By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

LAGRANGE – They’ll keep plugging away.

It’s been a tough first three weeks of the season for the LaGrange Grangers, who are 0-3 and have yet to score a point.

LaGrange will look to find some positive momentum when it goes on the road on Friday to face East Coweta in its final non-region game of the season.

LaGrange will take two weeks off before hosting Central-Carroll in its Region 5-AAAA opener.

LaGrange hopes to find some success on offense.

The Grangers have been shut out three straight times to start the season, and they managed just 24 yards of offense in last week’s 31-0 loss to the Griffin Bears.

LaGrange did some positive things defensively against Griffin.

Most notably, LaGrange had a pair of goal-line stands in the second half with Griffin still looking to put more points on the board despite the big lead.

Junior defensive back Vondez Taylor led LaGrange with 11 tackles, and he had one of the team’s three interceptions.

Chris Watson had an interception and a fumble recovery, and Lequincy Shepard had an interception.

“I was proud of the defense,” LaGrange head coach Dialleo Burks said. “They played very well, and I was proud of the guys on defense. Offensively, we’ve got to find something.”

Senior running back Cornell Kendrick had 26 yards on 12 attempts against Griffin, while sophomore Dylan Norvell had 19 yards on just two carries.

Quarterback Jakoby Smith only threw five passes, and he completed one of them for 11 yards to Jordan Ogletree.

East Coweta (1-1) evened its record with a 42-27 victory over Jackson last week, with John Small getting his first win as the team’s head coach.

Small has taken over for Steve Pardue, who was East Coweta’s head coach the previous three years.

Gerald Green sparked East Coweta with 89 yards on 14 attempts, and he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.

Quarterback Christian Reid completed 10-of-19 passes for 116 yards, and he also ran for 111 yards.

East Coweta still has three more games before it begins its Region 2-AAAAAAA schedule.

“These early non-region games are good for us because they don’t count toward the playoffs and we can use them to play a lot of different people,” Small said. “It gives us a chance to get better.”