GET MORE OUT OF LIFE SEE BACK PAGE VOL 3 NO 4

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1 GET MORE OUT OF LIFE SEE BACK PAGE SEPTEMBER 18-24, 2009 CHEROKEE/FORSYTH S ATLANTA S SPORTS HIGH SCHOOL TALK NEWSPAPER SPORTS NEWSPAPER VOL 3 NO 4

2 02CF I SCORE CHEROKEE/FORSYTH Get In The Game! STARTING LINEUP PUBLISHER/EDITOR I.J. Rosenberg GENERAL MANAGER Bob Houghton MANAGING EDITOR Alex Ewalt ART/CREATIVE DIRECTOR DJ Galbiati VIDEO MANAGER Scott Janovitz BUSINESS MANAGER Marvin Botnick SALES MANAGER Mark Mayo SALES ASSOCIATE John Saunders BEAT WRITERS Josh Bagriansky (Dream), Stephen Black (Kennesaw State), Jason Boral (Thrashers), James Butler (UGA), Dave Cohen (Georgia State), Ricky Dimon (Tech), Alex Ewalt (Preps), Scott Janovitz (Hawks/Recruiting), Brian Jones (Falcons), Fletcher Proctor (Braves) STAFF WRITERS Cranston Collier, Joe Deighton, Rajesh Gupta, Zander Lentz, Andrew McCarron, Alan Gales, Brian Penter, John Edwards, Derek Wiley, Foster Lander, Summer Goldberg CONTRIBUTORS Tad Arapoglou, Dean Zindler, Kevin Dankosky, Mitch Evans, Matt Judy, Tony Schiavone, Richard Diamond, Joe Haines, Brian Katrek, Chris Dimino, Mike Bell, Matt Stewart, Fred Kalil, Nick Cellini, Phillip Leopold, Dave Marshall, Greg Smith, Steak Shapiro, Mike Cather, Beau Bock, Hal Lamar, Chris Cotter, Roy Hickman, Dave Cohen, John Olah, Jeff Woolverton, Chris Voss, Bob Rathbun, Courtney Capps, Bill Hartman, Chuck Dowdle, Shannon Alderman, Dan Kamal, Dennis Scott, C.C., Hal Lanier, Jeff Batten, Micah Hart, Ben Wright, Alan Vasquez, Andrew Vedlitz, Brian Jones SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Mitch Albom, Dave Kindred, Barry Bloom SCHOOL LISTING CHEROKEE/FORSYTH: Cherokee, Creekview, Etowah, Forsyth Central, North Forsyth, Sequoyah, South Forsyth, West Forsyth, Woodstock COBB: Allatoona, Campbell, Harrison, Kell, Kennesaw Mountain, Lassiter, Marietta, McEachern, N. Cobb, N. Cobb Christian, Pebblebrook, Pope, S. Cobb, Sprayberry, Walton, Wheeler DEKALB: Chamblee, Columbia, Decatur, Druid Hills, Dunwoody, Lakeside, Marist, Miller Grove, M.L. King, Paideia, Redan, St. Pius X, Southwest DeKalb, Stephenson, Stone Mountain, Tucker FULTON: Alpharetta, Blessed Trinity, Centennial, Chattahoochee, Douglass, Grady, Lovett, Mays, Milton, North Springs, Northview, Riverwood, Roswell, Tri-Cities, Westminster, Woodward Academy GWINNETT: Berkmar, Brookwood, Buford, C. Gwinnett, Collins Hill, Dacula, Grayson, Greater Atlanta Christian, Meadowcreek, Mill Creek, Norcross, North Gwinnett, Parkview, Peachtree Ridge, South Gwinnett, Wesleyan THE HIGH SCHOOL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK EAN PEMBERTON GRAYSON HIGH The 5-foot-3 running back leads the Rams high-powered rushing attack. No. 2 Grayson got 148 yards and three touchdowns last Friday in a 44-0 win over region rival Dacula, pushing Grayson to 3-0 on the season. Pemberton was one of the county s leading rushers a year ago and was chosen to the GHSF Daily preseason Super 11 team for Class 5A this year. BRET MCDANIEL RIVERWOOD HIGH McDaniel took the top spot in the Coach Benson Double Dip Invitational at Marist last Saturday with a time of 18:54. The senior runner also finished first in the Bob Blastow Early Bird Invitational back on Aug. 29. A two-sport star in track and cross country, McDaniel also was the state champion in the 1,600 meters at the GHSA state meet in May.

3 SEPTEMBER 11-17, 2009 SCORE CHEROKEE/FORSYTH I 03CF Lions, Indians garner headlines; three area quarterbacks burst onto scene Believe it or not, the high school football regular season is near the halfway mark and we have already seen a fair share of suspense and surprises. There have been upsets and new players and teams have emerged as the elite in the Atlanta area. Here s a look at some of the biggest stories so far in 09. BIGGEST UPSET Lovett over Buford, 28-21: The Buford Wolves have been one of the most dominant teams in the state for the last few years, winning back-to-back state titles in Class 2A. The team hadn t lost in the regular season since 2004 and hadn t gone down in region play since Lovett has also been a force in class 2A, but the Lions had been outscored in their last three meetings with the Wolves, with one of those games coming in the 2007 state championship. But last Friday, Lovett came out swinging, leading 28-7 in the second quarter. Buford, however, would work hard to get back in the game and cut the lead to seven in the fourth. The Wolves had the ball with 2:41 left in the game and were able to drive 72 yards down the field on their way to a potential game-tying score. But that all came to an end when Wolves quarterback Alex Ross was intercepted by David Chandler in the end zone, giving the Lions the victory. BIGGEST SURPRISE TEAM McEachern Indians: When former McEachern head coach (and current athletic director) Jimmy Dorsey took over the program in 1984, he worked to build it into a powerhouse. McEachern s success blossomed in the 1990s, and the team even reached the state championship in But since the turn of the millennium, the pro- gram had lost a bit of its luster; the Indians haven t reached the playoffs since But now, with second-year head coach Kyle Hockman and a potent pistol offense led by running back Rajaan Bennett, the Indians are riding high with a 3-0 record. They dominated Brookwood in the Kell Classic, cruised past Etowah and came back to beat Woodstock. The common denominator with all three of their victims is that each reached the playoffs last year. With the team scoring 42 points per game so far this season, it has one of the most prolific offenses in the Atlanta area. The Indians have some tough games coming up with East Paulding on Friday and Harrison on Oct. 23, but if they continue to play like they have been, they should win Region 5-AAAAA. BREAKTHROUGH PLAYERS C.J. Uzomah, North Gwinnett: Uzomah played a lot of wide receiver last year when Mikey Tamburo was the quarterback for the Bulldogs. Now, Tamburo is playing college football at Boise State and Uzomah is the man under center. And what does Uzomah do in his first start? He only leads his team to a victory against nationally ranked Prattville, the defending state champion in Alabama s highest classification. In his second game, against Brookwood, Uzomah accounted for 237 yards and two touchdowns. And in last week s game against South Forsyth, he threw for 246 yards and three touchdown passes. Uzomah has proven that he can lead the Bulldogs spread offense and there is no reason to think he can t lead North Gwinnett to a Region 7-AAAAA title in his first year as starter. Joey Windler, Walton: Ray Rayburn had an excellent season as the Walton signal caller last year, as he led the Raiders to a region title. But with Rayburn gone, somebody had to step up and Windler has been that guy. In the opening game against Norcross, Windler scored all four of the Raiders touchdowns, leading them to a thrilling victory in the Georgia Dome. Last Friday, he had 185 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown to push the Raiders past Campbell in comeback fashion. Windler has shown that he can both run and throw the football and the Raiders, who were supposed to have a down year, could be a dangerous team come playoff time. Kent Rollins, South Gwinnett: The Comets are off to a hot start and one of the big reasons for their early success is the play of quarterback Kent Rollins. South Gwinnett got a big win against Norcross in its opening game, as Rollins threw for 143 yards, rushed for 52 yards and scored two touchdowns. In last Friday s game against Meadowcreek, he threw four touchdown passes in the first half en route to a victory. Grayson is the favorite in Region 8-AAAAA, but the Comets may be in line for the second seed with Rollins at the helm. The cover photographs are courtesy of McEachern High School and David Caselli/Photographic Arts, and the photo of North Gwinnett s C.J. Uzomah is courtesy of Don Jackson/Photographic Arts. Jones can be reached at bjones@scoreatl.com.

4 04CF I SCORE CHEROKEE/FORSYTH Get In The Game! Lovett pulls off upset of year; all-class rankings released for cross country Lovett shocked Buford in last weekend s most significant football game, a upset at Lovett s Conley Oakley Field at Kilpatrick Stadium. The upset was spurred by Lovett quarterback Jonathan Carkhuff, who passed for two touchdowns and rushed for another. On the final play of the game, Lovett s Daniel Candler picked off Buford quarterback Alex Ross as time expired. The loss was Buford s first in 32 games. In another stunning upset, Creekview knocked off 08 Class 3A runner-up Flowery Branch, Eric Smith had 199 of the Grizzlies 402 yards rushing. The win gives Creekview, which played its first full region schedule just last season, the school s firstever top-10 ranking. MORE RANKINGS Speaking of the rankings, two classifi- cations had a changing of the guard at the No. 1 spot, as Gainesville took over in Class 3A and Calhoun took over in Class 2A. For Gainesville, it s the Red Elephants first top ranking since 1983; they took over after the previous No. 1, Carver-Columbus, dropped a game to Class 5A Northside- Warner Robins. As for Calhoun, the Yellow Jackets benefit from Buford s loss. The 08 Class 2A runner-up is fresh off a rout of Cartersville. New entries to the polls include Class 5A No. 9 McEachern, which is 3-0 after defeating previous No. 10 Woodstock on the road. In Class 4A, Mt. Zion-Jonesboro debuts at No. 10, the program s first regular-season ranking since The aforementioned Creekview comes in at No. 9 in Class 3A, and Dublin enters at No. 8 in Class 2A after a big win over Laney. Class A s Twiggs County makes its first appearance in the poll for the season, coming in at No. 10. THIS WEEK This Friday, fans can look forward to huge tilts between region opponents, as teams start to ease into their league schedules. Colquitt County will host Lowndes this week in the region opener for the two 1-AAAAA schools; Colquitt has come a long way under second-year head coach Rush Propst, and this will be a good midseason test to gauge where the Packers are in their development. The Grayson defense will try and slow down the South Gwinnett offense, and Class 3A St. Pius X will put its undefeated record on the line when it hosts Carver-Atlanta in the Region 5B-AAA opener for both schools. XC RANKINGS GATFXC.com released its latest allclass rankings for cross country. On the boys side, Brookwood is the latest team to carry the cross country torch for Gwinnett County, as two other county teams, Collins Hill and Parkview, round out the top three. Mill Creek and Peachtree Ridge check in at fifth and 10th, respectively, giving Gwinnett five teams in the all-class top 10. Gwinnett wasn t too far behind for the girls, either, as the county posts four teams in the all-class rankings. North Gwinnett, Collins Hill and Brookwood are Nos. 1-3, while Parkview takes up the No. 8 spot. Ewalt can be reached at aewalt@scoreatl.com.

5 SEPTEMBER 18-24, 2009 SCORE CHEROKEE/FORSYTH I 05CF Blessed Trinity hosts emerging Avondale he Sept. 25 Score Atlanta/Georgia TPublic Broadcasting Game of the Week will feature an up-and-coming Avondale squad and a Blessed Trinity program looking to make the playoffs for the first time since Avondale will enter the game with a 2-1 record, and Blessed Trinity will sport either a 3-0 or 2-1 mark, depending on the outcome of Friday s contest at Class A Washington- Wilkes. The Region 6-AA contest will mark the league opener for both schools. Avondale s 2-0 record after two weeks was the school s best start since the 1999 season. Defeating two other DeKalb County programs (24-6 over Class 4A Lithonia; 28-0 over Class 3A Druid Hills), the improving Blue Devils ran into trouble in Week 3, falling 42-0 to Class 3A power Carrollton. The team stormed out to its 2-0 start thanks in large part to the running of senior Max Thompson, who rumbled for 232 yards in the game against Druid Hills. Sophomore QB Johquill Dawson is a threat to run as well, as he gained 75 yards on the ground against Druid Hills. The trip to Blessed Trinity will not be a new experience for the Blue Devils, who had to travel all the way to Carrollton back on Sept. 11. Blessed Trinity is a program looking for validation after missing the playoffs for the past two seasons, finishing both times with 7-3 records. The Titans have a star in WR/DB Jake Skole, who recently committed to continue his football and baseball career at Georgia Tech. The team has also gotten big contributions this season from RB Kevin Schulz, who is filling in nicely for the departed Sam Burkhalter, a prolific back who is now at Georgia State. Schulz went for 172 yards on 19 carries, including a 79-yard scamper that set up a field goal, in the team s 24-8 Week 2 win over Riverwood. Though the Titans only returned seven starters from a team that nearly beat Buford on the road last season, a playoff spot is the goal. Go to GPB.org/football to view the live webcast on Sept. 25, with coverage starting at 7:15 p.m. Also, view the archived video on demand at GHSA.tv. North Fulton rivals square off in Week 5 90 The Zone will be there to call the Sept. 725 game featuring Region 6-AAAAA opponents Centennial and Milton. Centennial, the visitor, is looking to make the playoffs for the first time since 2002, when the Knights went 11-1 and won a region title; Milton is fresh off one of the most successful seasons in program history, as the team made the playoffs and hosted a first-round game. Centennial narrowly leads the all-time series between the two schools with a 5-4 advantage. Centennial was 2-1 on the season at press time, with a game against a muchimproved Pope team pending. The wins over Northview and Alpharetta came relatively easily, with the Knights dispatching Northview by the score of 38-0 and Alpharetta by the score of after Alpharetta made up a lot of ground in the second half. The loss came to archrival Roswell, which was too much for Centennial in a loss. The Knights are led by their running game, which is made possible by massive OL David Yankey, a Stanford commit. QB Scott Laffler makes the offense go, as he gets the bulk of the snaps in the Knights spread option offense. On defense, DB Martin Jenkins is a speedster and can even contribute on offense from the wide receiver position. Milton is still trying to find an identity after the loss of star RB Toney Williams (Tennessee), but the Eagles have found a way to start strong without him. After a hardfought loss in the team s non-region opener against Chattahoochee, the Eagles defeated region opponents Campbell and Wheeler by multiple touchdowns. With a game against Alpharetta this Friday, Milton will be looking to move to 3-0 in the region. Though the defense lost 10 of 11 starters off last year s squad, it has been solid so far this season, giving up a respectable 15.7 points per game; also coming as a bit of a surprise, the offense has nearly picked up where it left off, averaging over 30 points a game so far this season. QB Wil Perry leads the offense, which is highlighted by athletic WR Dai-Jon Parker (also a basketball star) and a strong receiving corps overall. Coverage of the game will begin at 7 p.m. on 790 The Zone and 790thezone.com.

6 06CF I SCORE CHEROKEE/FORSYTH Get In The Game! Wolverines fall in OT thriller; county runners compete at Warpath Invitational ast Friday s Score Atlanta/GPB webcast LGame of the Week proved to be a barnburner, as McEachern rallied late to beat Woodstock, The Wolverines led most of the game, including 16-0 at halftime and with eight minutes left. The Indians, however, used every part of that last eight minutes and one stanza of overtime to mount a run of 21 unanswered points on their way to victory. Woodstock s Tanner Skogen had 185 yards on 13 carries and Carlos Davis added 148 yards on 26 carries. Woodstock looks to shake off the difficult defeat, as it travels to Marietta next week. Sequoyah lost its second game in a row, as the Chiefs had the unenviable task of taking on fifth-ranked Hillgrove, which took the 21-3 win. First-half defense did the Chiefs in, as they didn t surrender a point after halftime. Sequoyah looks to get back on track against Rome next week and then Dalton the following week, both tough opponents in Region 7-AAAA. North Forsyth is off to its best start since 2005, as the Raiders moved to 3-0 by beating Duluth, Though Duluth was the first Class 5A opponent the Raiders have faced, the seven points they surrendered in the game were also the first points they have given up this year. North Forsyth displayed its ground attack, which has been strong all season. Tyler Slaton rushed for 109 yards on 18 carries and scored three touchdowns, Steven Hester rushed for 93 yards on 15 carries and scored one touchdown, and QB Joey Vicary ran for 70 yards on 11 carries. The Raiders will have their hands full next week when they host Peachtree Ridge. FALL RUNDOWN The Cherokee boys and girls cross country teams took part in the Warpath Invitational on Saturday at Boling Park, with the boys finishing fifth and the girls eighth out of 11 teams. Travis Pope (second place amongst boys) ran a personal-best time (16:53), as did Audri Driscoll (fifth place amongst girls), who finished with a time of 20:59. The Sequoyah volleyball team had a strong run at the ATTP GA challenge over the weekend, beating Archer and Creekview, but losing to 5A power Walton. Gupta can be reached at rgupta@scoreatl.com. HIGH SCHOOL Class AAAAA 1. Lowndes (3-0) 2. Grayson (3-0) 3. North Gwinnett (3-0) 4. Northside, Warner Robins (2-0) 5. Stephenson (2-0) 6. M.L. King (3-0) 7. Newnan (3-0) 8. Peachtree Ridge (2-1) 9. McEachern (3-0) 10. Camden County (1-2) Class AAAA 1. Tucker (3-0) 2. Griffin (3-0) 3. Southwest DeKalb (2-1) 4. Westside, Macon (3-0) 5. Hillgrove (3-0) 6. North Clayton (3-0) 7. Sandy Creek (2-1) 8. Clarke Central (3-0) 9. Bainbridge (3-0) 10. Mount Zion, Jonesboro (3-0) TOP TEN Class AAA 1. Gainesville (3-0) 2. Peach County (3-0) 3. St. Pius (3-0) 4. Carver, Columbus (2-1) 5. Carrollton (3-0) 6. LaGrange (2-1) 7. Washington County (3-0) 8. Burke County (3-0) 9. Creekview (2-0) 10. Flowery Branch (2-1) Class AA 1. Calhoun (3-0) 2. Fitzgerald (3-0) 3. Lovett (3-0) 4. Buford (2-1) 5. Jefferson County (3-0) 6. Pepperell (3-0) 7. Brooks County (2-0) 8. Dublin (2-0) 9. Jefferson (3-0) 10. Charlton County (2-0-1) Class A 1. Wesleyan (3-0) 2. Lincoln County (3-0) 3. Wilkinson County (3-0) 4. Savannah Christian (3-0) 5. Wilcox County (2-1) 6. Johnson County (3-0) 7. Bowdon (3-0) 8. Chattahoochee County (3-0) 9. Treutlen (3-0) 10. Twiggs County (2-1) Rankings based on results through Wed., September 16. Rankings editor Todd Holcomb can be reached at ghsfdaily@bellsouth.net

7 SEPTEMBER 18-24, 2009 SCORE CHEROKEE/FORSYTH I 07CF

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