TFR Week-8 Eight Greats Around the State Part II

The Mays Raiders will travel to Douglasville to take on the Douglas County Tigers on Friday night as region 5-6A action heats up. Mays has rebounded from an 0-2 start against some high-level competition. The Raiders are led this season by running back Tyree Nelson and quarterback Jahquez Evans. Newcomer JaQuari Wiggles is a force on the defensive line for the Raiders.

Douglas County will sport one of the states sack leaders in Mataio Soli who has already recorded an astounding 18 sacks in six games thus far. The Tigers balanced attack on offense is highlighted by quarterback Marquise Collins (481 yards, 2-TDs), running back Michael Oldfield (292 yards, 4-TDs), and receivers Xavier Gordon and Dariyan Wiley who have combined for 360 yards receiving and 2-TDs. Mays lost a lot to graduation last year, we think Douglas County edges the Raiders this year. Tigers by 8.

The Jones County Greyhounds host the Dutchtown Bulldogs this Friday night. Both teams enter the game undefeated and are ranked in the top-10 in most, if not all polls across the state. Jones  County has had plenty of success through the air this season. Quarterback Hunter Costlow has passed for 1,241 yards and 19-TDs. His primary receivers this season have been Maleek Wooten and Jontavis Robertson. The duo has combined for 890 yards and 12-TDs. Semaj Ingram also provides balance for the Greyhounds in the run game with 373 yards on the season.

Meanwhile Duthctown will be looking to breakthrough and win this game which would put them in good position to host at least a first-round playoff game come November. Arnez Fedd and Christopher Coneway pace a Bulldogs offense that is averaging 31.5 points per game. Defensively, linebackers Kevon Glenn, Adonis Butler and lineman William Anderson will look to disrupt the Jones County aerial assault. Dutchtown has been playing very good defense this season, with 3 shutouts and only surrendering 3.8 points per game. With that said, we like that to be the difference this week. Bulldogs by 3 in a mild upset.

In a key region 4-4A matchup Eastside (Covington) will travel to College Park to take on the Woodward Academy War Eagles. Woodward won both of the prior matchups, however, Eastside was on the cusp of knocking off the War Eagles last season. For Eastside, quarterback Noah Cook has played well this season. He is completing 73.4% of his passes while tossing 11-TDs. As expected, Jamari Brown has been a go to receiver with 18 receptions, 268 yards and 4-TDs while Taylor Carter and Quincy Cullins lead the Eagles on the ground with a combined 666 yards and 7-TDs. Jamari Brundage and Devin Brown lead the defense in tackles with 43 and 33 total tackles respectively.

Tahj Gary is the bell cow for the Woodward Academy offense. The senior running back has rushed for 449 yards and 6-TDs. While Mark Wright has passed for 635 yards, rushed for 309 yards with 10 total TDs. Errington Truesdell leads the team in tackles with 39. Woodward has been up and down this season, but has also faced some stiff competition. The War Eagles are 0-2 versus ranked opponents this week. We think the third time is a charm for Coach Hoff and Eastside. We like the Eastside Eagles by 6.

After picking up a big win last week, the Athens Academy Spartans will travel to Monroe to take on the upstart George Walton Academy Bulldogs. Athens Academy got a big performance last week from running back Len’Neth Whitehead. Against Prince Avenue, Whitehead rushed for 243 yards and 3-TDs. We can certainly expect the Spartans to feed the Bulldogs a steady dose of Whitehead this week.

George Walton Academy has put together quite an impressive season to date. The team is averaging 35.8 points per game, while the defense is only surrendering 7.1 points per contest. The Bulldogs feature a stable of backs including Darrius Barnum, Andre Payne and Will Wolf. Will this trio be enough to keep Athens Academy off balance…We think it will be closer than last year, but we like Athens Academy by two touchdowns.