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DEL.ICIO.USLong, strange trip awaits FPK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When Forest Park football coach Demarco Mitchell looks at the schedules of other county schools, he must wonder how this came to be.
I mean, Lovejoy will play its last nine games at Twelve Oaks Stadium, so Forest Park will travel a greater distance to any one of its home games than the Wildcats will ride the entire regular season. That seems to be generally accepted as a fact of life among county coaches. But then there’s this: 228.95. That’s the distance in miles between Forest Park’s campus on Phillips Drive and Bainbridge High School, where the Panthers play Friday night. It’s so far away that Bainbridge has a Mississippi ZIP code. Most of the rest of Georgia has ZIP codes that begins with 30 or 31. Bainbridge? 39819. Biloxi? 39530. This is fitting, since Bainbridge’s coach, Ricky Woods, just came to Georgia from Mississippi.
None of which, of course, means much Friday, except the Panthers will spend somewhere in the neighborhood of eight hours on a bus round-trip to play a two-hour football game. For the second time. They also played at Americus-Sumter in the opener, which didn’t turn out so well. Bearcats roll.
MOVING ON … If there is a good time for Lovejoy to be playing Griffin, this might be it. The Wildcats throttled Riverdale last week and have put up back-to-back wins after an 0-4 start, restoring some confidence. Damion Peterson had a breakout — breakway, even — game with 239 yards on 20 carries against the Raiders. Is that enough for them to beat the Bears? Well, Lovejoy lost to Mt. Zion, which Griffin blitzed 62-28 last week. Says here, Wildcats fall at home, though it could be close.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Mundy’s Mill at Hiram, 7:30 p.m. Friday
RECORDS: Mundy’s Mill (3-1-1, 1-0 Region 4-AAAAA); Hiram (4-2, 2-0)
COACHES: Mundy’s Mill, Kenny Barrow (39-23-1); Hiram, Andy Dorsey (11-6)
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Mundy’s Mill - RB Quintory Braswell (Sr., 5-9, 180), QB Miguel Starks (Sr., 6-2, 204), OL Darius Mitchell (Jr., 6-0, 390). Hiram - FB Coshik Williams, QB Tripp Mitchell, LB D. J. Green
LAST YEAR: Hiram won, 7-6
LAST WEEK: Mundy’s Mill beat North Clayton 28-27 in OT; Hiram beat Tri-Cities 5-0
THE SKINNY: By now, Mundy’s Mill should know what to do in a close game; the Tigers have had three contests that were three points or closer, including a 12-12 tie against Forest Park and their win over North Clayton last week. Which is good, given that the Hiram game a year ago was exactly that sort of game. But where Hiram struggled on offense last week, Mundy’s Mill seems to be hitting its stride on that side of the ball, and it comes at a great time. The Hornets figure to wind up next to them in the 4-AAAAA standings, and that makes this a swing game. The key will be how the Tigers handle Williams, who rushed for more than 1,500 yards last year.
PREDICTION: Mundy’s Mill, 16-14
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By joe
October 16, 2007 1:09 PM | Link to this
Forest Park is the only school in CC that has won a state championship. No rewards for that?