This is Part II of our GHSA Football Previews. Brooks County hosts the defending Class-A Public state champion, Clinch County Panthers. Brooks leads the series, but Clinch got the best of them last season. In a big Class 4-A matchup, Woodward Academy travels to Blessed Trinity to face the defending champions. Do the Titans have enough on defense to slow down Woodward quarterback Mark Wright? Woodward has not beaten Blessed Trinity in three tries. Will this Friday be any different? Crisp County will host the Duthctown Bulldogs. There might not be a tougher schedule than Crisp’s and Dutchtown might be the most talented team they face this season. Finally, Swainsboro travels to Dublin to face the Fighting Irish in a big Class 2-A battle of top-10 teams. Does Swainsboro have enough on defense to slow down the Dublin ground machine or will the arm of Kade Youmans carry the Tigers to victory. As always, thank you for reading…please feel free to share and comment.
Key:
TFR – Turd Ferguson Report
NR – Not Ranked
**The GSWA Poll was not available at the time of publishing so it was not included in this week’s previews.
The Skinny
Last season, Clinch County beat Brooks County going away en route to winning the state title in Class A-Public. This season, the Brooks County Trojans will be looking for redemption as they host the Clinch County Panthers in Quitman this Friday. Both teams are off to a good start and sit at 1-0. Brooks County won a shoot out in Week-1 against Mitchell County. Both Devin Edwards and Omari Arnold had big days for the Trojans as they each rushed for 143 yards. Edwards scored 5-TDs while Arnold added 1. Quarterback Ni’tavion Burrus also threw for 142 yards and 2-TDs. Cameron Priest led the defense with 8 solo tackles.
Clinch County looked impressive in their Week-1 victory. They scored in all three phases of the game. The Panthers used big plays to jump to an early lead. Michael Walker started the scoring with a 79-yard TD-run. Perry Williams returned an interception 70 yards. Tyler Morehead returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown. The Panthers will certainly need more of those big plays come Friday night. Tyler Morehead might be the most explosive player on the field. We believe he gives the Panthers the edge. We like Clinch County by 9 in a much closer contest than 2018.
The Skinny
The Blessed Trinity Titans will host the Woodward Academy War Eagles in a showdown of two of the top teams in Class 4-A. Blessed Trinity, the two time defending 4-A State Champs held off a determined South Forsyth team last week to win 34-31. Freshman Justice Haynes rushed for 161 yards and 3-TDs in last weeks win. There is no doubt the Titans lost a lot of talent from last year’s team, but they are still a well-coached talented squad. If Haynes can find ways to duplicate last week’s performance, it could be a lethal one-two punch at running back down the road.
Meanwhile, Woodward Academy is flying high and also comes into the game undefeated. Quarterback Mark Wright has passed for 417 yards and 4-TDs so far this season. Wright has spread the ball around to several receivers this season. In all, 10 Woodward players have caught a pass this in the first two games. Damari Alston leads the way for the Eagles on the ground with 110 yards and 2-TDs. Senior linebacker Aaron Washington has recorded 16 solo tackles in two weeks, while Adam Thrasher is 2nd on the team in tackles with 10 solos. We think this game will certainly be much closer than last year’s contest. Woodward definitely has the edge at quarterback, but we believe the Titans have the better ground game. The War Eagles are a little more experienced and we believe that gives them a slight edge. We like Woodward by 1 on the road.
The Skinny
The Crisp County Cougars will again step up in classification this week as they host the Dutchtown Bulldogs. The Cougars narrowly lost to Class 4-A, West Laurens last week. A.J. Lofton and Jack Carter have combined to pass for 435 yards and 2-TDs. Sirad Bryant leads the receivers with 10 receptions for 173 yards. On defense, linebacker Chris Paul and the aforementioned Bryant lead the team in solo tackles.
The Dutchtown Bulldogs might be the most talented team that Crisp County will see in the regular season. The Bulldogs are averaging 53 points per game. Over the past few seasons, we’ve come to know Dutchtown to be a defensive juggernaut, but quarterback Arendez Fedd seems to be coming into his own. Last week Fedd passed for 356 yards and 5-TDs. He’s got capable weapons like NC State commit Nate McCollum at receiver and running back Javorri Mack. While Fedd and the offense are in their groove, the defense is no slouch either. Up front, the Bulldogs are led by Alabama commit William Anderson, and Louisville commit Dezmond Tell. Meanwhile, Corey Minner and Tyler Nelome make passing difficult for the Bulldogs opponents. We believe that Crisp County will be competitive, but there’s just too much talent and experience on Dutchtown’s sideline. We like the Bulldogs by 20.
The Skinny
The Swainsboro Tigers will make the 33-mile trip to face rival Dublin this Friday night. It will be a clash of styles as the Irish will look to control the game on the ground while the Tigers will rely on the arm of Kade Youmans. Dublin won it’s season opener two weeks ago in a game that was shortened by weather. The key to this game for the Irish might be how well defensive end Romello Height and linebacker Jaques Evans are able to disrupt the Swainsboro passing attack.
The Tigers got a big win over Jefferson County last Monday. Kade Youmans passed for 237 yards and 4-TDs. Robert Allen also carried the ball 26 times for 126 yards and one touchdown. Ja’von Brown led the way at receiver with 5 catches for 111 yards and 3-TDs. We believe that Swainsboro has enough offense to keep this game close again, but we think that Dublin’s run game will help keep Youmans on the sidelines and that might be the difference this week. Dublin by a touchdown.