Week-5 of the Georgia High School Football season finds all six Cherokee County teams in Action. Region 7-6A opens up region play this week, while Region 5-7A teams continue the non-region portion of their schedule. This week Sequoyah will host Johns Creek an an early season pivotal battle for region standings. Meanwhile, over in Carersville, the Cherokee Warriors will be on the road again. Will they be able to stop their two-game skid against the talented Purple Hurricanes? The Creekview Grizzlies and Cambridge Bears will meet up over off Owens Store Road for the 10th time. Cambridge has never defeated Creekview. Is this their year?
Meanwhile down in Woodstock at Eagle Mountain, the Etowah Eagles will host the high powered North Cobb Warriors. Can Etowah’s defense answer the bell again this week? Just east of downtown Woodstock, the River Ridge Knights will host the Chattahoochee Cougars. The Knights throttled the Cougars last season. Can the Hooch return the favor. Finally, the Woodstock Wolverines host the Calhoun Yellow Jackets. Can the Wolverines slow down the Calhoun fast break offense?
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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)
This Weeks Game Streams:
Sequoyah vs. Johns Creek – http://chiefstv.org
Creekview vs. Cambridge – WLJA Radio 101.1FM or wljaradio.com
Woodstock vs. Calhoun – https://mixlr.com/calhoun-yellow-jackets/
The Skinny
The Sequoyah Chiefs are coming off the bye week looking to pick up where the left off in Week-3. The Chiefs have had some time to rest up as region play starts this week. Sequoyah is averaging and astounding 333 yards per game on the ground. They are led by backs Jackson Hancock (256 yards, 1-TD); Peyton Lucas (195 yards, 1-TD), Jack Piskorz (183 yards, 2-TDs) and quarterback Matthew Traynor (169 yards, 6-TDs). Traynor has also thrown for 197 yards and 2-TDs. Carter Sandt leads the team in total tackles while the aforementioned Hancock leads the team in interceptions, with 3.
The Johns Creek Gladiators are coming off of a big rebound win against a top 5-A program in St. Pius. The Gladiators have not shied away from top competition this season with a challenging pre-region schedule that includes Gainesville, Carrollton and of course, St. Pius. Look for T.A.Cunningham, Thaxton Gallagher and Terrian Williams to attempt to slow down the Sequoyah ground game. Meanwhile quarterback Kyle Durham and the offense will probably need more than 14 points this week if they want to leave Hickory Flat with a victory.
This is a big game for both teams as we believe both of them have the talent to make a run at hosting a first round playoff game. This might be the toughest defensive front that Sequoyah has faced this season, but we expect the Wing-T to continue to roll. Expect a close game with Sequoyah edging Johns Creek by 4.
The Skinny
The Cartersville Purple Hurricanes are coming off of a big win last week over Creekside at home. The Canes have a balanced attack; averaging 167 passing yards and 139.7 rushing yards per game. First year starter Jake Parker has thrown for 456 yards and 5-TDs while running back Malachi Jeffries leads the offense with 136 yards and 5-TDs. Cartersville is averaging 36.6 points per game while their defense is allowing 21.6 points per game. Myles Forrestal leads the Canes in total tackles.
The Cherokee Warriors are looking to get back into the win column after dropping two straight games. Last week the Warriors were without one of their top receivers, but quarterback A.J. Swann was able to help keep his team in the game. Swann has thrown for 675 yards and 8-TDs and has not thrown an interception in his last two games. Defensively the Warriors were able to hold the explosive Creekview Grizzlies to 21 points last week. Tyler Goddard and Morgan Cox continue to be atop the leaderboard across the state with 64 and 61 total tackles respectively.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Cherokee will need to establish the ground game this week if they are going to pull the upset on the road. Cherokee held Cartersville to 12 points last season. If they can hold them to under 14 we believe the Warriors win. Unfortunately, we believe Cartersville might be more explosive on offense this year than last. Canes by 4.
The Skinny
The Creekview Grizzlies return to the friendly confines of the Grizzly den after an impressive win over county rival Cherokee last week. If you don’t know by now, the Grizzlies defense sets the tone for this team. They are sure tacklers and consistently make opposing quarterbacks very uncomfortable. The are allowing seven points per game and only start three seniors. Meanwhile on offense, Mason Hicks continues to guide the Grizzlies at quarterback. Hicks has the ability to go deep downfield but perhaps the most underrated attribute is his ability to extend plays with has pocket awareness. He’s found a go to receiver in Tristan Summers.
The Cambridge Bears come in to their matchup with Creekview undefeated on the year. The Bears return last year’s stater at quarterback Zach Harris. The Bears will work from the spread in attempts to spread out the Grizzlies defense and create mismatches. Christian Isabor is the teams leading returning running back, but last week it was Jack Marlow with two rushing and a receiving TD.
Cambridge has never beaten Creekview. The streak will certainly come to an end…but unless they can slow down Isaac Hubert and the Grizzlies defense it won’t be this year. We like Creekview by 12.
The Skinny
The Etowah Eagles continue to improve as they search for their first win of the season. We talked about the Eagles defense last week and they did what they needed to do last week, holding the North Forsyth offense to just 14 points. The Eagles held Patrick Corrigan to just 78 yards rushing but he was able to find pay dirt twice. Etowah will need to continue to get Elijah Washington and the ground game going. Look for the Eagles to also improve through the air this week as well.
North Cobb comes into this game winners of their last two and are playing at a high level. The Warriors are averaging 36.6 points per game and allowing 21 points per game. North Cobb is a star studded team led on offense by junior quarterback Malachi Singleton. He’s thrown for 538 yards and 6-TDs and also leads the team in rushing. Singleton has a spoil of riches at receiver included players like Reggie Givhan, Sam Mbake, and Marquise Groves-Killebrew. Defensively, Josh Josephs leads the way already recording six tackles for loss in the first two games of the season,
North Cobb just has too much talent on offense for Etowah to overcome this week. We like the Warriors by 30.
The Skinny
The River Ridge Knights are back at home after the bye week. We can expect them to by ready to get going after their offense was somewhat limited last time out. The Knights have been balanced on offense this season averaging 134 yards passing and 157 yards passing in their three contests. Quarterback Carson Lathem is completing 64% of his passes for 393 yards and 4-TDs. Last year’s Class 6-A rushing leader, Amehre Morrison has rushed for 339 yards and 5-TDs, while Jackson Head leads the team in receiving with 10 catches for 137 yards. Linebacker Dylon Persaud leads the Ridge with 24 total tackles while Brian Bradley has been a menace for opposing offenses with a team leading 12 tackles for loss. River Ridge is averaging 35.3 points per game while the defense is allowing 12.3.
The Chattahoochee Cougars are replacing a lot of key pieces from last year’s squad. The Cougars broke out last week against Northview after being shutout in their first two games. Chattahoochee has used a couple of different quarterbacks this season with Caleb Myers and Garrett Glass. We believe it will be Myers getting the majority of the snaps this week. The southpaw has a strong arm and has shown that he is fleet of foot. On defense, Chase Washington and Reeko Johnson will need a big game to disrupt the River Ridge rushing attack
Chattahoochee is going to have their hands full this week with a very talented River Ridge squad. If Caleb Myers can make some plays with his feet and the defense can bottle up Amehre Morrison, then the Cougars could pull the upset. We believe it’s possible, but not probably. River Ridge by 25.
The Skinny
The Woodstock Wolverines will continue their challenging non-region schedule as they host the 5A Top-10 Calhoun Yellow Jackets. Woodstock’s defense kept them in the game last week with a pick-6 early, but the turnover bug plagued the Wolverines again last week. Woodstock is showing improvement each week, but this really is an unforgiving schedule. Defensively, the Wolverines will need to limit the explosive plays and the offense will look to finish drives with scores.
The Calhoun Yellow Jackets got back to their winning ways last week as they beat Ridgeland by 49. Quarterback Christian Lewis was a perfect 14-14 in the victory. Lewis also has some big time weapons at his disposal including Cole Speer (UGA Commit), Peyton Law a 6’7” receiver, Quin Smith another talented receiver, (and Air Force Academy commit), and Gage Leonard (Navy commit) at running back and safety who transferred over from Christian Heritage during the off-season. Currently the Jackets are averaging 39.3 points per game and while the defense is allowing 26.6 points per game, yet prior to last week’s game, they were allowing 36.5.
For Woodstock, they need to find a way to sustain drives. Calhoun has several weapons at their disposal on offense. If the Wolverines can run the football and force a few turnovers they might have a chance to pull off the upset. We believe that is a real long shot. We like Calhoun by four touchdowns.