By Lee Wilson
MaxPreps.com
Friday night’s meeting between Grayson (5-0) and Parkview (3-2) was a key encounter in the race for the 8-AAAAA title. Using a ball control offense powered by Ean Pemberton, Grayson jumped to a 21-7 lead and held firm against a furious Parkview rally for a 24-22 victory.
The 5-foot-4, 140-pound Pemberton carried the ball 38 times for 222 yards and two touchdowns.
The Rams, ranked No. 9 in the state by MaxPreps, made it look like business as usual for early on, grabbing a 21-7 lead. But Parkview cut the lead to 10 at the half and made it interesting.
"I think it's good to win a game like this," Rams head coach Mickey Conn told the Gwinnett Daily Post. "We showed a lot of heart hanging in. When we needed a first down, we got it. When we needed a good punt, we got it. When we needed a (defensive) stop, we got it. I think that says a lot about the character of our kids."
The defense was another critical part of Grayson's win, as they held senior Auburn-bound Panther Brandon Jacobs in check with only 22 yards on the evening.
Keeping up with one of the best teams in the state provided Parkview head coach Cecil Flowe with positives to build on.
"I'm proud of the way we played," Flowe told the Gwinnett Daily Post. I've got no complaints."
Kell 17, Pope 14
Turning late-game drama into victories has become habitual for the Kell Longhorns (4-1) this season. Friday night against Pope (1-4) was no different as the Longhorns scored with 30 seconds remaining in the game to win 17-14.
"I don't think we deserved to win. Pope probably outplayed us," Kell head coach Derek Cook told the Marietta Daily Journal. "We made a couple of big plays at the right moments on that drive. We did what we had to do when we had to do it."
The Longhorns final drive spanned 16 plays and included five first downs, two third-down conversions, one fourth-down conversion and was capped with Austin Petrik's five-yard touchdown pass to Brian Randolph.
After a 2-8 2007 campaign, Kell’s most recent victory and 4-1 start is one of the state’s biggest surprises. Three of the Longhorns’ victories have come by four points or less.
Volleyball: Pope’s Revenge
The Pope volleyball team helped make up for the football team's loss by defeating Kell for the Cobb County volleyball title. The win also helps drown out a quarterfinal loss to the Longhorns in this tournament last season.
The win was big for the Pope program and left head coach Bryan Jones quite pleased, who notes that revenge was not on his players' minds and both teams helped prevent a third straight Kennesaw Mountain-Lassiter final by taking care of them in the semis.
"We brought (last year) up just to say, 'hey, remember last year', but we really didn't focus on it too much," Jones told the Marietta Daily Journal. "We tried to focus on (Saturday's) play. Kell is playing real good this year and we had to get through Kennesaw Mountain. They played real solid too. Really, we were trying to focus things more on what we can do better on our side of the net."
Cross Country: Collins Hill Impressive at National Meet
The Collins Hill girls and boys cross country teams both finished second at the McDonald's Cross Country Festival. The huge national meet that features nearly 3,000 runners was held on Saturday in Richmond, Va.
Amanda Winslow grabbed runner-up in the high school girls race out of a field of 24 teams from seven different states. The time of 18:21 catapulted the nationally-ranked Eagles into second place overall.
Carlos Galindo – who finished 20th with a time of 16:46 – paced the boys team, leading a pack of three Eagle runners in the top 30.
