REGION 7AAAAAA
Lassiter, Pope, Sprayberry facing new challenges
By Adam Carrington
MDJ Sports Correspondent
With each school being less than four miles
from the other, Lassiter, Pope and Sprayberry
are continuing their Region 6 AAAAAA rivalry
for at least two years.
O nly this time they will be making new friends
while getting re-acquainted with some old ones.
No longer in the comfort zone of being in
an all Cobb County region, a few north Fulton
County teams have come to play. That includes
Roswell, which has moved down from Class
AAAAAA after making a deep run to the state
quarterfinals last season.
The last time the three east Cobb schools were
in the region with Roswell was in 2006 -2008
when Roswell shared a state championship with
Peachtree Ridge in 2006 . Sixteen years later,
the Hornets are coming in as the favorites with
most of last year’s team returning.
Blessed Trinity, located a block away from
Roswell, is moving up a classification. Like Roswell,
KICKOFF ‘22 123
the Titans have had plenty of postseason
experience over the last few years, which includes
three consecutive state championships
from 2017-2019 .
Johns Creek and Alpharetta round out the
region. While Johns Creek is coming off a playoff
season a year ago in AAAAAA, Alpharetta
may still be in transition after winning j ust one
game last year in Class AAAAAAA.
“The (G eorgia High School Association)
didn’t do us any favors at all by throwing us in
this region, but we can’t control that,” Sprayberry
coach Brett V avra said. “All we can do is
control what we can control. It’s going to be a
tough region, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Based on postseason experience in recent
years, Roswell and Blessed Trinity are predicted
to grab the top two playoff spots, but the final
two appear wide open. V avra said that Blessed
Trinity runs a similar triple-option offense to
that of old region rival Allatoona.
Pope is coming off a playoff season last a year
ago but took a heavy hit to graduation and is
beginning the season with only four returning
starters. The season will hinge on how well
returning quarterback Patrick Lowe can mesh
with newer faces around him.
“It’s going to be a battle every single week,”
Pope coach Tab G riffin said. “There’s not a
game that we can circle and think ‘We feel really
good about this one.’ We will have to grow
up real fast before region play to give ourselves
a chance.”
Lassiter came close to its first playoff appearance
since 2016 and is capable of turning
the corner this season. Having eight returning
starters on offense should help.
Sprayberry missed the playoffs but is confident
it can return with a more experienced
team, even with the majority of its roster being
underclassmen. The Yellow Jackets have
questions at running back, but it is expected
to be experienced on the defensive side
of the ball.
PREDICTION
1. Roswell
2. Blessed Trinity
3. Johns Creek
4. Lassiter
5. Sprayberry
6. Pope
7. Alpharetta
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Lassiter and Pope join Sprayberry in facing off with some of Fulton County’s best for the next two seasons.