MG Lions on a march to Georgia Dome

mbrown@sunmulti.com

Houston County is being represented in a football

championship in the Georgia Dome after all.

Today (Dec. 22) a group of local seventh graders called the

Middle Georgia Lions complete a month-long quest for a perfect record in

Atlanta’s big enclosed stadium in the David L. Scott Jr. Coalition Bowl. In

this game, the finals of a tournament that began Dec. 8 in Conyers, the Lions

take on Glenwood Hills of Atlanta.

That will be the 14^th game since the day after

Thanksgiving for Middle Georgia’s Lions. In 13 previous games, the Lions have

yet to suffer a defeat. Sometimes, the team played more than once in a single

day.

It all started at the Southeast National Youth Football

Championships Nov. 23-25 in Macon. The following weekend, Middle Georgia’s

Lions went to the Old Capital Classic in Milledgeville. The third tournament

was played in Conyers with slightly different rules than the previous two

events.

In terms of timing, the first two tournaments had eight-minute

quarters, but in Conyers (the March to the Dome) and in today’s game in

Atlanta, the quarters last 10 minutes with a running clock (except for timeouts

and injuries).

“We’ve played teams from Gainesville, Fla.; Tennessee,

Augusta, Covington,” said Lions coach Curtis Harris. “We have 27 players, all

from Houston County.”

How dominant have the Middle Georgia Lions been in amassing

13 straight wins? Only four times has an opponent scored a touchdown for a

total of 20 points. That’s against 472 points scored, an average of just over

36 per game.

“We have a fast, aggressive defense,” said Harris. “We can

throw and run. We just have tremendous talent at both ends, and they all love

football. We start 11 on defense and 11 on offense. Nobody plays both ways but

a few because there is so much talent.”

The leading rusher is Cameron Williams with 640 yards on 71

carries. He also leads in touchdowns with seven. At quarterback, most of the

snaps have gone to Justin Stevens, and he has completed just under 50 percent

of his passes (14-for-29) for 436 yards, but he has six touchdowns. Top

receiving honors goes to D’Angelo Whitehead with 195 yards from six catches. He

also has 85 rushing yards and a total of six touchdowns.

Cortney Patmon has 119 rushing yards, and Zakendre Dinkins

and Kearis Jackson each have 110 yards on the ground. Jackson has the most

receptions with seven for 121 yards.

Dinkins is the team’s top tackler with 58, 10 for a loss.

Jalen Andrews has 40 tackles, eight for a loss. Braxton Golden has 18 tackles

for a loss and Jaylin Napier 13.

Patrick Jones and Williams each recorded five quarterback

sacks. Robert Johnson leads the team in interceptions with four. The other

three belong to Jackson.

Other team members are Curtis Harris, Jaron Zanders, Robert

Coleman, Hoy Thurman, Jabari Miller, Keyshawn Cobb, Jaquez Jackson, Chandler

Williams, Dane Fryer, Jakob Roberts, Chandler Ring, Jalan Ross, Briceon Cox,

Jacob Mosley, Mark Yancey and Kayden Layne.

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