TFR Week-5 Cherokee County Football Preview

Woodstock and North Paulding will meet for the fourth time on Friday. Last season North Paulding won the regular season matchup, but Woodstock beat the Wolfpack in the first round of the state tournament. North Paulding has swept their portion of the Paulding county circuit and comes into the game undefeated. The Wolfpack are led by senior quarterback, Ross Malmgrem. Last season, Malgrem passed for almost 2,000 yards and thus far in 2018, he is well on his way to matching those numbers. Through 3 games, Malgrem has passed for 743 yards and 9-TDs. The Wolfpack rely heavily on the passing game. Their leading receivers are Kellan Autenrueth (7-187, 2-TDs) and Ryker Brown (12-184, 2-TDs).  Linebacker Jordan Veneziale leads the team in total tackles this season. He will get help from defensive lineman Tysean Morgan-Ford. Morgan-Ford leads the team in sacks early on in the season.

The Woodstock  Wolverines were off last week after picking up their first win of the season. Dual threat quarterback Dean Braxton is settling in for the Wolverines.  Drew Ramsey leads the Wolverines in rushing this season while Jabari Overton and Wes Bruno lead the Wolverines receiving corps. Andrew Bartolero and David Daniel will have their hands full in the defensive secondary for Woodstock.  We expect the Wolverines to  be ready to play come Friday night. But we think the Wolfpack has a little more experience and that will put them over the top. North Paulding wins a tight one by 3.

The Sequoyah Chiefs will host the Campbell Spartans. The Chiefs are coming off of a big win against region foe Dalton, while Campbell was off last week. This Campbell team might be the most athletic bunch that the chiefs have seen to date. They are led by quarterback Fernando Crawford on offense. Tavion Jackson is an electric back and Mah’li Jones and Javiaz Bradford have been steady for the Spartans at receiver. Eduardo Pimentel will anchor the Spartans line. Defensively, the Spartans will lean on a couple of line backers to lead them.  Terrence Pratt and Myles Virgile will be names that are likely be heard often when the Spartans are on defense.

Sequoyah got big games last week from Cole Jacobs and Jackson “Brick” Smith. The two backs combined for over 300 yards and six touchdowns against Dalton. We expect more of the same from the Chiefs this week, a steady dose of Jacobs, Smith and DJ King. Defensively, Jordan Bowers, Adam LaSelva and Emmanuel Jenkins will have their hands full trying to contain the Spartans. If Campbell can avoid turnovers this week, they should be able to keep this close. A bigger problem is slowing down the Chiefs wing-T. We think Sequoyah keeps rolling this week. Chiefs by a touchdown.

Dalton struggled last week on their trip to Sequoyah. The Catamounts hurt themselves with some costly turnovers. We expect that coach Matt Land will sure a lot of that up this week in practice. They will need a mistake free performance against a red-hot Creekview Grizzly team. The Catamounts will host the Grizzlies in the friendly confines of Bill Chappell Stadium. Matthew Houghton took all of the snaps for Dalton last week. We are unaware of the status of quarterback Landon Allen, but Houghton did show he could lead a few drives at the helm. If Allen is unable to go, the Grizzlies should see a steady dose of Jahmyr Gibbs and Jerric Montgomery. This should be the best running back duo that Creekview has faced this season.

For the Grizzlies, it all starts up front on both sides of the ball. The offensive line led by Nick Pendley, Tanner Tarronto and “Big” John Williams. Cade Radam has been the beneficiary of their works as he has rushed for 462 yards on the season. Both Brody Rhodes and Ethan Dirrim have fared well at quarterback for Creekview this season. Creekview’s defense has not allowed more than 14 points in a game this season. That’s a testament to a physical front four led by Avery Rocks and John Hannaford. Chance Schwartz and Andy Davis are stalwarts the defensive backfield. We expect a more physical performance from Dalton this week, but we believe the Grizzlies will return home from  Dalton with another victory this week. We like Creekview by 10 on the road.

Both River Ridge and Osborne enter Friday’s game seeking their first win of the season. This region match-up is a must win for either team in order to stay relevant in region play. Osborne has struggled as of late due to injuries at key skill positions. Last week the Cardinals went with a freshman QB who went through some growing pains against Creekview. Osborne does have some athletes on both sides of the ball. If they get healthy, players like Marquis Ledet Larry Williams and Iverson Harris can pose some challenges for the River Ridge defense.

The Knights continue to show improvement. They have just had an absolute grinder of a schedule as we have mentioned in previous weeks. River Ridge was able to move the ball with success against Allatoona last week, but their efforts were not reflected on the scoreboard. We expect the usual suspects to be in play for River Ridge. We won’t be shocked for a big night from the River Ridge backfield highlighted by Kofi Reeves-Miller. Expect for the Knights to break out this week and beat the Cardinals by 13.

Last week the Etowah Eagles got a big come from behind win against a gritty Pebblebrook team. This week, the Eagles will need another big performance from their defense to get a win against the Hillgrove Hawks. Both teams are run oriented so it should be another smash-mouth type of contest. Etowah has been led the past two weeks by running back Klivert Many. Last week Many rushed for 59 yards but it was quarterback Brayden O’neill who provided a spark, scoring both of the Etowah touchdowns on the ground.

Hillgrove’s rushing attack has been led by Trevor Smith and Isaiah McCray. The two backs have combined for over 290 yards on the season. There’s really not a whole lot of analysis on this one. Whichever team can control the line of scrimmage and run the ball more effectively wins this game. We believe it will be another “grind it out” type game, which should keep it low scoring. We like the Hawks to beat the Eagles by 4.

The last time Cartersville and Cherokee squared-off, Cherokee High was the only high school in Cherokee County and there was no such thing as MTV or even Fruit Roll-Ups. (The world has come along way since 1971.) Cherokee will face a stiff test when they face the Cartersville Hurricanes this week. The Canes have only surrendered 3 points, (no that’s not a typo), the entire season. Their defense is led by lineman Isaiah Cheney and defensive back Evan Slocum. On offense Tee Webb continues to come into his own at quarterback. He has passed for 729 yards and 13-TDs already on the young season. Jackson Lowe and Kaleb Chatmon are reliable receivers for Webb. Perhaps the most dangerous weapon on offense for the Cartersville is Marcus Gary, who has rushed for over 200 yards and 4-TDs on the season. Gary is a back that can run between the tackles and run away from defensive backs. He’s not only a threat running the ball, but also leads the team in receiving yards.

Cherokee is no stranger to great running backs this season, as they have faced their share of high-powered rushing attacks in the past three weeks. Defensively, McKinley Hunter, Grant Hornebuckle and Grant Mogelnicki will be busy trying to keep the Cartersville offense in check. The Warriors got a big boost in the run game from senior Grant Mogelnicki last week. Mogelnicki, making his first start at running back, ran for 124 yards and 4-TDs. Cherokee should continue to get a boost  from receivers Devin Ellison and Brady Bocherer. This should be the toughest opponent for Cartersville to date. If Mogelnicki can get going again, we like the Warriors to keep this one close. We think Cartersville is a little ahead of the Warriors this week. Canes by 11.