It’s Week 5 and our Cherokee County Football previews are here. All six of the county teams are in action this week. The Cherokee Warriors will host Class 4A No.1 Cartersville. This preview will be featured in our “Eight Greats Around the State” segment on Wednesday evening, so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, Etowah travles to Powder Springs to face Hillgrove. The Hawks are flying high and both teams have proved they can light up the scoreboard, but do the Eagles have enough offense to keep pace with the Hawks? Something has to give this week when 0-3 River Ridge hosts 0-3 Osborne. Which team will get their first win of the season? The Dalton ground machine comes to town as Creekview hosts the Catamounts and Jahmyr Gibbs. Can the Grizzlies derail Dalton?
Sequoyah will look to get on track in a non-region game against Campbell. Can the Chiefs get the run game going this week? Finally, Woodstock travels to face North Paulding as a great secondary faces a pretty good passing attack. Recent UGA commit David Daniel and his friends in the Woodstock secondary will be busy defending the North Paulding passing attack. Please make sure to get out and support these young men on Friday night. As always, thanks for reading. Comments and discussion are always welcome!
The Skinny
The Etowah Eagles got back to .500 this week as they won a shoot-out with Pebblebrook. Dalton Miller passed for over 300 yards and 3-TDs in the win. Nick Maddox led the way on the ground for the Eagles with 74 yards rushing and 2-TDs and also had 5 receptions for 57 yards, while Klivert Many chipped in 53 yards on the ground. Jackson Manns had a big day receiving with 8 receptions for 149 yards and 2-TDs.
Meanwhile, the Hillgrove Hawks come into this game undefeated and sport a very impressive defense. The Hawks have only allowed 13 points all season and shut out Pebblebrook back on August 30th. Matthew McCravy has had a lot of success through the air with receivers Traven Reese and Tre Walker. The Etowah Eagles are averaging 30.7 points per game, but we think they’ll have a hard time getting to that number against Hillgrove’s defense. We like the Hawks by two touchdowns this week.
The Skinny
The Osborne Cardinals will travel to Woodstock to take on the River Ridge Knights. Both teams will be looking for their first win and first region win this week, so something has to give. The Osborne Cardinals scored more points in the second half against Creekview on Monday than they have all season, although those scores came after the game was already well in hand. Nevertheless, it is something for Osborne to build on.
Meanwhile, the River Ridge Knights have been shutout by their last two opponents, Allatoona and Harrison. However, these were also two of the top teams in the region as well as two of the Top-10 teams in the state in Class 6A. We believe that this could be a breakout game for Amehre Morrison and Chase Begin. We like Coach Collins and the Knights this week to pick up their first win of the season. River Ridge by three touchdowns.
The Skinny
The Creekview Grizzlies will play two games in a five-day span this week. After the Grizzlies beat Osborne on Monday, they now turn their attention to the Dalton Catamounts and perhaps one of the leading candidates for Player of the Year in Class 6A, running back Jahmyr Gibbs. Creekview got on track this week offensively and is averaging 29 points per game on offense. At the skill positions, Quarterback Brody Rhodes and “do-everything” Ethan Dirrim will be called upon to help lead the Grizzlies against a stingy Dalton defense. Don’t forget backs Cole Hasty and Tyler Stephens. Stephens had a big game on Monday night. They’ll have the luxury of running behind Clemson commit John Williams.
The Dalton Catamounts will be out of the friendly confines of Northwest Georgia for the first time this season as they travel to Canton to face Creekview. As we have mentioned before, running back Jahmyr Gibbs has been on fire through three games. The Georgia Tech commit has rushed for 806 yards and 16-TDs. Maurice Howard has also had good outings in the run-game, spelling Gibbs this season. Quarterback Landon Allen has not had to throw the ball too much this season, because the Cats have usually been off to the races on the ground, but receiver Hunter Noland has proven to be a valuable weapon in the passing game. While all of this talk has been about the Dalton offense (averaging over 400 yards per game on the ground), the defense has done well only surrendering 10.3 points per games. Creekview will be the biggest test for the Cats, but we don’t believe they can slow down the Gibbs express. We think this will be closer than any of Dalton’s other games, but we like Dalton by 10 on the road.
The Skinny
The Sequoyah Chiefs are back on the road this week as the face the Campbell Spartans, in a non-region game. Sequoyah is coming off of a road loss at Dalton and will look to get back on track Friday night. The Chiefs will look to junior Jaden Mitchell to lead the rushing attack, but they have also gotten production running the ball from senior Riley Gutmann, quarterback Colin Koprowski and sophomore Aidan Moore. Meanwhile, on defense, the Chiefs will look to Grant Gibson, Christian Kirby and Myles McGee to help slow down the Spartans.
Campbell will be looking for their first win of the season this week. They have had some trouble getting into the end zone early in the season, but some of that has been do to their opponents. While the Spartans are only averaging 4.6 points per game, we believe that quarterback Alex Stack and the Spartans receivers will look to challenge Myles McGee and the Sequoyah secondary. Meanwhile, Emon Padgett will try to get loose against the Chiefs defensive front. We think this game could turn into a slugfest, but we like the Chiefs over the Spartans this week by a touchdown.
The Skinny
The Woodstock Wolverines will be on the road to face the North Paulding Wolfpack this Friday. This should be a great matchup in the passing game as Woodstock’s secondary, led by David Daniel and Andrew Bartolero will be matched up against the North Paulding aerial assault. The Wolverines were off last week and are still in search of their first win of the season.
Meanwhile, the Wolfpack comes into the game undefeated as quarterback Kyle Bird has passed for 825 yards and 5-TDs. Bird also leads the team in rushing with 183 yards and 5 rushing TDs. Tanner Bentley (14 receptions, 284 yards 1-TD) and Jarrod Wray (14 receptions 208 yards, 3-TDs) lead the Wolfpack receiving corps. Defensively, look for linebackers Matt Hoffman (12 total tackles, 3 sacks) and Tysean Morgan-Ford to put pressure on the young Woodstock quarterbacks. The Wolfpack is averaging 49.3 points per game. We don’t think they’ll get that many this week, but we do expect them to outscore Woodstock. We like the Pack by 17.