>>> GREENE COUNTY
The Lake Oconee Academy football team traveled to Duluth to take on the Notre Dame Academy Irish Wolfhounds last Friday night.
The Titans’ defense came out firing on all cylinders and continued to do so the entire contest on the way to a 31-0 shutout victory. The win marked the team’s first shutout and road win of the 2022 season.
Head coach Patrick Stewart was proud of the way his players prepared for the game and conducted themselves away from home.
“Going into this game, the guys watched film on them and knew they were a beatable team, so preparation-wise, we tried to not go into it with too much pride,” Stewart said. “We stayed humble, and our goal was to shut them out, which we did, and that was a big high point for us.”
This year’s matchup looked a lot different than last season’s 29-28 nail-biter, and it was mostly because of the Titans’ defense.
They came out aggressive and immediately flexed their muscles by getting into the Notre Dame backfield multiple times. It was a group effort as well, and Stewart was excited to see everyone make plays on the field.
“When everybody gets to play, that’s always a good feeling,” Stewart said. “From our scout team guys to our seniors, everybody got to get out on the field and get some reps, which was another high point of our night.”
Aside from the defense, the Titans’ offense came out ready at the start of the first quarter and didn’t let up for most of the game.
Lake Oconee Academy scored 17 points in the first half and added another two touchdowns in the third quarter to open the game up.
Sophomore Cameron Kelley led the Titans in scoring with two rushing touchdowns, and other guys like Sumner Coleman and Garrett Payne also found the end zone for six once on the ground as well.
The special teams units also played well with the most notable accomplishment coming in the second quarter when kicker Knox van Mol made a field goal with ease to add three more points to the Titans’ total.
Coming into the game, Stewart wanted to balance the offense out, and he feels like the team did a good job of that throughout the contest.
“We went into the game offensively wanting to keep the play calls 50/50 [between run and pass], and I think it ended up being about 60/40 runs,” Stewart said. “Garrett was able to get some confidence back there, and we were able to get more guys involved like Trace Wood, Reid Davis and Mason Salemi by passing it.”
The victory marked the Titans’ third win of the season and surpassed the most wins in program history during a single season, which was originally two.
Next, Lake Oconee Academy has a bye week in preparation to host the Georgia School for Innovation and Classics (GSIC) on October 21.
This will be the first time the two schools have played each other, and the Titans will hope to pick up another win at home against an 0-7 Patriots squad that has struggled all season.