As we enter the last third of the high school football season in Georgia, the region races in 5-7A and 7-6A are heating up. This week five of the six Cherokee County Football teams are in action.
Etowah will host Cherokee in the County’s oldest rivalry. The Eagles are searching for their first win of the season while Cherokee is looking to bounce back after their first loss. Can Etowah derail the Warriors or will Cherokee continue their recent offensive barrage? Next up Creekview hosts Riverwood. The Grizzlies and their tremendous defense look to slow down Riverwood and their dual threat quarterback, Avery Smith. Will Creekview shut down the high scoring Raiders or will Riverwood tame the Grizzlies defense?
Meanwhile, down in Woodstock, there will be a battle of the Knights, as the River Ridge Knights host the Centennial Knights. Centennial is a team with a lot of talented youth, but will have their hands full with a confident River Ridge team. Can Centennial upset River Ridge or will River Ridge continue their mastery of Region 7-6A? Finally Sequoyah will travel to Chattahoochee to face the Cougars. Both teams need to win to keep pace in region play. Will Sequoyah’s rushing attack be enough to keep the explosive Cougars offense on the sidelines this week or will the Cougars find a way to slow down Jaden Mitchell and the Chiefs?
As always, thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment and share. Best of luck to all of the teams competing on Friday night.
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The Skinny
The Etowah Eagles are back at home this week and hope to fair better than last week. Etowah was held to 120 yards of total offense in last week’s loss and it doesn’t get much easier this week. The Eagles will look to get things going behind Klivert Many who is the 3rd leading rusher in the county entering play last week. Etowah is allowing 27.8 points per game while the offense is averaging 7.3 points per game.
The Cherokee Warriors suffered their first setback of the season, falling to Roswell. A.J. Swann threw for 321 yards and 3-TDs last week, bringing his totals to 1,406 yards and 15-TDs on the season. Adarrius Harshaw is now up to 552 yards and 5-TDs whole Keith Adams Jr. is creeping up on the 1,000-yard mark with 879 yards and 8-TDs on the season. The 35 points surrendered by the defense was the most all season. The Warriors did intercept two passes, a touchdown saving pick by Riley Lyons and an interception by linebacker Braesen parker who showed that he too was fleet of foot with a nifty return. Despite the 35 points, Cherokee is still only allowing 15.7 points per game. We expect for Cherokee to back bounce back this week as Etowah looks to be a little over matched. Warriors by four touchdowns.
The Skinny
The Creekview Grizzlies will look to bounce back this week after falling in overtime their last time out. Brody Rhodes was the most effective weapon for the Grizzlies rushing for 94 yards and a touchdown on Friday. We just can’t write a preview without talking about the Creekview defense; we really can’t say enough good things about this unit. They held Class 6A’s No. 1 rusher to only 62 rushing yards last week. The Grizzlies are still only allowing 8.1 points per game. They are physical and suffocating and are led by Grant Anderson, Isaac Hubert, Sam Minozzi up front and Cale Anderson, Nick Stewart and Owen Mello in the secondary. They are one of the top defenses we’ve seen in the county in a while.
The Riverwood Raiders are coming off of their bye week last week. The week prior, they dropped a game to River Ridge. The key for the Raiders will be pass protection for quarterback Avery Smith. Smith is just as dangerous running as he is throwing. It will be imperative for Riverwood’s offensive line to give Smith enough time to get the ball downfield to Donovan Logan. The 5’9” wide receiver is speedy and shifty and very tough to catch in the open field. That’s a very tough task against Creekview. Riverwood has enough playmakers to keep it interesting, but the Grizzlies defense is just too tough. We like Creekview by 8.
The Skinny
The River Ridge Knights are back at home to take on Centennial Knights. River Ridge is off to their best start in program history. They needed a fourth quarter comeback and overtime for the victory last week. Amehre Morrison had 62 yards on the ground and two TDs, including the game winner in overtime. Andrew Bingham and Riley Caines stepped up at receiver in the absence of super sophomore Jackson Head. The Knights defense might be the most underrated in the county. They are holding opponents to 18.5 points a game, but the have playmakers all around in guys like Brian Bradley, Hunter Deriso, Liam and Aidan Bruton, Chase Usher and Micah Martineau.
The Centennial Knights were off last week and enter this game looking to find their first win of the season. Sophomore quarterback Zaire Goff who has thrown for 804 yards and 4-TDs, while freshman Nathan Webster leads the team in rushing with 155 yards leads centennial. Senior receivers Julian Nixon (20 receptions, 206 yards) and Jaden Lewis (11 receptions, 228 yards, 1-TD) lead the team in receptions and yardage. Sophomore linebacker Desmond Leverett leads the team in total tackles with 34. Centennial will have to make sure their run defense is up to par to slow down River Ridge this week. We believe that’s too tall of a task for a defense that’s allowing 35.6 points per game. No let down this week. We like River Ridge by a big number this week. Call it five touchdowns.
The Skinny
The Chattahoochee Cougars come out of the bye week looking to bounce back from their second region loss. The Cougars are very much in contention for a playoff birth, but still have big games ahead of them. Quarterback Jaylen Smith has thrown for 1,218 yards and 13-TDs this season. The lefty is also dangerous taking off and beating teams with he legs, as he also leads the team in rushing with 236 yards and 4-TDs. The top receivers for Chattahoochee are Jahmal Smith (33 receptions 469 yards, 4-TDs), Ben Godwin (18 receptions, 304 yards, 4-TDs) and Jordan Palmer (14 receptions, 286 yards, 4-TDs.) The Cougars are averaging 30.4 points per game, but allowing 33.8 points this season.
The Sequoyah Chiefs got their first victory of the season and kept their playoff hopes alive by beating Cambridge on Monday night. It was a back and forth matchup that saw Jayden Mitchell score two rushing touchdowns and two receiving touchdowns including the game winner in the corner of the end-zone. The Chiefs recorded their highest score all season in the victory with 44 and are now averaging 19.8 points per game. With a quick turnaround this week, the Chiefs will have to shore up some things in the secondary as they’ll face a pass happy Chattahoochee team. This might have been the game Sequoyah needed to make a run here at midseason. The Chiefs will be able to score on the Cougars, but we don’t know if they can outscore them. It will be another high scoring game and maybe a lot closer than some think, but we like the Cougars in this one by 2.