Chestatee, East Hall looking to change fortunes

GAINESVILLE - Despite having decades of difference in age, the East Hall and Chestatee football teams are looking for the same thing in 2003: improvement.

Chestatee, which is in just its second year, won its opener last year against fellow newcomer Flowery Branch but never had another lead in finishing the year 1-9.

East Hall, a perennial playoff team until the last five or six years, is coming off a 3-7 record, fired its coach and brought in Tim Marchman from West Hall to take over.

Marchman, who spent the last 10 years at West Hall, said its been an adjustment period but that the attitude has been high all around.

"The coaches, the kids, the fans. I think everyone has had a little renewed sense of excitement," he said. "But this is a young team and we have a lot of work to do. So far they're doing what we ask. We're ready for that first game."

For Chestatee coach Matt Fligg, improvement seemed on its way when they won a scrimmage against Meadowcreek and were leading Jefferson early before losing 24-10. They lost to Jefferson 60-0 in last year's scrimmage.

"I think we can already see that we've improved tremendously from last year but we still need to learn to be competitive. We have to be competitive first before we can win any games," Fligg said.

The optimism, however, was tempered by the loss of the county's leading passer, Matt Stover, from a year ago.

"Matt broke his collarbone against Jefferson and he's to be out at least four to six weeks," Fligg said. "He was out leader from a year ago and we're a passing team so that's a big, big loss."

The War Eagles will now turn to sophomore Chad Sage to run the four-receiver offense. They still have a solid receiving corps in junior Ryan Fligg and last year's leading receiver, senior Tyler Sims. Fligg said Freshman Brandon Byers would give a solid running game.

Defensively, the Hennggeler brothers - senior Kevin and sophomore Kyle - along with junior defensive tackle Rett Webb, will lead the war Eagles.

"Defense is going to be the key for us this year. We have to be able to stop people. So far, I've liked what I've seen," Fligg said.

Marchman said the exact same thing.

"We always put a premium on defense and that's where we've concentrated the most in the preseason. If we stop people and not make mistakes on offense, we'll be in some games and have a chance to win," Marchman said.