Week-3 of the Georgia High School Football season is upon is. This week, all six Cherokee County teams will be in action including an intra-county matchup. First up, the Cherokee Warriors will host the Woodstock Wolverines. Both teams are looking for their first win of the season. Can Cherokee win their 5th straight in the series or will Woodstock put it together this week? Meanwhile, the Etowah Eagles look to go 3-0 for the first time since 2015. Will the upstart Eagles be able to beat a Forsyth County team who’s had their number the last two seasons?
The River Ridge Knights will host former region rival Sprayberry this Friday night. The Ridge has never beaten Sprayberry in four tries, is this the year the Knights get over the hump? The Sequoyah Chiefs will be on the ride as they travel to face the Cedartown Bulldogs. Both teams will look to establish the ground game. Will the Chiefs be clicking on all cylinders this week? Finally, the Creekview Grizzlies will host the Calhoun Yellow Jackets. Can Creekview’s defense slow down a high powered Calhoun offense on Friday night?
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Special thanks to the Georgia Helmet Project for providing each team’s helmet. You can find all of their work here: http://gahelmetproject.com
Special thanks to the Georgia Helmet Project for providing each team’s helmet. You can find all of their work here: http://gahelmetproject.com
Historical records are provided by the Georgia High School Football Historians Association. (ghsfa.org)
The Skinny
Last week, the Warriors lost a heartbreaker to Etowah and if you haven’t had a chance to read any write-ups or watch any of the highlights, do yourself a favor and go do it. Cherokee linebacker Kyan Simmons was up to his old bag of tricks last week, making tackles all over the field. He had help from fellow linebacker Chase Montgomery and Daniel Young. Ryane Martin Jr. also did a good job in the secondary for the Warriors defending against the deep ball. The Warriors offense looked much improved this past week in the run game with Christian Irwin leading the way while Tanner Savasir looked much more comfortable at quarterback. Credit the Cherokee offensive line for providing Savasir a clean pocket. The Warriors will need more of the same this week. We are interested to see if Cherokee can get the vertical passing game going.
The Woodstock Wolverines will also be looking for their first win of the season. Last week, the Wolverines struggled to find consistency again on offense. Woodstock was limited to just one touchdown again last week. The Wolverines have found some success on the ground with running backs Isaiah Payton and Tobias Sallee. The Woodstock defense will have to figure out how to put pressure on Cherokee’s quarterback this week.
Cherokee seems to have figures some things out from week-1 to week-2. Expect the Wolverines to be improved this week, but the Warriors have too many weapons on offense. We like Cherokee by 24.
The Skinny
The Etowah Eagles are riding high after a big overtime victory against their county rival, Cherokee. The Eagles once again came behind from a double digit deficit and kept fighting. Xavier Mahoney stole the show on Friday night with an electric kick-off return for a touchdown then he engineered a few drives to bring the Eagles the victory. This week, look for Etowah to continue to ride on the coattails of Mahoney, and running backs Reece “Buffalo” Wehr and Johar Cacho. We know it’s early, but in two games, Etowah is averaging 28 points per game and allowing 22 points per game. We wonder how good this Eagles team could be if they wouldn’t wait to do most of their scoring in the second half. They have scored 3 points in the first have of games this season and 53 second half points.
The Forsyth Central Bulldogs come in to this game looking to get back into the win column after they were stymied by their county rival last week. The Bulldogs will lean a little bit more on the run with Jayce Todaro and Justin Yeager. They two backs have combined for 287 rushing yards and 6-TDs on the young season. Camden Yeager is the leading receiver for the Bulldogs with 6 receptions for 106 yards and 1-TD on the year. Defensively, Aidan Meehan leads the team in total tackles. Forsyth Central has also recorded 4 sacks and two interceptions.
Forsyth Central has won the last two games in this matchup, with both games being relatively low scoring. Forsyth Central will have to find a way to defend the versatile Mahoney, while Etowah’s defense will have to make sure it can shut down the Forsyth County running attack. We think the Eagles have a little more firepower offensively this season. Etowah by 8.
The Skinny
The River Ridge offense got on track last week in a big win on the road over Pope. The Knights have been using a two quarterback system, but on last Friday, it was Ethan Spector who led the charge. Spector threw for 165 yards and 3-TDs in the victory. The Knights also had two 100-yard rushers last week in Daniel Fitchner and freshman running back Camden Cox. That was something we did not see from the Knights in Week-1 as neither back rushed over 20 yards in the opener. This can be a very dangerous team with three receivers that present matchup problems. Jackson Head is a physical wide receiver that makes the difficult catches look effortless. Add in sophomore Grant Hollier who is another physical receiver and M.J. Ayers who has a knack for making big plays, this is certainly a team on the rise.
The Sprayberry Yellow Jackets will make the short trip over to River Ridge on Friday in search of their second win of the season. Like the Knights, Sprayberry also starts a sophomore quarterback, Kemari Nix. Nix is a dual threat quarterback who has shown an ability to make plays both with his legs and his arms. He’s not one to wait around in the pocket. If things break down, he will be looking to make things happen scrambling. Darius Gaillard and Mark Manfred are two of the top receivers for this Sprayberry offense. Manfred is also a playmaker on defense. He has already recorded four interceptions on the season.
This should be the toughest test for River Ridge early in this season. If they can figure out a way to contain Nix at quarterback, we like their chances. The Ridge will also need an efficient performance from their quarterbacks, whether that is Spector or Coughlin or a combination of both. Sprayberry has never lost to River Ridge…but there is a first time for everything. We like the Ridge to outlast Sprayberry. River Ridge by 6.
The Skinny
The Cedartown Bulldogs continue to flex their muscle this season as they downed Class AA Callaway last week. It was the second victory over Class AA opponents. This week, the Bulldogs welcome Class AAAAAA Sequoyah to town. Cedartown is a run first and run often football team. In two games, Cedartown is averaging 246 yards per game on the ground with 8-TDs. Harlem Diamond and Patrick Gardner lead the team in rushing, combining for 306 yards and 4-TDs this season. Quarterback Reece Tanner has only attempted 11 passes on the season. The aforementioned Diamond is the teams leading receiver with 3 catches for 67 yards and another TD. Meanwhile, the defense is allowing 10.5 points per game. Eli Barrow has already tallied 26 solo tackles this season. The team has three sacks to their credit and one interception.
The Sequoyah Chiefs lost a heartbreaker in overtime, but will quickly have to put that behind them as they face a tough opponent in Cedartown. The Chiefs looked a little more fluid on offense last week, mixing up formations well and really keeping Rabun Gap off balance in the first half of their game last Friday. The Chiefs used a stable of backs last week including Jackson Hancock, Tyler Bell, Asante Chimanda and Cruz Wright. The Chiefs defense has had some tough sledding in the first two weeks. Stopping the run will be the biggest key to victory for Sequoyah.
This is an intriguing matchup as both teams are in their comfort zone running the football. To date, Cedartown has been better with their execution to date. We like the Bulldogs this week, but not in another blowout. Cedartown by 10.
The Skinny
The Creekview Grizzlies come into this week’s tilt looking for some answers on offense. Through the first two games, Creekview is averaging 3 points per game. These are some of the fits and starts we expect with a young quarterback taking over the reigns. We have seen the Grizzlies ability to put some drives together, but they will need to clean up some things that will help allow them to sustain drives. Meanwhile, Creekview’s defense was up to their same old tricks this past Friday. They limited Hillgrove to just 10 total points last Friday. They are led by Air Force commit Tyler Hubert who is relentless on defense. Hubert leads the team in total tackles so far. Cole Sackman is also one of the top tacklers for the Grizzly defense.
The Calhoun Yellow Jackets picked up their first win of the season as they beat Gardendale of Alabama last week by the slimmest of margins. (Gardendale is a member of the 6A classification in Alabama). First year starter at quarterback Trey Townsend has a bevy of weapons at wide receiver including Emaree Winston, Dustin Kerns and Bryant Arnold. But the Jackets aren’t just a “one-trick-pony” as running back Caden Williams is looking to improve on his 1,431 yards rushing from 2021. Williams is a shifty running back that doesn’t take long to find his top gear. He’s not afraid to run in between the tackles and can outrun opposing secondaries.
This is a tough matchup for the Grizzlies. The defense will have their hands full in the secondary and they have to be sure tacklers this week. Perhaps even force two or three turnovers. If Calhoun’s Townsend has a clean pocket, it could be a long night for the home team. Creekview improves this week, but not enough to beat the Jackets. Calhoun by 9.