Warriors host Phoenix in crosstown scrimmage
MTenney@CalhounTimes.com
The Gordon Central and Sonoraville football teams’ final scrimmage of the 2021 campaign is Friday night when they meet each other at 7:30 p.m. at Gordon Central’s Ratner Memorial Stadium.
Both held their first preseason workout last Friday and both squads did some good things that the coaches are looking to see them continue to improve upon as next week’s season opener for both schools inches even closer.
“This gives us another chance to look at our players going against somebody else and that’s what excites us about this scrimmage,” Gordon Central head coach T.J. Hamilton said. “I want our players to be excited about every chance we have to go out and compete and show what we can do and this week we have another opportunity to go out and compete.”
It would appear that both teams will be as young as any team around with both not having a lot of seniors on their rosters.
In fact, for Sonoraville, they have just 13 seniors listed among the 82 players on the roster that was sent to the Calhoun Times.
And Gordon Central doesn’t have many more than that on its 73-man roster, which is growing everyday as more and more players want to join the team.
“We’re definitely working to grow our numbers,” Hamilton said. “We want all the kids in our school who want to be part of the football team to join because the more kids we have, the more internal competition we can create among ourselves, and that will only make us better because this is all about competition.
“Every week you got to go out and compete and play as hard as you can and give a great effort and when teams
SCRIMMAGE,
The fourth and final playoff spot went to Lafayette, which was 4-4 in the league and tied Ringgold for fourth place but advanced because they beat Ringgold, 33-29, when the teams met.
The Ramblers began Region action by winning four of their first five games but lost their last three games, including a forfeit to Rockmart, that dropped their playoff aspirations from a sure thing to dicey before they knew hours after their final game was played that they would get to be part of a first-round playoff contest.
Then Sonoraville and Murray County came in tied for sixth place with each having a 3-5 record. And that three-game winning streak that the Phoenix had to end last season began with a 42-38 win over Lafayette that put their direct run to the playoffs on ice for at least a week.
In looking at the 2020 schedule and results, it appears the Phoenix playoff chances ultimately got away with the week three loss to Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe as that was the Warriors’ only league win on their way to a 1-6 mark and a tie for last place with Coahulla Creek.
The Phoenix lost a wild 44-37 shootout to LFO and had they won that game, they would have got the fourth spot instead of Lafayette, because they beat
the Ramblers.
So all of that would seem to be reason why this Friday’s road scrimmage at Gordon Central is so important. The coaches don’t have the same amount of time as some of their colleagues to get ready for that first region game.
And again this season that means a Week One date with Rockmart, but this season that outing is a home game for the Phoenix and there’s nothing like the home field advantage.
So with their young roster, the Phoenix are hoping to do a lot of growing up in the next couple of weeks because their Area games come quick into the season. And part of that process is a good showing Friday night against Gordon Central.