Through three weeks of the 2010 high school football season, King's Ridge is one of only three North Fulton teams that still sports an undefeated 3-0 record (Blessed Trinity and Mt. Pisgah are the others). And it's probably safe to say that King's Ridge unblemished record is the most surprising.  

Consider this: in 2008, when Tiger head football coach Jeff Pickren stepped on the field for King's Ridge's first practice, he had 11 players to work with. Not 11 players on offense and 11 players on defense, but 11 total players. Not enough to scrimmage and barely enough to practice. However, the crafty coach had a solution: eighth graders.

"In 2008, we were a JV team," explains Pickren, who is now in his third season as head coach at King's Ridge. "We had two juniors, we had eight or nine freshmen and then we filled out the team with eighth graders."

As soon as he says that though, Pickren's quick to explain that the eighth graders weren't exactly out of their element on the practice field. "The two juniors we had I don't think had ever played football before," says Pickren. "So everyone was on an even playing field."

Even though they were a JV team, the Tigers played a schedule that included several Georgia Independent School Association (GISA) varsity squads. Pickren didn't want to see his eighth graders get pummeled by high school seniors, so before each GISA game, he would negotiate with the opposing team's coach. "We played some teams that agreed to sit their seniors because lets face it, we couldn't have eighth graders going against seniors."

Half the team may have been made up of kids that were still in middle-school, but the Tiger's were still able to put together a winning record in 2008.

The Roswell Connection

In 2009, as they looked to turn their JV team into a varsity program, King's Ridge made the coaching coup of a lifetime: they reeled in former Roswell head coaches Ray Manus and Tim McFarlin.

After Manus retired as Roswell's head coach following the 1997 season, McFarlin took over for him. Manus then came back in 2000 and coached quarterbacks for McFarlin. When McFarlin decided to call it quits himself after the 2007 season, Manus decided to take some time off too. Then the pair got together in early 2009 and decided to make the move to King's Ridge, a dream come true for Pickren.

"Those guys are two of the best football minds in the area and two of the best football minds I've ever been around," Pickren says. "With Ray and Tim on the field every day, I learned a lot, the kids learned a lot. The experience those two brought to the program was invaluable."

Pickren also points out that Manus and McFarlin brought another thing, something that he absolutely couldn't bring to the program: some media coverage. "It was amazing for the excitement and publicity that those two guys brought to our football program."

With McFarlin and Manus coaching on the sideline with Pickren, King's Ridge played a GISA schedule and ended their first official varsity football season with a 5-3 record. After the successful year, it was mission accomplished for the two veteran coaches, so after 2009, both McFarlin and Manus moved on.

 The Move to GHSA

Fast forward to 2010. After two years playing a GISA schedule, King's Ridge is now playing with the big boys in the Georgia High School Association (GHSA). On August 27, the Tigers christened a new stadium on the school's campus with a resounding 45-0 win over St. Francis. King's Ridge's Connor Henderson scored three touchdowns in the game.

For King's Ridge, the bigger test came one week later when they played Lakeview Academy. St. Francis – a GISA school just getting their football program off the ground this year – wasn't a stiff test. Lakeview Academy on the other hand was a 1-0 GHSA school, could King's Ridge hang with the new competition?

A 13-0 week two win proved they can. Will Aiken and Jeff Sneed each scored instrumental touchdowns in the shutout win. After two games, the Tigers are now off to an amazing 2-0 start, something that Pickren didn't necessarily expect.

"It's kind of humbling," Pickren says of his teams 2-0 start. "It's been great though, the kids have worked so hard. There's not that many of them, but they've all done a really good job."

Pickren and his 23 varsity players are quickly building excitement at the tiny 109 student school tucked away in Alpharetta. "I think everyone's excited," the coach says. "I know the parents are and we've gotten a lot of great feedback from the [King's Ridge] community. The most exciting thing is watching these kids believe in what they're doing and believe in each other."

If you want to see the Tiger's in action, King's Ridge opens up their region schedule on Friday when they play host to North Fulton rival Fellowship Christian. The game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m.