Sports
Peachtree Ridge Wins Season Opening Scrimmage
Lions begin the Mark Fleetwood era against Southwest DeKalb.
Peachtree Ridge football fans received a preview of the 2011 season Friday night at the Lions Den in Suwanee with a scrimmage victory against the Southwest DeKalb Panthers.
The scrimmage featured the varsity in the first half, the JV in the third quarter, and the freshman team in the fourth quarter. The Lions won 28-13 and gave the fans glimpses of speed and agility on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
It was the first game as Lions Head Coach for Mark Fleetwood, who takes over the helm from Bill Ballard. Fleetwood is no stranger to football coaching as he enters his 26th year in the profession. He served as the Lions' offensive coordinator last season.
The game could not have opened on a better note for the Lions as Alex Gray returned the opening kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown. On the ensuing opening drive for the Panthers, the first play resulted in a tipped pass interception by D'Aaron Hill.
The Lions stretched their lead to two scores on their second possession from scrimmage. Billy Best found Ahmaad Harris for a 58-yard touchdown pass to give the Lions a 14-0 lead with 6:28 left in the first quarter.
The Panthers' first score of the night was set up by a Billy Best interception on the Lions' 35-yard line. Xavier Johnson finished the drive with a 13-yard run to close the score to 14-7.
The Lions answered the Panthers score with a 3 yard run by Diandre Atwater at the 6:13 mark of the secnd quarter. The drive, led by quarterback Bryson Sellers, covered 30 yards. Three minutes later Billy Best found Joe Horn for a 12-yard touchdown pass and the score was 28-7. That score would hold until halftime as the varsity players were finished for the night.
The second half was completed with only a single score between the JV and freshman squads. SW DeKalb netted the touchdown in the third quarter. For the Lions, Davis Lackey, Ben Briggette, and Ryan Inman all saw action at quarterback in the second half.
The Lions open the regular season next Saturday night (Aug. 20) at 8:30 pm in the Georgia Dome against Walton in the Corky Kell Classic. Fans can view the game on Georgia Public Broadcasting or www.gpb.org. Tickets are $15 at the gate.
The Corky Kell classic has four games on Saturday, pitting teams from Gwinnett County and Cobb County. The match-ups this year are:
Find out what's happening in Suwaneewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
- Kell vs Grayson
- Lassiter vs Brookwood
- McEachern vs North Gwinnett
- Walton vs Peachtree Ridge
