Youth Sports
holds fall season opening ceremony

by Reginald Rogers
Paraglide

	photo by Dawn Elizabeth Pandoliano/Paraglide The Albritton Junior High School defensive line prepares to defend against the Anne Chesnutt Hornets offensive unit during a game Sept. 24 at Albritton Junior High School. Anne Chesnutt scored 21 consecutive points for a come-from-behind victory to drop the Bulldogs to 0-2.

The Albritton Bulldogs found themselves knee deep in a hornet’s nest Thursday afternoon here as the Anne Chesnutt Hornets edged the football team of Fort Bragg’s only junior high school 21-6.

The game started on a high note for Albritton, as running back Coshawn Egan rushed for a touchdown to start the affair. Egan provided most of the teams offense, breaking several plays for medium gains.
The Bulldogs had a productive first half, but found themselves playing catch-up after the Hornets running game found its place and the defense stiffened. The Hornets scored 21 consecutive points to take the lead.

“We kind of let is slip away, we had it at the beginning,” said Albritton head coach Don Gardner, following the game. “We just kind of bowed down to them in the second half. Looks like we got tired and our minds went out the window.”

Gardner said the team’s second half performance is something he plans to work on during the upcoming week’s practice.

“It’s something we have to improve on, we’ve got to get better from week to week,” he said.
Gardner said he was also pleased with Egan’s performance in what was his first game with the team.

“He’s a very good runner,” Gardner said. “He actually just got his legal amount of practices in last week, that’s why he wasn’t able to play last week. This is his first game.

“We’ve got to learn how to finish the game strong, that’s what we practice for,” he said about his young team, many of whom will attend E.E. Smith and Westover High Schools in Fayetteville.
Egan, 14, said he looks forward to contributing more to the team.

“I think if we were to get some speed to get to the blocks on the outside and get one or two more people to block, I’d have a little bit more space and I could make some more plays,” said Egan, who has been playing football since age nine.

“Also, if we could just work on some more routes so that the receiver or I can get some more pass plays,” he added.

The Bulldogs were handed their first loss at the hands of Nick Jeralds Middle School, during their season-opener, which took place Sept. 17.

The Bulldogs travel to Hope Mills to face Hope Mills Middle School this week, but will return home Oct. 8 to face their off-post rivals from Spring Lake Middle School. Kickoff for that game is set for 4 p.m at Albritton Junior High School on Normandy Drive. In addition to Spring Lake, the
Bulldogs are set to face South View on Oct. 15 and will visit the Westover Wolverines Oct. 29.
On Nov. 5, the top two teams in divisions I and II will square-off for the conference championship at Reid Ross Classical High School. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.