We are quickly approaching the midpoint of the high school football season in Cherokee County. All six county teams will be in action this week and we preview all of the Cherokee County Football games this week.
First up, the Cherokee Warriors will be on the road as they visit the West Forsyth Wolverines. The Warriors will be looking to get the ground game going again, while doing their best to stop West Forsyth’s rushing attack. Meanwhile, the Creekview Grizzlies will host the Allatoona Buccaneers. Both teams picked up their first win win of the season last week. Can the Grizzlies stay hot at home or will the Buccaneers ground game wear down Creekview?
The Etowah Eagles will host the Sequoyah Chiefs this Friday. Etowah is certainly the surprise team of the county this season, as they are the only undefeated team remaining. Will the Eagles continue to fly high, or will the Chiefs ground game ground the Eagles? Finally, the Woodstock Wolverines will host the River Ridge Knights. The Wolverines have dropped the last two gams in the series against River Ridge and are looking to pick up their first win of the season. Will Woodstock catch River Ridge off guard or will the River Ridge offense have another big 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
The West Forsyth Wolverines got back into the win column last week as they defeated the Cambridge Bears. Last week the Wolverines rushed for 336 yards on the ground. On the season, they are averaging 182 yards per game on the ground and 100 yards per game through the air. Their rushing leader is Air Force commit Peyton Streko. Streko has rushed for 600 yards on 90 carries with 7-TDs. Last Friday, the Wolverines only attempted 7 passes. When they do go to the air, expect tight-end Henry Delp to be their primary target. In their first three games, Delp caught 9 passes for 105 yards. Defensively, the Wolverines have sacked opposing quarterbacks 12 times this season and are allowing 23.5 points per game.
The Cherokee Warriors will look to get back on track in their last non-region matchup of the year. The Warriors had an early lead against rival Sequoyah last week, but could not hang on late as some special teams miscues hurt Cherokee last week. Penalties were also a bugaboo for the Warriors last week as they will need to continue to get that cleaned up. Cherokee is averaging 19.5 points per game and allowing 25.5. They’ve also allowed 3 special teams touchdowns this season. So that 25.5 points might be a little misleading. If Cherokee can clean up the penalties and special teams miscues, we believe they will have a chance to get back into the win column this week.
The Wolverines have a dynamic running back in Streko. Can the Cherokee front seven do enough to shut Streko down this week? We believe they can slow him down, but not shut him down. We like the Wolverines by 6 this week.
The Skinny
The Creekview Grizzlies picked up their first win of the season as they scored early and often last week to defeat North Forsyth. The Grizzlies got touchdowns from Issac Hubert (2), Austin Guest, Cal Shubert and Michael Roach in the victory. Creekview showed improvement through the air as Austin Guest completed 75% of his passes for 270 yards and 2-TDs. The aforementioned Hubert also added 110 yards on the ground. He’s accounted for must of the Grizzlies rushing yards this season with 214 total and 4-TDs. Creekview’s defense was impressive last week holding North Forsyth to their lowest point output of the season. (Prior to last week, North was averaging 30 points per game.)
The Allatoona Buccaneers also picked up their first win of the season as they defeated Hillgrove. The Buccaneers had their biggest scoring outburst combined with their best defensive performance last week. On the season, Allatoona is averaging 18.2 points per game while allowing 23.2. Last week, Jayden Ponder had a big game as he tallied 170 yards and 2-TDs in the victory. Ponder now has 572 yards rushing with 4-TDs. The Bucs have leaned more on the run than the pass this season, averaging 89.8 yards per game through the air and 159.5 yards per game on the ground.
The ability to run the football is important to both teams. They also rely heavily on their respective defenses. Neither team is averaging over 19 points per game, which is why we believe the first team to get to 21 points will win this game. We believe the Bucs have just enough on offense to get past the Grizzlies. Allatoona by 3.
The Skinny
The Etowah Eagles are off to their first 4-0 season since 2014. The Eagles are the talk of Cherokee County after winning two games total in the previous two seasons. Etowah is off to a fast start with bigger goals in mind than just a 4-0 start. Etowah has been getting things done on the ground this season with quarterback Xavier Mahoney and running backs Reece Wehr and Johar Cacho. Going into last week, Mahoney was the leading rusher in Class 6A. He added 105 yards to bring his total to 640 on the season. Etowah is averaging is averaging 29.7 points per game so far this season while allowing 19.7 this season.
The Sequoyah Chiefs got in the win column last week as they defeated their rival Cherokee on the road. Sequoyah was led by their special teams unit which blocked a field goal and returned it for a touchdown and also returned a kickoff for a touchdown. Jackson Hancock was a key cog for the Chiefs special teams. Meanwhile the Chiefs continued to control time of possession in their signature Wing-T offense. Expect to see more of the same this week with backs Tyler Bell, Asante Chimanda, and the aforementioned Hancock. Defensively, Ty Moores and Ean Marria have been extremely disruptive for the Chiefs this season. It will be interesting to see if they can be neutralized by the Etowah offensive line.
This game will be won in the trenches as both teams really like to run the ball, even though they go about it differently. Both teams also have dynamic playmakers in Mahoney for Etowah and Hancock for Sequoyah. We believe the one who get’s the most touches will have the biggest impact on the game. Because Mahoney plays QB for Etowah, we believe he will have more opportunities to make impact plays, and for that reason, we like Etowah by 7.
The Skinny
The Woodstock Wolverines will be back at home as they open region play against rival River Ridge. The Wolverines got some big special teams play last week and were right there in the game again until a tsunami of scoring occurred in the second quarter against Lassiter last week. The Wolverines will continue to look to get the ball into the hands of their playmakers, namely Adonis Garcia, Chase Colina and Luke Renninger at wide receiver and running back Isaiah Payton. This week, the Wolverines will again try to continue to improve and sustain drives as they look for more consistency from their offense.
The River Ridge Knights fell last week to North Atlanta in a game which they turned the ball over five times in the loss. We can only imagine that ball security will be a big focus in practice for the Knights. Even after being held to 13 points last week, the Knights are still averaging 32 points per game. The River Ridge defense did well last week to just surrender 27 points after being put in difficult situations. Credit to linebackers Brandon Burdette, Brendan Dye and senior defensive lineman Ethan Anderson who leads the team in sacks and is extremely disruptive to opposing offenses.
Expect River Ridge to establish the run this week as Woodstock had some trouble defending it last week. For Woodstock, they’ll need to find a way to keep an attacking aggressive River Ridge defense off-balance. That’s easier said than done. We like the Knights to bounce back this week. River Ridge by four touchdowns.