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’10 LaGrange-Newnan Series History
By Scott Sickler, LaGrange Football Historian •The 83-year series history: LaGrange leads the all-time series with Newnan by a 49-30-4 record. The LaGrange-Newnan series began in 1908 but perhaps earlier (1906) but records are uncertain to verify. LaGrange is looking to end a three-game losing skid to Newnan and has not lost four in-a-row to the Cougars since dropping three straight in 1974-75-76-77. The 2004 CSS televised matchup between a pair of nationally-ranked teams in LaGrange and Newnan resulted in a 35-7 blowout win for the Grangers, the last time LG has defeated N. Newnan won in 2005 (to end LG’s 29-game, longest in the state and school-record winning streak). Newnan won 31-10 in 2008 with a terrific ball club that went 13-1 and advanced to the 5A semifinals and 26-15 in 2009 in another 13-1 state semifinal season in Mike McDonald’s first year as coach. Newnan also ended LaGrange’s 23-game winning streak in 1992 at Drake Stadium with a 19-3 win. LaGrange will have a chance in 2010 to be a streakbreaker in this series as well. The Grangers will try to end Newnan’s 28-game regular season winning streak. Clean Sweep Grangers •LaGrange was a clean sweep winner of the Georgia High School Football Daily (GHSFD) newsletter’s four awards for the decade 2000-09. 3A Player of the Year — Tray Blackmon; 3A Coach of the Decade — Steve Pardue; 3A Team of the Decade — 2004 LaGrange; and 3A Program of the Decade —LaGrange. •LaGrange has posted an all-time state playoff record of 59-27-1 and 54-25-1 since 1948 (GHSA-recognized.) •LaGrange’s regular season finale against Troup will be the school’s 1,000th all-time officially recorded game. It’s believed LG has well over 700 wins but many are missing from 1908-09 to 1920 seasons. •LaGrange Football — a championship program. LaGrange just completed the school’s most successful decade of GHSA 3A football with a sparkling 114-17 overall record from 2000-09 seasons. Peach Co. was second at 102-27 and Shaw third at 101-28. In the decade of 2000-09, LaGrange was ranked No. 1 for 53 weeks, far and away the best in 3A football. Cairo was second at 14 weeks, Hart Co. third at 12 weeks, Screven Co. fourth at 10 weeks, Carver fifth at nine weeks and Peach Co. sixth at eight weeks. WACO, Cartersville, Carrollton, Gainesville, Fitzgerald and Swainsboro rounded out the Top-12. •LaGrange coach Steve Pardue is 156-39 in 16 years overall as the Grangers coach, including three state championships (2001, 2003 and 2004). Pardue was also an assistant coach on LaGrange’s 1991 15-0 GHSA 4A and USA-Today national championship team. Pardue has amassed an impressive 26-10 state playoff record in 12 seasons of postseason play, one of the top marks and one of the highest winning percentages in all of GHSA football. •LaGrange Anniversary teams: The 2010 season is the 80th anniversary of the 1930 Grangers. In 1930, LaGrange’s nickname was the Veterans, a contest was held and chose Grangers as the official nickname, which has stayed the same for 80 years now. LaGrange defeated Newnan 33-0 in 1930 (Nov. 22) to lay a claim for the mythical state championship, it’s fifth overall at that time — along side other claims in 1921, 1924, 1925 and 1926. LG then went on to lose the Southern prep football championship to Columbia, S.C. in the Charity Bowl, by a 30-6 score. Note: all official state championships are recognized by the GHSA from 1948 forward when the state playoffs were held. LaGrange has six official state championships in the GHSA-recognized (1948 to present) era — 1955, 1958, 1991, 2001, 2003 and 2004. The 2010 season is also the 85th anniversary of the perfect season LaGrange Veterans of 1925, the school’s third claim to a state title (1921, 1924 others.) •The 2010 season is also the 55th anniversary of the LaGrange 1955 co-state championship team. LaGrange tied Rossville 13-13 on Dec. 9, 1955 in bitterly cold Rossville, Ga., on the Tennessee border. Earlier that year in the state playoffs, LaGrange defeated a Pat Dye-led Richmond Academy Musketeers team 20-13. •Offseason research has revealed that Newnan defeated LaGrange 58-0 (Nov. 20, 1908) in the first game played. In addition, both schools may have played earlier games and as many as 10-20 more games against each other from 1908-1919. Newnan, in fact, won the first eight games of the series, including six by shutouts. •LaGrange’s first win in the series didn’t come until 1919, 12-6. LG’s longest winning streak againt Newnan is 12 from 1929-41, before a tie in 1942 (13-13) ended the streak. •LG-N played most years from 1916-53, when the series ended as the two schools went to different classifictions and not resumed again until 1968. •LG-N played every year from 1968-99, including three region playoff meetings as LG went 2-1 vs. the Max Bass-led Cougars. •After playing in the GHSA’s highest classification from 1947-99, LG dropped to play schools its own size in 2000 in 3A while Newnan — double the enrollment of LG — moved to 5A competition in 2000. The moves to 3A and 5A ended the LG-N series until a two-game series in 2004-05. No. 1-ranked LaGrange (ranked No. 38 nationally in one poll in 2004 routed nationally-ranked Newnan (in two polls) and ranked No. 2 in 5A preseason poll in a 35-7 blowout win. The ‘04 Grangers would go on to record a rare wire-to-wire No. 1 ranking all season in a 15-0 3A state championship season and third state title in four seasons in compiling a 55-2 overall record. The ‘04 LG team ranked in the Top-25 of five national polls at season’s end and as high as No. 9 in one poll with one of the finest teams in school history. •LaGrange vs. Legendary Region 1 counterparts. From 1954-67 LaGrange was a combined 69-40-7 against Region 1 foes and proudly boasts and all-time record of 76-45-7 for a .621 winning percentage. •Streakbreaking Cougars: Newnan ended LG’s 29-game winning streak in the 2005 opener at Drake Stadium, 23-14. Newnan has been a streakbreaker for long LG winning streaks in the tradition-rich rivalry between the schools. In the 1991 & ‘92 seasons, LG and N met each season with both schools sporting unbeaten 8-0 marks. In ‘91, LG’s eventual 4A state and USA-Today national championship team led 17-0 and had to hold on for a hard-fought 20-14 win over Newnan. The win set up LG as the region champion and with it, the right to host a number of home playoff games, crucial to the success of the team. LG in ‘91 then tied a school-record (along with the ‘83 Grangers at 9-1, lost to Tift Co. in 4A state title game) for most home wins in a season with a perfect 9-0 mark including wins over Riverdale, Statesboro, Valdosta and McEachern and a road win over Colquitt Co. to clinch the championship in an amazing and thrilling five-game playoff sweep to the state and national championship. In 2004, LaGrange set a new school record for most home wins in a season with a perfect 10-0 mark at Callway Stadium. In 1992, an unbeaten and No. 2-ranked Newnan team (Valdosta was No. 1) ended LG’s 23-game winning streak with a decisive 19-3 win at Drake Stadium. Coach Bass’ 1992 Cougars were a super team with talent all over the field but the season came to a crushing end in the first-round of the state playoffs at home against Colquitt Co. when coach Jim Hughes’ Packers team upset then 11-0 and nationally No. 9 ranked Newnan at Drake Stadium, 26-15. Bass made the postseason at Newnan 13 times in his 29-year career and recorded an overall playoff mark of 10-13, including region playoff games. •Newnan’s largest margin of victory over LG came in 1918, a 79-0 win. LaGrange’s largest margin of victory over Newnan came in 1941 (52-0) and in the modern era — 49-0 in 1996 led by QB J.R. Revere (now quarterbacks coach for Newnan’s fierce rival East Coweta) as LaGrange routed the Cougars 49-0 at Drake Stadium, the worst home loss ever for Newnan at Drake Stadium (1966-present). •In the 1981 and 1982 seasons, LG and N met four times, twice in the regular season and twice in the region playoffs. In 1981, 8-1 LG defeated a terrific 9-0 Newnan team 25-7 to spoil the Cougars run at a 10-0 regular season. Bass’ Cougars, however, got the revenge they sought against the Grangers with a convincing 21-0 win in the region championship game at Callaway Stadium. In 1982, LG whipped N 26-0 in the regular season and LG held off N 10-7 in a terrific defensive battle in the region playoffs, one of the best-ever and most physical games played at Callaway Stadium. In 1985, LG and N once again met twice in one season. Newnan defeated an outstanding LaGrange team in a 21-3 thumping in the regular season before the Grangers exacted a measure of revenge on the Cougars with a decisive 21-7 win in the region playoffs. •Championship defense — LaGrange style...agile, mobile and extremely hostile. The cornerstone for any great LaGrange football team through the years has been superb team defense. It’s been the backbone of every state championship the Grangers have ever won. LaGrange’s defense has recorded an astounding 209 sacks in state championship-winning seasons in 1991 (a school-record 63), 2001 (50), 2003 (49) and 2004 (47). •2004 LG team in elite company: The powerhouse 2004 LaGrange 15-0 3A state championship and nationally-ranked team (five polls) is in elite company in GHSA football history. The ‘04 Grangers are one of just 11 teams since 1947 to have won every game by at least 11 points. Valdosta’s legendary 1971 team — called by many as the best in state history — is the leader in winning every game by 21 points. •Big Game Grangers: According to the AJC’s computerized-rankings game, LaGrange has played in 19 of the top 200 best-ever games ever played in the state, based on the strength of the two teams combined. LG had five of the 19 games in 1991, including the legendary 6-0 Valdosta game, which ranks No. 3 all-time in state history, just behind a pair of 1980 games played between Valdosts and Lowndes Co. By contrast, last seasons Northside-Lowndes Co. showdown ranked only 150th among the 200 games, based upon the current ratings. •LaGrange coach Steve Pardue is 6-4 overall vs. Newnan. Pardue’s powerhouse 2002 LaGrange team defeated Rayvan Teague’s Carrollton Trojans 49-7 at Callaway Stadium, the most lopsided loss in Teague’s 20-year coaching career. Newnan’s Mike McDonald is in his second season as the Newnan head coach. McDonald was a member of the 1987 GHSA 4A state championship team with the Morrow Mustangs, including then sophomore Andre Hastings. LG lost to Morrow in ‘87, 7-0. Amazingly, Morrow’s only loss in a 14-1 state championship season in 1987 came at the hands of the McIntosh Chiefs by a 7-0 score. •LG-N, Max Bass and LG/EC’s Danny Cronic: Newnan has a long and proud football history as well. The Cougars first recorded a 10-win season in 1949 in a 10-2 season in losing to LG in the opener (32-0) and falling in the state title game to Cook Co., 19-7. LG legend Oliver Hunnicutt was 3-1 overall vs. Newnan legend Max Bass in their only four meetings (‘68, ‘69, ‘70 & ‘71). Former LaGrange (1980-83) and now Heritage Christian School coach Danny Cronic had tremendous success vs. Newnan and Max Bass. While at LG, Cronic was 5-1 vs. Bass-coached Newnan teams from ‘80-’83 and after losing to Newnan in 1992 in the first-ever EC-N game, Cronic reeled off an incredible domination of the Cougars. Cronic won 10 straight times as EC coach over rival Newnan before the streak ended. Combined at LG and EC, Cronic was 15-7 vs. Newnan and 7-2 vs. Max Bass. In another interesting twist, a Cronic-led EC team blasted LG 67-41 in 1998 at Shoemake Stadium in the highest scoring game in LaGrange history. In 2005, Robert Herring’s Newnan team routed Cronic’s EC team 66-35 at Newnan, one of the Cougars all-time highest point totals. Cronic did an amazing job of turning EC from an average small school program into one of the premiere big school programs in the state almost overnight. After losing to LG, Newnan and Troup in ‘92 in his first season at EC, Cronic defeated all three — LG, Newnan and Troup in 1993 in an amazing turnaround of success for the EC Indians. •Newnan is 0-3 all-time in state championship games (1949 lost to Cook Co., 19-7), lost in 1951 to Valdosta (14-9) and in 1981 lost to eventual national champion Warner Robins at Drake Stadium, 31-7. •LaGrange has won or laid a claim to 11 state championships. LG is also 10-4-1 in title-deciding games. •Bass coached at Newnan from 1966-94, won 203 games and had 27 winning seasons in 29 years at NHS, region championships in 1966, 1977, 1981 and 1992 but never won a state title. Bass made the postseason at Newnan 13 times in his 29-year career and recorded an overall playoff mark of 10-13, including region playoff games. Bass had some terrific talent at Newnan through the years with Warren Newsome and Jerome Walton (both future MLB stars) on the Cougars ‘81 region championship team. •Robert Herring retired in 2008 as Newnan’s coach after 10 seasons with NHS and 45 years overall in the coaching profession. Herring was 71-44 overall and was the first Newnan coach in 100 years to ever win three straight region championships in 2006, 2007 and a truly great team in 2008 with a 13-1 record. Newnan fell short in the 2008 5A semifinals at home nemesis Camden Co., 27-7, Newnan’s third playoff loss to the Wildcats since the 2003 season (20-10 in the semifinals at the Dome in ‘03 and 50-0 loss in Kingsland in 2006.) •LG is 10-9 all-time vs. Newnan at Drake Stadium (‘66-present) and Newnan is 10-10 vs. LG at Callaway Stadium (‘59-present). LaGrange leads the series with Newnan (1966 to present) by a 20-19 margin entering the 2010 season. •Max Bass & Newnan football: When he arrived at Newnan (then known as the Tigers prior to intergration) in 1966, Max Bass turned around the Newnan football program immediately and his legend grew. In 1965, Newnan was just 2-8, in ‘66 — Bass’ first season — he went 9-1-1 and won the region championship, Newnan’s first region title since 1951. In ‘67, Bass led Newnan to another 9-1 record and was 18-2-1 in his first two seasons. Bass and Drake Stadium came in the same season in 1966. From 1962-65, Newnan was just 9-29-2 overall. Bass won other region titles for Newnan in ‘77, ‘81 & ‘92 in addition to ‘66. Through the 1994 season when he retired, Bass owned 14 of Newnan’s all-time 29 wins against LG and was 14-16 overall vs. LG from ‘66-’94. Bass’ career at NHS spanned five LG coaches in Hunnicutt to ‘71, Hightower to ‘79, Cronic to ‘83, Guthrie to ‘93 and Pardue to ‘94 when he retired. Since 1968, LG is 20-18 vs. N. Bass and former LaGrange coach Gary Guthrie enjoyed a spirited rivalry from 1984-1993 when the Cougars and Grangers clashed. Bass held a 7-4 edge over Guthrie (the LG head coach was 3-2 in games played at Drake Stadium and 1-5 in meetings vs. Bass at Callaway Stadium). In the same time span of the Guthrie-Bass LG-N tenure (1984-93), the Grangers won four region championships (‘85, ‘85, ‘89 and ‘91), one state championship and the USA-Today national championship (‘91) in Guthrie’s 10-year reign to just one region championship for Bass’ Cougars in 1992. •Ranked LaGrange Teams: In addition, three of Guthrie’s teams were nationally-ranked: 1986, No. 1 in Ga. in 4A AJC preseason poll and No. 4 in the nation in the preseason USA-Today poll; 1990 No. 1 in Ga. and No. 9 nationally in the USA-Today poll prior to the Morrow game; and 1991, No. 1 in Ga. in 4A and No. 1 nationally as USA-Today’s championship team among over 13,000 schools in the USA. Bass was 5-1 vs. Guthrie and LaGrange (7-4 overall vs. Guthrie/LG, ‘84-’93) at Callaway Stadium but the only LG win over Bass’ Newnan Cougars at home in that 10-year tenure (1984-1993) was a 20-14 win in 1991 to clinch the region championship and set up home playoff games at the friendly confines of Callaway Stadium, key to the five-game run to a state and national championship run in a 15-0 season. •Bass on the 1983 and 1991 LaGrange teams. —Bass on LG’s ‘83 team: “I think LaGrange has a great football team. They have one of the best teams I’ve seen in this region in a long time.” —Bass on the ‘91 LG team which won the 4A state title and USA-Today national championship: “They’ve (LaGrange) have got about the best material I’ve ever seen. They’re a gambling team on defense, but when you have great athletes at eight or nine positions, you can afford to do that. It seems like every kid they’ve got is a great athlete.” — prior to the undefeated showdown in 1991 at Callaway Stadium. •LG clinched a claim for then its fifth state title in 1930 after defeating Newnan, 33-0. LG then went on to lose the Southern prep football championship to Columbia, S.C. in the Charity Bowl, 30-6. •LG has had five teams (‘83, ‘86, ‘90, ‘91 & ‘04) nationally-ranked in at least one national as many as five national polls (‘04 season.) •LaGrange has recorded an all-time season-opening game record of 61-34-4 in 99 recorded years of football. •LG and N have met in season openers on 14 occasions in the 83-game series with the Cougars holding a commanding 10-3-1 series lead. •LaGrange Football — a cavalcade of legends: When it comes to tradition and success, LaGrange football takes a back seat to only one program in the state of Georgia — the famed Valdosta Wildcats. Since the 1983 season, LaGrange has had five players who have been rated as the No. 1 player in the nation at their respective position or No. 1 player overall by at least one if not several national recruiting publications. In 1983, QB Vince Sutton (Alabama) and DL/OL Nate Hill (Auburn) were both considered the top prospects at their positions in the U.S. and Sutton was the overall No. 1-rated prospect in the nation by nearly every recruiting organization. In 1986, John Johnson DE/DT/LB (Clemson) was considered by the No. 1 rated player at his position(s) by several national recruiters, QB Rodney Hudson (Miss. State) in 1991 was considered as the No. 1-rated prospect and LB Tray Blackmon (Auburn) in 2004 was the No. 1-ranked LB prospect by nearly every national recruiting service. •LaGrange owns winning record vs. legendary Boys’ High of Atlanta: LaGrange may be the only team in GHSA history to own an all-time winning record vs. the premiere pre-GHSA (1947-present) high school football program in the state in legendary Boys’ High of Atlanta. LG was 3-0-1 in four meetings in 1922, (LG 44-0), 1924 (14-0), 1925 (LG 20-6) and a tie in 1939 with Boys’ B-team at 6-6. Boys’ High won 10 state championships prior to 1947. One of the many legends at Boys’ High was the former Georgia Tech legend Clint Castleberry, ranked as the second greatest HS football player in Georgia history in a recent story. •LaGrange has had more players drafted by NFL teams than any other school in Georgia since 2000. LaGrange also is one of the top producers of SEC talent.
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