LaFayette among area’s biggest surprises so far
Every football season has its surprises, and in northwestern Georgia this year four teams have stood out early with upset wins and quick starts.
Most notable is LaFayette, where former Fort Payne (Alabama) coach Paul Ellis has instilled a no-nonsense approach that focuses on fundamentals. The Ramblers, who have not won more than three games since 2011, have close victories over Model and Fannin County for their first 2-0 start since 2014.
“The thing I’ve been most proud of is we’ve gotten behind in both games and the kids and coaches did not panic,” Ellis said. “The Model game we went down in the fourth quarter and answered the next play and went back ahead, and against Fannin, they went straight down and scored on us after we went three-and-out. We were kind of sliding down the hill, but the defense started playing better and we picked it up offensively.”
Quarterback Vyshonn Daniel leads an offense that has shown great balance so far. He has thrown for more than 300 yards while completing 70 percent of his passes and rushed for more than 100 yards. The ground game was key against Model, while passing propelled the Ramblers past Fannin.
“We’re hard to defend because defenses don’t know who to key on,” said Ellis, who has four players with more than 100 rushing yards. “The team has shown a lot of resiliency.”
Chattooga started the season with a heartbreaking loss to Class AAA’s Adairsville — a playoff team last year — on a last-second two-point conversion but regrouped to beat Class A private school power Wesleyan 17-0. Running back E.J. Lackey has been virtually unstoppable, with 447 yards, while the defense led by Malachi Mack and Luis Medina has been hard to move.
Trion opened with an upset of Class AA’s Coosa — another 2017 playoff team — which is a win that should pay big dividends in the Class A public school power ratings.
Christian Heritage, 2-8 a year ago, improved to 2-0 after Thursday night’s completion of week one’s game against Riverside Military. The Lions were leading 27-14 with 6:47 to play when the game was called after a long weather delay.
The Lions defeated Gordon Central 35-0 a week ago. Before Thursday, receiver Zach Gentry had five touchdowns, including three on passes from quarterback Matthew Neff.
Mariakis reaches 100
When Chattanooga Christian School pulled away for a 30-13 win over Howard last week, it marked the 100th career victory for coach Mark Mariakis.
Mariakis began coaching at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe in 1995, taking over a program that had known little success and building a playoff contender. He later spent 11 seasons at Ridgeland, where he produced a similar turnaround that included playing for the region title five years in a row, winning four, as well as a trip to the state championship game in 2012. In his third year as CCS’s coach, Mariakis is trying again to establish a young program.
“The year I took over at LFO the Atlanta Journal-Constitution released a story that ranked every high school program in the state, and we were ranked last,” said Mariakis, who also has more than 100 wins as a baseball coach at LFO and Chattooga. “Four years later we were in the playoffs. When I started my career, I remember hearing about other coaches winning 100 and thinking that would be unreachable.
“I’ve learned that to get there, you need great coaches around you on your staff and some really good players. We’ve been blessed to have those ingredients, and it does mean a lot to have that type consistency wherever we’ve been. The most rewarding thing for me are the memories and relationships I’ve built.”