Week-3 is quickly approaching and there is a fantastic slate of games as the landscape of high school football begins to sort itself out in the early season. This is Part-II of our weekly feature where we highlight eight of the more intriguing football matchups around the state of Georgia.
The Westlake Lions will host the Cedar Grove Saints in a matchup that will feature plenty of playmakers. The Lions replaced a lot of starters from a very deep team a season ago, but they haven’t missed a beat. Will they be able to best E.J. Colson and the Saints this week, or is Cedar Grove still one of the best teams in the state? Next, down in Blakely, the Early County Bobcats will host the Schley County Wildcats. We have these as teams pegged as the Top-2 in Class A-Division I. Schley has a prolific offense, but will they be able to figure out the Early County defense this season?
Down in Fitzgerald, there’s a Top-10 matchup brewing as Northeast Macon comes calling. Both teams love to run the football. Fitzgerald will do it by committee while Northeast will lean on Nick Woodford. Will the legs of Woodford be enough to carry Northeast to victory? Finally down in middle Georgia, there’s another great battle as Perry steps up in classification again, this time, to face Jones County. Both teams have quarterbacks that can really let it fly. Will Perry’s Colter Ginn have another big outing or will it be Jones County’s Judd Anderson leading his team to victory.
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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 Westlake Lions are replacing a lot of talent on offense, but that hasn’t tempered expectations or slowed the young Lions down this season . First year starting quarterback Sean Smith has passed for 309 yards and 5-TDs. His top receiver has been Travis Smith Jr, who’s caught eight passes for 184 yards and 2-TDs. Meanwhile, Naeem Odeniyi leads the team in rushing with 203 yards. The Westlake defense has been downright dominant this season, forcing seven turnovers in just two games.
The Cedar Grove Saints will hav their work cut out for them this week as they visit Westlake. Junior quarterback E.J. Colson threw 5-TDs in Week two, but the Saints were bitten by the turnover bug which eventually did them in. Perhaps one of the most surprising stats about this Cedar Grove team is that the defense is allowing 41.5 points again. But you have to take that with a grain of salt as they are playing larger classification schools.
We expect this game to be high scoring as both of these teams have shown their propensity to score early and often. If the Saints can keep the turnovers down, they should find themselves in this game late. Westlake’s ball hawking defense won’t make that easy. We like the Lions by 6.
The Skinny
The Early County Bobcats opened up the season with two region wins. The Bobcats have done most of their damage on the ground with running backs Ty Stovall, Kendarius Boyd, and Charles Williams. As a team, Early is averaging 31 points per game while the defense is allowing 14 points per game. B’Anthony Wade has picked up where he left off last season causing disruption in the oppositions backfield.
The Schley County Wildcats had a week off last week. They looked sharp in week-1 rolling up 543 yards of offense and 61 points. The Wildcats are led by quarterback Jay Kanazawa with 288 yards and 3-TDs. His primary targets were Jalewis Solomon (6 receptions for 136 yards and 1-TD) and Kendall Sims 4 receptions for 72 yards and 1-TD). Meanwhile, it hs been Jeremyah Rogers leading the way on the ground with 147 yards and 2-TDs.
This game features a couple of contrasting styles, with the Bobcats looking to control the game using their rushing attack. They’ll also need another outstanding performance from their defense. It worked last season, but this year, we believe the Wildcats will have the edge. We like Schley by 5.
The Skinny
We admittedly sold the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes short after some of the talent they lost to graduation last season. But even still, they now find themselves near the top of our 2-A rankings. The strength of the Canes certainly rests in their ability to run the football. They are set up well to do just that with an offensive line anchored by Lavon Simmons, Gabe Pearce. There isn’t just one back doing the damage for the Canes as we’ve seen multiple formations and multiple backs have success for Fitzgerald.
The Northeast Macon Raiders are in a little different boat. They will most certainly rely on the legs of senior running back Nick Woodford who was spectacular last season. While we believe Woodford will be featured, don’t discount sophomore quarterback Reginald Glover who threw for over 100 yards in Week-1. If the Raiders are going to stay in this game, they’ll have to limit some a few special teams miscues and turnovers that thwarter drives in last week’s defeat.
We believe this could be one of the shortest games of the year with both teams propensity to run the ball. We beleive Fitzgerald has a little more experience with seniors that have appeared in 3 state title games. Give us the Canes by 11.
The Skinny
The Perry Panthers certainly scheduled some of the best competition in middle Georgia to start the season. While the Panthers got the short end of the stick in week-1 against Class 6A Houston County, they put up some notable numbers. Colter Ginn showed off his passing prowess as he threw for 349 yards and a touchdown. Both Dakari Anderson and Kory Pettigrew went over 100 yards receiving as the duo combined for 12 receptions for 263 yards. On the ground, it was Ahmad Gordon talking the helm and rushing for 91 yards and 3-TDs. Linebacker Jerrell Pinckney led the defense with 11 total tackles in the loss.
The Jones County Bulldogs got in the win column as they defeated Class 6A Dacula last week. This season, Jones County has used both the ground and the air to attack the opposition as they are averaging 200 yards passing and 154.5 yards rushing per game. They’ve used two quarterbacks this season in Judd Anderson and junior Devin Edmonds. The duo has combined for 365 yards and 5-TDs. And while we have seen both quarterbacks this season, expect for Anderson to get the start this week. Daniel Hawk leads the team in total tackles while defensive back Roderick Freeman has already intercepted three passes this season.
Perry won’t be phased by playing up a classification this week. We expect plenty of fireworks as these are two of the top quarterbacks in the area in Anderson and Ginn. Ginn seems to have fit right in with the Panthers and we believe they will ride to victory on his arm. Perry by 8.