The wait for

the beginning of the football season seems interminable, though that is

probably due to the heat and the dog days of a baseball season with a

possible work stoppage looming.

The wait will

soon be over, though, as the high school football teams will take the

field beginning Friday.

There are no

true home games for fans of teams in the Fayette County area this weekend.

McIntosh was scheduled to host Eagle's Landing this Friday but renovations

to the bleachers are not done yet, so the Chiefs will host the Golden

Eagles at Sandy Creek High School.

McIntosh finished

the 2001 season with a 2-8 record and has graduated 22 seniors from last

year's roster. Among the players returning to the squad this year are

Cameron Hall, Nick Achor and Yacov Baum. The Chiefs will have some new

faces on both sides of the ball and are looking to start the season strong

with road games at Upson Lee and Lowndes in the following two weeks.

The Fayette

County Tigers start their season on the road this year with a game at

Douglas County, a team from 4-AAAA. The Tigers finished last year with

a record of 6-4 and this year are under new head coach Jim Lindsey. Fayette

County graduated a lot of experience, especially in some of the skill

positions, perhaps most notably in T.J. Brandenburg, one of the top receivers

in the region during the past few years. Quarterback Jeff Crisp has experience

though and he will undoubetedly find new targets for the Tigers this year.

Sandy Creek

High School will be off this week but will kickoff their season next Friday

with a home game against Fayette County in what promises to be an interesting

game and a great rivalry. The Patriots are coached by Rodney Walker and

finished the season 4-6 last year.

Our Lady of

Mercy had a mixed schedule of varsity and junior varsity games last year

but will play a full varsity schedule in 5-A this year, starting with

a game at Pacelli Catholic. The Bobcats went 2-1 in varsity play last

year and 3-4 in JV play. The team is stacked with juniors including quarterback/cornerback

Ralph Woolfolk, running back/linebacker Sam Etuk, offensive tackle/linebacker

Matt Gill and wide receiver/ free safety Josh Flores. Some other players

to keep an eye on this year are fullback Chris Calle, offensive guards/nose

guards Nathan Calle and Austin Lewis and freshman tight end and linebacker

Doc Lee.

Landmark Christian

School bounced back last year with a 6-3 record, a trip to the playoffs

and encouraging signs of a potent offense and a tough defense. The War

Eagles are coached by Kenny Dallas and led by junior quarterback Alex

Mortensen. They will start their season on the road as well with a game

at Cross Keys to be played at Adams Stadium in DeKalb County.

Starr's Mill

starts on the road this weekend as well as they will play Dacula in the

Corky Kell Kickoff Classic at the Georgia Dome on Saturday at 2:45 p.m.

The Panthers lost to Northside, Warner Robins in the second round of the

playoffs last year but are looking to return to the postseason yet again.

Though 20 seniors from last year's roster have graduated the team has

some very experienced players on the squad including seniors Deante Battle,

Johnny Edwards, Rodrigues Heard, Patrick Mullnix, Chris Strauch, Bobby

Clark and Alex Cookfair among others.

Among other

games of interest this weekend are East Coweta against Parkview in the

Corky Kell Kickoff Classic on Saturday at 8 p.m. and Newnan hosting Northgate

at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Northgate has moved from Class AA to Class AAAA

and is playing in the same region as Sandy Creek.

Back

to the Top of the Page Back

to the Sports Home Page