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Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Mastermind behind the Peachtree Ridge defense
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Peachtree Ridge Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Carl Cole is in his 2nd year at the school. The Gloster, Miss., native moved to Georgia five years ago, after head coaching stints at Crystal Springs and Bogue Chitta high schools in Mississippi. On Wednesday, he visited with David P. about his team’s stifling defense.
Q: Tell me about your defensive scheme.
A: We’re a 4-3 and play cover-2 behind it.
Q: When is your defense at its best?
A: When we play well, our front four have a bunch of tackles. Our guys behind them are athletic. And, obviously, Cameron is a big playmaker on the front end for us. We’re able to get a lot of pressure on quarterbacks at times and get them to make a lot of mistakes.
Q: What gives your defense problems? A: Sometimes teams that run the ball straight at us have given us some problems. We’ve got a lot of team speed, and it’s a concern always of ours if someone’s going to run straight at us. You kind of play into our game if you start going sideways and try to spread things out. We tend to handle that pretty well because of our team speed.
Q: What concerns you about Warner Robins?
A: Warner Robins isn’t going to throw it a lot. They haven’t all year. They do a great job of getting off the football and running a good, old fashion wing-T offense. It’ll be a challenge for our guys this week to get ready. We haven’t really seen that this year. Last year, we probably saw it from a couple of times. But some of those teams have drifted away from that a little. South Forsyth still runs a version of it, but not really in its pure form like Warner Robins does. That will make us do some things a little different than we normally do.
Q: Did you get nervous toward the end of last week’s quarterfinal game when Stephenson was at your 10 yard line, poised to take the lead with less than a minute to play?
A: We were getting mighty nervous there at the end, but our kids were just as calm as could be about it. Even after the game, they were like, ‘Coach, we knew we had it. Somebody’s going to make a play.’ They have that belief in each other and I think that’s what makes it work.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: David Purdum
Tradition alone isn’t enough
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It does not take a long history of success to have a chance to win the state championship. If you’ve been around long enough and can draw on tradition, that’s great. But it is not a prerequisite for a title. Peachtree Ridge, a mere babe in the GHSA, reinforces that notion this year.
Four years after putting on the pads for the first time, Peachtree Ridge has emerged as a force not only in Gwinnett County, but also in the state. Want confirmation: the Lions’ presence in the state semifinals at the Georgia Dome Saturday night against Warner Robins.
When it comes down to it, history matters most when reading, well, history. What turns a school in a frenzy and puts a program in a position to win the state championship is the kind of solid play coach Blair Armstrong’s team has shown in the last six games, all victories.
In the process, Peachtree Ridge is building a tradition at an advanced rate. To get this far in a region of so much depth — and tradition — speaks to all the elements that make a program viable: sound administration, good coaching, outstanding community support, tough, talented players.
And this too comes from the Lions’ dramatic, exciting ascent: Gwinnett County is reaffirmed as perhaps the top area for football talent, as Peachtree Ridge has become a new addition to the list of annual threats with Brookwood, Parkview, Central Gwinnett, North Gwinnett and Grayson in AAAAA.
In the end, Peachtree Ridge stands as the only team among them with an earned trip downtown. The Lions have tradition now — and a pretty good football team that no one should be surprised if it is playing next weekend, too.
Permalink | Comments (19) | Post your comment | Categories: Curtis Bunn
Best Dome performances
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Plenty of thrills and memories have been since the state high school football playoffs began play at the Georgia Dome in 1994. But some stand out more than others. Recall your favorite all-time Georgia Dome performance? Here are ours:
1. 2005: Running back Adam Urbano made up for what he considered a sub-par quarterfinal by scoring four touchdowns in Calhoun’s 42-20 Class AA semifinal victory over Grady. His runs of 72, 4 and 37 yards, in addition to a 24-yard TD reception, led the eventual runner-up Yellow Jackets to their first final since winning the Class C title in 1952.
2. 2002: In a 35-34 thriller that Thomas County Central coach Ed Pilcher afterward described as a heavyweight fight, Moses Cochran’s third touchdown run and second 2-point conversion lifted the Yellow Jackets to a 35-34 victory in double overtime.
3. 2002: Parkview overcame two fumbles, had three penalties on the offensive line and an interception in the game’s first 15 minutes to blank East Coweta 24-0 and tie Lincoln County’s then-record 44 consecutive victories. The Panthers’ record 45th the next week against Brookwood secured their third straight Class AAAAA championship.
4. 1998: En route to running their state record of championships to 23, Valdosta used three touchdowns of 40 or more yards to upend powerful Brookwood 37-7. The Wildcats also limited the Broncos to minus-13 yards rushing.
5. 2004: Buford’s 82-yard drive in the 11th hour beat Dublin 28-24 and made it the first team to win five Georgia Dome semifinals. The win also made Buford the first team in the 60-year history of GHSA playoffs to qualify for five straight championship games. Charlton County, however, squelched the Wolves’ bid for a fourth consecutive championship the following weekend.
6. 2005: Ronnye Nelson rushed for 95 yards and a season-high three touchdowns, while completing eight passes for 143 yards, as Dougherty beat Shaw 30-14. Dougherty coach Carror Wright, who had vowed never to set foot in the Georgia Dome until he was coaching a team there, was so stirred by the win that he immediately made plans to return two weeks later for the Falcons’ game against New Orleans.
7. 2003: Lincoln County quarterback Travis Clark was sure he’d lost the game for Lincoln County when he barely stepped out of the back of the end zone while rolling out to pass and gave Trion a safety and 24-22 lead in the fourth quarter. He bounced back to throw a 17-yard touchdown to Steven Brown with 25 seconds left in the game, redeeming himself as the darling of Lincoln’s 28-24 win against Trion.
8. 2001: Twins Matt and Drew Robinson provided the 1-2 punch in Cedartown’s 41-16 Class AAA win over Fitzgerald. Not only did Drew score on two touchdown runs and a 77-yard fumble return, but Matt ran back an interception 33 yards for another score.
9. 1995: Tory Bell’s 28-yard field goal in overtime gave Cedar Shoals a 27-24 Class AAA victory over Crisp County, capping a comeback from a 14-point deficit.
10. 1999: Oconee County’s Tyson Browning ran 83 yards for the winning TD against Cairo, but did not - repeat, did not - watch himself on the Dome’s replay screen. The tiny 5-foot-9, 160-pound back had been told by his coach to play as though at home, where no replay screen would have been. What marvelous restraint for Browning, whose 199 yards helped Oconee complete its only undefeated season and state championship?
Permalink | Comments (35) | Post your comment | Categories: Take Ten
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