As we enter Week-8 of the high school football season in Cherokee County, region races are stating to heat up. This week five of the six county teams are in action as Etowah has a bye. Three of the county teams will be on the road out of county this week.
First up, Cherokee heads down to Holt Road to take on the Wheeler Wildcats. After two bye weeks, will Cherokee’s offensive line be able to set the tone for the offense or will Wheeler’s Josiah Allen run wild this week? Next, in Acworth, the Woodstock Wolverines will pay a visit to face the Allatoona Buccaneers. Both teams are looking to stay in playoff contention, can Woodstock find a way to slow down Allatoona’s run heavy offense?
The Sequoyah Chiefs will log the most miles this week as they head over to Rome. The Chiefs defense has been impressive the last three outings, however Rome is a different animal. Can the Chiefs tame the big bad Wolves? Finally down in Woodstock, the River Ridge Knights will host the Creekview Grizzlies. River Ridge is playing their first home game in over a month. Can the Knights get back on track or will the Grizzlies stay hot?
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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 Wheeler Wildcats have won three straight games and will look to make it four games and pick up a region win in the process. Wheeler’s offense is paced by running back Josiah Allen. He rushed for 765 yards and 9-TDs. Allen is a physical back who is tough to bring down and doe this best work in between the tackles. Wheeler is averaging 83.2 yards per game through the air and 234 yards per game on the ground. Their offense is averaging 20 points per game while the defense is allowing 14.
The Cherokee Warriors are coming off of a double bye week. The Warriors will be looking to stop their current two game skid. Cherokee is averaging 171.2 yards per game through the air, while rushing for 63.2 yards per game on the ground. That’s a stark contract from their opposition this week. Quarterback Tanner Savasir has thrown for 856 yards and 8-TDs. His top receivers have been Kaden “Pops” Jameson and Jayce Jones. They’ve combined for 36 receptions for 426 yards and 3-TDs.
Cherokee will face another team that relies heavily on the run. They will have to figure out a way to slow down Allen or otherwise it will be a long night. Conversely, they’ll need to establish their own rushing attack. We expect this to be a low scoring game, we like the Warriors in a gut check game. Cherokee by 5.
The Skinny
The Allatoona Buccaneers come out of the bye week with a home game. The Bucs find themselves at the bottom of the region standings this week, which is not something they are used to seeing. Allatoona continues to rely heavily on the ground game as we can expect for them to feed Woodstock a steady diet of Jayden Ponder on Friday night. Turnovers have plagued Allatoona’s offense. They will need to contain to improve on ball security. Allatoona is averaging 19 points per game, while the defense is allowing 26.5.
The Woodstock Wolverines will be on the road this week as they well be looking to keep their playoff hopes alive. Woodstock’s offense is averaging 6 points per game while the defense is allowing 51.1 points per game. Wide receiver Adonis Garcia had one of his better outings last week as he caught six passes for 72 yards. Garcia leads the team in receiving with 22 receptions for 203 yards. Drew Burmeister, Carson Gray and Evan McKellar continue to lead the Wolverines in total tackles.
Expect for Allatoona to go back to the ground to this week against Woodstock. The story for Woodstock doesn’t change; they will need to continue to find small victories and keep themselves in games late. We believe the Wolverines will be more competitive this week, but we like the Bucs by 3-TDs.
The Skinny
The Rome Wolves racked up 342 yards of offense last week in a big win over Woodstock. The Wolves forced five turnovers en route to their second region win of the season. The 70 points that Rome scored were the most points they have put up in a game since 1996. Rome is averaging 35.5 points per game on offense while the defense is allowing just 12.6. The Wolves have won three straight games and recorded their second shutout of the season last week.
The Sequoyah Chiefs have now reeled off three straight wins and are in a tie for first place in the region. Offensively, Sequoyah is averaging 17.1 points per game. Jackson Hancock has done a little bit of everything for the Chiefs, he leads the team in rushing with 365 yards and 4-TDs and also leads them in receiving with 11 receptions for 231 yards and 2-TDs. The Sequoyah Chiefs defense continues to impress during this three game stretch, as they are holding the opposition to just 9.3 points per game. Overall, the Chiefs are allowing 23.1 points per game.
If Sequoyah is going to pull off what seems to be an upset, they will need a big game from their defensive ends, Ty Moores and Ean Marria. They’ve been trouble for opposing defenses the last few games. Meanwhile, expect Rome to attempt to assert themselves as the more physical team. Sequoyah should keep it close for a half, but we like Rome to pull away late. Wolves by 13.
The Skinny
The River Ridge Knights will be looking to bounce back from their first loss in region play. The Knights offense was held to just a touchdown in last week’s game. Despite the 7 points they scored last week, River Ridge is still averaging 29.8 points per game. Through the first five games of the season, Quarterback Ethan Spector has thrown for 958 yards and 8 – TDs. Twelve different Knight receivers have caught at least one pass this season. Meanwhile, during that same five game stretch, Isaiah Coughlan and Camden Cox have combined for 468 yards rushing and 10-TDs. The River Ridge defense is allowing 18.3 points per game and prior to last week’s game had sacked opposing quarterbacks 9 times.
The Creekview Grizzlies got a big win lost week as they downed Etowah and took a step closer to securing a playoff spot. Sophomore quarterback Austin Guest has now thrown for over 1,000 yards on the season and is completing 60% of his passes. Isaac Hubert went over the century mark for the third straight game as he is now at 493 yards and 8-TDs. Cal Shubert and Camden Lusk have combined to catch 41 passes for 605 yards and 2-TDs. The offense is averaging 20.8 points per game while the defense is allowing 19 points per game.
We expect a more inspired performance this week from River Ridge. They are a talented team. We believe they will put more points on the board Friday night. For Creekview, can the Grizzlies remain focused and not get ambushed by the Knights. We like Creekview by 3.