Kickoff

 

A look at Glynn Academy’s opening game:

 

Opponent: Calvary Day

 

When: 7 p.m. Thursday

 

Where: Glynn County Stadium

 

Records: GA 0-0; 0-0 Region 1-AAAAAA; CD 0-0, Region 3-AA

 

Last year: Teams did not play

 

All-time: Teams have played only twice with GA winning both games.

 

 

Game Preview

 

The Red Terrors are set to open the season with a rare Thursday night game against an opponent that is not a traditional foe.

 

In fact, Glynn and Calvary Day have not played since playing in back-to-back seasons in 2004 and 2005. GA was coached by Rob Ridings back then while the Cavaliers were coached by Danny Britt who is now the head coach at Benedictine in Savannah.

 

The Terrors won both of those games over Calvary, which also is located in Savannah. Glynn won the 2004 contest at Calvary by 34-9 and won the next year as well at Glynn County Stadium by 29-20.

 

Those meetings against the Cavs were both season-opening games as well.

 

Glynn is 8-3-1 in season openers under head coach Rocky Hidalgo who is beginning his 13^th season with the Terrors.

 

GA has not lost its opening game since 2019 when it lost to Fort Dorchester (S.C.) away from home.

 

The Terrors are coming off a 6-5 season which ended with a loss at Jackson County in the opening round of the Class AAAAA state playoffs.

 

The GA offense is led by junior quarterback Max Noonan who is set to start for the Terrors a second straight season.

Glynn’s top player on defense is senior linebacker Cooper Reiss, who was the Region 1-AAAAA Defensive Player of the Year last season.

 

Calvary Day is the top-ranked team in the private-school preseason rankings. The private schools that compete in Classes AA through AAAA in the Georgia High School Association will play for for their own state championship at the end of the season.  

 

Last season, the Cavs went 12-2 and played for the private-school title, losing to Hebron Christian in the state final. They return more than 20 seniors from that runner-up team and 19 starters.

 

Calvary Day returns seven all-state players from a year ago which is the most for any team in any classification in the state.

 

One of those is senior quaterback James Mobley. Other standout seniors are wideout Marlon Knight Jr. (Georgia Southern committ), defensive back Emerson Lewis (Maryland), safety Brexton Bell (Appalachian State), offensive lineman Lawson Bentley (South Florida), linebacker KB Baker III (Arksansas State), and edge rusher Jeffrey McCormick who set a school-record with 18 sacks last season.   

 

Kickoff for this game is 7 p.m.

 

--- Compiled by Kevin Price for GCS Athletics