Week two of the Georgia High School football season is quickly approaching and as usual there are great matchups all over the state. This is Part I of our weekly high school previews that we call Eight Greats Around the State.
First up, the Callaway Cavaliers host the Cedartown Bulldogs. Cedartown is fresh off of a win over their Polk County rival. Will their defense be as effective on the road or will Deshun Coleman and Callaway hold serve at home? Next up in a Southeast Georgia battle, the Camden County Wildcats host the Brunswick Pirates. Brunswick get the best of Camden last season, will Camden hold serve at home this season.
In Midtown Atlanta, the Carver Atlanta Panthers will host the Calhoun Yellow Jackets. The Panthers have been a power in Class 3A over the last few years. Can they take the sting out of a very potent Calhoun offense. Finally, the Coffee Trojans will host the Bainbridge Bearcats on Friday. Both teams have shown the ability to run the football effectively. Can Coffee hold Bainbridge at bay or will the Bainbridge ground game by the difference?
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)
Special thanks to the Georgia Helmet Project for providing each team’s helmet. You can find all of their work here: http://gahelmetproject.com
The Skinny
The Callaway Cavaliers will open their season with a tall task this week. Head Coach Pete Wiggins has turned the Cavaliers into a perennial power over in Hogansville and there’s no reason to think this season will be any different. The Callaway offense will be led once again this season by quarterback DeShun Coleman. Last season, Coleman threw for 1,213 yards and rushed for over 350 yards while adding 15 total touchdowns. In his previous two seasons as the starting quarterback, Coleman has led the Cavs to the semifinals and quarterfinals. JoJo Shuman is a pre-season All State selection along the offensive line. Expect for Jordan King to be the primary back for the Cavs this season.
The Cederatown Bulldogs edged Polk County rival Cedartown last week. The Bulldogs were held to 214 yards of total offense last week. It was the combination of Tae Harris and Isaiah Johnson at running back who did the bulk of the damage for the Bulldogs as they combined for 100 yards rushing on 25 carries. First year starter Drew Ledbetter was efficient, completing 62.5% of his passes for 97 yards and a touchdown for the primarily run based offense. The aforementioned Johnson and Tadji Neal also helped pace the defense with 9 and 8 total tackles respectively while Johnson also added a sack.
If Callaway can avoid a slow start, we believe they have enough explosive options on offense to put pressure on a Cedartown team that is still breaking in new starters at key positions. Cedartown ran away with this game last season. We don’t expect a repeat. We like the experience of Coleman at quarterback for the Cavs. But something tells us Cedartown’s ground game will be the difference. Bulldogs by 6.
The Skinny
The Camden County Wildcats opened the season with a victory last week and will now host one of their oldest rivals Friday night. The Wildcats got a big night from Jaden Daily as he rushed for 140 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Mason Robinson was efficient while not throwing the ball much, he completed 80% of his passes for 118 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, the Wildcats were led by Cooper Thornhill and Kanaan Graham with 13 and 11 total tackles respectively.
The Brunswick Pirates were off last week as we can assure they are chomping at the bit to hit the field on Friday. The Pirates return plenty of talent from last years region title team including quarterback J.R. Elkins who passed for over 1,500 yards and 19-TDs in the 2022 campaign. He will be joined in the backfield by two familiar faces in running backs Jamarius Towns and William Heck as the two juniors helped lead a ground attack that averaged 226 yards per game last year. Defensively, all eyes will be on Devin Smith as the senior linebacker has racked up plenty of preseason accolades and has been heavily recruited by Power-4 conferences. Smith led the team in sacks and tackles for loss last season.
Camden County will have their hands full with Brunswick as they return several key pieces. The Pirates do have some holes to fill defensively due to graduation. The biggest question to be answered is whether or not Brunswick can bottle up Camden’s ground attack. We believe they can. We like the Pirates by 2 on the road.
The Skinny
The Carver Atlanta Panthers have made deep playoff runs over the last three seasons, including a finals appearance in 2021. Last week, quarterback Adam Sheely made his debut as a starter and threw for 175 yards and a touchdown while completing 69% of his passes. Sheely spread the ball around between four different receivers with Roderick Hunter and sophomore Terrious Favors leading the way. Sheely and Amari Russell each had 40 yards rushing on the night, with Russell being the bell-cow, carrying the ball 15 times in the victory. Joshua Stone led the Panthers in tackles while Jamontez Hines recorded 5 sacks in the game last week.
The Calhoun Yellow Jackets offense was held in check last week by Blessed Trinity. It was a long road trip for the Jackets and this week, they will venture further into Atlanta into the heart of Midtown for their game. Last week, Calhoun’s offense was held in check for most of the game as they were not able to get the ground game going as they were held to -10 yards rushing. Their run defense however was serviceable, holding Blessed Trinity to just 66 yards on the ground. They’ll need another effort like that defensively if they want a win on the road.
We can only guess that Calhoun will look to get the ground game and Caden Williams going this week. Neither team was overly effective in the ground game in Week-1. We believe the team that is able to establish the line of scrimmage on offense wins this one. We like Calhoun to bounce back on the road. Jackets by 6.
The Skinny
The Coffee Trojans racked up 458 yards of total offense last week in their win over TIft County. Senior running back Fred Brown tallied 234 yards on 27 carries and added 2-TDs. Fellow senior quarterback Maurice Hansley threw for 183 yards and 2-TDs. He completed passes to six different receivers. The Coffee defense was paced by Jyarius Carter and Jaquavious Simpkins. The Trojans seemed to pick up where they left off last season defensively allowing less than 16 points per game over the course of the 2022 season.
The Bainbridge Bearcats scored early and often last week as they got a big win over ELCA. The Bearcats did most of their damage on the ground offensively as they racked up 258 rushing yards and 6 rushing TDs. Keenan Phillips was the workhorse for Bainbridge with 206 yards and 3-TDs on 17 carries. The Bearcats starting QB Cam Sanders did complete 5 passes for 53 yards and a touchdown. Last season the Bainbridge offense allowed 17.4 points per game and on Friday night, they held ELCA out of the end zone and managed to score points themselves on a pick 6 by junior safety Tashun Carter.
Both of these teams reached the quarterfinals in their respective classifications last season and we have no reason to doubt they can’t make a run again come November. However with regards to this game, we like the versatility of the Coffee offense. It should be another close ball game, but we like the Trojans by 2.