Once again, Atlanta Public Schools set the tone for the Georgia High School football season, earning the first win of the season at the 2024 Corky Kell Dave Hunter Classic.
The Frederick Douglass High School Astros left a statement in their first appearance at the classic with an 18-3 victory over LaGrange at Kell High School on Wednesday afternoon.
“It was a team effort,” Douglass High School head football coach Stanley Pritchett said. “We worked hard all offseason to get to this moment. We knew we were going to be in the Corky Kell Classic, and we were excited about the opportunity to represent APS.”
An early field goal was the only score the Astros’ defense allowed in the season opener. Douglass defensive back Elijah Hunter Jr.’s two interceptions in the first half kept the momentum in the Astros’ favor and made him the easy pick for the game’s MVP award.
“The first pick was just something nice, but the second pick really brought a whole bunch of energy to the team,” Hunter said. “After that, we was unstoppable. They couldn’t get nothing else.”
The first touchdown of the year was scored by Douglass freshman Casey Barner, and recent University of Georgia commit Jontae Gilbert also caught a touchdown pass in the game for the Astros.
After the Douglass game, North Atlanta took on the host school, Kell High School, for the second game of the classic. After a hard-fought game, North Atlanta lost 29-15. North Atlanta is coming off a school-best 9-2 season, and it expects to continue building on the program’s recent success and representing APS against some of the best football programs in the state.
“Every year is a new year. Nobody on our schedule this year is going to care about what we did last year, but we’ve got some talented pieces coming back from last year’s team and have been working pretty hard,” North Atlanta head football coach Jamie Aull said. “People sometimes underestimate the level of football we play in the city of Atlanta, and it’s awesome to see our APS comrades come out and compete against good football teams from around the state and show themselves well.”
The Corky Kell Dave Hunter Classic will continue through Saturday, August 17, and APS has one more team left to play. Therrell High School will face Hebron Christian High School at their stadium on Friday, August 16, at 4:30 p.m.
APS is off to a strong start to the football season and we’re looking forward to rooting for all of our student-athletes this season.