Cherokee County Week-1 Game Previews

The Cherokee Warriors and North Forsyth Raiders will clash for the 7^th time on Friday night. Cherokee is looking to bounce back from a tough 2017. The Warriors welcome back Garrett Miles from a non-football related injury last season. He could prove to be an electrifying back for Cherokee. Both Cherokee and North Forsyth will be breaking in new quarterbacks this season. The Warriors will need to slow down the pass-happy North Forsyth Offense. Nicky Dalmolin and Charlie Aiken could present matchup problems for Grant Mogelnicki and the Warriors secondary. North Forsyth also returns their leading rusher from a year ago, Bryson Trigg. If the Warriors can turn the Raiders over and slow down Trigg, they might be able to walk out of North Forsyth with the win. We just think the Raiders return too much on offense. Cherokee keeps it close, but we like the Raiders by 10.

These schools are separated by just under six miles, but this will be the first time these two schools from opposite sides of the City of Woodstock will clash. The visiting Knights will be thrown into the fire this Friday. River Ridge lost all of their scoring to graduation in 2017. They will be breaking in several new skill players. Chico Ward and Kofi Reeves Miller have been mainstays on this team. Look for them along with Chase Tomlinson and Trenton McAllister to battle until the end. Etowah returns All-Region running back, Nick Maddox. They also trot out one of the best offensive lines in Cherokee County. We probably don’t need to talk much about the Etowah defensive line, but they are pretty stout as well; led by Dalton Nicolai and Cole Milovanovic. We think Etowah will flex their muscle and win this one by three scores.

Woodstock will be looking to for some answers this week when they take the field against North Cobb. No need to dwell on the losses to graduation from last season, it’s now time for Dean Braxton to showcase his talents under center. Braxton will have the luxury of offensive tackle Trevor Stephens anchoring the offensive line. They Wolverines will need to find a go to receiver or two. North Cobb’s trademark early in 2017 was their defense. They’ll showcase a pretty darn good running back on offense in Christian Singleton. The Georgia State signee rushed for over 1,300 yards out of the North Cobb spread offense last season. The Wolverines will probably get a steady dose of Singleton. We think Woodstock might just not have the experience this early in the season to contain Singleton. We’ve been wrong before, but we like North Cobb by two touchdowns this week.

The Battle of the Bears renews its rivalry this Friday. It’s been all Creekview in the previous six meetings. The biggest question might be whether or not the new turf will be installed and ready for Friday night. The Creekview Grizzlies return a talented roster that will be highlighted on offense by workhorse running back, Cade Radam. Radam Rushed for over 1,300 yards last season and had eight 100-yard games. He’ll have an impressive offensive line creating the way as well. Cambridge will be breaking in several starters at the skill positions, but Ridge Polk returns for the Bears. Polk had over 900 yards receiving and 13 TDs. We will see how the Grizzlies secondary matches up with Polk. Cambridge will be trying to spoil Creekview’s home opener but we think the Grizzlies will be able to matchup with Polk and win the seventh consecutive in the series. We like Creekview by three scores.