB/LB 25 Trey Willis 9 WR/DB 26 Stewart Crymes 10 WR/LB 27 Jackson Reynolds 11 RB/DL 28 Drew Byus 11 P/K 29 Jalen Huff 9 WR/DB 30 Turner Trapnell 9 WR/DB 34 James Williams 9 P/K 36 Joel Moore 9 RB/LB 38 Charlie Kahlstorf 9 RB/LB 50 John Bostwick 9 OL/LB 51 George Smith 10 OL/DL 52 Charles Clarke 10 OL/DL 53 Will Hays 10 OL/DL 54 Riley Rupert 12 OL/LB 55 Thomas Lupton 11 OL/DL 61 William McLanahan 10 OL/DL 63 Cameron Wysocky 11 OL/DL 64 Frank Sinkwich 12 OL/DL 66 Sherrod Bell 11 OL/DL 67 Zach Daniels 9 OL/DL 70 Kris Knisely 9 OL/DL 73 Joe Colley 11 OL/DL 74 Chris Andrew 9 OL/DL 75 Nick Fernandez 12 OL/LB 76 Bo Allen 12 OL/DL

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Thursday, August 25, 2016