It’s time again for us to take a look at our Eight Greats Around the State. This is our take on some of the more intriguing high school football matchups around the great State of Georgia.
First up, the Jones County Greyhounds host the Perry Panthers. Both teams have quarterbacks that can air it out, but can Perry put last week’s loss behind them, or will the let Houston County beat them twice? Over in Buford, the Wolves are back home to host the North Cobb Warriors. In last season’s matchup, North Cobb late a lead slip away, can they return the favor and beat Buford on the road on Friday?
Down in Savannah, Calvary Day will host Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy. It’s shaping up to be a quarterback duel. Will Eagle’s Landing Christian bounce back after a tough loss or will Calvary Day hold serve at home? Finally, down in Blakely, the Early County Bobcats will host the Schley County Wildcats. It will be a game of contrasting styles as the run heavy Bobcats will look to ground the aerial attack of the Wildcats.
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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
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 Jones County Greyhounds will look to keep their momentum going in Week-3 as they host Perry. Last week it was Javious Bond leading the Greyhounds in receiving and rushing yards. On the season, Bond has rushed for 201 yards and 2-TDs and caught 3 passes for 112 yards and 3-TDs. Quarterback Judd Anderson has thrown for 360 yards. Eight different receivers have caught passes for Jones County.
The Perry Panthers will look to bounce back from a heartbreaking loss last week. The Panthers stuffed the stat sheet last week as Armar Gordon threw for 380 yards and 6-TDs while Dakarai Anderson caught 7 passes for 193 yards and 3-TDs. Running back Demetrious Carter also chipped in 135 yards on 20 carries. The 56 points that Perry scored last week where the most since 2016.
This game might be another track meet with two teams that can light up the scoreboard. We expect Perry’s Gordon to put up more big numbers this week, but believe that Jones County has a few more weapons and should be victorious in Gray this Friday. Jones County by 8.
The Skinny
The Buford Wolves went on the road to Charlotte and defeated Mallard Creek in a game that was not even close. The Wolves are allowing 7 points per game and those points are coming well after their games have been decided. Buford quarterback Dylan Wittke has passed for 263 yards this season while Justice Haynes leads the Wolves in rushing with 166 yards. Junior receiver K.J Bolden leads the team in receiving. The starters have not had to play much in the second half, because these games have been decided by halftime.
The North Cobb Warriors will come calling for the Wolves this week. The Warriors were off last week. North Cobb has one of the more impressive offensive lines in Cobb County with Marselle Felton and Robert Grigsby helping pave the way. They rushed for over 200 yards in their Week-1 victory over Westlake. Quarterback Malachi Singleton is the top-rated dual threat quarterback in the state. He only passed for 92 yards in his first outing, but rushed for 110 yards. He also has a coupe of talented running backs in the backfield with him in David Mbadinga and Ben Hall.
The road gets tougher for Buford this week, as North Cobb will be a more formidable opponent. We expect for the Buford defense to surrender more than seven points this week. However, Buford will still be stingy. We like the Wolves by 10 in a big win over the Warriors this week.
The Skinny
Calvary Day (Savannah) is certainly a program on the rise. They have a highly touted quarterback in junior Jake Mercklinger. Last season, he threw for over 2,500 yards while completing 70% of his passes. He’s not quite off to a torrid pace yet through one game, but he did throw for 161 yards and 3-TDs with no interceptions. Five different Calvary Day receivers caught passes in Week-1 while A.J. Butts led the team in rushing with 58 yards on just 5 carries. The Cavaliers used eight different ball carriers in their Week-1 victory.
The Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy (ELCA) Chargers will visit Calvary Day looking to bounce back from a loss against Class 6A, Blessed Trinity. Running back Brandon Hood looks to be well on his way to a 1,000 yard season as he’s rushed for 357 yards on 49 carries in the first two games this year. He has certainly been a workhorse for the Chargers. ELCA also has a highly touted quarterback of their own in Charlie Gilliam, who is a Wake Forest commit.
This could be another game where the scoreboard operator is busy. We expect for an entertaining matchup between these two veteran quarterbacks. We believe the ELCA ground game might be the difference however, as Hood is tough to stop once he gets to the second level. We like ELCA by 9 on the road.
The Skinny
The Early County Bobcats have raced off to a 2-0 start as they have already notched two region wins. The Bobcats defense has been pretty stingy allowing 7 points per game. Early County is a run first and run often team. They are led by running back Charlie Williams who has already tallied five touchdowns in two games while quarterback J.D. Holmes has also added 2-TDs on the season. We know it’s early,(no pun intended), in the season, but the Bobcats are already averaging 39.5 points per game.
The Schley County Wildcats will take their high flying passing attack on the road this week as they make the trip from Ellaville to Blakely. Schley County quarterback Jay Kanazawa threw for 266 yards and 2-TDs in their week-1 matchup. His primary target is Jaylewis Solomon, who caught 9 passes for 121 yards. We did not see Zayden Walker run the ball in Week-1 as Malachi Banks had the lion share of the carries, rushing for 116 yards on 12 carries.
Two things we’d like to see from Early County: #1 control the clock and #2 pressure Schley’s Kanazawa. If Early County cannot get any pressure on the Schley County quarterback, Early could get carved up like a Thanksgiving Turkey. We like the Bobcats to keep it close, but we believe Schley is the top dog in this classification. Wildcats by 11.