Newspaper Sports Story

Max Beeching, The Southerner
Henry W. Grady HS (Atlanta, Ga.)

12 – 0 Grady One Win from Georgia Dome

The Knights continued their historic storybook season on Nov. 11 defeating the 10th-ranked Laney Wildcats 13 – 6 to advance to the quarterfinals of AA playoffs. If the Knights can get past Macon County in the AA quarterfinals at Grady Stadium Nov. 18, they’ll not only reach football’s final four for the first time since 1953, but they will make a reservation for their first ever game at the Georgia Dome.

The Laney game marked Grady’s stiffest challenge of the season, and it was the season’s most dramatic. The game came down to one drive and one play. The Knights drew first blood with a 13-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Simeon Kelley to junior Devongalo Crawford, his third in two games. The point after was no good because of a fumbled snap. The Knights would then face some problems as Laney answered the Knight’s touchdown with a 70-yard screen pass that tied the game at 6. The extra point attempt was blocked. Penalties would hurt the Knights on their next scoring opportunity. They advanced the ball inside the Laney 4-yard-line but then lost their composure by committing four consecutive false start penalties. The lost yardage prevented even a field-goal attempt as the Knights had to punt instead. In the second quarter, starting junior running back Zach Koen went down with a game-ending ankle injury. The Knights then showed their depth as junior running back Dexter Barnett replaced the injured Koen and made the most of his opportunity, rushing for 158 yards on 10 carries. In the third quarter Barnett produced the decisive 86-yard touchdown run that put the Knights up for good, 13-6.

“The coaches put it all on me, and I was able to come through and help my teammates out,” Barnett said. With less than four minutes remaining in the game, the Knights forced a fumble and recovered it on the Laney 30-yard line.

On fourth and one, however, the Knights failed to convert, giving Laney two minutes to mount a final drive. Laney was able to string some passes together and worked its way to the Grady 20-yard line where they faced fourth and 10 with eight seconds left in the game. With a raucous Grady crowd making it difficult to hear, Laney’s quarterback dropped back in the pocket and threw a high floating desperation pass in the end zone where it was picked off by sophomore cornerback Andrerius Thomas. A rush of joy went through the crowd as they rushed the field to celebrate the win.

“This was a really big win for us, but in this time of the season each week gets bigger and bigger and we got to take one game at a time,” Ronnie Millen said.

That approach has worked well all season. Millen’s greatest success as a coach has been his ability to mold his individual players into a cohesive unit. Under his leadership, the Knights completed the first perfect regular season in school history. The Knights finished the 2005 regular season unbeaten, united and ranked ninth in the state AA.

The Knights hosted their post-season opener Nov. 4, against the 7-3 fighting Yellow Jackets of Rockmart who made their first post-season appearance in 16 years.

The Knights beat Rockmart 30-16 to advance to the second round of the playoffs. The Knights got on the board first with an 8-yard touchdown run from Crawford in the second quarter. Rockmart answered with a drive that began with a 60-yard kick return to the Knights 19-yard line and culminated with a 30-yard field goal. The Knights broke away by scoring 14 unanswered points on a 15-yard touchdown run from Crawford and a 19-yard touchdown pass from Kelley to junior wide-out Rico Robinson. Trailing 21-3, Rockmart tied to mount a comeback scoring a 15-yard touchdown run with 11 minutes left in the game. On their next drive Rockmart had the ball inside the 20-yard line and was threatening to score. Junior linebacker Elijah Carmichael snuffed out the treat by intercepting the Rockmart quarterback at the 10-yard line and seizing the momentum in the Knights favor. Senior running back Cedric Sykes put the Yellow Jackets away for good with a 3-yard touchdown run. Rockmart then scored a cosmetic touchdown on its next drive with a meaningless 36-yard touchdown pass with 27 seconds left in the game.

Although the Knights survived a tough test, some of the team’s weaknesses were exposed, including more than 100 penalty yards. The coverage team also gave up more than 145 return yards giving Rockmart great field position. Crawford was the difference maker in the game, scoring two rushing touchdowns.

“D’Vangelo played well but you also have to credit some of his success to the offensive linemen,” Coach Millen said. “The offense and defense played very well; the players did a good job of executing each play and I was pleased.”

Grady fans hope Millen stays that way – all the way to the Dome.