LaGrange-Dunwoody Football Notebook
3A State quarterfinals
By Scott Sickler, LaGrange football historian


LaGrange (10-2) and Dunwoody(12-0) is the first meeting ever between the schools. LaGrange has won 11 all-time state championships (1921, 1924, 1925, 19926, 1930, 1955, 1958, 1991, 2001, 2003 & 2004). Dunwoody has won one state championship (1993). LaGrange has also captured a national championship (1991, USA Today) while Dunwoody in 1993 under coach David Kelley, finished No. 4 in the final USA Today rankings. The Wildcats '93 team was led by running back Rod Perrymond and lineman Travis Stroud, both all-state while Stroud was a consensus All-American. LaGrange has also won 19 all-time region titles. LaGrange coach Steve Pardue has recorded an outstanding 25-8 (16-5 home, 9-3 on road) overall state playoff record with three state titles -- '01, '03 & '04, two perfect seasons, -- '01 & '04 and coached eight region championship teams and also an assistant on LG's 1991 national championship team. LaGrange has turned out more players in the SEC than other school in GHSA football and one of the Top-3 in the nation for producing SEC talent. LaGrange has 658 documented all-time wins (658-288-31 documented) and believed to have well over 700 wins but many games are missing in the early 1900s. LaGrange's senior class of 2005 (2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 seasons) is the winningest in school history and ranks among the greatest records in GHSA football history for a four-year period. LG was 55-2 overall with three state titles in four years, four straight region titles and just seven (7) points away from having five straight titles from '00 to '04. LG lost to Swainsboro in the mud 6-0 in '00 and a bitter 15-14 loss at Screven Co. in 2002. LG was 14-0 in '01, 12-1 in '02, 14-1 in '03 and 15-0 in '04. The '04 LG team was considered, along with 5A state champion and 15-0 Lowndes Co., as clearly the top two teams in all of GHSA football in 2004. LG's '04 defense was sensational and allowed just five TDs against the first-string unit in 15 games and no game was ever in doubt. The '04 LG team was ranked in four national polls and as high as No. 9 in the nation at the end of the season. Only the '59 Grangers defense with four TDs allowed total was fewer. The LG team record for sacks in a season was set by the 1991 Grangers with an astonishing 63 sacks in the national championship season. LG has an all-time playoff record of 54-23-1 and is 8-4-1 in 13 state championship games, one of the best marks in all of GHSA history.