DRANEVILLE —
Chattahoochee County scored two defensive touchdowns in a win against Marion County last season.
The Eagles hope to turn the tables this time around.
The Panthers have moved from a spread attack to the spread option, and the Eagles have plans to disrupt their offense.
“I think our defensive ends have to play well,” said Mike Swaney, who is making his debut as head coach. “Anytime you play an option team, you’ve got to control the quarterback. You can’t let him control the game. You’ve got to make him make quick decisions. We’re going to go after them.”
ChattCo averaged 38.5 points a game last season as quarterback David Cochran passed for 2,817 yards and 33 scores while rushing for 438 yards and five touchdowns.
Swaney said the game plan starts with slowing him down.
“David’s smart and a good decision maker,” he said. “He’s a good-sized kid can turn up and get yards when he needs to. The main thing is he knows what he’s doing. He limits the mistakes they make. He’s by far the key.”
When the Eagles have Tre Carter and Ykeem Wells at defensive ends, that’s when Marion may have the most success. While the Panthers lost all their top receivers, Swaney doesn’t expect them to dismiss the pass.
He said it will be a completely different team from last season under first-year coach Shaun Pope.
The Panthers can, however, expect the same kind of team in the Eagles. Marion clinched its first-ever state playoff berth last season and finished 7-4. It beat Miller County 10-7 in its scrimmage — the varsity played three 9-minute quarters.
The Eagles scored all 10 points in the fourth quarter, but Swaney said the offensive line needs to pick it up.
“Their defensive front is big; they’ll be bigger than we are,” he said. “We’ve got to really get after them. They’ve got a few kids playing both ways. We’ll try to run some stuff that will allow our linemen to out-quick them. Our backs need to hit the hole quicker. We’re going to go wide some and get them running side to side and hopefully get winded. We’ve just got to be consistent, and hopefully, our two-platooning will pay off for us.”
With Region 4-A playing a full region schedule, each game counts toward a spot in the playoffs.
“Like I told the kids, who wins this one has a leg up and whoever loses has got to start climbing back up. Just the fact that it’s a region game makes it big,” said Swaney.
Local Sports
Eagles set to pressure ChattCo offense
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Eagles land two on All-Region Team, have four honorable mention
Two members of the Marion County baseball team were named to the 2012 All-Region Second Team for Region 4-A recently and four other players received honorable mention. The group of Eagle standouts was lead by Dylan McClellan and Jake McTaggert, who each represent Marion County on the Second Team.
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Southland star signs with GSW
Alex Lindsey will be continuing her softball career at the college level, and she will not have to move very far to accomplish that feat. Lindsey, the superstar pitcher for the Southland Academy Lady Raiders softball team, signed with the Georgia Southwestern State University Hurricanes on Tuesday.
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Wildcats’ baseball season comes to an end
Last Tuesday the Schley County Wildcats traveled to Charlton County to take on the Indians in the Class A state quarterfinals. The two teams were the final two public schools left in the Class A playoffs.
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McKenzie selected to take part in Future Stars Game
Staley Middle School eighth grade quarterback Emory McKenzie is no stranger to success. Even McKenzie said he was taken aback, however, when he learned that he was chosen to represent his state in the Future Stars Game on June 16th.
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Blue team holds off late charge from Gold team in Americus-Sumter’s 2012 spring football game
In the first Americus-Sumter football action of the 2012 year, the Blue team survived a late charge by the Gold team to earn the victory in the Panthers’ 2012 Spring game. After taking an early 13-0 lead, the Blue team had to sack Gold team quarterback Jonathon Thomas late in the fourth quarter to preserve a 13-6 win and earn bragging rights until next spring.
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Former GSW and SGTC coach Dawson named head coach at Central Georgia Technical College
Another former Georgia Southwestern assistant basketball coach will be the head coach of another program next fall. Reco Dawson, who was an assistant coach on Mike Leeder’s staff at GSW during the 2011-2012 basketball season, recently accepted the head coaching position at Central Georgia Technical College in Macon, Georgia.
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GSW's Griffin secures top 10 finish at Nationals
He started the tournament with a birdie. He ended the tournament with a birdie. In between, Georgia Southwestern golfer J.P. Griffin continued to play some terrific golf at the three-round, three-day NCAA Division II National Championships. Griffin finished at 4-under par and tied for ninth place in the 108-player field.
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GSW club fishing team to compete in National Tournament
Georgia Southwestern has a long history of being successful in athletics. From boasting the 2002 NAIA Player of the Year in baseball player Paul Bush, to winning the school’s first Division Championship in the NCAA-era with a Western Division Championship in the 2011 basketball season.
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Americus-Sumter dominates All-Region soccer team
The Region 1-AAA All-Region team was recently announced, and the Americus-Sumter Panthers won numerous awards from the head man all the way down to a freshman. After having an amazing year in which the Panthers finished with a 12-5 record and won the school’s first ever Region Championship in soccer, the Americus-Sumter soccer teams and head coach were recognized for all of their hard work with numerous post season awards.
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Panthers spring football game set for Friday
Local football fans that are foaming at the mouth waiting for August to roll around can get a taste for the upcoming season this Friday night as the Americus-Sumter Panthers will be hosting their annual Blue-Gold spring game. The Panthers, who finished as the Region 1-AAA runner up in 2010 and 2011, will see how their team has progressed through their spring practices and evaluate their positions for the upcoming 2012 season.
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