GREENE COUNTY
Lake Oconee Academy ended its spring with a scrimmage against Community Christian last week.
Despite the score not being kept, it’s safe to say the Titans came out on top as their offense scored with ease, while the defensive unit didn’t allow the Knights past midfield all night.
According to second-year head coach Patrick Stewart, spring “went well” for the young program.
“Our numbers are up and we had that eighth-grade bunch, which was really good in middle school, come up,” Stewart said. “They are going to be a good class with about 18 of them. They’re all really talented, so they will be able to contribute instantly on varsity. Also, from a learning standpoint, going into year three [as a program], it went well.”
Throughout the course of Lake Oconee Academy’s spring practice and the scrimmage against Community Christian, players such as rising juniors Cameron Kelley and Reid Davis have stepped up. The Titans have also had some underclassmen make plays as well.
In the scrimmage, both Kelley and Reid led the LOA offense as the two most experienced playmakers. However, freshmen Griffin Stanford, Cam Jeter and Kenan Parham made an impact, too.
Stanford, a 5-foot-6 and 145-pound running back, according to Max Preps, burst through a hole and scored a touchdown on a rush as he plowed through the Knights’ defense.
Lake Oconee Academy offensive coordinator Cole Bennett saw his unit shine as it put points on the board, and defensive coordinator Mark Miller saw his players not give up any.
The Titans’ offense moved the ball fluidly – both through the air and on the ground. This happened as their stout defensive unit also didn’t allow a first down against the Knights.
“Our coaching staff did a really great job of game planning,” Stewart said.” They’re then going out there to get our players to execute, which allowed us to bring home the victory.”
Recently, Lake Oconee Academy lost a big piece of its offense in quarterback Garrett Payne, who graduated last week. So, rising freshman Canon Mullen got the chance to take snaps.
Another option at quarterback is rising junior Ike O’Neal, who is a transfer from Morgan County, but he’s not yet enrolled at Lake Oconee Academy, so he did not play last Tuesday.
“Those two guys have handled things well [in spring practice]. They are both learning the system,” Stewart added. “They are each going to get lots of reps this summer and fall.”
In the scrimmage, Mullen was efficient against the Community Christian defense. He completed 10-of-14 passes for a total of 115 yards with one touchdown and zero picks.
Also, rising sophomore running back Walker Poyner had a night to remember with two rushing touchdowns. The class of 2026 prospect also piled up 65 yards on the ground, too.
During the summer as he heads into his second year, Stewart wants to challenge his players to work even harder, especially after all the success the Titans had last season.
“I want to detail the culture [this summer] more from a standpoint of commitment and discipline,” Stewart said. “With a new program, we have a lot of guys that haven’t done it before, or even since middle school. So, now we’re at the point where we’ve got the standard set, and it’s all about how we can achieve that standard of excellence again.”
Lake Oconee Academy went 4-6 overall in 2022 in its second full season, but first under Stewart. The Titans are slated to play another non-region varsity schedule this year, which means they can’t make the playoffs, but will get valuable experience as they grow.
LOA will participate in several 7-on-7 and OTA camps during the summer months. The Titans will also start fall camp and have a preseason scrimmage in late July and early August.
“Definitely, the guys met expectations, for sure,” Stewart said. “The game itself, we were able to get our ones a lot of reps and two and three as well. Everybody got in there and it got us some great film to teach off. But we executed really well on both sides of the ball. So, we had some really promising things happen for us [in our spring game].”