Charger Football

New Fall Sports Program Arrives Friday- reserve your copy at a special price of $10.00 by emailing jason.carrera@eagleslanding.org

ELCA vs. Henry County

Georgia High School Football Daily

Last week ELCA beat Henry County 13-6. ELCA survived four turnovers and got a late 6-yard TD run from John Tatum for the final margin. Avery Walls had a 15-yard TD run. LB Cody Rush had 13 tackles, and ELCA held Henry County to 94 yards of total offense. RB Keyante Green sat out with an injured shoulder and ankle and is questionable for another week. It was ELCA's first victory over Henry County, a county rival. Next: Friday vs. Manchester (1-0)

AJC Class A Football Rankings- 8/29/10

1. Charlton County (1-0)
2. Wilcox County (1-0)
3. Wesleyan (1-0)
4. Clinch County (1-0)
5. Savannah Christian (1-0)
6. Lincoln County (0-1)
7. Eagle’s Landing Christian (1-0)
8. Emanuel County Institute (0-1)
9. Darlington (1-0)
10. Holy Innocents’ (1-0)

ELCA vs. North Florida Christian

Score one for the Georgia boys.

Most of the big names delivered as expected, but the emergence of new standouts also helped propel Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy to a 27-0 victory over perennial Florida Class A powerhouse North Florida Christian on Friday. The Chargers traveled to Tallahassee to register one of their biggest wins ever against a program that has won six state championships in 15 years and entered the season ranked No. 4 in Florida’s Class A poll.

The physical slugfest featured a postseason atmosphere as the cross-state foes met for the first time.

“I’m so proud of our guys. They showed character and heart and took two huge blows early but got back up and kept fighting and never stopped fighting,” said ELCA head coach Jonathan Gess. “That’s one of the best teams we’ve ever faced. When we scheduled this game back in January, people asked me, ‘Why do you want to go all the way down there to get your tail kicked?’ Well, the reason I scheduled it is because I knew that this was going to happen. I knew what these guys were going to do.”

Gess personally revamped the Charger defense along with new defensive coordinator Dan Curl this preseason. It turned out their biggest challenges came in the first quarter. The ELCA defense denied North Florida any points even though the Eagles took over deep in ELCA territory twice after turnovers in the first quarter. The closest North Florida came to scoring was when it missed a 35-yard field goal attempt.

That’s when ELCA’s big names starting showing up.

Virginia Tech commitment Christian Reeves scored on receptions of 30 and 35 yards from junior quarterback Aaron Spratlin to give ELCA a 14-0 lead at halftime, and Division I recruit Avery Walls all but sealed the victory with a vicious hit to open the second half.

Walls’ crushing blow on North Florida’s Josh Adkins on a short pass in the left flat knocked the ball about 15 feet in the air. D.J. Curl caught the ball in midair at the 20-yard line and returned it to North Florida’s four-yard line. On the next play, running back John Tatum scored untouched over the right side for a 21-0 lead.

Tatum scored again from the 30-yard line early in the fourth quarter, capping a night in which he led all ELCA rushers with 104 yards on 19 carries. Senior Alex Williams replaced graduated star Darrien Hudson at the slot position and immediately made an impact with eight carries for 52 yards, many of them coming after contact.

The Chargers needed the powerful inside-outside combination of Tatum and Williams after star sophomore running back Keyante Green left the game with an injury early in the first quarter. Green returned to play linebacker in the second half.

Reeves had three catches for 65 yards, while Spratlin completed six of 12 passes for 71 yards and the two touchdowns to Reeves.

North Florida Christian is known for producing talents such as former Florida State quarterback Casey Weldon and Georgia tailback Tony Milton.

The Chargers are on the road again next week, but this time they’re only going across town. They travel to Henry County (0-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Christian Reeves Accepts invite to NUC All World Gridiron Classic

Aaron Spratlin Invited to NUC All World Combine and 7on7 Tournament

Pre-Season Top 10 Rankings

The Atlanta Journal Constitution released their pre-season rankings over the weekend. The ELCA Chargers were listed as number nine in the state. ELCA was one of two teams in the top ten representing their region.

AJC Class A Pre-season Top 10

1. Charlton County

2. Wilcox County

3. Wesleyan

4. Clinch County

5. Lincoln County

6. Emanuel County Institute

7. Savannah Christian

8. Bowdon

9. Eagle’s Landing Christian

10. Greenville

Varsity Scrimmage vs. ELHS

On Thursday, August 12, the Chargers played Eagle's Landing High School at ELCA in a pre-season scrimmage. The varsity played two and a half quarters, and the JV squad played the second half of the third plus the fourth. The fourth quarter was cut short however by lightning. The Chargers were the first on the board, as Keyante Green ran the ball in for the touchdown. Later in the first quarter Green ran in another touchdown to go up 14-0. Shortly after, linebacker Cole Carrera made an interception and ran it back for a touchdown. Green scored once more in the second quarter to put the Chargers up 28-0. In the second half, the Chargers came out looking to attack through the air. Aaron Spratlin completed several passes to Alex Williams, and Travis Mamon, while throwing two touchdown passes to Christian Reeves. The Charger's no huddle offense kept a fast tempo and was firing on all cylinders. The defense looked great as well, only allowing one redzone appearance by the Eagles and pitching a shutout. The Chargers appreciated the fans that came out, and are looking forward to their game at North Florida Christian.

Season Outlook

The Chargers are very excited about the 2010 football season. Last year the Charger offense was the top-ranked offense in the state, and with eight returning starters on that side of the ball, the offense is looking forward to scoring a lot of points. The offense has switched to a no huddle system so that they can have more opportunities to score. The offensive coordinator Coach Carrera has a number of weapons at his disposal. With so many big play makers, the Charger offense is going to be exciting to watch, and will try to defend their scoring title. The Charger defense has changed schemes also this year. The defensive co-coordinators Jonathan Gess and Dan Curl are trying to make the defense as simple as possible to help the players succeed. They preach discipline, aggression, and physical play. Combine that with the great senior leadership on that side of the ball, the Charger defense is going to be hard to score on.

After a successful 9-3 campaign last year, the Chargers have gotten even better. The Chargers are taking the season game by game, but they have many long term goals for the season. They start their schedule off with a few non-region games such as North Florida Christian, Henry County, and Manchester. Their goal after that is to win all their region games and win their sub-region. If they achieve that goal, then they will play the winner of the North side of their region in the region championship. Another goal of the Chargers is to make the playoffs, and from there they want to achieve their ultimate goal, to win the state championship. The Chargers feel that they have the potential to reach that final goal. Most importantly, while doing all this, the Chargers do want to display Christ to the other teams that they play throughout the season.

The 2010 Chargers are looking forward to a great season, and would love to see a lot of fans come out and be excited about the team. So go support your Chargers and be a witness to the 2010 football season!

LIFT-A-THON 2010

It was a great night for Charger Football May 17th, 2010 as they hosted this years Charger Football Lift-a-thon. The event was started three years ago and has only gotten bigger over the years and last night was incredible. The night saw 26 ELCA Football players from rising 9th graders to 12th graders power clean over 225 lbs. with Freshman Josh Shockley cleaning 275, Sophmore Keyante Green and Issac Rochelle 275, Junior Gus Shockley 265, Seniors Justin Tomlinson 275 and Senior Christian Reeves 300. Senior Tanner Rogers Power Cleaned a new ELCA Football recored cleaning 315 pounds. Click below to see the video. It was a great night for the coaches, parents and players and a special night for Coach Gess as we clebrated his birthday. Charger Football is alive and real and stronger than ever. Look out in 2010.

A note from Coach Gess on the night:

CHARGER NATION,

I want to thank everyone for coming out to the lift-a-thon and the meeting we had Monday night. Your sons work extremely hard year round to reach their goals and it was awesome to have everyone come out and support them! That is exactly how we keep this program moving in the right direction. I am working on getting a video done on youtube but that will take me over the weekend. However, I did get one of Tanner done because I believe it summed up the whole night. One thing I want the parents of the younger kids to understand is that Tanner and Christian couldn’t always power clean over 300 pounds. I was looking up the old numbers yesterday and this time 2 years ago Tanner Rogers was power cleaning 215 and Christian Reeves was power cleaning 185. I am working on a chart to send out to show this 2 year progression for all athletes. On average, maxes have gone up 50 lbs per year for most kids which is insane. All I know is this—hard work and sacrifice pay off. You don’t see great results over the course of weeks but you can really see the difference over months and years. STAY COMMITTED!!!! As long as the Lord continues to show us favor, we will be the strongest team in the state—And I truly don’t think anyone can find another single A school that is near as strong as we are top to bottom and I’m talking about the entire country.

Here is a quick look at some of the Rising Seniors who have been in the system for 3 years 2 year progression:

Conner Wetherington Power Clean 2 years ago: 135 Now: 250 (increase of 115)

Cody Rush Power Clean 2 years ago: 155 NOW: 255 (increase of 100)

Tanner Rogers Power Clean 2 years ago: 215 NOW: 315 (increase of 100)

Christian Reeves Power Clean 2 years ago: 185 NOW: 300 (increase of 115)

Will Dellinger Power Clean 2 years ago: 115 NOW: 225 (increase of 100)

Cole Carrera Power Clean 2 years ago: 135 NOW: 225 (increase of 90)

Frederick Odom Power Clean 2 years ago: 145 NOW: 290 (increase of 145)

Matt Rochell Power Clean 2 years ago: 180 NOW: 285 (increase of 105)

Here is a crazy one---Josh Shockley power clean 2 years ago in the spring of 2008: 105 NOW: 275

**Now maybe you guys can understand why I am crazy about the weight room and I talk about it all the time. It is the THE difference maker! But it takes consistent work!

**I’ll have more of these soon.

LET’S CONTINUE TO BUILD SOMETHING GREAT!!!!!

Wholly for Christ,

Coach Gess