As Reported in the AJC
Alpharetta High has won a couple of state championships in its seven years. The trophies are for tennis and chess. Football country, this was not supposed to be. 
On Friday, legal parking off Webb Bridge Road into this north Fulton high school was not possible for long as fans filled Alpharetta Stadium to watch the newest entertainment this side of Georgia 400.
Alpharetta’s football Raiders won their seventh game out of eight, the most wins in school history. They beat Roswell for the first time, 38-19. If they beat Centennial in their next game Oct. 28, the Region 6-AAAAA title is theirs. That also would be a first.
‘’We used to come to Alpharetta games wondering how much we’re going to lose by,’’ said Jeff Sallard, father of Alpharetta senior guard Kyle Stallard. ‘’Now, it’s how are we going to make history tonight.’’
What’s happening at Alpharetta might remind some of Lassiter of Marietta a few years back when quarterback named Hutson Mason smashed Georgia passing records at a school that had never won a region championship.
For Alpharetta, junior quarterback Joshua Dobbs is averaging nearly 300 yards passing per game. He threw four touchdowns Friday, two in the first eight minutes to junior Carlos Burse. Burse, a top college prospect, is one of nine wide receivers in a rotation for a team averaging 35 passes a game.
Clint Woodfin, who helped run those Lassiter no-huddle, spread attack in the Mason years, is the offensive coordinator. Jeff Carlberg, the defensive coordinator, came from Lassiter, too.
‘’I wanted to make sure that I surrounded my players with the best quality coaches I could find, guys that were excited, motivated and willing to put in the time studying the opponent , so when it came Friday night, our players would be prepared for what they were going to see,’’ said Jason Dukes, Alpharetta’s third-year head coach.
Dukes, a large figure on Alpharetta’s sidelines, is a story in himself. He was a four-year starting offensive lineman at Georgia Tech, then took his economics degree to work into the business world.
But it wasn’t as fun as football. Dukes was saved by a cousin who asked if he’d help coach a middle school team at South Cobb High for free.
‘’It was the one thing that I looked forward to every day,’’ Dukes said. “I’d do my 9 to 5, and as soon as 5 hit, I couldn’t wait to get out on the field. I’d fight 5 o’clock traffic from Ashford-Dunwoody to Austell Road. I was hooked.’’
He went on to get a master’s degree and teaching certificate so he could coach full-time in high school and joined Alpharetta’s staff six years ago. He teaches economics.
But tennis and chess aside, Alpharetta should not be stereotyped. More than 40 percent of the student body is made up of minorities, with significant numbers of African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians. Dukes is one of only a handful of Georgia head coaches at a majority white school.
Stallard believes football is a rallying point, something that builds tradition and pride at a young school searching for an identify.
‘’A lot of people think of Alpharetta being demographically high-economic, Caucasian, but it’s very diverse,’’ Stallard said. “We’ve got kids in million-dollar homes and kids in apartments, and they’re blind to that on the football field. They have meshed. Winning helps.’’
