The following article is the first installment of Score’s 15-day preview leading up to the first full weekend of high-school football …
This high-school football season will be hard-pressed to upstage the 2007 campaign. With as much talent as has ever graced the football fields across our great state, the quality of ball we got to witness last year was as good as it has ever been in Georgia, and just about as good as you’ll find anywhere. Let’s take a look back at the events, teams and players that made ’07 so memorable.
CHAOS AND CONSISTENCY
The Class 5A football season had a strange resemblance to that of the college game last year, as team after team fell from the top of the rankings. Roswell, Norcross, Stephenson, North Gwinnett … those teams, and a few more, were lucky (or unlucky?) enough to earn the No. 1 spot in our rankings before getting knocked off. But when the dust cleared at the end of the year, it was a familiar helmet—Lowndes maroon and white—being thrust into the air after the title match, as the Vikings took home their third championship in four years.
Down a classification, the hierarchy was a little more stable. Defending champion Northside-Warner Robins would finish the season as the wire-to-wire No. 1 in Class 4A, but not without difficulty and drama.
Northside quarterback Marques Ivory, now at Middle Tennessee State, went down at the midpoint of the season with a broken leg, leaving unproven Joe Scott to take the reins. Scott completed over 70% of his passes on his way to a perfect record as starter — until it was time for Ivory’s Willis Reed-esque performance in the semifinal game against Tucker.
The Tigers from DeKalb County had stormed out to a 28-7 halftime lead over the nationally ranked Eagles, but Ivory would take the field in the second half for the first time in eight games. All he did was go 11-for-13 for 302 yards and three touchdowns to lead Northside back for the 31-28 win and a berth in the championship game.
Perhaps the most poignant image from last season: Before the start of the fourth quarter of the championship game in Waycross, thousands of Northside fans held up signs inscribed with “96″ in memory of fallen teammate Chris Johnson, who had lost his battle with cancer the summer before. After the tribute, Northside came back to defeat Ware County for their second straight title.
OLD GUARD, NEW GUARD
It’s nothing new to see a Lowndes or Northside hoist a trophy in December, but Carver-Columbus had to overcome a less-than-successful football history to get where they were after the 15th game was played.
Carver, a school with an all-time losing record (182-232-7), bucked the program trend and went a perfect 15-0 last season to take the Class 3A crown. Single-A Emanuel County Institute, another school whose winning percentage lies below .500, won their second title (first since 1923, first GHSA football championship).
And double-A Buford just continued its dominance. With five players that would sign with BCS-conference schools in February, the Wolves crushed the competition on their way to the school’s fifth title.
TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY
Besides Buford’s fabulous five of T.J. Pridemore, Omar Hunter, Alex Hunt, Demetris Murray and Melvin Harris, Gwinnett County alone had 28 players sign Division I scholarships. Our state is quickly becoming the destination for college recruiters, as schools from far and wide are tripping over themselves to get to the next great Georgia talent. Brice Butler (Norcross to Southern Cal), Keith Wells (Gainesville to Ohio State) and Jamoris Slaughter (Tucker to Notre Dame) are indicative that college football powerhouses from all over the nation covet the kind of talent Georgia develops.
We saw players like Washaun Ealey of ECI and Tavarres King of Habersham Central turn in record-breaking campaigns. Ealey rumbled for 58 touchdowns last year, and King racked up 1,632 receiving yards, both state single-season records. And Ealey, who’s back for his senior year, is more than capable of breaking his own state mark. These two decided to stay in their home state to play college ball; King is already on campus for the Georgia Bulldogs, and Ealey will join him there next year.
But despite all its successes, 2007 wasn’t without its low moments.
First-year Central Gwinnett coach Dennis Roland, a coaching fixture in southeastern football, passed away in December after the season was completed. Arquevious Crane, a JV player for South Gwinnett, was paralyzed after a collision in a game in October. The outpouring of sympathy and support from the football community just reinforces that there really aren’t any opponents in the high-school game; just members of one big family.
GEARING BACK UP
No doubt about it: the 2007 season was one of the most exciting in recent memory. But if you’re looking for more of the same in 2008, think again. Sure, the product on the field will be as electrifying as ever, but over 100 coaching changes around the state will ensure that it’s drastically different.
Get ready, football fans. If 2008 is anywhere close to being as unpredictable and compelling as 2007 was, we’re in for a heck of a ride.
Check back tomorrow for our top-10 rankings in all five classifications. Ewalt can be reached at aewalt@scoreatl.com.
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