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Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Take 10: Georgia’s ‘Friday Night Lights’ schools
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here at Take Ten, we’re selfish.
It’s not enough for “Friday Night Lights” to be airing its season premiere this week. It’s not even enough that NBC moved FNL, fittingly enough, to Friday nights.
No, we want the show here. What does Texas have over Georgia anyway? Our high school football fans are just as passionate. We’ll put the quality of play here up against any state in the country. Plus, there’s the added incentive of not having to drive five hours down a dark, deserted, smashed lizard-covered highway to get to the game you want to see.
But who are the Dillon Panthers of Georgia? What’s the high-profile program of ours that could fill those shoes? Here are our top 10 choices. NBC, we hope you’re reading this.
10: Thomas County Central — This is a program with great tradition (five state titles), a great stadium in the Jackets’ Nest and some very strong support in Thomasville.
9: Carrollton — Even as Atlanta growth turns Carrollton away from being an isolated town and more toward being part of Atlanta-West, seven state titles, a long tradition and a tight community give the Trojans plenty of TV cach&eeacute;.
8: Parkview — With four state titles, the Big Orange Jungle and an entire neighborhood built to honor the program, Parkview has to be one of the top choices to fill Dillon’s shoes. Plus, they could bring in Jeff Francoeur for an “as himself” guest spot to rein in the all-important female demographic.
7: Dublin — In Dublin, it’s all about the new Shamrock Bowl, which may very well be the nicest stadium for any Class AA team in the state. When the Redneck Games aren’t in town, life is all about Dublin football here. Come to think of it, the Redneck Games would make a great episode.
6: Gainesville — Show up to a game at Bobby Gruhn Field, and you’ll know why the Red Elephants belong on this list. It’s a scene, with all the red, the cars parked all over the place at the off-campus stadium. They’ve been playing forever, and they still have enough buffer room from Atlanta to be their own little enclave.
5: Lowndes — You certainly can’t miss the stadium. Anyone who has driven down I-75 near Valdosta has seen the huge Concrete Palace lurking off the side of the interstate. Four state titles aid the cause. And the annual Winnersville Classic against Valdosta, with everyone in the area in attendance, would make a great season finale for the show.
4: Northside-Warner Robins — They’ve got one of the biggest parking lots we’ve ever seen for a high school stadium, the site of much tailgating, and hopefully, overly dramatic high school breakups and shouting matches that would work great for TV. Bonus points for an intense rivalry with crosstown Warner Robins, which used to be especially nasty a few decades ago. For TV’s sake, we could pretend it was just as nasty as ever.
3: LaGrange — Another team that has been playing since the Stone Age, the Grangers may be the most consistently successful program this side of Valdosta. They have collected 11 state titles, and they’ve maintained their supportive community. With four Final Four appearances since 2001, the Grangers would be bound to provide a cliffhanger finale.
2: Lincoln County — What do people in Lincolnton do when the football team isn’t playing? Yeah, we don’t know either. The seating capacity at Buddy Bufford Field seems to be twice the population. And they’ve been known to lure 6,000 or so for the biggest games. Legendary coach Larry Campbell is almost Pope-like in Lincolnton, having won 14 state titles. This place would be nearly perfect.
1: Valdosta — But this place actually would be perfect. We wanted to come up with an upset No. 1 pick, but this has to be the choice. Maybe the most successful program in the nation. An insane 24 state titles. Historic Bazemore-Hyder Stadium has seen more than its share of huge games. It’s in the middle of an otherwise non-descript neighborhood, and cars fill up the area for every game. Heck, there’s even a ghost. There’s no better TV than that.
Go on. Take Ten. What do you think? Who have we missed? Who would you want to watch? Or which ones of these would make you want to flip off the TV in disgust? Come on. Surely, we can top Texas.
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Gasp! Fantasy FB Controversy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Kurt Dynasty may have resurfaced, but, alas, we won’t know until someone can find out stats for Wilcox County receiver Alfonzo Dennard in last week’s game against Ttreutlen.
Wilcox won 52-0, so the chances of a big performance are there. Defending champion Karl Werl needs just 12 points (50 yards and a TD) to repeat. Otherwise, our worst fears may be realized with the revitalization of the Kurt Dyansty.
If you know how to find out the stats, please contact me ASAP. Until then, I’m going to consider myself the winner. — DP
DP’s Dandies — 50
QB — Twoey Hosch, Buford - 18 (129 yards, 2 TDs)
RB — Diante Drake, Central Gwinnett — 15 (133 yards, TD)
RB — Tyler Jarry, North Gwinnett — 12 (87 yards, 1 TD)
WR — Brice Butler, Norcross — 0 (22 yards)
WR — Ed Russ, Mill Creek — 15 (144 yards, 1 TD)
Defense — Brookwood — 10 (Points allowed)
The Former Kurt Dynasty (Aschermann) — 69
QB — T.J. Smith, Berkmar - 33 (233 yards, 4 TDs)
RBs — Brandon Jacobs, Parkview - 6 (50 yards)
RB — Demetris Murray, Buford - 18 (65 yards, 2 TDs)
WR — Devonta Bolton, Norcross - 0 (O yards)
WR — Isaiah Jupiter, Berkmar - 12 (57 yards, 1 TD)
Defense — Grayson — 0 (points allowed)
Karl Werl’s Wrecking Crew — 57 + Alfonzoe Dennard’s Stats
QB - Mikey Tamburo, North Gwinnett - 18 (149 yards, 2 TDs)
RB - Kenny Miles, Brookwood - 18 (196 yards, 1 TD)
RB - Tauren Poole, Stephens Co. - 21 (138 yards, 2 TD)
WR - Alfonzo Dennard, Wilcox Co.- ????? (Anyone know Alfonzo’s stats?)
WR - Jarmon Fortson, Caver-Columbus - 0 (0 TD)
Defense - LaGrange - 0
Want to prove yourself worthy of taking on staff writers David Purdum and Kurt Aschermann in a game of high school fantasy football?
Post your team —- 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WR, 1 defensive team —- on Purdum’s blog on ajc.com/sports/content/sports/highschool before 2 p.m. Thursday. (Look for the cool-looking bald guy on the left side of the page to find the blog.)
Feel free to e-mail your team to dpurdum@ajc.com or kaschermann@ajc.com as well.
You can use any combination of players from across the state, while Aschermann and Purdum will use only Gwinnett County players. Because, as everyone knows, Gwinnett plays the best brand of football.
One reader-submitted team will be selected each week based on the creativity of the team name. That selected team will be posted on Friday’s blog and in the Gwinnett News, along with Aschermann’s and Purdum’s teams.
If that reader’s team outscores both of the writers’ teams, they will receive a special prize from the wardrobe of Aschermann and Purdum.
Scoring System
(Note: Due to limited stats, QBs/WRs do not receive points for rushing yards; RBs no points for receiving yards)
Passing
100-200 yards - 6
200-300 yards - 9
More than 300 - 15
Rushing/Receiving
50-99 yards - 6
100-150 - 9
151-199 - 12
More than 200 - 15
Rushing/Receiving/Passing TDs - 6
Defense: Every point the opposing team scores is subtracted from your total.
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No. 1: Blessing, curse or both?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It seems like it happens multiple times every year. A team gets hot early in the year, starts a winning streak and climbs up the polls. But when the team finally makes it to the No. 1 spot, that’s the week the team’s winning ways come to an end. It makes you begin to wonder — should coaches and fans even want their team to be No. 1 during the season?
It happened two weeks in a row last year, first with Lowndes in Week 4 and then Roswell in Week 5. Teams like Northside-Warner Robins, which held the top spot in Class AAAA for a solid calendar year, seem to be the exception rather than the rule.
That occurred again last week, when Norcross found its way to No. 1 in the polls and then promptly suffered a 24-16 loss to defending state champion Peachtree Ridge.
The recipient of Norcross’ defeat is Stephenson who, despite winning 10 or more games five of the past six years, had never reached No. 1 before this week. And coach Ron Gartrell isn’t turning it down.
“I want to be No. 1,” Gartrell said. “Everybody else has had a shot. Why not Stephenson? You only get the chance to play a guaranteed 10 games. You prepare all year. You want 10 good games. If being No. 1 brings about the best in your opponent, then you really find out how good you are.
“There’s no sense in sugar-coating it and saying we don’t want to be No. 1 because there’s a jinx or whatever.”
On the other side of that is Roswell’s Tim McFarlin, who saw his team get upset by Wheeler before running the table for a state title last year.
He knows how tough it can be.
“If you’re climbing the mountain, you fix your eyes on the top spot,” McFarlin said. “When you’re on the top, where do you look? You don’t look up because there’s nothing else there. I think it’s a unique set of circumstances that you have to deal with.”
You make the call: Do you want your team to be No. 1? Would you rather your team lurk a few spots down and fly under the radar? Do the losses by new No. 1 teams make that top spot less attractive?
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