SEASON OUTLOOK
Defensive lineman Chris Williams
Photo by Dennis Carter
No team truly challenged Sandy Creek in the regular season last year, but Carrollton was perhaps its toughest opponent. With its key offensive playmakers back, the same will likely be true in 2013.
Question mark: With Shaq Wiggins gone and with several underclassmen in the secondary, will that unit be the team's Achilles' heel?
Local outlook: Sandy Creek is as big of a favorite to win Class AAAA as possible. To start the season, Norcross, the defending AAAAAA champ, is the only Georgia team ranked ahead of the Patriots. Gainesville, the reigning AAAAA winner, will once again be very strong with Deshaun Watson guiding the offense.
Overall outlook: As pointed out in the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution 50-in-50 preview of Sandy Creek, the team's only real question is motivation. From a rankings perspective, the challenge Sandy Creek faces is that it will have few opportunities to prove how good it is with respect to top teams in the state, let alone the nation. Still, it could put forth one of the most dominant seasons in state history. That would make it hard to keep them too far from the top spot.
Coach quote: "Well, obviously expectations are going to be really high right now for the fall. We feel really good about the kids we’ve got coming back. We’re just at the point now where we’re ready to get going."
- Chip Walker
