We Speak High School Football
Langston Hughes Panthers Roar Into Creekside Showdown on a Five-Game Winning Streak
There are hot teams, and then there is whatever the Langston Hughes Panthers have become over the last five weeks. Hughes has won five straight games to climb to 6-1, and the Panthers are playing their best football at exactly the right time of the season.
The latest statement came in a 28-7 win over Woodward Academy, a game the Hughes defense owned from start to finish. The Panthers held Woodward to just 119 total yards and five first downs, the kind of defensive performance that travels well in November.
The offense has its stars, too. Senior running back Esco Grant leads the Panthers’ ground game with six rushing touchdowns this season, and he announced himself to the whole state in a 47-28 win over Newnan, rushing for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterbacks Prince Amari Aminu and Ethan Walker have combined to keep defenses honest through the air all fall.
The depth shows up everywhere on the stat sheet. Aminu has thrown 12 touchdown passes this season and fellow junior Ethan Walker has added seven more, while senior receiver D’emery Carmichael and sophomore Tymar Mike have combined for 10 touchdown catches. On defense, junior linebacker Antoine Martin has caused two fumbles and recovered two more, the kind of playmaker who changed the Woodward game with a defensive score.
Hughes’ only loss this season came against Grayson, one of Georgia’s traditional powers, in the season’s opening weeks. Everything since has been a climb: five straight wins, a defense tightening by the week, and an offense that can beat you on the ground or through the air. That is what a team peaking for the playoffs looks like.
Now comes the game Fulton County has been waiting for. On Saturday, October 24, Hughes travels to Creekside, where two 6-1 teams, both unbeaten in region play, meet with first place on the line.
The Panthers have the defense, the running game and the momentum. Saturday night, they get their chance to prove they have the region, too.
We Speak High School Football
Miller Grove Wolverines Hunting a Strong Finish After a Season of Fights
The Miller Grove Wolverines opened their season with a statement, and they have been fighting ever since. A 31-0 shutout of Chamblee in the opener showed what this Lithonia team can be, and the Wolverines have spent the fall proving that night was no fluke.
Miller Grove owns a 35-6 road win at McNair and a 20-8 win at Carver in Atlanta, victories built on defense and toughness. Look at those three wins together and a pattern emerges: Chamblee scored zero, McNair scored six and Carver scored eight. When the Wolverines win, they win with a defense that gives up almost nothing, and that identity travels anywhere. At 3-4, with 131 points scored and 135 allowed, nearly every Wolverines game this season has been a genuine fight, decided by which team made the plays late.
That includes the tough nights. The Wolverines fell 42-10 to a strong Columbia team on October 16 and dropped a 28-21 heartbreaker at M.L. King in an all-DeKalb battle earlier this season. Those are the kinds of games a program learns from.
That defensive identity is worth repeating, because it is rare: across their three wins, the Wolverines have allowed a total of 14 points. Fourteen. In an era of spread offenses and video-game scores, Miller Grove wins the old-fashioned way, with tackling, discipline and a defense that takes points personally. That travels in November, and it gives the Wolverines a real chance in every game left on the schedule.
The closing stretch gives Miller Grove every chance to finish the right way. South Atlanta visits on Friday, October 23, then the Wolverines travel to Cedar Grove on October 30 before closing at home against Redan.
Three games, three chances to turn a season of fights into a winning finish. In Lithonia, the Wolverines and their families have every reason to believe that is exactly what happens next.
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