Believe it or not, we are working our way to the midpoint of the high school football season here in Georgia. This is Part 1 of our Weekly game previews that we like to call Eight Greats Around the State. We take a look at a few of the intriguing matchups throughout the state.
In our first preview, the Cherokee Warriors will host the Cartersville Purple Hurricanes. (Can someone from Cartersville or Monroe Area or Fitzgerald clue us in on what exactly is a “Purple Hurricane”?) Both teams had to stave off late rallies last week. Can the Warriors halt the Cartersville regular season win streak?
Next up Wesleyan hosts Prince Avenue Christian in a battle of Top-10 Class A-Private teams. Is there anyway the Wolves can slow down P.A.C and Brock Vandagriff? Meanwhile, down in Thomasville, the Bulldogs will host the Oconee County Warriors. The Warriors haven’t seemed to miss a beat early in the season. Does Thomasville have the dogs to slow down the Weeks boys and the rest of the Warriors?
Finally down in Waycross, the Ware County Gators will host Bainbridge in the swamp. Will the Bearcats contain Thomas Castellanos or will the junior quarterback run wild again?
As always, thank you for reading. Please feel free to comment and share. We wish every team competing this weekend the best of luck!
All helmet images are courtesy of the Georgia High School Helmet Project. To see all of their work, please visit: http://www.gahelmetproject.com
The Skinny
The Cherokee Warriors are off to a 4-0 start for the second consecutive season. Last week, Cherokee’s defense held the Creekview offense to one touchdown. A.J. Swann has now passed for 804 yards and 8-TDs. Keith Adams Jr. was the bell cow again last week going over the century mark for the third time this season. The Warriors held the Grizzlies scoreless for just over three and a half quarters. Braesen Parker and Toby Thompson continue to lead the Warriors on defense. Cherokee’s defense is allowing 14 points per game.
The Cartersville Purple Hurricanes are also off to a 4-0 start. Quarterback Stratton Tripp has thrown for 716 yards and 7-TDs while Quante’ Jennings has rushed for 341 yards and 8-TDs. Sam Phillips (23 receptions 245 yards, 2-TDs) and Devonta Ross (16 receptions, 300 yards, 4-TDs) lead the receiving corps. Cartersville may have one of the top secondaries in North Georgia with the aforementioned Phillips, Ross, Amarai Orr and Evan Slocum patrolling the secondary. Cartersville’s defense is allowing 9.5 points per game. This looks to be another slugfest for Cherokee this week. Three physical games have had to take their toll on the Warriors. We believe it will be nip and tuck, but we like Cartersville by a field goal on the road.
The Skinny
The Wesleyan Wolves are off to their second consecutive 4-0 start to the season. The Wolves defense has already recorded two shutouts. They have limiting opposing teams to a mere 21 points all season, (that’s 5.3 points per game). Tanner Bivins leads the Wolves in sacks while J.D. Chipman leads Wesleyan in solo and total tackles. On offense, quarterback Ryan Rose has thrown for 812 yards and 7-TDs. Griffin Caldwell has rushed for 468 yards and 4-TDs while Cooper Blauser has caught 14 passes for 294 yards.
Prince Avenue Christian bounced back from a Week-2 loss to Class 2A Rabun County. The Wolverines have scored over thirty points in all four of their games this season. They are averaging 45.3 points per game and two weeks ago, their defense posted their first shutout of the season. Quarterback Brock Vandagriff is off to a torrid start, passing for 937 yards and 14-TDs. He’s also rushed for 255 yards and 4-TDs. Landon Owens leads the team on the ground with 297 yards and 3-TDs. Owens, Zach Dyer and Logan Johnson are the leading receivers for Prince Avenue Christian. Davis Ridings leads the team in total tackles and the secondary has intercepted ten passes this season. Vandagriff has been tough to slow down and we aren’t sure if the Wolves can outscore the Wolverines…We like Prince Avenue by 10 this week.
The Skinny
The Thomasville Bulldogs wrap up their pre-region schedule this week. Last week, the Bulldogs were limited to 221 yards on offense. (They are averaging 262 yards per game in the young season.) Ronnie Baker has thrown for 620 yards and 4-TDs and also rushed for 106 yards and 3-TDs. Ricky Fulton leads the team with 137 yards rushing. The Thomasville defense limited Bainbridge to 178 total yards last week. Dimitrius Myrick is tops on the team with 37 total tackle while Ty Anderson leads the team in solo tackles with 25.
The Oconee County Warriors are coming off a bye week but enter the game undefeated. The Warriors have outscored their first three opponents 86-14. Oconee County has appeared to found a replacement for Max Johnson with a combination of athlete West Weeks and Jacob Wright. Weeks, an Auburn commit, also headlines the Warriors defense. (Weeks was sidelined with an injury and it remains to be seen if he will play this week.) Last time out it was C.J. Jones that carried the load for the Warriors tallying 140 yards on 29 rushes with 2-TDs. Jake Johnson is a big target for Wright; he stands at 6’6”. In other news, did we mention that the defense is allowing 4.6 points per game? This game could be a defensive struggle. A stat of note, in Thomasville’s two wins, they have scored 30+ points… In their two losses, they’ve been held to no more than 14 points. It’s a long road trip, but we like the Warriors by 10.
The Skinny
The Ware County Gators are off to their first 3-0 start since 2015. The Gators offense is clicking behind quarterback Thomas Castellanos. The junior has thrown for 753 yards, rushed for 324 and accounted for 13 total TDs, (7 passing, 6 rushing). Nine different receivers have caught passes this season for Ware County. Jerry Wilkins and Raiden Kennedy lead the team in total receiving yards and both have 2 receiving TDs. The Gators defense is allowing 15.6 points per game.
The Bainbridge Bearcats brutal pre region schedule continues this week. The Bearcats got their first win of the season last week after dropping games to 5A Coffee and 6A Valdosta. Quayde Hawkins threw two touchdowns last week and has now thrown for 317 yards and 4-TDs this season. Rashad Broadnax leads the Bearcats in rushing with 212 yards. Tahari Tate and Dontavious Broadnax lead the Bainbridge defense in total tackles. The Bears have sacked opposing quarterbacks twelve times this season and Zion Bouie has intercepted two passes on the young season. Good quarterback play will be key for Bainbridge, even though, we don’t know if they have enough to slow down Castellanos and the Gators offense. We like Ware County by a touchdown at home.