2020 Football Guide.Pub

2020 DeKalb County Football Media Guide CEDAR GROVE SAINTS REPEAT AS CLASS 3A STATE CHAMPS! THE HOME OF STATE CHAMPIONS https://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/athletics/football/ $2.00 2020 DEKALB COUNTY FOOTBALL GUIDE DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT 5829 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain, Georgia 30083 (678) 676 -1821 www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/athletics Directory SUPERINTENDENT Mrs. Cheryl Watson -Harris EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS James Jackson FOOTBALL COORDINATOR Mike Harwell ATHLETICS DIRECTOR Dr. Tekshia Ward -Smith ATHLETIC SPECIALIST Chris Chilton ATHLETIC SPECIALIST Mark Brock 2 DEKALB COUNTY FOOTBALL HISTORY Eight -man football and the original eight schools served as the origin of the long and proud gridiron history of DeKalb County. Druid Hills, Southwest DeKalb, Tucker and Avondale helped DeKalb County make the jump to the current 11 -man version of football in 1950, with Stone Mountain, Lithonia, Clarkston and Chamblee also in the field. Legendary DeKalb County multi -sport coach and Athletic Director Elmer Morrow de- veloped the first powerhouse at Druid Hills, guiding the Red Devils to a runner -up state finish to Valdosta and 11 -1-1 record in 1956. Such other coaching giants as Avondale’s Calvin Ramsey and Tucker’s Terry Hodges lifted DeKalb County’s state -wide status to even greater heights toward the end of the 1950s and for most of the 1960s. Avondale ranked among the powerhouse programs in the state from the mid -1950s through most of the 1980s. The Blue Devils gained state and national fame during a 13 -year stretch from 1958 -70, winning a pair of state championships and posting a 129 -12 -3 record while never losing more than one game in any of those seasons. Ramsey finished with a 167 -33 -7 record, leading Avondale to state titles in 1958 (a 13 - 13 tie against Thomasville in AA) and in a 40 -0 blanking of Moultrie in AAA in 1963. Hodges led Tucker to 10 or more wins four times from 1957 -63, highlighted by a 1963 team that went 11 -2 and lost in the state final. Lakeside and Southwest DeKalb emerged as new powers as the decade of the 1970s rolled around, and Avondale still loomed large under Crawford Kennedy’s direction. Wayman Creel, who held the distinction of being the all -time winningest coach in Geor- gia high school history upon his death in the summer of 1991, guided Lakeside to an immediate period of domination never seen before or since on the local level. Creel arrived in the spring of 1970 and proceeded to lead the Vikings to undefeated state championships that fall (13 -0) and in 1972 (14 -0). Lakeside also went 9 -1 in 1971 for a three -year run of 36 -1 that has never been matched in DeKalb County history. Southwest DeKalb claimed its first state championship in 1972, as Dewey Alverson’s talented squad knocked off Gainesville (16 -12) in the AA final to finish a 13 -1 season. Avondale returned to the head of the class in 1976, roaring to a perfect 14 -0 campaign under Kennedy that was highlighted by a 20 -19 triumph over Woodward Academy in the AA state championship contest. Redan in 1979 under Steve Shankweiler, Lakeside in 1991 under Phil Lindsey, Dun- woody in 1994 under David Kelly, Southwest DeKalb in 1995 under Buck Godfrey, Tucker in 2008 and 2011 under Franklin Stephens and Cedar Grove under Jermaine Smith in 2016 and 2018 and Miguel Patrick in 2019 claimed DeKalb’s other state titles. Southwest DeKalb’s Godfrey surpassed Kennedy (168 -88 -9) as the winningest coach in DeKalb County history and finished his career with a 273 -89 -1 record. T. McFerrin (Lithonia; Peachtree; Tucker), Dave Hunter (Peachtree), French Johnson (Chamblee), Phil Knight (Columbia; Lithonia), Ron Gartrell (Shamrock; Stephenson) and Tally Johnson (Briarcliff) are among DeKalb County’s other coaching giants. 3 2020 FOOTBALL GUIDE CONTENTS DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT ......................................................... 5 REGION ALIGNMENTS ................................................................................... 6 DEKALB COUNTY STADIUMS ....................................................................... 7 COLLEGE FOOTBALL SIGNINGS ................................................................... 8 ARABIA MOUNTAIN ...................................................................................... 12 CEDAR GROVE ................................................................................................ 14 CHAMBLEE ...................................................................................................... 16 COLUMBIA. ...................................................................................................... 18 CROSS KEYS. ................................................................................................... 20 DRUID HILLS ................................................................................................... 22 DUNWOODY .................................................................................................... 24 LAKESIDE ......................................................................................................... 26 LITHONIA ......................................................................................................... 28 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR ............................................................................ 30 MCNAIR ............................................................................................................ 32 MILLER GROVE ............................................................................................... 34 REDAN .............................................................................................................. 36 SOUTHWEST DEKALB ................................................................................... 38 STEPHENSON ................................................................................................... 40 STONE MOUNTAIN ......................................................................................... 42 TOWERS ............................................................................................................ 44 TUCKER ............................................................................................................ 46 CURRENT COLLEGE PLAYERS .................................................................... 48 CURRENT NFL PLAYERS .............................................................................. 61 ACADEMIC STANDOUTS .............................................................................. 65 ALL AMERICAN PLAYERS ........................................................................... 67 ALL CONFERENCE PLAYERS ....................................................................... 69 STATISTICS ...................................................................................................... 78 SCHOOL RECORDS ......................................................................................... 96 SCHOOL PLAYOFF RESULTS ..................................................................... 108 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS ....................................................................... 113 CAREER DEFENSIVE LEADERS ................................................................. 136 ALL -TIME SERIES RECORD ........................................................................ 137 ABOUT THE COVER The cover for the 2020 DeKalb County Football Media Guide is a collecon of pictures taken in celebraon of Cedar Grove’s state Class AAA championship game victory over Crisp County in 2019. Athlec Specialist Mark Brock shot the pictures that appear on the front cover. 4 GARTRELL LAST OF THROWBACK COACHES DeKalb County’s head football coaching hierarchy once boasted a long line of illustrious and familiar names. The illustrious part could be found simply by walking the halls and seeing all the subre- gion, region and state championships that lined the school trophy cases. Familiarity came from the fact that the majority of DeKalb County football programs once were led by individuals who served as head coach for at least a decade or more. Buck Godfrey at Southwest DeKalb (1983 -2012) at 30 years led the way, followed by the likes of Dewey Alverson at Southwest DeKalb (1959 -78) at 20 years, Calvin Ram- sey at Avondale (1951 -69) at 19 years, Crawford Kennedy at Avondale (1970 -88) at 19 years, Bill Cloer at Redan (1980 -95) at 16 years, Phil Lindsey at Lakeside (1983 -97) at 15 years, Wayman Creel at Lakeside (1970 -82) at 13 years, Phil Knight at Lithonia (1976 -88) at 13 years, Henry Huckabee at Lithonia (1953 -65) at 13 years, Terry Sparks at Henderson (1968 -80) at 13 years, Tom Van Tone at Stone Mountain (1974 -85) at 12 years, Gene Goff at Chamblee (1959 -69) at 11 years, Joe Windham at Towers (1971 - 81) at 11 years, David Kelly at Dunwoody (1984 -93) at 10 years and Ray Bonner at Cedar Grove (2003 -12) at 10 years. That’s 15 individuals who worked at least 10 years as the head coach at the same school, with a range of 10 -30 campaigns and an overall average of 14.2 seasons. It also covers 11 of the 27 schools that have fielded a varsity football team in DeKalb County over the last 71 years, or since local squads first started playing a Georgia High School Association schedule in 1950. Godfrey and Bonner stepped down as the last of this legendary group of 15 in 2012, or eight years ago. It’s no coincidence then that nine of DeKalb County’s 10 state championships from 1958 -95 were orchestrated by at least one of these individuals. While the past is the past

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