It’s hard to believe that we’ve almost reached the midpoint of the high school football season in the great state of Georgia. This is our weekly feature where we preview some of the intriguing high school football matchups.
Our first matchup takes us to Roswell as the Blessed Trinity Titans will host the Marist War Eagles. Blessed Trinity escaped with a victory over St. Pius last week. Will the Titans be able to figure out the Marist option attack? Down in Ocilla, the Irwin County Indians will host the Rockmart Yellow Jackets. The Jackets will make the almost 4 hour trip to try to avenge one of last year’s losses. Will the Jackets be able to slow down the Irwin County run game?
Over in Lincolnton, the Lincoln County Red Devils and Commerce Tigers will lock horns for the 22nd time. Both of these teams will look to impose their will on the ground. Finally, up in Dahlonega, the Mason Sullens show marches on as the Lumpkin County running back is quickly encroaching on a 1,000 yards rushing. Can Hart County find a way to out duel the Indians?
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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
Historical records are provided by the Georgia High School Football Historians Association. (ghsfa.org)
The Skinny
The Blessed Trinity Titans have won their first three games for the second straight season. The Titans are led on offense by quarterback Brooks Goodman has thrown for 502 yards and 3-TDs with no interceptions. Goodman’s top receivers have been Zyon McKenzie, Bryce, Lewis, Quinn Davis and Logan Crispo who have combined for 28 receptions and 372 yards. Running back Kameron Betts leads the team in rushing with 155 yards and 2-TDs. The Titans are averaging 26.3 points per game while allowing just 7. Defensively, freshman D.J. Jacobs leads the team with 20 total tackles. The defense has sacked opposing quarterbacks 6 sacks.
The Marist War Eagles have now won three consecutive games and will look to even this series up with a win on Friday night. Quarterback Jack Euart continued to show effectiveness through the air last week. However, we understand that Marist is a run first offensive team. Fullback Jackson Hughes will look to gash the interior of the Titan’s defense this week. At 225lbs, Hughes is a load to bring down and he’s proven he does have some speed in the open field. Through four games, Marist is averaging 26.5 points per game while allowing 16.2 points per game.
Expect for Blessed Trinity to test the Marist secondary early and often. We believe the key to this game is whether or not Marist can establish their ground game. We believe the War Eagles do just enough this week to get past the Titans. Marist by 4.
The Skinny
Last week, Irwin County defeated Turner County on the heels of their offensive strength. The Indians tallied more than 500 rushing yards in the victory. Shane Marshall is the leader of that group, but Wesley Walters and Jaken Thomas have shown the are more than capable of adding to the dynamic rushing attack. Quarterback Luke Snyder has also shown that he is capable of doing more than just handing the ball off to his running backs as he’s shown consistency in completing passes in the short and intermediate routes. The Indians are averaging 27.3 points per game while allowing 28.
The Rockmart Yellow Jackets lost last week to Class 5-A Dalton by a touchdown. Now the 2A school will make the long road trip to Ocilla to face Irwin. Quarterbacks J.D. Davis and Calliyon Thompson have combined to pass for 367 yards on the season with one passing TD between them. Jake Bailey has been the primary target for the Jackets quarterbacks. The senior has caught 11 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown. Senior running backs Brent Washington and Nahzir Turner have combined to rush for 280 yards and 3-TDs. Defensively, the Jackets are allowing 19 points per game and have sacked opposing quarterbacks 8 times in 3 games.
Both of Rockmart’s losses have come at the hands of teams in higher. Classifications by a combined total of 8-points. Our biggest question is how will they handle the long road trip to South Georgia. We believe this game will be just as close as their other games this season. Our heart tells us Rockmart has the talent to slow down the Irwin express. But our head tells us Irwin County is waiting to ambush the Jackets. Irwin by 2.
The Skinny
The Lincoln County Red Devils avenged one of their losses last season and recorded their first shutout in the process when they beat Emmanuel County Institute back on September 1st. The Red Devils were off last week and will now be looking to avenge another one of last season’s defeats. In their two victories this year, they have run the ball 69 times and thrown only 9. Lincoln County is averaging 186.3 yards per game rushing and 116.5 yards per game passing.Running back Semaj Jenkins and quarterback Mehki Wade lead the Devils in rushing team with 320 yards and 3-TDs. Wade has also thrown for 199 yards and a touchdown and is completing 71% of his passes.
The Commerce Tigers are also coming off of a bye week and will try to get back on track this week after suffering their first defeat of the season. Similar to Lincoln County, the Tigers will do most of their damage with the rushing attack. Keep your eye on speedy backs Jaiden Daniels and Jacari Huff as they both showcase game breaking speed. Meanwhile Tysean Wiggins is a throwback bruising fullback that is rarely tackled by one defender. The Tigers are averaging 32.6 points per game while allowing 21.
This might be one of the faster games played in the state this weekend as both teams will likely use the ground game primarily. We believe Lincoln County will keep this game close, but something tells us Wiggins has a big night. Commerce steals one on the road. Tigers by 3.
The Skinny
The Lumpkin County Indians are off to another torrid start and have won three straight games to open the season. (It’s only the 7th time in school history they’ve started 3-0.) Mason Sullens has been the workhorse for the Indians with 609 yards and 9-TDs. Cal Faulkner has made the transition from receiver to quarterback and is completed 70% of his passes with 4-TDs and zero interceptions. The Indians are averaging 42 points per game while the defense is allowing just 11.3 per game.
The Hart County Bulldogs have dropped two out of their first three games this season and the road doesn’t get easier this week as they visit Dahlonega. The offense has done well to average 17.3 points per game considering the competition they’ve faced thus far. We have to expect the Bulldogs will be looking to get Nori Moore going early and often to keep the explosive Lumpkin offense on the sidelines. Defensively, the Bulldogs are allowing 28.6 points per game.
This is the first meeting between these two teams. Lumpkin seems to have hit their stride offensively already. We believe that gives them an edge even if Moore and the Bulldogs have a big day offensively. We like Lumpkin by 10.