The Douglass football team, carrying its highest ranking in almost 20 years into its season-opening game against LaGrange in the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic, did little to tamp down the high preseason expectations Wednesday afternoon at Kell High School in Marietta.
The Astros got touchdowns from Casey Barner and Jontae Gilbert in an 18-point second quarter, and a suffocating defense made the lead stand up in a scoreless second half for an 18-3 victory in the first high school football game in Georgia this year.
Douglass, an Atlanta Public School making its first appearance in the Classic, is No. 8 in Class 3A in the AJC’s preseason poll. The Astros haven’t been ranked that high since a 5-0 start got them to No. 5 during the 2005 season.
“It was a team effort,” Douglass coach Stanley Pritchett said. “We worked hard all offseason to get to this moment. We knew we were going to be in the Corky Kell Classic, and we were excited to represent the APS.”
LaGrange led 3-0 after a 43-yard field goal by Mason Calhoun midway through the first quarter and had the ball back at midfield near the end of the period, but the Astros’ Elijah Hunter intercepted a pass from LaGrange wide receiver Gryson Cockrell on what turned out to be a game-changing play.
On the next play, John Wilson hit Boykin Quintavious down the right sideline for a 72-yard pass, setting up a first-and-goal from the 10. Two plays later, on the first play of the second period, Barner scored on a 3-yard run and ran in the two-point conversion to give the Astros the lead for good at 8-3.
“Eli made a great play,” Pritchett said. “He and Casey were right there. I think it just kind of set the tone for the rest of the game.”
Douglass built the lead to 18-3 in the second quarter with a 26-yard field goal by Bryant Jose and a 10-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Gilbert. The ball never left LaGrange territory in the period.
Wilson finished the game 9-for-16 passing for 142 yards. The Astros had 138 yards rushing, led by Ja’Narious Barner with 55 yards on nine carries and Antoine Walker with 48 on 13 carries.
The Grangers came into the game with high expectations of their own - their No. 3 Class 3A ranking was their highest since their 2007 team spent much of the year at No. 1 - but they were bottled up most of the afternoon by the Douglass defense.
LaGrange was limited to 33 yards on 23 plays in the first half and finished the game with 133 total yards, 92 of which came from the running game, led by Malachi Fannin with 55 yards on 19 carries. Douglass also had five sacks and two interceptions, both by Hunter. Andreco Griggs had 10 tackles, a sack and a tackle for a loss.
“Man, they were lights out,” Pritchett said of his defense.. “They kept them out of the end zone. We gave up a field goal on that first drive, but they did an outstanding job. Offensively I thought we were a little sloppy and have a few things to clean up, but I think we have the makings of a great team. We’ve just got to keep it going.”
Douglass - 0-18-0-0 - 18
LaGrange - 3-0-0-0 - 3
First quarter
L - Mason Calhoun 43 field goal, 5:23
Second quarter
D - Casey Barner 3 run (Barner run), 11:53
D - Bryant Jose 26 field goal, 5:57
D - Jontae Gilbert 10 pass from John Wilson (Jose kick), 2:25
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