>> GMC PREP
The Georgia Military College Prep (GMC) football team hosted its first home game of the season last Friday and was defeated by the Academy of Classical Education (ACE).
The final score was 29-15, and it was the first time that the Gryphons were able to secure a victory over GMC Prep in school history.
Since 2018, the two teams have played each other five times, including all four years that Bulldogs’ head coach Lee Coleman has been with the program.
Last season, GMC Prep toppled the Gryphons 41-6, but was unable to find that same success during this year’s contest.
The Gryphons were led by first-year head coach Keith Hatcher, and came out ready to play; however, Coleman believed the reason they lost last Friday was the same reason they lost Week 1: turnovers.
“It was the same thing Week 1. We turned the ball over,” Coleman said. “They scored 15 points off turnovers, and when you look at last week, that’s 35 points off of five turnovers. You can’t win a football game when you’re giving the ball up that much, and the other team is scoring off of them.”
It was the situational turnovers that hurt the Bulldogs last Friday.
In the first half, the game was competitive with back-and-forth play on both sides of the ball. After the opening 12 minutes ended, the two teams were still scoreless.
GMC Prep scored the first touchdown of the game midway through the second quarter. After a Bulldogs’ interception, senior quarterback Tyler Saunders found Caleb Bush over the middle for a 70-yard score.
With less than two minutes left in the first half, ACE responded with a touchdown after an interception of its own. The Gryphons converted their two-point conversion and led the Bulldogs 8-7 at halftime.
After a hard-fought third quarter, the two teams were tied at 15-15 heading into the final period.
That’s when ACE scored two unanswered touchdowns to finish out the game, one of which came off a Bulldogs’ fumble.
Gryphons’ quarterback Kaleb Scarbary and running back Aaron Davis both broke off long runs in the fourth quarter, which led to the 29-15 final.
Two of GMC Prep’s starting linebackers, Bryce Smith and Jessie Washington, were out due to injury, and Coleman acknowledged that negatively affected the Bulldogs’ ability to stop the ball down the stretch.
“That group right now, we’re going to have to find a way to make them want to play,” Coleman said. “It was evident to see that we weren’t tackling the way we needed to be. We’re not a bad football team, it’s just that younger guys have to figure out how to make tackles.”
Heading into this week, the Bulldogs will look to avoid starting the season off 0-3 for the first time since 2009.
GMC Prep is set to host GISA’s Brentwood on Sept. 2. The War Eagles and Bulldogs haven’t faced each other since 1987. GMC is 3-1 all time against the War Eagles, and is poised to bounce back after a rough couple of weeks to start the season.