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Peachtree Ridge travels to Lanier for non-region clash

By PRHS Football, 08/26/22, 11:00AM EDT

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Source: Gwinnett Prep Sports

 

Peachtree Ridge Lions (7-AAAAAAA)

 

Coach: Matt Helmerich

 

Record: 1-0

 

Last week: Beat Seckinger 60-0

 

Lanier Longhorns (8-AAAAAA)

 

Coach: Tyler Maloof

 

Record: 0-1

 

Last week: Lost to South Forsyth 28-0

 

The Matt Helmerich era got off to a flying start last Friday with a 60-0 victory against overmatched Seckinger, a first-year program relying heavily on freshmen and sophomores. That said, the Game 1 win was encouraging for the new Peachtree Ridge head coach and his program, which is searching for its first winning season since 2016.

 

 

Special teams played a pivotal role in the blowout, particularly for Caleb Yu, who blocked one put and returned two blocked punts for touchdowns. Yu also had five tackles (two for losses) for a Lions defense that also got good games from Taysean Wilson (10 tackles), Jaden Clark (nine tackles, one for loss), Jordan Ghant (eight tackles) and Bryson Williams (five tackles, one blocked punt return for TD).

 

Peachtree Ridge’s Josh Evans (5 of 6 passing for 82 yards, two TDs), Ladavius Dye (eight rushes for 105 yards, TD) and Myles Abernathy (two catches for 38 yards, TD) had big nights offensively.

 

“It’s always good to start the season with a win,” Helmerich said after the game. “It’s like I told the team, we’re going to go home and watch the film and even in a game like this we will see a bunch of mistakes to get better from. It’s good to see the kids have some success.”

 

Lanier had a much tougher Game 1 draw in first-year head coach Tyler Maloof’s debut against more established South Forsyth, a state playoff team the past eight seasons.

 

The Longhorns had some success in the ground game behind Kaden Beard (19 rushes for 73 yards) and T.J. Peyton (nine rushes for 79 yards), and good work up front from Gibson Rietig (85 percent blocking grade), Tomas Hernandez (82 percent) and Aldes Costa (80 percent), but they couldn’t convert it into points against South Forsyth. The Lanier defense was led last week by Ryan Jean (nine tackles, one sack, three QB pressures, one caused fumble), Tayo Ashadele (nine tackles, three QB pressures), Joel Parrish (four tackles, three solos, two sacks) and Gabe Falade (six tackles, two QB hurries).

 

When: Friday, 7:30 p.m.

 

Last meeting: Lanier won 25-10 last year

 

Location: Lanier High School