EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the eighth of a 13-part series looking back at the year in local sports. The series will culminate with the top 10 stories of the year on Jan. 1.

The season didn’t start well for private school football in the Griffin area, with Faith Christian Academy, Skipstone Academy and Griffin Christian High going a combined 1-4 in regular-season play for the month of August.

Skipstone, which lost only 3 games in the entire 2011 season, had to make a big transition from an independent 8-man team to 11-man football in a new league, the Glory For Christ league. Since their field was still an 8-man regulated 80 yards long, they had to play all of their competitive region games on the road, resulting in a tough situation. The Warriors went 0-3 in August, including two non-region games at home and a 44-0 loss to 8-man football team Appling Christian. They seemed to improve as the games went on, but the early part of the season was pretty rough on Skipstone.

Faith Christian Academy actually set their all-time record for points allowed in a game in their Aug. 24 opener, allowing Shiloh Hills to score 86 points — surpassing FCA’s 78-14 loss in the seventh game of their inaugural 2008 season.

It wasn’t all bad in the early part of the football year.

Griffin Christian shutout Central Fellowship Christian 30-0 in their season opener, ending an 11-game skid that stretched back two years. The Crusaders had two 100-yard rushers — Donovan Adams and C.J. Lewis — with 114 and 118 yards, respectively, that helped Griffin Christian more than quadruple last year’s season total of 7 points in one of the most impressive games in school history.

Other noteworthy local sports events in August included:

*The Lady Jags cross country team finished second in the 10th annual season-opening Jag Invitational, with the Spalding boys finishing third. On the girls side, Stephanie Estrada finished fourth, Li Anne Harris fifth and Blair Dunaway seventh. On the boys side, Benjamin Parker finished fourth and Daniel Blake was 15th.

*Former Griffin High star running back Bobby Rainey made his NFL debut on August 9 for the Baltimore Ravens, scoring a touchdown on an 18-yard screen pass in a 31-17 Ravens victory over the Atlanta Falcons in their preseason opener at the Georgia Dome. Rainey helped his team in a homecoming attended by several family members and friends, as well as Griffin head coach Steve DeVoursney and his family.

*The Spalding Jaguars football team won its preseason game 25-13 at home over Pike County while Griffin lost 21-14 on the road against Newnan.