By MICHAEL BOYLAN
Sports Editor

Practice for football officially could have begun Monday, but it didn't. Not around here anyway.

Some of the local high school teams, like Fayette County and Starr's Mill, will head out of town to camp next week. As for McIntosh and Sandy Creek, they will have their practices next week in the afternoon. All of the teams are eager to prove their mettle, though. They all want to fare better than last year.

The Fayette County Tigers had a lift-a-thon Monday night and strength and conditioning certainly couldn't hurt. Last year, a most unfortunate injury happened at the most inopportune time. Wes Clark, their main running back, was injured before Fayette faced their main opponents.

The Tigers have lost a number of starters to graduation, but they should be deep enough to win another county championship. In fact, they will have 19 seniors on the team this year, compared to last year's 11. The problem is that quarterback Gerald Johnson, his main target Brandon Croft and big guys Josh Sauls and Aaron Lusk are gone. The Tigers are in 4-AAAA and some of their opponents are entirely too strong. Fayette County should open with a win though when they host Paulding County Sept. 3.

McIntosh doesn't have to worry about it too much longer. After this season, they will be playing in AAA and the slate will be symbolically clean at the beginning of a new century. The Chiefs have had talented players in the past, but they have failed to gel enough as a team to squeak out any extraordinary wins. Their defense was decent last year, but the offense sputtered from time to time. Dion Stokes and Kelechukwu Oparah have both graduated and the Chiefs' schedule doesn't make their season any easier.

The Chiefs open at Pebblebrook Sept. 3.

As for our AAA teams, the one to watch will be Starr's Mill. Not only do the Panthers return the whole team, but the team progressed solidly game to game and shocked Forest Park in the final game of last season. Brad McClaren should be an even stronger quarterback this season while Reuben Houston won a state championship in track in the spring and may want to prove that speed is there on the gridiron as well. Starr's Mill opens the season by hosting Riverdale Sept. 3. Look for them to make a statement.

Sandy Creek did not have a great year last year. There were injuries to key players and there were heartbreaking last-minute losses. The Patriots hope that this year will be entirely different and so far, they are off to a good start. They have a new coach in Rodney Walker, Eric Frazier is back from his leg injury, and the team is ready to erase the painful memories of last year. Sandy Creek opens the season by hosting Morrow.

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