VALDOSTA —
The Valdosta Wildcats are hard at work, trying to get ready for their season opener.
The Wildcats open their season on Saturday against North Augusta (S.C.) in Suwanee, a city in northeast metro Atlanta. The game starts at noon.
The Valdosta-North Augusta game is the first of three games being played in the National High School Gridiron Challenge at North Gwinnett High School on Saturday. Stephenson will be playing Pine Forest from Pensacola, Fla. at 3 p.m. and North Gwinnett will face A.C. Flora (a team from the Columbia, S.C. area) at 6 p.m.
Tickets for the Gridiron Challenge are $10 each, and are good for all three games. Valdosta fans who are going to the game are encouraged to purchase their tickets at the Valdosta ticket office (located in the Valdosta City Schools Central Offices on Williams Street), because the VHS football program will receive some of the money from the tickets sold in Valdosta. The Wildcats will not receive any money from tickets sold at the gate on game day.
Playing on Saturday will give Valdosta more time to get ready for North Augusta. On Friday, the Wildcats will practice after school, then will get on a bus and head north to Suwanee, where they will spend the night. Then they will wake up on Saturday morning and head to North Gwinnett to start preparing for the noon game.
Valdosta was off last Friday, after beating Ware County 35-10 in its preseason scrimmage on Aug. 17 in Waycross. The Valdosta coaching staff used the week to work on improving the team in different areas, and to get the Wildcats ready to play their first regular season game. Head coach Rance Gillespie was pleased with how well the team practiced during the week.
“I thought we had a really good week last week,” Gillespie said. “I was really proud of the way our kids approached that week. (They were) coming off the scrimmage and (it was) almost like an open week. Those can be tough weeks to motivate a group of kids, but I thought our kids were very mature. We came out, we had some really good practices — some of the best practices we’ve had all summer — and I was really pleased with that.”
The Wildcat coaches did not make any major changes during the week, personnel-wise or scheme-wise.
Gillespie said the Wildcats have no major injuries, and all of the players should be ready to play on Saturday.
“We’ve got some normal bumps and bruises that you would expect at this time of year, but nothing at this point that we think is going to limit anybody to the point where they cannot play,” Gillespie said.
Directions to North Gwinnett High School: Take Interstate 75 north to metro Atlanta. Take exit 227 and get on Interstate 675 north. When I-675 ends, merge onto Interstate 285 heading east. Take I-285 to Exit 33, then get on Interstate 85 heading north. Take I-85 to Exit 111 (Lawrenceville Suwanee Road). Turn left onto Lawrenceville Suwanee Road. Go 2.3 miles. Lawrenceville Suwanee Road will turn into Suwanee Dam Road. Continue on Suwanee Dam Road for 2.3 more miles. Turn right onto Level Creek Road. North Gwinnett High School is on the left.
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Related Photos
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Valdosta quarterback Shelby Wilkes hands off to running back Tim McClain (44) during a recent practice, as head coach Rance Gillespie looks on. Valdosta opens its season on Saturday against North Augusta (S.C.) in Suwanee. Christian Malone | The Valdosta Daily Times
Discussion
’Cats preparing for Saturday
Valdosta playing North Augusta in Gridiron Challenge
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