Part II Week-10 Eight Greats Around the State

The Pickens Dragons will host the Ridgeland Panthers for the 6-4A title on Friday night. Pickens finds themselves at 8-0 for the first time in program history. The Dragons offense is averaging 48.1 points a game through the first 8 games of the season. Quarterback CJ Streicher has been steady for Pickens, passing for 951 yards and 16-TDs and rushing for over 700 yards this season   Running back Ryan Davis (556 yards, 8-TDs) leads a host of Pickens backs that have together with Streicher rushed for over 2,700 yards this season. Zach Goss leads the team in receptions with 20 catches for 402 yards and 8-TDs. The Pickens defense is only giving up 11.6 points per game. Linebacker Hunter Herman leads the defense in total tackles with 80.

Yet, Ridgeland presents an entirely different set of challenges for Pickens than they may have faced to date. The Panthers have playmakers at all of the skill positions. Quarterback Tanner Hill his been effective getting the ball down the field to receivers such as Stephon Walker, Azavier Blackwell, and perhaps the most dangerous weapon for the Panthers, Jordan Blackwell. Jordan Blackwell leads the Panthers rushing attack as well. The Panthers faced some stiff competition early on, which may allude to some of the offensive production being down and points surrendered being a little high. Through seven games, the Panthers are yielding 24.1 pointe per game. However, over the last two games, the Panthers have outscored their opponents 118-7. We think this game should go down to the wire, as Pickens will be tested by a talented Ridgeland squad. We like the Dragons to edge the Panthers by one at home in a nail-biter.

The battle of Five-Forks renews for the 37^thtime as Parkview travels a mere 6 miles down the road to take on the Brookwood Broncos. The winner of this game certainly has an inside track to the region title with only three weeks left in the season. Brookwood has reeled off six consecutive victories after dropping their week one game to defending state champ, North Gwinnett. Suffice to say that Coach Jones and his staff have the Broncos playing closer to a level that folks have come to expect. The Broncos are talented but lacked experience early in the season. Brookwood is only giving up 13.1 points per game this season. Tony Ward and Anthony Gorney lead the defense in tackles with 81 and 73 respectively. Meanwhile on offense, Chris Carter and Eli Kohl lead the Broncos in rushing as the duo has combined for over 1,100 yards and 19-TDs.

On the other hand, the Parkview Panthers have scored some big wins this season, but we suspect that a win this week over rival Brookwood might be the biggest to date. Parkview’s offense is led by quarterback Jordan Williams, who has passed for over 1,300 yards with 11-TDs. Malik Washington, one of the most dynamic players in the state, leads Parkview in receiving with 44 catches for 707 yards. Sophomore Cody Brown leads the rushing attack with 770 yards and 14-TDs on 89 carries. Linebacker Kobe Wilson leads the Panthers defense in total tackles with 71. Wilson is also tied for the team lead in sacks. In terms of experience, we give the edge to Parkview this season. However, that doesn’t mean that the Panthers will run away with this game. We tend to think this game will be a very similar to the last two contests, but this week, we like Parkview by 4.

The Flowery Branch Falcons travel to Atlanta to take on the Marist War Eagles. Last week Flowery Branch gave No. 1 ranked Blessed Trinity all they wanted. The Falcons proved they could play with the top teams in the state and will have a chance to get their first signature win in their new region this Friday. Quarterback Elijah Gainey has a big arm and can really get the ball down field. His primary target is Jalin Strown, while DJ Brown has also been productive at the wide receiver spot. Jaizen Ellingham isn’t afraid of contact running between the tackles. Perhaps the most impressive stat about the Falcons is their defense, which is only giving up 11.42 points per game and held Blessed Trinity to their lowest point output of the season.

Meanwhile, the Marist War Eagles have won 4 consecutive games after losing the Fish Bowl to St. Pius back on September 14th. Since that loss, the War Eagles have averaged 52 points per game, while only surrendering 8.5 points per game during that same stretch. Last week, the War Eagles did most of their damage on the ground.  As a team, they rushed for over 280 yards. Marist has used a committee of backs to spearhead the rushing attack. Flowery Branch will need to key in on slowing down the Marist run game if they are going to win on the road. Hopefully we will get to see Kyle Hamilton locked up on Jalin Strown. That would be a fun matchup. Nevertheless, we like for the Falcons to bounce back from an emotional loss last week and win on the road this week by a field goal.

The Savannah Christian Raiders will take on the Savannah Country Day Hornets on Friday night as both teams continue to vie for a the Region 3-A title. But more importantly a win by either team would improve their standings in the GHSA Class-A Private power rankings, which ultimately determines playoff seeding.  Sophomore quarterback Spencer Robicheaux has passed for 862 yards and 11-TDs this season while learning the new offense of first year head coch Baker Woodward. Receivers Omar Burroughs (314 yards, 3-TDs), Nate Moon (201 Yards, 1-TD) and Noah Chumley (199 yards, 2-TDs) lead Savannah Christian through the air. Moon, Jordan Grant, and Marquell Brown have combined to rush for over 1,600 yards and 20-TDs. While N.C. State commit Dylan McMahon anchors the offense line that paves the way for the Raiders rushing attack. On defense, Nate Moon also leads the team in total tackles with 74. Speaking of defense, the Raiders are only giving up 11.7 points a game.

On the other hand, Savannah Country Day will counter with an offense led by freshman quarterback Barry Kleinpeter. Kleinpeter has passed for 842 yards and 10-TDs. Sophomore running backs Donovan Davelaar (392 yards) and Erik Brown (372 yards) lead the team in rushing. Senior Matthew Mims leads the team in receiving with 13 catches for 298 yards and 5-TDs. The Raiders defense has been pretty stout this season, there are giving  up an average of  8.2 points per game and have shutout two of their opponents. CJ Nugara, Ash Pinckney, Andre Miller and Clay Dekle anchor the front seven for the Hornets. Nagura leads the team in total tackles while junior tackle Kareem Reedy leads the team in sacks with 5. In our opinion, Savannah Christian looks to be a little ahead of Savannah Country Day offensively this season. For that reason, we like the Raiders to win by 9 this Friday.