Moving to a new location
AJC blogs are moving to a new technical platform. So check out Terence Moore’s new blog home and bookmark it.
Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > December > 13 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USCamden County’s resiliency wins out
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Long before the opening kickoff, there was a high school football game filled with wonderful story lines Saturday night at the Georgia Dome. The question was: Which of those storylines would drop-kick the rest to the back of the pile after Peachtree Ridge and Camden County battled for the Class AAAAA championship?
The winner? Well, it’s the story line that said Camden County was 14-0 for a reason before this one.
It’s called resiliency. So, it’s not surprising that the Wildcats managed a 21-14 victory after trailing Peachtree Ridge until near the end of the third quarter. It was the third time in their five playoff games this year that they needed to surge from behind. As a result, their 338-mile trip back home to South Georgia got a little shorter with their second state championship.
As for those other story lines, there was the young program vs. an old one. While Camden County fielded its first football team during the early part of the Eisenhower administration, Peachtree Ridge wasn’t even a school until 2003, the same season that Camden County won its first and only state championship entering this one.
As for Peachtree Ridge, it needed just three years to grab its first and only state championship entering this one.
There was that Georgia Dome thing. For the first time ever, the state championship games of all five classes took place under a neutral roof instead of below a familiar sky above the stadium of a participant from each class. No problem for the slew of fervent cowbell ringers from Camden, because the enclosed setting just made their continuous racket that much louder.
There also was that thing featuring Peachtree Ridge’s Bill Ballard going against his former boss, Camden County’s Jeff Herron. Then again, Herron is the mentor of many. In fact, 19 of his former assistants have served as head coaches through the years.
Only one of them mattered on Saturday night, and that was Ballard, along with his Peachtree Ridge team.
First, there was nothing throughout the early part of the evening. That’s because the defenses for Camden County and Peachtree Ridge flaunted their smash-mouth reputations by knocking the offense out of each other in the first half.
Then there was everything.
I mean, Ronnie Smith still is running for Peachtree Ridge, isn’t he? With the score tied at 7-7 midway through the third quarter, Smith burst in a hurry through the middle of his line for a sprint that didn’t end until he crossed the goal line.
Ninety-four yards later.
It’s just that Camden County countered with Christian Milstead’s spiral that stayed in the air forever before reaching DeAngelo Smith’s hands. The play went for 85 yards and a touchdown. Then the Wildcats carried that momentum for another drive to the end zone to finish the quarter and had enough potency on defense to finish the rest of the game. They just kept finding ways to survive themselves and a gallant Peachtree Ridge bunch.
Inside the final four minutes, with Camden County driving in the red zone while battling the clock more than Peachtree Ridge, the Wildcats actually did the ridiculous. They tried to pass. Milstead was intercepted, and Peachtree Ridge had new life at its own 23-yard line.
It didn’t matter. With Peachtree Ridge driving to the Camden County 42, and with the clock ticking toward the final minute, the Lions’ Nick Lombardo fired an interception.
Game over. Upset dream over for Peachtree Ridge.
Permalink | |
