If the Starr's

Mill and East Coweta football teams wanted to make a statement about this

season to each other last Saturday, East Coweta's was heard loud and clear.

The Indians scored on the second play of the game after a 73 yard touchdown

run by Derek White. Despite a solid defensive effort from the Panthers

for most of the game, East Coweta controlled the rest of the game and

won, 35-14.

The Panthers

responded to the Indians scoring drive with a tightening of their defense.

Andrew Bashakes recovered an Indian fumble for a touchdown to tie the

game at 7-7, but Preston Stricklin, East Coweta's full size fullback ran

17 yards for a touchdown to give the Indians a 14-7 advantage at the half.

The Panthers fumbled the opening kickoff in the second half leading to

another Indian touchdown. Starr's Mill drove down the field on their next

possession but missed a field goal. East Coweta got the ball back and

scored after a 58 yard run by Stricklin.

The Panthers

put together a good drive in the last two minutes of the ball game after

Deante Battle recovered a fumble. On the following offensive drive Battle

made an excellent run to give Starr's Mill good field position, leading

to a 13 yard touchdown run by Chris Strauch. The Panthers also got good

play from Recarta Heard, Johnny Edwards, Jason Earwood and Neal Sebastian.

Both Starr's

Mill and East Coweta have a bye week this week and will have their season

home openers on Sept. 7. The Panthers will host Fayette County and the

Indians will host the Stockbridge Tigers.

The big game

this weekend will be Fayette County vs. McIntosh. Despite losing to the

Fayette County, the Chiefs finished with a better record than the Tigers

last year. McIntosh is building a solid program under second year coach

Butch Prosser that is getting better by the game. The defense, which returns

five starters from last year, should be a strength and may help the Chiefs

get past their opponents in close games.

Fayette County,

coached by Clint Burton, has seen some good things from his team in the

preseason scrimmages. The offense is coming together under quarterback

Jeff Crisp and tailback Matt Owens and the defense has really stepped

up, especially in the play of Madkin Kelly, Gerard Gibson and Brian Moore.

Both the Tigers and Chiefs must play mistake free ball to get the win

this Friday. The kickoff to this great county rivalry is at 7:30 p.m.

According to

Coach Rodney Walker, Sandy Creek has not had a great preseason. They made

some progress in their final scrimmage, but their season kicks off at

full speed as they take on the Shaw Raiders this Friday for the fourth

time in two years. The Raiders return 11 starters from ast year's state

champion squad and they have a three game winning streak against the Patriots.

"We can't

make mistakes if we're going to beat them," said Walker. "We

also need to find a way to score. We only scored one touchdown against

them last year."

The Patriots

lost a lot of players to graduation last year but have some experience

on both sides of the ball. Kelvin German, Riley Swanson and Matt Kilgore

will be some of the playmakers on offense, while Kedric Golston, Brooks

Martin and Thomas Munson are some of the key players on defense. Sandy

Creek plays at Shaw at Kinnett Stadium in Columbus at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

Landmark Christian

opens up a new season with a new coach. Kenny Dallas takes the reins for

the War Eagles, which went 1-9 last year but made the state playoffs.

The team returns six starters and has a history of playing hardnose football.

Players to watch are running back Sean Hill and linebacker Ben King, as

well as sophomore quarterback Alex Mortensen. The War Eagles will host

Wesleyan tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Our Lady of

Mercy Catholic High School faced Riverwood last Friday night in their

kickoff to the 2001 season. The Bobcats will play a mix of varsity and

junior varsity games this season as they still do not have a full four

grades at the school. Coach Alan Gordon saw good plays from almost every

player on the squad, though there were an equal number of bad plays that

cost the young team the win.

"It's

a good building block for the team and it also serves as a wake up call,"

said Gordon. "This is what a varsity team looks like. They are well-conditioned,

they all work out in the off-season." Gordon noted the play of linebacker

Alex Hooper, nose guard Alan Lankster, and receiver Jeremy Johnson. The

Bobcats will face another team that is building a football program this

Friday when they travel to Marietta to take on Walker at 7:30 p.m.

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