Now that Wesleyan has moved down to class A, Greater Atlanta Christian is no longer the prevailing rival for the Wolves. While there will always be tension between Wesleyan and GAC, the rivalry will no longer be settled on a field or a court. Because Wesleyan will no longer play GAC for a championship, each sport has had to choose a new team to focus on defeating.
Some sports now share the same rivals, while others have different ones. Football and volleyball both have Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School as their new rival according to Banks Ramsey, junior football player and Natalie Armstrong, senior volleyball player. Ramsey said, “we have to play well defensively, and we’ll have to play well all around because they are big and strong and fast.”
Senior football player Ryan Weed also said that Holy Innocents’ is a big rival because “there has always been tension between our programs.” Head football Coach Franklin Pridgen said that Holy Innocents’ is a challenging opponent because “they are extremely well-coached, and they run schemes on both offense and defense that we have not yet seen this season.”
As far as volleyball goes, Senior Natalie Armstrong said Holy Innocents’ is now their biggest rival because “there has been a rivalry building up the past few years and in order to be the number one seed in our area, we need to beat them.” Junior Maddie Lloyd said that in order for the Wolves to defeat the Golden Bears, they will need to “have the most energy possible and put everything [they] have into the game in order to beat them.”
The Lady Wolves softball team also has a new rival. Senior softball player, Julia Childers said, “Eagles Landing will be a tough competitor because they have won the state championship the past three years.” The Lady Wolves have already beaten ELCA once before and Childers said that in order to defeat them again, they will “need a good pitch selection because they have a very good pitcher.”
Though Water Polo is not a GHSA sanctioned sport, it still has found its’ new rival. According to Senior James Claffey, Pace is the biggest rival because “they recruit like crazy.” Claffey said that in order to beat Pace they will need to “have a good week of practice, watch film, and hit the weight room on off days.”
Junior Jon Hunt Ficken also said, “Pedialyte and ice cream” will help them prepare to beat Pace.
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