Gwinnett County Native Chosen To Captain Naval Academy Football

PEACHTREE CORNERS, GA -- A Peachtree Corners native has been chosen to captain the U.S. Naval Academy football team for the 2019 season.

Ford Higgins of Peachtree Corners, Class of 2016, is one of four co-captains. In fact, both Higgins and Paul Carothers were voted captains and are also recent Greater Atlanta Christian School alumni. The two will lead the team side-by-side, just as they did while they were Spartans at the Norcross school.

The captains were elected by a team vote for the first time.

GAC Athletic Director and head football coach Tim Hardy said, “It is a tremendous honor to be named Captain of the Navy Football Team. The team is comprised of some of the most outstanding young men in the nation. I am not surprised that both Ford and Paul were chosen.

These are two of the absolute finest young men to graduate from GAC. Though different individuals, they possess many of the same characteristics such as strength of character, mental toughness, and selfless dedication to others. Both of them are elite competitors who confront any challenge with strength and total commitment. Their effort, attitude, and determination give courage and confidence to those around them.”

Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo said, “This year we waited to elect our team captains…We wanted to go through winter conditioning, our fourth quarter workouts and spring practice before our team voted to give everybody ample opportunity to select captains based on who earned the privilege. I couldn’t be more excited about the captains that our team selected.”

Coach Niumatalolo noted that Higgins earned two varsity letters and started all 13 games in 2018. Higgins will anchor the line for the second year at the center position.

Carothers, a linebacker, has been a Navy special teams player, seeing action in nine games a year ago and making six tackles. He had an outstanding spring and made a strong push to be a starter in the fall, according to Niumatalolo.

Greater Atlanta Christian School offers a dynamic experience to 1,650 students (Pre-K-12). GAC consistently adopts new learning strategies to better prepare students for collegiate careers at top universities. Conveniently located in Northeast Atlanta, GAC’s 88-acre campus provides resources from state-of-the-art facilities to new programs with a focus on STEAM-learning and personalized and project-based learning. Whether your child excels in academics, arts, or athletics, they have access to endless opportunities on one campus.