Friday, August 17, 2012
BY THE NUMBERS1 - Spots dropped from Murray County's GHSA classification, down to Class AA for this season.4 - A's in the Indians' classification the last time they had a winning season.83 - Times that Murray County threw the ball last season.SCHEDULEAug. 31 Coahulla CreekSep. 7 at Christian HeritageSep. 14 Gordon CentralSep. 21 at Armuchee*Sep. 28 at Chattooga*Oct. 12 Model*Oct. 19 at Calhoun*Oct. 26 Dade County*Nov. 2 at Pepperell*Nov. 9 Coosa** Region 7-AA game
Coach: John Hammond (second season, 2-8 here and overall)
Stadium address: 1001 Green Road, Chatsworth, GA 30705
The Indians took a hit when North Murray County High School began playing football in 2009, because some players were zoned for the new school. The Indians have won only two games in each of the last three seasons and last had a winning season in 2005, when they went 7-4.
Here's a look at the regular-season win total for the last five years:
2011--2*
2010--2
2009--2
2008-1
2007---------9
* Received two forfeit wins
1) Work ethic. Coach Hammond said the Indians had a historic level of participation during summer workouts. "It's been good so far in our early practices, and we're getting in shape," he said. "We've used the early part of the day to get better."
2) Youth improvement. The Indians had four freshmen and two sophomores who started last year. Junior defensive tackle Clay Thornbury is leading the way while sophomore linebacker Jordan Walls and classmate Spencer Baggett are helping to carry the leaderships role.
3) The quarterback. Senior Brady Todd was a quality leader last season before he broke his collarbone. The Indians moved running back Jake Born, now graduated, into the quarterback position and it produced few victories. But Brady is back. "He is our leader, and when he went down, it showed in our first game," Hammond said.
1) Team speed. The Indians have little size and perhaps even less speed, which is not a good combination. Hammond said his biggest player is 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds. "We're not big enough on defense to play a base, so we're going to have to move a lot," he said. "We'l be stunting guys and moving kids to get them in position."
2) A lack of players. Hammond is honest. "The biggest issue is depth on our offensive and defensive lines. We graduated four from our offensive line, so we have to find four replacements."
3) The unknown. The Indians are playing in Region 7-AA for the first time in school history. "We've never played any of the teams in our region," Hammond said. "We don't know anything about them and have no past history. It's going to be a new experience."
(Senior quarterback)
Q: How much time do you spend in the team meeting and video room?
A: I spend about 30 minutes after practice each day going over things.
Q: What's the most time you've spent in this meeting room?
A: Probably about two hours. I looked at what the defense was going to do and how I could get better.
Q: What sort of season are you expecting?
A: We don't think we'll win them all, but we feel that we'll get a few this year. It's not going to be like last year when we were losing 70 to nothing.
1 Spencer Baggett - Sophomore
3 Alex Younquist - Freshman
5 Andrew Grigsby - Sophomore
6 Cole Moore - Sophomore
8 Justin Smith - Sophomore
9 Brian Trout - Senior
10 Christian Torres - Sophomore
12 Zach Harry - Senior
14 Petee Waldon - Freshman
15 Brady Todd - Senior
17 Aaron Chambers - Junior
19 Miguel Barajas - Senior
20 Trent Glover - Freshman
21 Tristan Green - Freshman
22 Leon Pritchett - Senior
24 Bailey Rogers - Sophomore
26 Ethan Weaver - Sophomore
28 Nathan Williams - Sophomore
29 Jordan Wall - Junior
31 Tielor Johnson - Freshman
32 Matthew Scott - Freshman
33 Donnie Silvers - Senior
41 Jacob McClure - Freshman
42 Gavin Weaver - Junior
48 Antohny Boggs - Senior
50 Zach Broome - Junior
51 William Hernandez - Freshman
53 Kevin Chavez - Sophomore
55 Willy Amador - Senior
57 Justin Trout - Sophomore
58 Dakota Patterson - Junior
59 Seth Gilbert - Junior
61 James Domingo - Sophomore
62 Mikey Palmer - Senior
63 Clay Thornbury - Junior
65 Madison Cook - Junior
67 Brandon Epperson - Senior
68 Kolton Clayton - Senior
69 Tino Wheat - Senior
70 Diego Leon - Freshman
72 Kevin Pintor - Sophomore
73 Kyle Padgett - Senior
75 Zach Ellis - Sophomore
76 Allen Roberts - Senior
77 Leon Reyes - Senior
78 Garrett Hammonds - Freshman
79 A.J. Martinez - Senior
80 Trey Burnette - Freshman
81 Jon Logan - Freshman
85 Hector Perez - Freshman