At this point in the season, all of the games are important. But this week, there are some region games that can be seen as de facto region title games. We will preview a a handful of these games this week in this edition of Eight Greats Around the State, our weekly Georgia High School Football previews.
First up in Cordele, two middle Georgia powers, (Is Cordele middle or south Georgia?), will face off in a game that features several future D-1 players. Can the Crisp defense slow down an explosive Peach offense? In metro Atlanta, Greater Atlanta Christian hosts Cedar Grove. Cedar grove has one of the most dominant defenses in Class 3A. Will Deymon Flemming and Greater Atlanta be able to find success against the Saints?
Over in Watkinsville, the Oconee County Warriors will host Hart County. Hart got back in the win column last week and has an offense that can score points in bunches, but Oconee County has one of the best defenses in Northeast Georgia. Will it be a shootout in Watkinsville? Finally, in Roswell, the Roswell Hornets host the Cherokee Warriors. This could turn into a duel between two very good quarterbacks in Robbie Roper and A.J. Swann. Is Cherokee the real deal, or will Roswell continue their series dominance?
As always, thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment and share. Best of luck to all of the teams competing on Friday night.
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The Skinny
The Crisp County Cougars are off to their best start since 2016. The Cougars have really made a living on defense, holding opponents to 4.2 points per game and recording three shutouts so far this season. It should be no surprise that linebackers Preston Lavant (40) and Chris Paul Jr.(48) lead the team in total tackles. The Cougars defense has already recorded 18 turnovers included 9 interceptions. J’kobe Harris leads the team in that category with 4. Crisp is averaging 24.6 points per game on offense. A.J. Brown got the start at quarterback last week and threw for 235 yards and 2-TDs. He’s also rushed for 287 yards this season.
The Peach County Trojans are winners of their last four games. After scoring just a touchdown in their opener they’ve scored no less than 42 points each game and have scored over fifty in three of those contests. On the season they are at 42.8 points per game. The Trojans have a pretty good one-two punch at running back in Jamond Jones and Chris McMillian. Jones is a punishing runner while McMillian is shifty with a quick burst of speed. Dorrian Smith is another dangerous weapon for the Trojans. Peach’s defense is pretty darn good as well. They have a tendency to swarm to the ball carrier and stop plays before they get started. They are holding opponents to 7.6 points per game. The way these defenses play, the first team to score might win it. This game is really a toss-up, but we’ll give Crisp the slight edge, only because they are playing at home. Cougars by 1.
The Skinny
The Greater Atlanta Christian Spartans remained unbeaten last week behind a big outing from quarterback Deymon Fleming. The senior quarterback has now thrown for 967 yards and 10-TDs while completing 62.4% of his passes. Junior running back Gannon Hearst leads the Spartans in rushing with 205 yards and 2-TDs while Brooks Miller has been the top receiver for the Spartans with 24 receptions for 407 yards and 2-TDs. The Spartans are averaging 31 points per game on the season. Senior linebacker Aidan Bailey leads the team in total tackles. The defense has intercepted 10 passes on the season led be Saiku White with 3. As a team Greater Atlanta Christian is allowing 8.8 points per game.
The Cedar Grove Saints have run their current win streak to 14 games in a row dating back to last season. The Saints scored in all three phases of the game last week, including three Austin Smith touchdown passes, a pick-6 of 100 yards by Lamarion Ewing and a punt return for Rashod Dubinion. The Cedar Grove defense held Redan to under 100 yards of total offense. On the year, the Saints are allowing 6.3 points per game. Cedar Groves defensive line is the key to victory in our opinion. If they can harass Flemming, they should be able to create havoc. We like Cedar Grove by 17.
The Skinny
Last week, the Oconee County Warriors got a pair of rushing touchdowns from C.J. Jones and a 100+ yard interception return for a score as they moved to 1-0 on the region. The Warriors are averaging 30 points per game. The after-mentioned Jones has rushed for 485 yards and 6-TDs on the season, while Jacob Wright has thrown for well over 500 yards and 6-TDs. The Oconee County defense is only allowing 8 points per game. The defense has been getting big plays from linebackers Whit Weeks, West Weeks, Liam Lewis and others.
The Hart County Bulldogs got back on track last week with a win over previously unbeaten Franklin County. Although the Bulldogs only have two victories, they’re averaging 34 points per game. They are led by one of the top running backs on Northeast Georgia, Malachi Thomas. Defensively the Bulldogs are allowing 29.6 points per game. Thomas and fellow back, J.Len Lackey will need to score early and often to keep Oconee County at bay. There could be a lot of points scored in this one, but we think the Warriors defense will make stops when it counts. Oconee County by 8.
The Skinny
The Roswell Hornets survived a comeback attempt by the Etowah Eagles, despite the Hornets turning the ball over five times. Ball security will need to be paramount this week. Junior quarterback Robbie Roper is now over 1,000 passing and has thrown 11-TD passes on the year. Ryan Hill went over the century mark for the second time this season in last week’s contest. He leads the team in Rushing with 407 yards and 4-TDs, but Ryan Stephens is close behind with 394 yards and 5-TDs. The Hornets are averaging 32.8 points per game while the defense is allowing 13 points per game.
The Cherokee Warriors just keep winning. Last week, they tied their season high in point production with a big region win. Quarterback A.J. Swann also went over the 1,000-yard mark in passing last week. He has also now thrown 12-TDs on the season. He demonstrated his athleticism by keeping plays alive with his feet and making big throws downfield. It was the kind of performance we believe Swann is capable of most weeks. The Warriors defense is allowing 12.5 points per game. They did allow a red-zone touchdown, but those have been few and far between this season. This region is shaping up to be a three-horse race between these two teams and Milton. Roswell has been really good this season, but we don’t know if they’ve faced a team like Cherokee. If they are going to win at home, they’ll need to fix the turnovers from last week. Cherokee will be much less, well, forgiving than Etowah. Either way, we like the Warriors on the road by 2.