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DEL.ICIO.USUp For Grabs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday night, the Region 7 AAAAA Championship is virtually “up for grabs.” Chances are the winner of the North Gwinnett-Peachtree Ridge game will likely win the region title (assuming no major upsets occur). In my opinion, these are the best two teams in the region and both are among the best in the state. Norcross is good, but not a complete team like these two are. Both the Bulldogs (6-0) and Lions (5-1) are excellent on both sides of the ball. Norcross is great offensively, but not as solid defensively. Anyways, here are the keys for both teams friday night.
North Gwinnett: The Bulldogs come into this game pretty battle-tested. They beat a very good Brookwood team by one point and beat another good team in Walton (who upset Roswell). But other than that, the Dogs have not been challenged all year. They are led by QB Michael Tamburo who has thrown for nearly 1,000 yards this season and nine TD’s. Tamburo can also run too. Tyler Jarry is the Bulldogs leading rusher with 315 yards on 53 carries and 7 TD’s. Jarry can not only run, but he can catch as well. He has 247 yards on 26 catches with 4 TD’s. Also at WR the Dogs have Cordero Dixon and Jaison Yoshimura. The two have combined for around 400 yards on 28 catches with 2 TD’s. On Defense, the Bulldogs have a large amount of talent. The Defensive Line is highlighted by Senior DE Eric Eberhardt. Ebuka Anayorah leads the way for the Bulldog Linebackers. In the secondary, look out for Marquese Quiles. Overall, the Dogs defense is very solid. Their offense has averaged 29.5 points per game.
Peachtree Ridge: The Lions come in to this game with a 4 game winning streak. They have played two good teams so far, one a loss to Grayson and a win against Norcross. I still truly believe Grayson was a fluke. The Lions were totally off that game. Plus they had no sense of togetherness on the offensvie line due to early injuries. The Lions have learned so much since then. The O-Line is much more improved. The team is led by dual-threat QB Asher Clark. Clark has about 750 yards in the air and 400 on the ground. He has 10 total TD’s. In the backfield, the Lions have a triple threat. Though two of those three have been injured recently. Brandon Davis has been nursing a foot injury and should be back to about 90% friday. Antonio Hayes has been out for two weeks with a sports hernia. It is unknown whether he will play or not. Ronnie Smith is also a very powerful back with 6 TD’s this year. Paul Brown stepped up last week, for the injured Davis. The Lions defense is just loaded with talent. The Lions may have the Best secondary in the state, led by LSU-bound Derrick Bryant. Bryant plays both ways and is also the Lions leading WR. Also in the secondary is Ole Miss signee Brandon Sanders, VT signee Cameron Demps, Kavoskee Simpson, and Connor Norman. The LB core is packed with power in Kevin Minter, Michael Pate, and Connor Orr. On the D-Line be heads up for Vincent Brown and Chris Caroll. The Lions defense is giving up a little over 5 points per game on average.
Big Rivalry:
This may be one of the youngest rivalries around, but it sure got heated up quickly. The two teams had a slight skirmish at summer camp last year. Then two years ago, the game went to triple OT in which the Dogs dashed the Liosn playoff hopes. Also there was an incident after last year’s game in which NG WR Ryan McDaniel was hit. Cameron Demps was a star at North last year; now he is a Lion. It adds another chapter to the story. Peachtree Ridge has never beaten North Gwinnett. This year, may be different. The Lions really want revenge badly. Most people are predicting North to win, which is just fine with me. I’d rather us be the underdog. Trash talking has been going on all week between students from the two schools, which just adds more to the rivalry. I had a conversation witha friend from North Gwinnett yesterday. He was telling me how North is planning a whiteout for Friday night. I said, “Hey man, don’t get too excited about your whiteout. Just ask Norcross how their whiteout went.”
I believe that the game will be close the whole way. It may come down to a turnover or defensive stop late in the game. The Lions have more individual talent than maybe any team in the county, but North has been able to play as a “team” all year long. The Lions have started to finally play together rather than individuals. And I think they will be a complete team Friday. I say the Lions win it in a nail bitter, 21-20. The stadium at North will be rocking, come 7:30 PM Friday night. I would guess the game will be sold out, so buy your tickets early at either school this week. GO LIONS!
-Logan McElroy
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