The View from the Booth: Thursday October 11

Tucker, M.L. King, Stephenson Are Tops Three DeKalb Teams in Wins Over Past Ten Years

Georgia High School Football Daily this week published a list of the DeKalb County schools with the most wins over the past ten years (recently-opened Arabia Mountain and Miller Grove not included).

Not surprisingly, Tucker, M.L. King and Stephenson lead the pack with 110, 96 and 90 wins over the past ten years respectively. Here’s the complete list:

110 - Tucker

96 - M.L. King

90 - Stephenson

71 - SW DeKalb

63 - Chamblee

60 - Dunwoody

55 - McNair

49 - Cedar Grove

47 - Columbia

39 - Towers

37 - Redan

36 - Stone Mountain

23 - Clarkston

21 - Druid Hills

21 - Lakeside

21 - Lithonia

10 - Cross Keys

Cedar Grove Defensive Player Shines

Cedar Grove DE/OLB Bryson Allen-Williams got a shout-out from Georgia High School Football Daily this week for his performance last week in a 66-8 victory over Towers. Allen-Williams had two sacks and seven tackles, forced a fumble that he recovered for a TD, and also caught a TD pass.

McCrary Now Among Top 10 High School Passers in Georgia History

QB Johnathan McCrary threw for 235 yards and five TDs against Towers last Friday and that performance was good enough to move the Cedar Grove senior into the Top 10 in career passing in the state of Georgia.

McCrary, committed to Vanderbilt, connected on 14 of 16 passes in the 66-8 win for the Saints.

McCrary now has 7,539 yards passing for his career to move him past Jeremy Privett of Charlton County (2000-03) who had 7,487 passing yards.

Chattahoochee County’s Caleb Horvath (2006-08) is in ninth with 7,568 yards and Charlton County’s Dwight Dasher (2003-06) is in eighth with 7,655 yards.

McCrary needs 1,260 yards to pass M.L. King’s Jonquel Dawson (8,798 passing yards) for the DeKalb County career passing mark which would move him into second on the Georgia list.

The Saints have four regular season games left.

DeKalb Teams in the State Rankings

Tucker, M.L. King and Stephenson – all idle last week – held onto the #2, 3, and 4 spots respectively in the AJC/GHSA Class AAAAA poll. Tucker and Stephenson play each other for the first time ever Friday night in what should be one of the most entertaining showdowns of the 2012 season. M.L. King takes on winless Dunwoody this week.

After shutting out Columbia Friday night, Marist held onto their #2 ranking in Class AAAA. The War Eagles play Lithonia (1-4) Friday night.

St. Pius is still #5 in Class AAA following their 34-0 defeat of McNair Friday night. The Golden Lions are off this week before taking on Cedar Grove (4-2) on October 19. Undefeated, untied Chamblee is still nowhere to be found in the poll. What’s up with that??

Georgia High School Football Daily this week updated its composite rankings of the state’s best teams based on a consensus of five separate polls: AJC/GHSF Daily; AP/Georgia Sportswriters Association; GPB; MaxPreps; and Maxwell Ratings.

In Class AAAAA, Northside-Warner Robins (5-0), which beat Houston County 41-13 last week, holds onto the top spot, but the next three spots still belong to DeKalb County teams.

Nipping at Northside’s heels are #2 Tucker (5-0), #3 M.L. King (5-0) and #4 Stephenson (4-0).

In Class AAAA, Marist (4-1) remains tied with Burke County (4-1) for #2 in the composite poll. The War Eagles defeated Columbia 16-0 last week. They host Lithonia (1-4) Friday night.

Grady (4-1) is tied with Jonesboro for 11th in the composite poll. The Grey Knights defeated Therell (0-5) 36-0 last week. They play Washington Friday night at the Georgia Dome.

In Class AAA, St. Pius (5-1) is still #5 in the composite poll. The Golden Lions blanked McNair 34-0 last week. St. Pius is off until October 19 when they host Cedar Grove.

In the Maxwell Ratings All-Classification Top 25, Tucker comes in as the 5th best team in the state, regardless of classification. Maxwell has Stephenson at #16 and M.L. King at #17.

Region Standings

Here are the current standings for Reg. 6-AAAAA, Reg. 6-AAAA and Reg. 6-AAA:

Region 6-AAAAA

Team

Reg.

All

Last week

This week

M.L. King

4-0

5-0

Did not play

at Dunwoody

Tucker

4-0

5-0

Did not play

at Stephenson

Stephenson

4-0

4-0

Did not play

vs. Tucker

Miller Grove

3-1

4-1

Did not play

at Lakeside

Southwest DeKalb

2-2

3-2

Did not play

at North Atlanta

Mays

2-2

2-3

Did not play

vs. Arabia Mtn.

Lakeside (Atlanta)

1-3

1-4

Did not play

vs. Miller Grove

Arabia Mountain

0-4

1-4

Did not play

vs. Mays

Dunwoody

0-4

0-5

Did not play

vs. M.L. King

North Atlanta

0-4

0-5

Did not play

vs. SW DeKalb

*Clarkston

 N/A

2-4

Did not play

vs. Johnson

Region 6-AAAA

Division A

Team

Reg.

All

Last week

This week

Chamblee

1-0

5-0

d. Redan 21-7

at Columbia

Marist

1-0

4-1

d. Columbia 16-0

vs. Lithonia

Lithonia

1-0

1-4

d. Stone Mountain 34-20

at Marist

Columbia

0-1

2-3

l. to Marist 16-0

vs. Chamblee

Redan

0-1

1-4

l. to Chamblee 21-7

at Stone Mtn.

Stone Mountain

0-1

1-4

l. to Lithonia 34-20

vs. Redan

Division B

Team

Reg.

All

Last week

This week

Carver (Atlanta)

1-0

5-0

d. Banneker 30-8

at Therrell

Washington

1-0

5-0

d. South Atlanta 26-21

at Grady

Grady

1-0

4-1

d. Therrell 36-0

vs. Washington

South Atlanta

0-1

3-2

l. to Washington 26-21

vs. Banneker

Banneker

0-1

2-3

l. to Carver, Atlanta 30-8

at South Atlanta

Therrell

0-1

0-5

l. to Grady 36-0

vs. Carver, Atl.

Region 6-AAA

Team

Reg.

All

Last week

This week

St. Pius

2-0

5-1

d. McNair 34-0

Does not play

Cedar Grove

2-0

4-2

d. Towers 66-8

vs. McNair

Blessed Trinity

1-0

4-1

Did not play

vs. Decatur

Woodward Academy

1-1

4-2

d. Decatur 33-14

vs. Towers

McNair

0-1

3-2

l. to St. Pius 34-0

at Cedar Grove

Decatur

0-2

3-3

l. to Woodward Ac. 33-14

at Blessed Trinity

Towers

0-2

0-6

l. to Cedar Grove 66-8

at Woodward Academy

*Cross Keys

 N/A

0-5

l. to St. Francis 48-24

vs. Lakeview Acad.

This Week’s Games Involving DeKalb County Teams

There’s Thursday night football in DeKalb County this week – and plenty of it. Add to that the first ever meeting between Tucker and Stephenson on Friday and a few more games Saturday and you’re looking at one solid weekend of high school football action.

Tucker vs. Stephenson

The Stephenson Jaguars host the Tucker Tigers Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Hallford Stadium in the first ever meeting between the two DeKalb County powers.

Tucker (5-0) enters the game as the #2 Class AAAAA team in the state while the Jaguars (4-0) are ranked #4.  Both teams are coming off bye weeks and are 4-0 in Region 6-AAAAA play.

Tucker has won a pair of state championships during the past four seasons (2008, 2011), highlighted by last year’s 15-0 team. First year head coach Bryan Lamar has led the Tigers to another impressive start.

Stephenson coach Ron Gartrell has 174 wins at Shamrock High School and Stephenson combined. Gartrell is the only coach the Jaguars have ever had.

Tucker will put Stephenson’s stingy defense to the test with an offense that averages 368 yards rushing and almost 48 points per game. Five RBs have over 150 rushing yards each on the season. Junior Dallas Rivers (501 yards, five games, nine TDs) and senior Yusuf Minor (355 yards and three TDs in three games) are both averaging over 100 yards per game. The pair leads the county in rushing.

Stephenson’s defense has allowed only 8.3 points per game while scoring over 43 points per game. The Jaguar's 264-yard average is the second-best rushing total in DeKalb, but the Jaguars spread the carries out a bit more than Tucker does. Evan Jones is the leading rusher with 267 yards, but Stephenson has seven players with at least 10 carries, five players with at least 100 yards and nine players with at least one rushing TD.

Tucker, Stephenson and M.L. King are all ranked in the top four and tied for first place in Region 6-AAAAA, and their head-to-head meetings over the next four weekends will probably determine the top three playoff seeds. Although they have been by far DeKalb's top three programs over the past decade, the Tigers have never played either the Lions or the Jaguars because the teams have been in different classifications.

Washington at Grady

Washington is 5-0 overall, 1-0 in Region 6-AAAA Div. B and ranked #6 in Class AAAA. Grady is 4-1, 1-0 in the same region and unranked. The two teams square off against each other Friday at 8 p.m. at the Georgia Dome.

Washington is 5-0 for the first time since 1998, but the Bulldogs narrowly escaped last week with a 26-21 victory over South Atlanta. At one point, Washington led 20-0 but needed a 67-yard TD pass from Fernanda Tucker to Antavis Rowe with 34 seconds left to seal the victory.

QB Kivon Taylor had two of Grady's five rushing TDs in a 36-0 victory over Therrell last week. Taylor missed the previous game, a 21-0 win over Lithonia, with an ankle injury and was replaced by Marquavious Henry, who threw three TD passes.

Grady won last year’s meeting 26-12.

M.L. King vs. Dunwoody

#3 ranked M. L. King (5-0) is tied with Tucker and Stephenson atop the Region 6-AAAAA standings. The Lions take on Dunwoody (0-5) at North DeKalb Stadium Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The game can be seen on WSB-TV.

Knowing that either Tucker or Stephenson will lose this weekend, the Lions will be trying to maintain a share of the lead in the region standings. Dunwoody is still looking for its first victory of the season.

Columbia vs. Chamblee

Columbia will try to keep its playoff hopes alive in Region 6-AAAA as the Eagles (2-3, 0-1) host the undefeated Chamblee Bulldogs (5-0, 1-0) in a 7:30 p.m. Friday tilt at Avondale Stadium.

The Eagles played #2 ranked Marist tough last weekend before finally falling 16-0. The Bulldogs have reeled off five straight wins to start the season and look to move to 2-0 in Region 6-AAAA. For some inexplicable reason, Chamblee is currently unranked in the state polls.

Here’s the complete schedule of games involving DeKalb teams:

Thursday, October 11

Mays (2-3) vs. Arabia Mountain (1-4), Panthersville, 7:30 p.m.

M.L. King (5-0) vs. Dunwoody (0-5), North DeKalb, 7:30 p.m. (WSB-TV)

Miller Grove (4-1) vs. Lakeside (1-4), Adams, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, October 12

McNair (3-2) vs. Cedar Grove (4-2), Panthersville, 7:30 p.m. (HC)

Chamblee (5-0) vs. Columbia (2-3), Avondale, 7:30 p.m.

Lakeview Academy (2-2) vs. Cross Keys (0-5), North DeKalb, 7:30 p.m.

Newton (1-4) vs. Druid Hills (2-3), Adams, 7:30 p.m. (HC)

Lithonia (1-4) at Marist (4-1), 7:30 p.m.

Tucker (5-0) vs. Stephenson (4-0), Hallford, 7:30 p.m.

Towers (0-5) at Woodward Academy (4-2), 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, October 13

Johnson-Gainesville (3-3) vs. Clarkston (2-4), Hallford, 7:30 p.m. (HC)

Redan (1-4) vs. Stone Mountain (1-4), Avondale, 7:30 p.m.

Southwest DeKalb (3-2) vs. North Atlanta (0-5), Georgia Dome, 5 p.m.

Get out and enjoy some Thursday night football tonight everyone. You could do a lot worse than Adams Stadium where I’ll be calling the Miller Grove – Lakeside game which starts at 7:30.

Check back Sunday for results and recaps.

John Becker is a 30-year Atlanta resident, currently living in Virginia-Highland. John’s a freelance writer and an avid high school, college and pro football fan (much to the detriment of most other productive activities during the fall). As the Voice of Adams Stadium (public address announcer), John brings a unique perspective to his analysis of high school football in DeKalb County and he looks forward to sharing his insight with fans through his blog.

The writer can be reached at jnbecker@me.com or followed on Twitter at @JNBecker.