Madison County Red Raiders

Chamblee @ MCHS, August 24, 7:30 pm, Danielsville

Atlanta-area Chamblee High School has been on Madison County’s preseason schedule for two years in a row for a good reason.

While the Bulldogs reside in a separate classification and a different part of the state, Madison County will see its share of Chamblee clones on the schedule this fall in region wars.

“I think they compare real well with Clarke Central and Cedar and those kinds of folks that we run into,” Raider head coach Randell Owens said.  “It gives us a good test.”

That was certainly the case last year.

Chamblee, a magnet school in Region 5-AAA, whipped Madison County 41-16 during the preseason last August en route to going 8-2 in Class AAA.  Bulldog tailback Roddy Jones motored for four touchdowns and moved onto collegiate football at Georgia Tech. 

“Anybody who saw the scrimmage last year saw that that was the best running back we saw all year,” Owens said.

Owens expects to see a similar-type Bulldog team this year.

Chamblee boasts three Division I prospects on its team this year, according to the Georgia High School Football Magazine, and possesses plenty of speed.

“I think they compare real well with, not to last year’s, but to the traditional Elbert County teams, the Cedar Shoals-type teams, Salem, Clarke-Central,” Owens said.  “I think they give us a pretty good look of a strong athletic team.”

Owens’ scrimmage philosophy has remained consistent in his various coaching stops:  He likes to schedule as tough as possible.

In fact, Owens wanted to arrange a scrimmage with either Parkview or Brookwood, both Class AAAAA powers.

“Ideally, if I could, I would play the Class AAAAA state champions,” Owens said.

Owens actually did that once in the preseason while at Heritage, scrimmaging Parkview earlier this decade.  His Heritage team also scrimmaged South Gwinnett that same preseason.

Owens said some schools prefer easier scrimmages, “like a momma cat giving a mouse to her kitten to toy (with) and teach it how to hunt.”  But the Raider coach prefers to test his team early.

“There’s nothing wrong with, like last year, trying to find folks that you think are going to test you,” Owens said.

With Chamblee, Madison County gets its final warm-up against a program that’s gone 17-5 the last two years.  However, the Bulldogs have a new coach, Jim Showfety, who arrives at Chamblee via Marist.

Madison County coaches are at a tactical disadvantage in that there’s no certainty as to what schemes Showfety will employ.  While Marist runs a wish-bone offense, there’s no guarantee that6 Showfety will carry that over to Chamblee.  Owens said this is definitely a challenge for the Raider staff.

“I can’t wait to find out myself what he’s going to do,” Owens said.  “It may be the end of the first quarter before we have a handle on scheme adjustment.”