Christ The King School

Falcons' scrimmage tonight at Norcross High

NORCROSS — For 130 days, the NFL lockout kept fans, players and owners on edge, leaving them all to wonder if the 2011 season would happen.

Before finally ending last week, it also left one other group with nothing to do but wait — Norcross High School. The school, which will host the Atlanta Falcons’ fourth-annual Friday Night Lights scrimmage tonight, wasn’t positive it would get to until the lockout came to a close.

It did, and for the fourth consecutive year, a Gwinnett County high school will play host. With just about 10 days to officially promote and prepare, crews striped the Norcross High School football field on Wednesday, and Falcons personnel started setting up and decorating Thursday.

Each of the previous three events — held at North Gwinnett, Brookwood and Mill Creek high schools — drew capacity crowds approaching 10,000 to the free event.

“We just had to make sure we had a game plan ready as far as game operations,” Barton said. “Making sure we have enough food, making sure we have a place for the officials to go, a place for the cheerleaders to go, knowing that all the players will be using the locker rooms.”

During the scrimmage, Falcons quarterbacks and some position players will be fitted with microphones broadcasting over the stadium PA, giving fans a unique chance to listen in on the happenings on the field.

Inflatables and sponsor booths will be open prior to the scrimmage, and an autograph session and fireworks show will follow the event.

“This is a special event for not only our fans, but for our players as well,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said in a news release. “Our guys love going back to their roots and playing under the lights at a high school field every year.”

Parking at the high school will be tight, so fans are encouraged to arrive early. A shuttle will also be available from lots at nearby Christ the King Lutheran Church, located at 5575 Peachtree Parkway.

For more information, visit www.atlantafalcons.com.

“It’s going to be a showcase for our campus,” Barton said. “We’ve got a great campus, great athletic facilities and we like to show them off.

Students, parents excited to open new Catholic high school ...

By Frank DeLoache

Leigh Marr warned her granddaughter, Hannah, that she might start high school with only 30 students.

“She said, ‘I don’t care if they’re only 10. We’re going to start something new,’” Marr recalled recently.

Hannah Cutlip and a small group of freshmen have helped pick the Crusader as the mascot for Christ the King Catholic High School, which will open its doors this fall in temporary quarters Mooresville. It will be the first Catholic high school in the Lake Norman area.

They’ve also helped select the school’s colors – royal blue and silver – and the sports the school will play first. Hannah, 14, hopes to play volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter and softball in the spring – if enough girls sign up.

“I’m not waiting for it to be some perfect school,” Hannah said. “I’m going to help build this school to be something that people will really like in the future. I just want it to be a school where I learn about my faith, get a good education and have good friends.”

Leigh Marr served on the board of the St. Mark Parent-Teacher Organization, and she’ll do the same for the new Parent-Teacher Organization at Christ the King. Her husband, Ray, has committed to helping with school athletics.

“With six classes a day and just 40 kids, you get to know everybody, and you get away from the coolness and cliques,” Marr said. “Every school has issues with sex, drugs and alcohol. But if you have 2,000 kids, it’s a lot harder to control than if you have 40.”

Patricia Selzer, one of the Selzer triplets who will attend Christ the King, and her siblings, Mary and Thomas, say they’re looking forward to the challenge of a new school.

Each one of them also gets a school-issued laptop, a first for any Catholic school in the Charlotte region.

Jenifer and Stuart Selzer, the triplets’ parents, have both signed up for roles in the Parent-Teacher Organization.

“To leave a legacy, they realize there is some sacrifice in not going to an established school,” Jennifer Selzer said.

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