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Can Anybody Stop Colquitt County?
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I pondered that question as I watched the Packers dismantle the best team in Mill Creek history last Friday night in a 52-31 state semi-final win. The 14-0 Roswell Hornets are the next in line to take their shot in the GHSA AAAAAA Championship Game Saturday 8:00 pm on GPB. Colquitt County’s school record 29-game winning streak is like a fighter who stands in the ring and takes on all comers. The Packers keep knocking the next guy out…as soon as the vanquished is dragged out of the ring…there’s another one climbing over the ropes to take their chances.
I asked Coach Rush Propst if anybody could stop his team and he quickly answered yes. He didn’t say it but I could hear his brain scheming…”Well of course…I could stop them.” That might be what it takes. Or maybe it’ll be something simple that no ever thought of but it was right under our noses. Like the microbes that felled the Martian invaders in H.G. Wells’ classic “War of the Worlds,” when bombs could not. What is that little secret? How do you stop this marauding offense that has scored nearly 700 points this season?
Maybe it will take brute force. Maybe it will take major college football type athleticism to stop this high school juggernaut that this week is ranked #2 in the nation in the USA Today Super 25. Roswell has that. The Hornets will play six major college prospects on defense Saturday night led by one of the nation’s top linebackers Tre Lamar. He is a 247 Sports Composite 4-star, ranked the #6 inside linebacker in the country and committed to Clemson. He is to offenses what the B61-12 would be to our enemies (use Google).
But Lamar doesn’t stand alone. Standing alongside him is 247 three-star LB Tyrone Hopper who is committed to North Carolina. The Hornets secondary is a future SEC/ACC secondary. Coach Propst wasn’t just hyperbolizing when he said it was the best they’ve ever faced. The Hornets’ Xavier McKinney is the #11 junior safety in the nation and committed to Alabama. LeAnthony Williams is the #16 junior safety with 16 college offers and three-star senior safety Marcelino Ball has seven offers including West Virginia and Clemson.
So can they stop this Packers offense led by quarterback Chase Parrish who has never lost a game as the starter? Who’s thrown 39 touchdown passes including a school-record six last week vs. Mill Creek? A Packers offense with the dynamic three-star WR Kiel Pollard who’s committed to Arkansas and his partner Ty Lee who is every much as dangerous just not nearly as big?
Roswell Coach John Ford has confidence. He knew from the very beginning that with his defense they had a chance to win every Friday night. But now this game is on Saturday night. It is the biggest game and against their biggest opponent. The Hornets seem unfazed. Just as they did last Friday night when Grayson kicked what seemed to be the game-winning field goal with less than a minute to play. Instead the Hornets stung back quickly scoring the game-winning touchdown with 10 seconds to play on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Quintarius Neely to A.J. Smith. So how’s that for impossible? Now finding a way to beat Colquitt County doesn’t seem so hard after all does it? Don’t fool yourself. But if anybody can do it this season…Roswell can…they are the last challenger and Saturday night they’ll take their turn climbing over the ropes.
For you recruitniks…here’s the players to keep your eyes on Saturday night…
Colquitt County Recruiting Profiles
#48 Ja’Quain Blakely
6-2, 210, Senior
247 Three-Star OLB
Committed to Tennessee
#2 Kiel Pollard
6-2, 225, Senior
247 Three-Star WR
Committed to Arkansas
#40 Dee Walker
6-3, 210, Senior
247 Three-Star OLB
21 Offers including UCF, Iowa
#23 Ty Lee
5-9, 165, Senior
247 Three-Star WR
7 Offers including Iowa, Arkansas St.
#4 Rakeem Hightower
6-0, 180, Senior
247 Three-Star Safety
13 Offers including Kentucky, Arkansas
Roswell Hornets
#57 Tre Lamar
6-4, 240, Senior
247 Four-Star, #6 ILB
Committed to Clemson
#4 LeAnthony Williams
6-0, 177, Junior
247 Four-Star, #16 CB (2017)
18 offers including Auburn, Clemson
#15 Xavier McKinney
6-1, 185, Junior
247 Four-Star, #11 Safety (2017)
Committed to Alabama
#41 Tyrone Hopper
6-3, 202, Senior
247 Three-Star WDE
Committed to North Carolina
#64 Cameron Whiteman
6-3, 290, Senior
247 Three-Star OG
Committed to Harvard
#30 Marcelino Ball
6-1, 200, Senior
247 Three-Star Safety
7 offers including West Virginia, Clemson
#2 Quintarius Neely
6-0, 185, Senior
Dual-Threat Quarterback
Offered by Army
#88 Tyneil Hopper
6-1, 200, So
Tight End/ WDE (2018)
Offered by Kentucky, Wake Forest