FOTOBALL: to the dome we go

During the 2007 football season the Athens Academy Spartans made it further than any of the other teams in our coverage area. They advanced all the way to the Class A state semifinals played on the Atlanta Falcons' field at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Making it to the Dome is what it is all about for varsity high school football in Georgia.
Our sports editor at the time decided me and sports reporter Jennifer Iannone should travel with the Spartans on their trip to do a behind the scenes story. We got unlucky and the team's game was in the earliest time slot at 9 a.m. The team bus pulled out at 4:45 a.m. which is crazy early for night-shifters like us. Jennifer and I boarded at like 4:46 just barely catching our ride. They were very generous and fed us a breakfast of a Chick-fil-a chicken biscuit and a snickers bar.


The Athens Academy Spartans eat biscuits from Chik-Fil-A on the bus ride to the Georgia Dome for their state semifinals game early Friday morning Dec. 7, 2007.
I walked onto the field with the team a couple hours before the game. It was a few of the guys first time there and they seemed to stroll around in awe to have made it so far, to the brink of achieving an ultimate goal. The team veterans like Jeff Turner took the field with determination. He had been there before and lost. This time he wanted a different outcome.


Athens Academy's Jeff Turner walks across the GHSA logo in the end zone of the Georgia Dome before the Spartans' state semifinals match-up with Wilcox County.


Athens Academy senior Evans Wellborn warms up before the Spartans' state semifinal match-up with Wilcox County Friday morning at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.


The Athens Academy Spartans take the field to warm-up at the Georgia Dome.
The Spartans went on to lose 32-14 to Wilcox County who later lost the Championship to Emanuel County Institute. In the first quarter the starting quarterback Carter Gunn suffered a severe ankle injury and was not only out the rest of the game, but most of his upcoming basketball season.


Athens Academy QB Carter Gunn is taken down by Wilcox County's Chris Hargrove in the 1st quarter of the Spartans' 32-14 loss in the state semifinals Friday at the Georgia Dome. Gunn was injured on the play and out for the game.


Athens Academy QB Carter Gunn reassures backup QB Will Daniel in the 4th quarter of the Spartans' 32-14 loss to Wilcox County in the state semifinals Friday at the Georgia Dome. Gunn was injured in the 1st quarter and sat out the rest of the game.


Athens Academy's Jeff Turner runs the ball in the first half of the Spartans' 32-14 loss to Wilcox County in the state semifinals Friday at the Georgia Dome.


Wilcox County's Casey Sercer knocks the ball out of the hands of Athens Academy QB Will Daniel in the first half of the Spartans' 32-14 loss in the state semifinals Friday at the Georgia Dome.

As a member of the media I am supposed to remain impartial at all times while covering sporting events. This was one of the more difficult games to retain my professionalism. As I watched those young athletes, heads hung, walking off that field I felt their pain. I wanted them to win. I wanted them to see their dream come true.


Athens Academy's Matt Woodruff doubles over in grief as the final seconds of the clock runs down in the Spartans' 32-14 loss to Wilcox County in the state semifinals Friday Dec. 7, 2007, at the Georgia Dome.


Athens Academy's McKay Matthews, center, hangs his head while walking off the field with teammates Alex Lober, left, and James Heery, right, after the Spartans' 32-14 loss to Wilcox County.


Athens Academy's QB Carter Gunn walks out of the Georgia Dome with team doctor and father Cody Gunn after his team's 32-14 loss to Wilcox County in the state semifinals Friday in Atlanta. Gunn was injured in the 1st quarter and had to sit out the rest of the game.