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Rams welcome Newnan
Published November 27, 2009
Two teams with unblemished records meet at 7:30 p.m. this evening at Community Stadium in Grayson with a berth in the Class AAAAA semi-finals at stake.
The No. 1-ranked Rams (12-0) entertain Newnan (12-0) in a third-round Georgia High School Association matchup to be televised live by CSS as the Comcast and Charter Nissan High School Football Game of the Week. The Cougars are ranked fourth.
Grayson marched through Region 8 undefeated and has claimed playoff wins over Marietta (21-14) and Roswell (24-14), while Newnan is the Region 4 champion and has disposed of Valdosta (28-9) and M.L. King (15-6) in postseason play. Since both teams are region titlists, Grayson earned the right to host the game by winning a coin toss last Saturday morning.
Grayson comes in after an excellent special teams effort took up the slack in the Sweet 16 encounter with Roswell. Coach Mickey Conn’s Rams scored on a long punt return, converted a fumbled kickoff into a touchdown and got a 27-yard field goal from Austin Clark last week.
“We work really hard on special teams and it sure paid off,” Conn said.
Grayson broke a 7-7 tie when the Hornets fumbled the second half kickoff and Denzel Nkemdiche recovered for the Rams at the Roswell 18-yard line. It took only two plays to find the end zone with Frank Bebbs scoring from the 3.
After Roswell was unable to pick up a first down on the next series, the Hornets punted and Kori Gaines returned the kick 52 yards for a touchdown, giving Grayson a 21-7 lead with less than nine minutes remaining in the third quarter.
The Hornets sliced the deficit to 21-14 on a TD pass with 10:27 left in the game.
Grayson then put the ball in play and kept it for 16 plays to the Roswell 10. Clark connected on a 27-yard field goal with 1:34 to play to account for the final margin.
Ean Pemberton paced the Rams’ offense with 166 rushing yards on 30 carries, including a 57-yard scamper in the first quarter.
Newnan reached tonight’s showdown with a strong second half effort against MLK. Down 6-0 at halftime, the Cougars scored on their first possession of the second half and later tacked on another touchdown and a safety.
In its last three games, Newnan has scored 65 points in the second half to wipe out deficits.
This will be the third straight trip to the quarter-finals for each program. Both reached the semis in 2008 with Grayson dropping a 13-10 heartbreaker to Peachtree Ridge in double overtime, while the Cougars fell to eventual state champion Camden County, 27-7.
Defensively, Newnan has yet to allow a touchdown during the 2009 playoffs. On offense, both teams are averaging more than 30 points per game.
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