With the start of spring high school football practice less than a month away, all five area teams have officially set and released their spring football schedules. Griffin High will practice May 9-23 and end with its annual Green and Gold Game, while Spalding will practice May 7-18 and end with its annual Navy and Silver Game.

All three area private schools will also hit the field this spring. Griffin Christian practices April 30-May 11 and is considering having a 7-on-7 intra-squad scrimmage, while Skipstone Academy will practice May 7-11 and will bring in another team to scrimmage on the last day and Faith Christian will conduct conditioning practices from April 30-May 11 without holding a spring game.

Griffin Bears head coach Steve DeVoursney, whose team returns 11 starters on offense and eight on defense, can’t wait to get started.

“We went 9-3 and made it to the second round of state last year, so we have a lot to build on with a lot of starters coming back,” said the dean of area coaches, who is beginning his 12th season as head coach at Griffin High this spring.

While last year’s camp was heavily geared toward figuring out who could play in the freshman and sophomore classes and then teaching them, this year’s camp will be loaded with sophomores and juniors thus prompting a shift in focus to getting better and beginning to learn advance techniques.

“We’re going to try to get better at what we do,” said DeVoursney. “There will be a lot of guys competing for the jobs we have open, a lot of competition — which is always fun.”

Across town, second-year Spalding head coach Nick Davis won’t have to introduce plays en masse to his system like he had to last year in his first year at the school.

“It won’t be too much different,” Davis insisted. “It’s still working on getting better, learning the fundamentals and getting faster — still focusing on the little things, because that’s what it takes to win ball games.”

Spalding is aiming to improve on last season’s 2-8 record.

Both Spalding and Griffin will play in the same region this fall, Region 4-AAAA Div. B along with the likes of Jonesboro, Riverdale, North Clayton and Upson-Lee.

In the private school domain, the most exciting development has come at Skiptone Academy which will play in the Glory for Christ League, a private/homeschool league where they will play 11-man football. We’ve been working hard all off season and have some good people coming in to join us, said second-year Warriors head coach Dan Salvador, whose team played independent 8-man football last season.

At Griffin Christian, the Crusaders will drop down from Class AAA in the GISA to Class AA.

2012 FOOTBALL SCHEDULES

Griffin High

Preseason

Date |Opponent

8/17 |@ Newnan

Regular Season

Date |Opponent

8/31 |@ Dutchtown

9/7 |@ Northgate

9/14 |Jonesboro *

9/21 |@ Woodland

9/28 |Stockbridge

10/5 |@ Riverdale *

10/12 |OPEN

10/19 |North Clayton *

10/26 |@ Upson-Lee *

11/2 |@ Spalding *

11/9 |Region Playoff



* — Region 4-AAAA, Div. B



———



Spalding High

Preseason

Date |Opponent

8/17 |Pike Co.

Regular Season

Date |Opponent

8/31 |Lamar Co.

9/7 |Rutland

9/14 OPEN

9/21 |@ Locust Grove

9/27 |Dutchtown

10/5 |@ Upson-Lee *

10/12 |@ Riverdale *

10/19 |@ Jonesboro *

10/26 |North Clayton *

11/2 |Griffin *

11/9 |Region Playoff



* — Region 4-AAAA, Div. B