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Warriors ready to roll
by By Ross Johnson, sports writer
2 years ago | 481 views | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Warriors ready to roll
Warriors ready to roll
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All they want is to go out with one last bang.

LaGrange Academy senior starters Bo Heath and Hunter Jones, along with junior Jordan Ring, have been there and done that for LaGrange Academy as multi-year starters, and now they’re ready for their final tournament run as high-school teammates.

The trio has won big and lost big during their time with the Warriors, and with Wednesday’s game against Harvester Christian looming in the first round of the GISA Region 4-AA tournament, they’re each hoping for the former.

LaGrange Academy lost its previous matchup with Harvester on a last second 3-pointer, and Warriors head coach Matt Dalrymple points to that game as a turning point in the season.

“After that game we had a real tough practice and we really started focusing on our defense,” said Dalrymple, who led the Warriors to the Class A semifinals last season. “Since then, the team has blossomed and they’ve gotten better and better.”

LaGrange Academy, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, will face third-seeded Harvester at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

In the girls’ tournament, second-seeded LaGrange Academy will face Colonial Hills at 7 p.m.

All games are at Arlington Christian School in Fairburn.

Dalrymple has seen Heath, Jones and Ring grow into great players, and expects them to play a huge role in the rematch against Harvester.

If the Warriors come up short Wednesday, their season will be over.

That’s why the Warriors - especially Heath and Jones - will be taking the game very seriously.

The other seniors on the team are Chase Daniel and Heath McCrary.

“This is a do-or-die game,” Jones said. “It’s the most important, and we look at it as a revenge game.”

With a win, the Warriors would advance to the region semifinals, and they would secure a spot in the state tournament.

Of course, in order to win the region tournament, the Warriors would likely have to go though Arlington Christian, which is a tall task.

LaGrange Academy is winless against Arlington this season, and the tournament will also be hosted by the region leaders.

“(Arlington) is the best all-around team we’ve played,” Heath said. “All of their players are over six feet tall.. We’ll have to be able to stop them on defense, because we’ll be able to score on them.”

Ring, the Warriors’ tallest starter at 6-foot-6, thinks with the right amount of luck, the region tournament could quickly turn in the Warriors’ favor.

‘It’s all about peaking at the right time,” Ring said.. “If we do that, no team in the state can beat us.”

Off the court, Heath, Jones and Ring are close friends, which often translates into a special chemistry during games.

Heath and Jones are similarly small players at less than six feet, but make up for their size with heart and ability to score points.

“We play like each other,” said Jones, who is the team’s points leader despite missing several games due to injury. “We’re real good friends and it helps the team understand each other.”

The rest of the team, which Dalrymple said has a nice combination of young and old players, look up to the veteran trio.

Ring said he enjoys being a leader of the team, and looks forward to doing the same next season as one of the Warriors’ returning starters.

“We have a lot of players from eighth to 10th grade who are really good,” Ring said. “They’ll be able to do as much for me as I can for them.”

Dalrymple knows the team has special players, and hopes to see it amount to wins when it matters.

“The last four or five weeks, I feel like we’ve really come along,” Dalrymple said. “Our boys all have a lot of experience in playoffs, so hopefully that will help us.”
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