Clayton News Daily

By Doug Gorman

dgorman@news-daily.com

High School football season in Georgia doesn't offically start until August 29, but teams are already hard at work preparing for the 2008 season.

Starting today at Lovejoy Park, 16 teams from the area, including seven from the Southern Crescent will take part in a 7-on-7 passing competition.

Among the local teams expected to attend are Henry County, Union Grove, Forest Park, Jonesboro, Mt. Zion, Riverdale and Lovejoy.

The event gets underway today at 1 p.m. and runs for the next three days. Thursday's action is from 8-4 p.m. The final day of the competition is set for Friday, beginning at 10 a.m.

Henry County enters the 2008 season hoping to duplicate last year's 10-2 record. Quarterback Drew Little and Jamal Patterson are being recruited by Division I progams and are expected to participate this week's passing league at Lovejoy Park.

At Union Grove, Steve Collins takes over for Bill Hobbs, who stayed only one season and guided the Wolverines to a 3-7 record.

Jonesboro head coach Clint Satterfield's club has already had a busy summer. The Cardinals participated in a passing league in Flowery Branch. The Cardinals advanced to the Final Four of the competition getting knocked out by Collins Hill.

Satterfield, who returned to his high school alma mater two years ago to coach the Cardinals, will try and improve on last year's 3-7 record.

At Lovejoy, Al Hughes club enters this week's 7-on-7 passing league with high hopes for the upcoming season. A year ago, the Wildcats posted a 5-5 regular season record, but still made the playoffs, losing to Whitewater 23-21 in the first round .

Forest Park is entered in this week's passing league in preparation for the upcoming season. The Panthers have struggled the past few season, winning just three times in the last three years.

Mt. Zion head coach Jarrett Laws is back for his second season with hopes of bringing the Bulldogs back to their winning ways. Laws went away from the Winged-T offense that Bulldogs had run since the school opened in 1990 and went 3-7 last year.

Riverdale is spending the summer getting ready for the new football campaign with hopes of improving on last year's 5-5 record.