Lambert makes big jump

Lambert coach Sid Maxwell racked up a 97-67 record over 15 years at Sequoyah before transitioning to Lambert in 2009 to take over the junior varsity squad. A year later, Lambert fielded a varsity team with Maxwell at the helm. After two 8-3 seasons each featuring a first-round playoff loss, Maxwell hopes the Longhorns can keep making strides and get over the first-round bump.

“Last year our entire secondary missed key games, but you can’t make excuses,” Maxwell said. “Making the jump to AAAAAA will make it more grueling but our guys should be prepared and we need players to step up.”

One of the players Maxwell was referring to happens to be his son, Brock, a rising senior who will be taking over at quarterback for the Longhorns this season. The dual-sport star recently committed to South Carolina on a baseball scholarship and will replace David Broadus, who graduated last spring. Maxwell missed three games last season but returned to have over 200 all-purpose yards in Lambert’s 35-32 playoff loss to Clarke Central. Daniel Myers is another impact returning player. He is coming off a 1,023-yard season, one where he also scored eight touchdowns.

“We had a stout senior offensive line last year, so this season Myers will have a very young front line, but hopefully Dan can use his experience and efforts from last season to still get quality YAC(yards after contact) numbers.” Maxwell stated.

Moving over to the other side of the ball, the Longhorns are without seven starters from last season’s standout unit. The Longhorns’ defense allowed 10 points or fewer in four of its first five contests, as Lambert started the season 5-0. Key injuries led to a depleted secondary for the latter part of the season and culminating with Clarke Central scoring 35 points.

“Our young guys and first-timers will have to step it up on the line, our defense, though, will have the veteran leaders of inside linebacker Russell Monyette and free safety Danny Edgeworth, so the newcomers will be able to center around their leadership and experience,” Maxwell said.

Lambert was slated into Region 7-AAAA for its first two seasons, and following recent success and a large school endowment, the Longhorns have made the jump to the new AAAAAA for the 2012 season. The Forsyth County school located in Suwanee, Ga., opens the season on Aug. 31 against Cherokee County representative Etowah in a non-region game.

“Being from Cherokee County, I am very ecstatic with starting off the season against Etowah,” Maxwell acknowledged.

The Longhorns will now compete along with Alpharetta, Centennial, Chattahoochee, Johns Creek, North Forsyth, South Forsyth and West Forsyth in Region 6-AAAAAA.

“These first three non-region games will be important for us here in AAAAAA,” Maxwell said. “We’ll be playing the best of the best, and it will be key to see how we stack up against these other teams right off the bat and the things we can improve on.”