TFR Week-3 Cherokee County Football Preview

In the pre-season, we looked at this game as a potential match-up between the #1 and #2 team in the region. After watching both teams play, we give the Grizzlies the edge. Creekview has shown to be physical at the point of attack on both offense and defense. The Grizzlies have dominated both of their opponents thus far this season. The Grizzlies opponents have been fed a steady dose of Cade Radam. Against Woodstock last week, Radam rushed for 216 yards with 3 TDs and was named Cedarwood Tavern Player of the Week.

Allatoona will be the most athletic team that Creekview will have faced to date. If the Grizzlies can bottle up Daniel Parsons and get pressure on quarterback Dante Marshall, they should be in good shape late in the game. However, let’s not sell the Bucs short just yet. Gary Varner is a championship coach, and with a week off, we are sure that he has corrected some of the issues that plagued the Bucs in week one. We don’t expect this to be a runaway. But we like Creekview to keep it rolling. We are buying in to coach Carter and the Grizzlies. We like them by two touchdowns this week.

The River Ridge Knights are getting a baptism by fire early this season. The grinder of the schedule for the young Knights continues as they face their second ranked opponents in as many weeks. The Knights host the defending region 6-6A champs, the Harrison Hoyas. Harrison comes into the game 2-0 and are led by junior quarterback Gavin Hall. Hall has passed for over 300 yards in two games with 3-TDs to his credit. Dave Roberts will lead the Hoyas ground attack. Last week he found pay-dirt 3 times. We believe the Knights are better than they were in week one, but Harrison is in a groove. We like the Hoyas by four scores.

The Etowah Eagles will be looking to bounce back this week as they travel to Cumming to take on the South Forsyth Eagles. Etowah lost to North Cobb last week after a comeback attempt fell short, while South lost to 4A power, Blessed Trinity. Both teams will be looking to get back on the right track this week. Both teams will feature a solid running attack. South Forsyth will be led by Jordan Brunson who has rushed for 200 yards and 4-TDs on the season.

Etowah will counter with Nick Maddox and Klivert Many. Many led the way for the Eagles on the ground last week with 90 yards and 1-TD. This game should come down to which defense can slow down the opposition’s rushing attack. We think that the combination of Dalton Nicolai and Cole Milovanovic will be enough to provide the edge for Etowah in a tight game. We like the Eagles to get back on track and win by a field goal on the road.

Osborne jumps back into region play this week for the first time in 5 years, as they host the Sequoyah Chiefs. Its been 11 years since these two opponents have faced off. Osborne has been competitive in their opening two games, but the Cardinals will step up in competition when the Chiefs come calling. Malik Harris is the straw that stirs the drink for Osborne. In their opener, he rushed for over 200 yards and looked to be well on his way to a big game last week before leaving the game in the second half. The Cardinals will need a big performance for Harris and company if they are going to get in the win column this week.

The Chiefs offense will be led by senior quarterback Collier Pecht. Last week Pecht passed for 123 yards out of the Chief patented wing-T. Sequoyah racked up 184 yards on the ground with balanced rushing from Jackson Smith, Cole Jacobs, Colin Koprowski and DJ King. King led the scoring for the Chiefs with two touchdowns on the ground last week. Jacobs and Myles McGee will lead the Chiefs receiving corps. The Chiefs defense was pretty stingy last week, led by Grant Gibson, Adam La’Selva and Jordan Bowers. We believe they will have similar success against an athletic Osborne team. We like the Chiefs in this one on the road by three touchdowns.

Woodstock will travel to Cambridge as both teams will be in search for their first win of the season. Both teams have a common opponent, in Creekview. Last week, the Wolverines got pushed around a little and you can bet they will want to set the tempo this week against the Bears. Cambridge was off last week, but fell to Creekview in week one. The two big question marks for the Bears will be if they can cut down on week one miscues and if star receiver Ridge Polk will be back for this game. (He sat out the first game of the season.)

Woodstock is led by quarterback Dean Braxton. The Wolverines will also look for Drew Ramsey to lead the way on the ground. The Woodstock defense has surrendered 35 and 38 points respectively in their first two games. If they are going to break into the win column, they’ll need to slow down quarterback Stratton Tripp and the power rushing of Phillip-Michael Collins. We think this game will be competitive but, we think the Bears still have some more growing pains to go through. We like Woodstock by 10 on the road.

The Cherokee Warriors will travel to the Brickyard for the first time in program history to take on the North Hall Trojans. The Warriors fell short last week as the could not get anything going early against a stingy Sequoyah defense. Cherokee will face another stingy defense this week as the Trojans are coming off of an impressive shutout performance in last weeks win over Jackson County. North Hall had another big week on the ground as they rushed for over 350 yards last Friday. The Trojans ground game will be led by Daniel Jackson, Drew Faulkner and David Seavey.

Cherokee will be looking to get back on track this week. Landon Ergle is ever improving for the Warriors, but he will need some help in the ground game from Garrett Miles and Ty Swanson. The Warriors are certainly much improved this season, but we like North Hall to win this game by a touchdown.