From hunter to hunted: No. 2 Lee County hits the road

LEESBURG — Last Friday night, Lee County was trying to make a statement.

Consider it made.

The Trojans erased a 12-point halftime deficit, shut down nationally ranked Carol City of Miami and celebrated a 23-20 victory with a sellout crowd at Trojan Field.

Then came Monday.

Lee County jumped from No. 6 to No. 2 in the Class 6A state rankings.

And the national attention followed.

MaxPreps now ranks Lee County No. 25 in the country.

So much for sneaking up on anybody.

The Trojans (2-0) head to the Atlanta area Friday night to face Sequoyah with a considerably larger target on their backs than they had a week ago.

And while the Chiefs aren’t ranked, their first two opponents might argue they should be.

Sequoyah is 2-0.

The Chiefs won their opener 36-7.

They won again last week, 45-7.

That’s 81 points scored and 14 allowed.

Lee County coach Dean Fabrizio has seen enough on film to know this isn’t the week to admire a ranking.

Especially after what he learned about his own team seven days ago.

Carol City came to Leesburg as one of the nation’s top-ranked teams and spent the first half showing why. The Chiefs built a 20-8 lead and put Lee County in a position it hadn’t experienced during a 51-0 demolition of Hapeville Charter in the season opener.

Nobody panicked.

“We have a veteran team with great leadership,” Fabrizio said. “They didn’t panic, stuck to the plan and made some corrections.”

Those corrections changed everything.

Lee County’s defense didn’t allow Carol City a first down in the second half.

Not one.

A 20-8 deficit became a 23-20 victory, and Lee County suddenly found itself being discussed among the best teams in Georgia — and the country.

Now comes a completely different challenge.

Sequoyah won’t bring Carol City’s national ranking into Friday night’s game. What the Chiefs will bring is an offense designed to make defenders look in the wrong place at precisely the wrong time.

“They do a really good job on offense with misdirection plays and play action,” Fabrizio said.

That makes discipline critical.

One defender following the wrong motion or taking one false step can be enough to turn an ordinary play into six points.

And when Lee County has the football, Fabrizio expects the pressure to come from everywhere.

“On defense they bring a lot of pressure and do a good job mixing up their looks,” he said.

It’s another test for a Lee County team that has already experienced opposite ends of the football spectrum in two weeks.

Against Hapeville Charter, there was almost no adversity. The Trojans rolled 51-0.

Against Carol City, there was plenty.

Lee County fell behind by two scores, regrouped at halftime and fought its way back against one of the country’s most highly regarded programs.

Two games.

Two wins.

Two entirely different ways of getting them.

And now a No. 2 beside Lee County’s name.

Fabrizio isn’t particularly interested in any of that.

“It may sound like coach speak, but like we do every week, we have to focus on correcting our mistakes and getting better,” he said. “Simple as that.”

Maybe it is coach speak.

It’s also probably exactly what Fabrizio wants his players thinking as they board the buses for North Georgia.

Because Friday night won’t have the buildup of Carol City.

There won’t be a national ranking attached to the opponent’s name.

There won’t be a sellout crowd at Trojan Field waiting to erupt.

Instead, Lee County will travel more than 200 miles from home to play an unbeaten team that has been dismantling opponents while much of the state has been paying attention to somebody else.

Last week, Lee County showed what it could do when the Trojans were chasing a nationally ranked opponent.

This week comes a different question.

What happens when everybody starts chasing Lee County?