Lake Oconee Academy prepares to host Towns County at Titan Stadium later at 7:30 p.m. this Friday for the team’s second game of the season.
Series History: Towns County leads the all-time series 1-0.
Last Meeting: Towns County defeated Lake Oconee Academy 23-0 in 2022.
The Titans’ football team played a competitive game against George Walton Academy last Friday – only allowing two touchdowns to the team who had previously scored six the year before.
Second-year head coach Patrick Stewart acknowledged that the offense will have to pick up the defense this week, but overall, his guys have some confidence coming into the contest against the Indians.
“If we play like we did last Friday night and fix some of the little things, we will be in a really good position to win the game this upcoming Friday,” Stewart said. “Towns County has returned a lot of guys, and I think most of them played against us last year. They have the same coaching staff as well, so our kids are ready and know what to expect, and now they have some confidence after their performance against George Walton last week.”
Last season, the Titans were shut out on the road in Hiawassee, Ga, allowing 16 first-half points before giving up another seven in the second half.
Lake Oconee Academy’s offense also failed to give its defense time to recover. Most of the Titans’ drives resulted in three-and-outs in last season’s contest, and the core of skill players were made up of mostly underclassmen.
Now, Lake Oconee Academy has a more experienced group in the backfield led by quarterback Ike O’Neal and a veteran offensive front.
Contrary to their previous game, the Titans will look for more success on the ground to open up the passing attack against an Indians’ defense that gave up 35 points to Hayesville High School last week.
With its strong defensive performance against the Bulldogs, the Titans’ front seven will also be excited to hit the field as well. Towns County’s only points from last week’s contest came from a safety, so both programs will be looking for their first touchdown of the season.
Stewart also emphasized that with the weather being even warmer than last week, half of the team’s practices will be held in the morning this week.
“Our last week of practice was great. This week, everyone will be battling the heat, because I think it’s even hotter now than it was last week,” Stewart said. “We’re going to practice and go over some things in the morning on Tuesday and Wednesday this week to avoid that just because those are our padded days. We’re making sure we’re watching a lot of film and fixing some of the mistakes we made last week, so we can start preparing the kids for our game plan this week.”
Lake Oconee Academy will hope for a competitive game this Friday before preparing to travel to Griffin to play Skipstone Academy – a program they have yet to encounter in the three years they’ve been a program.