With new regions come new opponents. Fayette County, McIntosh, Starr's Mill and Whitewater migrated to subregion 3B-AAAA with GHSA realignment last winter. The other half of the region is no longer filled with south Fulton and Douglas County teams. Instead, Fayette's four biggest schools are paired up with a subregion made up of four Henry County teams, Griffin, Alcovy and Jones County. On Friday, four Fayette teams will take on four Henry teams in a battle for county pride.
The Starr's Mill v. Woodland contest is this week's marquee match-up. Of the five games on Friday's schedule, it is the only one that pits two 2009 state playoff teams against each other. Both the Panthers and Wolfpack looked impressive in their opening wins last Friday.
Fayette County is the only local team playing at home Friday. The Tigers will look to bounce back from their week one loss to Woodland against a solid Union Grove team that made the state playoffs in Class AAAAA a year ago.
And for those fans interested in taking a road trip, hop on Hwy 16, head east for about 120 miles and stop when you hit a little town called Gibson. That's where Our Lady of Mercy will play Glascock County. The Bobcats are hoping to build upon their best start in program history.
Fayette Sports will have reporters and photographers at four of this weekend's games, so check Tuesday's Fayette County News / Today in Peachtree City for full recaps and pictures.
Here's a taste of what to expect Friday night:
Union Grove at Fayette County
Fayette got off to a terrible start last week against Woodland, falling behind 22-0 in the first quarter. But the Tigers regrouped and proceeded to score 18 unanswered points. The Wolfpack added a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to salt away the win, but Fayette coaches saw some good things and found plenty of areas to focus on this week in practice.
To upset Union Grove, the Tigers will need to shore up the defense, especially in the box. Woodland ran all over the Tigers in week one. Fayette will also need another strong showing by quarterback Justin Murray, who threw the ball well last Friday.
Union Grove is coming off of a 38-0 drubbing at the hands of Northside, Warner Robbins -- one of the early favorites to win state in Class AAAA. These two teams have met twice before. Fayette beat Union Grove in 2004 and the Wolverines won in 2005. During those two seasons, Fayette and Union Grove were region opponents. Fayette dropped from AAAAA to AAAA in 2006. Union Grove followed suit this past offseason.
McIntosh at Dutchtown
The Chiefs will be without Cam Porter, their starting quarterback, when they travel to Hampton Friday to face the Dutchtown Bulldogs. Porter suffered a knee injury during the Chiefs loss at Pike County. Jake Turner stepped in for Porter and posted an impressive stat line of 9-13 passing for 153 yards and a score, but could not quite lead his team to victory.
Dutchtown enters the game with a 1-0 record. The Bulldogs failed to make the playoffs last year, but did post a winning record (7-3) for the first time in program history.
The Chiefs will count on the Joe Trevena-led linebacker corps to stop Mycheal Brown and the Bulldogs' rushing attack. Brown went for over 200 yards in Dutchtown's week one come-from-behind win over Stockbridge.
This will be the first meeting between these two teams.
Starr's Mill at Woodland
The Panthers head to Woodland Friday in a showdown between two state playoff teams from 2009. Woodland made the postseason last year in just its second varsity season.
The Panthers clawed their way into the postseason in 2009 and have returned the bulk of the skill position players from last year's run.
Both teams won big in week one, making this contest the most intriguing of Friday night's slate of games.
Look for Starr's Mill's three-pronged offensive attack of quarterback Adam Holley, tailback Zach Laskey and receiver Jeffrey Greene to again put plenty of points on the scoreboard. The trio combined for 285 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns in last Friday's win over Coosa.
But, Woodland has a potent offense of their own. This one may come down to what offense can keep the ball in their hands the longest.
Starr's Mill and Woodland are meeting for the first time.
Whitewater at Ola
The Wildcats head to Ola Friday, looking to bounce back from a near miss in week one against the defending state champs from Sandy Creek.
After Creek spent three quarters slowing Whitewater's option-based running attack, back-up quarterback John Mark Rhodes entered the game and gave the Wildcats a completely new look. With receivers spread out in the shotgun-I formation, Rhodes enjoyed tremendous success through the air, nearly leading the Wildcats to a come-from-behind victory. With receivers like Josh Baker, Brian Covington and Taylor Stanford on the field, Whitewater has established quite a few new weapons in their arsenal.
Throw in the starting quarterback Ra Ra Jenkins and Josh Clemons, the big tailback who is closing in on the school rushing record, and Ola suddenly has a lot to worry about on defense.
Ola beat Henry County last week, 24-10. The Mustangs run a triple option. They're playing their fifth year of varsity football and are still looking for their first winning campaign. This will be the first meeting between these two schools.
OLM at Glascock Co.
Our Lady of Mercy traveled 50 miles northwest last Friday and came from behind to beat Temple, 32-26. This Friday, the Bobcats will travel 120 miles in the opposite direction to the tiny east Georgia town of Gibson, where they'll try to improve to 3-0 against the Glascock County Panthers.
If Mercy wins, they'll be 3-0 for the first time in the program's nine year history. The 2-0 start under new Head Coach Mike Earwood is already a Mercy record.
Look for the Bobcats to use their speed, discipline and athleticism to pile on the rushing yards against the Panthers. Rashad Fant, Mercy's sophomore A-back, has already gained 379 yards from scrimmage and scored five touchdowns this season.
Glascock County is a Class A school -- the same class as the Bobcats. Mercy opened the year against a pair of Class AA squads.
While Glascock County is most famous for its 62-game losing streak, which lasted from 1990 through 1997, the Panthers are just two seasons removed from an 8-2 campaign that was the best in program history.
This will be the fourth meeting between the two schools. Mercy leads the series 2-1, but Glascock County won in 2007, the last time these two played. |
