War Eagles face another major challenge

GAINESVILLE - Chestatee football coach Matt Fligg knew this would be a tough stretch for his young team. Now, he just hopes his War Eagles can come out of playing Johnson, Gainesville and North Hall back-to-back-to-back with just a little bit of confidence left.

They opened the murderer's row schedule with a 39-0 loss to Johnson last week.Chestatee (0-2, 0-2 in Region 7-AAA) plays Gainesville at Bobby Gruhn Stadium Friday night on Homecoming for the Red Elephants.

"We were disappointed in the outcome because we feel we've improved more than we showed," Fligg said. "We did some good things but we ran out of gas in the fourth quarter because our defense ended up being on the field for a long time. And, we made a lot of mistakes.

"And it doesn't get any easier, that's for sure. But, anything is possible in high school football. We get a few breaks, make some plays, we could pull off the upset, no doubt."

White County and East Hall both thought the same thing in successive games against Gainesville (2-0, 2-0). The end results, however, were two lopsided blowouts by the Red Elephants, who scored 56 points in both games.

"Their athletes are by far better than anyone elses and it's the coaches job to find a way for us to be successful against a team with better athletes," Fligg said. "They are explosive so we have to find a way to keep them contained. If we don't, it could be a tough night for our defense."

Gainesville is led by quarterback Don Whitley and running backs John Castleberry, Joseph Maheffey and Cedric Langston.

"Those guys have been playing very well so far," Gainesville coach Bruce Miller said. "We'll need to play just as well against Chestatee as we have the others."

Miller said he feels the War Eagles are one of the most improved teams around.

"They are. They have a good quarterback, some good receivers and their defense has really played pretty well," Miller said. "Last week, their offense struggled against Johnson, but everybody has struggled against Johnson this year. They were in that game until midway through the fourth quarter."

The War Eagles are led by quarterback Chad sage, who is filling in for the injured Tyler Stover, last year's passing leader in Hall County.

"If they had Stover in there, I think you would see a little different results, but Sage has done a good job for them and is improving with each game," Miller said.