Stone Mountain wins, Druid Hills falls in season openers

The Stone Mountain High School Pirates opened up the 2011 high school football season with a 28-6 victory over Maynard Jackson of Atlanta at Grady Stadium on Friday night.

Quarterback Cordero Cook directed a Pirate offense that ran up 416 yards of total offense as he passed for 142 yards on 11 of 12 attempts and a touchdown to Armageddon Draughn. He also rushed for a pair of scores as the Pirates jumped to a 14-0 halftime lead.

The running back tandem of Fredarius Scott and Willie Parker rushed for over 140 yards each to lead the Pirate rushing attack. Scott collected 144 yards while Parker went for 141 yards and a touchdown.

The 1-0 Pirates will host Westside-Macon next Friday night in an 8 p.m. game set for Adams Stadium. It will be Westside’s season opener.

South Atlanta 14, Druid Hills 8

The South Atlanta Hornets jumped out 14-0 just before halftime and held off a furious Druid Hills second half push to win the season opener 14-8 at Adams Stadium on Friday night.

The Hornets scored on their second possession of the game capping a
37-yard drive as Jemario Washington connected with Jessie Taylor on a 22-yard scoring pass with 4:37 left in the first quarter. A try for two
points was stopped by the Druid Hills defense.

The score remained 6-0 until late in the first half when the Red Devils
looked to have a stop as linebacker Deandre Byrd stripped the ball from Hornet quarterback Ferris Baughns at the line scrimmage only to have the Hornets Taylor scoop up the ball and weave his way to the end zone for the touchdown with 2:06 remaining in the half. Baughns added the two-point conversion run for the 14-0 halftime lead.

Druid Hills took just four plays to go 65 yards as quarterback Noah Thomas hit receiver Damien Whitaker on a quick pass inside the Hornet cornerback and Whitaker outraced the defender 55 yards to the end zone. Thomas added the two-point conversion to trim the lead to 14-8 with 9:44 to play in the third quarter.

The Red Devil defense held the Hornets to just 15 yards of offense in the third quarter as Whitaker recovered a fumble and teammate Kyle Simmons collected two interceptions in the third quarter. The offense was not as fortunate despite starting a pair of drives inside the Hornet 45 as several big penalties got their drives off to bad starts along with two sacks and fumble.

The Red Devils got one last shot with 2:28 to play as the Hornets fumbled as the Druid Hills 23. The Hornets’ Washington closed out the game with an interception with 45 seconds to play to seal the win.

Druid Hills (0-1) takes next week off before hosting Greater Atlanta
Christian on September 2 at Avondale Stadium.

Week 1 Results
Friday, Aug. 19
Stone Mountain 28, Jackson (Atl.) 6
South Atlanta 14, Druid Hills 8