In Part I of our Week-4, Eight Greats Around the State, we feature a high-profile private school matchup as the Benedictine Cadets travel to Roswell to take on reigning 4A state champion, Blessed Trinity…In a pivotal region 7-5A matchup, the Rome Wolves travel down to face Kell. The Longhorns were the last team to beat Rome in the regular season…The David and Goliath matchup of the week features Cedar Grove and McEachern. The Cedar Grove Saints have already proven they can play with the larger schools of South Carolina and Alabama. Can they beat McEachern on the road and continue their hot start…They heavyweight, clash of the titans matchup this week will feature the Grayson Rams and Marietta Blue Devils. Perhaps the best of Cobb County versus the best of Gwinnett County. Can Grayson’s star-studded roster slow down the Blue Devils passing attack? Only time will tell…
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Key:
TFR – Turd Ferguson Report
GSWA – Georgia Sports Writers Association
NR – Not Ranked
The Skinny
Benedictine head Coach Danny Britt brings his Cadets to Roswell to take on the defending 4A state champs, the Blessed Trinity Titans. The Cadets have been off since a thrilling win against 4A Burke County in week one of the regular season. Will there be any rust? All eyes should be on Benedictine’s Rico Powers when the Cadets are on offense. He is the teams leading returning rusher. The Benedictine defense, led by Coleman Marini Jakeen Harris, John Dodd and Eric Hicks will have their hands full trying to contain the Blessed Trinity offense.
The Titans team is littered with talent highlighted on offense by running backs Steele Chambers and Elijah Green, quarterback Jake Smith and reliable Ryan Davis at receiver. The defense is led by UGA commit JD Bertrand and defensive lineman J.R. Bivens. We expect the Titans to get their stiffest test of the young season this Friday from Benedictine, but we do expect for Blessed Trinity to pass with flying colors; BT by 14.
The Skinny
This is perhaps the biggest game in Region 7-5A this season as the Rome Wolves travel to the Stockyard to take on the Kell Longhorns. The Longhorns were the last team to defeat Rome, who is in search of their third consecutive state title this season. The game features two of the region’s top quarterbacks as Evan Conley leads Kell while Knox Kadum directs the Rome offense. This season, Conley has passed for 256 yards and 5-TDs, while Ebony Jackson leads the Longhorns ground attack.
Rome lost several players to graduation last year on defense, but the Wolves have still shown they can get after it, led up front on their defensive line by Montrell Milsap, Octavieous Askew and linebacker Derricus Smith. Kadum and running back Jamious Griffin will spearhead the Wolves attack. Last week Griffin rushed for 3-TDs against North Clayton. Xavier Roberts is an electric wide receiver who will certainly test the Kell secondary. Rome has a lot of talent and experience across the board. No disrespect to the Longhorns, but we like Rome by 14 this week.
The Skinny
After a rough week-1, the McEachern Indians got back on track in week two by defeating South Cobb. This week, the Indians host a red-hot Cedar Grove Saints team. The Saints feature, by most accounts, the nation’s #1 high school wide receiver, Jadon Haselwood. McEachern will be led by sophomore QB Carlos Del Rio. Running backs Paris Brown and Jordan Simmons have combined for 200 yards rushing and 4-TDs on the season for the Indians. McEachern also has a trio of pretty good wide receiver themselves, in Javon Baker, Dacari Collins and Nicoy Morris.
Perhaps the best matchup to watch will be in the trenches as McEachern’s Jefferey Clark and Jamil Burroughs will try to disrupt the Cedar Grove offense. They will be lined up against a solid Cedar Grove offensive line that is anchored by Brandon Hall, Quentin Eagle and Michael Brooks. The Saints aren’t just a one-trick pony on offense as running back Robert Jones III has also shown some explosion this season. Pay no attention to the fact that Cedar Grove is a 3A program matched up against 7A McEachern. This is not your typical David vs. Goliath match-up. This game should have a lot of fireworks, but we like Cedar Grove to win by 4.
The Skinny
Perhaps the best team in Cobb County takes on the best team in Gwinnett County as the Grayson Rams travel to Northcutt Stadium to take on the Marietta Blue Devils. This will certainly be a star-studded event as several players on both sidelines will be playing on Saturday’s in the near future. One matchup that should be fun to watch is the Grayson defensive line (Kevin Harris, Tru Thompson) against Jake Wray and the Marietta offensive line. Conversely, can Arik Gilbert and BJ Ojulari cause problems for Grayson’s offensive line that is anchored by Trent Jones, Jakari Clark and Wanya Morris.
Other questions that we have about this game…Will Ramel Keyotn line up against Kenyatta Watson? Can Owen Pappoe help cause disruption to the Marietta aerial assault led by Harrison Bailey? Oh by the way, Bailey has already passed for over 1,000 yards on the season. He’s averging a hair over 362 yards per game. Arik Gilbert and Ramel Keyton are his primary targets. Each have over 400 yards receiving on the young season.This shouldn’t be a run-away by either team, we believe Grayson is the more physical of the two, we like them to win this one by 10.