Week two cranks up as 4 county teams go head to head; while the other two teams face very formidable opponents. The River Ridge Knights might have the toughest draw as they take on Class AA defending state champion Hapeville Charter. Etowah will tangle with North Cobb as they try to tame running back Christian Singleton. The county’s second oldest rivalry game features the Sequoyah Chiefs visiting the Cherokee Warriors. Creekview and Woodstock will face off for the first time ever. Can Coach Carter and the Grizzlies match last weeks red-hot start? The TFR staff will be at Woodstock to check out the Wolverines and the new-look Grizzlies and to see if it’s Woodstock or Creekview that have the best student section in Cherokee County. Check out our game previews below. As always, we appreciate any and all feedback.
Key:
TFR – Turd Ferguson Report
GSWA – Georgia Sports Writers Association
NR – Not Ranked
The Skinny
The River Ridge Knights dominated time of possession last week against county foe Etowah, but were unable to convert the ball control offense into points. The Knights attempted 38 running plays from scrimmage. We can probably expect more of the ground game from the Knights as the again face one Georgia’s football titans over the last few years, the Hapeville Hornets. Pay no attention that the Hornets are a Class AA team. They won the state title last year, and anyone who has spent any time in the state of Georgia knows that there is a high level of high school football played in every classification. And yes, the Hapeville Hornets are a prime example.
The Hornets will be breaking in a new quarterback in Jordan Slocum, who transferred in from Southwest Macon last season. Slocum will be flanked in the backfield by running back Marcus Carroll. Defensively, the Hornets will be paced by pre-season all state selections, Malik Fleming in the secondary and Mel Johnson on the defensive line. There is no doubt that Hapeville graduated a lot of talent from last year’s state title team, but we believe there is still enough talent to get a win in the 7thAnnual Inner-City classic. We like Hapeville to win this one by two touchdowns.
The Skinny
Both North Cobb and Etowah got their season’s started off with a victory last week. North Cobb was led by Christian Singleton, who rushed for 174 yards on 30 carries. Singleton was truly a work horse. We can only imagine that the Etowah defense will be getting a steady dose of him all night. The Eagles do return a couple of talented defensive linemen that should make repeating last week’s performance by Singleton a little more challenging.
However, North Cobb is not a one-trick pony. Quarterback Trevor Lovett can also get it done through the air for the Warriors. The Eagles will try to establish their own ground game with Nick Maddox, who will run behind Dominick D’Antonio, Will Robertson and Porfirio Acosta. Eagles quarterback Dalton Miller led an efficient effort for the Eagles, as he was 12 of 15 passing with 185 yards and 2-TDs. We expect this to be a physical game that becomes a back and forth, see-saw battle. We like North Cobb to edge the Eagles by less than a field-goal.
The Skinny
The Adam Carter era got off to a great start as the Creekview Grizzlies got a big win against Cambridge last week. This game will feature a few of the county’s top offensive linemen highlighted by Trevor Stephens from Woodstock and Nick Pendley and John Williams from Creekview. The Grizzlies offensive line paved the way for leading rusher Cade Radam last week, as he racked up over 160 yards on the ground. Woodstock had its hands full last week with a talented North Cobb running back, so they should be no stranger to keying in on a feature running back.
Dean Braxton held his own in his first start under center as he and the Wolverines got some much-needed game experience. Woodstock will present a little better challenge for the Grizzlies, as the two teams play in the regular season for the first time ever. However, we think Creekview might be ready to make a statement that they are one of the top teams in the county in 2018. We like the Grizzlies by a touchdown.
The Skinny
The Cherokee Warriors got 2018 off to a good start as they held off a late charge from North Forsyth last week. QB Landon Ergle used his arms and feet to help guide the Warriors to victory. This week, the test gets a little tougher as the Sequoyah Chiefs come calling. The Chiefs have plenty of talent at the skill positions and look to be one of the top teams in the county this season. Sequoyah is led by senior quarterback Collier Pecht. He runs the Chiefs Wing-T offense with great precision. In order to slow down the Chiefs, Kerwin Majano and the Warriors defensive line will need to find a way to disrupt Sequoyah’s timing. Pecht proved last season he can pick teams apart if given enough time.
The Chiefs defense will need to contain Ergle and running back Garrett Miles. Sequoyah shut out Cherokee last season. Will Sequoyah show signs of rust after being off last week? Does the close win last week give the Warriors momentum and the edge coming in to this week? We think the 23rd edition of this rivalry game is much closer than last season, but we still like the Chiefs by 10.