GA High School Review/Preview

What a first full weekend of high school football games, huh? Between North Gwinnett and Newnan, I'm not sure who I was more impressed with on Saturday night. Let's start with Classification AAAAA and in particular North Gwinnett. Kudos to Bob Sphire and his Bulldogs. They lost Tyler Jarry and Mikey Tamburo and yet, it is like they haven't missed a beat. They hosted the nation's No.5 team in Prattville, the defending champs of Alabama and NGHS whipped them. Don't be fooled by the 14-11 score, the Bulldogs had it working. Prattville couldn't gain any yards and North Gwinnett's line dominated the line of scrimmage. JuWuan James on the Oline was dominant, even running down field on one play 25-30 yards to block for his rb. The QB, while not Tamburo, is pretty good (CJ Uzomah) and has the size at 6'5 215lb that colleges like to see. He threw two nice passes for TDs to Cody Gower. Cordero Dixon will get involved this season too. But the O-line and the D-Lines were very impressive. Look for BIG things from the Bulldogs and put them in front of this region, ahead of P-Tree Ridge and WAYYYYYYY ahead of Norcross.

Meanwhile Newnan traveled down southwest to face LaGrange and while the Granger coach didn't believe that LaGrange should be a top ten team, it was still an imposing task to go over there. But Zander and Alec Ogletree helped hold that Granger offense to 15 points and won 26-15. That was probably the most impressive road victory of the week.

Other Class5A action, Lowndes set a school record with 75 points in a huge win. Khary Franklin and Troy Braswell each tallied 100+ rushing yards before taking the fourth quarter off. Peachtree Ridge will face the Vikings this week after shutting down the Hoyas of Harrison 35-14. Chris Sawdey had 91 of his team's 295 rushing yards. Nick Lombardo showed the moves as an option QB but remember, this kid can throw it too and he has Brad Roby to throw to. The Lions defense will certainly be tested against Lowndes.
Stephenson and ML King looked alright but Mack Brown needs to give SBF a little more for us to CONTINUE to think he is the best player in the classification. He had a TD called back but he finished with 60+ yards? Come on Mack. If you cannot hack it against SWD, how can you hack it against the SEC?
Finally, SouthGwinnett crushed Norcross. What's up with the Blue Devils? They lost AGAIN, this time to SoGwin. While I predicted SoGwin would make the playoffs, I thought Norcross would be a lot better than they are. I thought that after the Blue Devils underachieved last season, they would get it together and try to overachieve this season. Guess not. And it ISN'T like Norcross doesn't have talent. Max Garcia, Delino DeShields, the kicker, the wideout. THEY'VE GOT TALENT. Wow. Something needs to happen and FAST. The team has this week off. They MUST win next Friday against Mill Creek to save the season.

Moving down to ClassAAAA, perhaps this was the best thing to happen to SW-D. Maybe the team needed a reality check like Tucker got last season. Maybe now SW-D reels off 14 straight to claim the state title. They certainly have the talent to do just that. The team that took OVER No.1 would be the defending state champs Tucker Tigers. With Quentin Brown at DE/LB the defense is certainly good. As good as last season, no, but that team was LOADED. That should be a terrific game between those two for that region.
Marist losing I called, but Sandy Creek falling...wow. Rajion Neal did NOT step up. Maybe the loss of Rio Johnson was bigger than I thought. They can still recover, but no undefeated season for them. Come on SCHS defense!
And Loganville lost as well. Storm Johnson isn't used to losing I'm sure. He had 25 carries for 123 yards and two scores, but you have to wonder why, with 1:15 left and the ball in the red zone, why Storm was getting the rock. Hmmmmmmm.
Finally, Sequoyah won 33-7 and Dalton Trevino had a heck of a game. Very Tom Rathmanesque.

Moving on to ClassAAA, LeGrange's loss was the only upset in the top ten. Blake Sims and his Red Elephants looked good and Flowery Branch played well too. That will be quite a tilt at the end of the season. Carver-Columbus looks strong and like a team that could go ahead and punch its ticket for the state finals. The winner of the FloBranch/GVille game will be the other, IMHO. Baldwin and Peach Co have potential trap games against Troup and Rutland, respectively before those two meet 9-11. (Moment of silence) Those two cannot afford to look ahead otherwise their seasons might go poopy. PS, Baldwin is playing some offense this year. WATCH OUT! And Peach Co's qb is certainly back from injury as he went for 245 and 2TDs last week. I'd say he's back from that weird hip injury

I would talk about Class AA and A, but come on, Buford won 51-0 and they'll go 15-0 again this season. Lovett could challenge with Jonathan Carkhuff, but they won't really. So Buford will ONLY win 28-7 in the state title game. Enh. In Class A, Wesleyan decided it couldn't beat Buford in Class AA, so they moved down to A so they could BECOME Buford. Way to teach everyone that if you cannot succeed where you are now, quit and drop down to a level where you can! What a lesson for the kids.

As far as Previewing this week, ECI plays Savannah Christian this week. No.4 v No.6, so that should be fun to read about. Calloway plays Lovett and Buford plays North Hall. Hopefully Bob Christmas can come up with some twist to put Buford on its tail. And before you call me a Buford-hater (well I sort of am), I will start praising them once they move up to Class AAA where they belong. I get a little sick of the Wolves fans boasting that they COULD beat Lowndes. Well then PLAY THEM! You want my respect, put your money where your mouth is. You guys sound like 2004 Auburn Fans!
Rome faces Hillgrove and Synjyn Days, who I am a big fan of...at least for this season and until he goes to GT. Finally at 5A, North Gwinnett should thump Brookwood (sorry Broncos fans, but you guys were exposed in the Corky Kell) and Lowndes hosts (and beats) P-Tree Ridge. Oh, and my upset of the week. Host McEachern knocks off Etowah.

PS, after watching the first two weeks of the season I must say that GT got a good one in UT Shawn Green and an OVERRATED one in Denzel McCoy. He was a NON-FACTOR against Centennial and David Yankey. Sorry Tech fans, but he was a moo point. He was like a cow's opinion, he didn't matter.