Monday Morning QB: Divisional polls, the full Central Georgia poll, a playoff projection update, and Loughdmouthings
Central Georgia polls
It’s time for another full everybody-in-the-pool poll of all Central Georgia teams. First things first, though, and the regular polls.
Division I (6A, 5A, 4A)
1. Jones County
Had the week off.
2. Warner Robins
The gap got a little tighter between 1 and 2, the Demons handling a quality Thomas County Central team by 35, and stuffing the Yellow Jackets after some early points. The new head coach and his staff have really done a quality job this season, to the point of eliminating the T word: Transition.
3. Veterans
The Warhawks came back from a 13-0 deficit, getting their first points on Daniel Gibbs’ 46-yard field goal. Again, Veterans grinds it out, winning despite 14 fewer plays and seven fewer first downs, and giving up 223 yards on the ground.
4. West Laurens
Had the week off.
5. Perry
The suspense remains each Friday night, but the defense against Howard was impressive, and the Panthers avoided self-inflicted wounds.
Division II (3A, 2A, A, others)
1. Peach County
Another rout for the varsity and JV.
2. Dublin
And then there was the week without the test, although Southwest came out strong. That, alas, tends not to last long against Dublin this year.
3. Bleckley County
The Royals put the hammer down against East Laurens, showing no signs of letdowns or slipups, very much a positive, and a good sign for the postseason.
4. Washington County
Dispatching Dodge County by a point was going to be important. Doing so by 21 points and pretty much maintaining a level of control was huge.
5. Westside
An off week of work and watching precedes a game against a defense that’s given up 362 points.
6. Mount de Sales
Playing so steady each week has been impressive. The Cavs are one of the area’s most consistent teams.
7. Lamar County
After an off week following the crunching by Callaway, the Trojans can all but clinch a playoff spot with a win over tied-with-them Bremen.
8. Dodge County
Their fourth loss by at least two touchdowns notwithstanding – all to ranked teams – there’s still this thought that the Indians will come around.
9. John Milledge
After the third shutout of the season, JMA has given up but 37 points.
10. Northeast/Central, tie
The Raiders were off last week, and were at No. 10. The Chargers finally turned competitive losses into a few wins, and they have their first two-game winning streak since midway through the 2016 season. There are some teams knocking at the No. 10 door.
The full poll
Remember. This isn’t about just an overall record. This isn’t about head to head (legit rankings are never about head to head, because one game is not a season picture, so please forever and ever remember that).
The view here is simple: who is a wee bit better than whom, who would win more if they played 10 times under normal circumstances. Who’s bigger and faster? Who has played consistently better competition? Who’s getting better?
And remember this odd thing: it’s objective.
1. Jones County
The Greyhounds may have some questions about defensive consistency, and there are worries about protection. But they’ve answered the challenges against Northside and Dutchtown, and that’s worth noting. Plus, that offense seems ready to handle shootouts.
2. Peach County, Warner Robins, tie
As good as we think Peach County is, we don’t know about a four-quarter game, because the reality is their schedule – this year – isn’t as tough as in recent years. The Lee County win was countered by the Houston County loss, and the Trojans aren’t in a strong region by any stretch. Warner Robins is thiiiiiis close to getting the edge because of a tougher schedule, and surprising consistency on both sides. Too bad they don’t play, which they did as late as 2017.
4. Dublin
The wing-T can be an absolute joy to watch, when the line is crisp in taking care of its duties and the QB makes the right reads. It can be picturesque execution, sometimes moreso than other offenses. All that’s missing here offensively is some passing. The top 22 Irish are pretty close to the top 22 of the bigger programs, and there’s a half-dozen or so who can play for about anybody around. Here, or the state.
5. Veterans
Teams better be careful that Veterans will subtly outgrit them. The Warhawks have won in different ways, and that makes them dangerous once the next season starts.
6. West Laurens
Ever so slowly, the Raider offense gains ground on the Raider defense. And the Raiders have a defense, as usual, plus a kicking game. They’ll enter the playoffs as a darkhorse.
7. Perry
All of a sudden, here are the Panthers. Not long ago, they were embarrassed by Westside – and boy, ask the players how much they’d pay to play that one again – and did little against Veterans. They extracted victory from defeat at Upson-Lee and then beat the bejeebers out of Howard in Macon. They’re still inconsistent, but Friday showed something.
8. Howard
Yes, Howard is still a pretty good team, although not as good as some of us projected. The Huskies must, must, must be more efficient in time management as far as getting plays in. They’re not running the fanciest offense in the world – and Perry sure showed as much – and seem to disrupt themselves by taking so long to get plays in. Who Howard is, though, remains a huge question.
9. Bleckley County
The Royals have shown different ways to win games, and they’re blowing some folks out, too. They have a good chance at their first 8-2 regular season since 2013, Tracy White’s second year as head coach, which followed an 8-2 season the year before.
10. Westside
The Seminoles have explosive potential on offense, but need some consistency. They need more consistency and playmaking on defense to make sure they get a playoff spot, which is still likely but not terribly firm just yet.
Loughdmouthings
You read here earlier that no, Baldwin wasn’t going to repeat last year’s region run after a winless non-region start.
That said, the way things went against Thomson was a surprise. Down 28-0? Shoot, the Braves weren’t in that big a hole at the same point last year against Northside. …
Updating in a week the look at who’s unofficially in the playoffs, figuratively speaking, not necessarily mathematically speaking just yet:
Class 5A: Jones County, Warner Robins, Veterans.
Class 4A: West Laurens.
Class 3A: Peach County.
Class 2A: Dublin, Bleckley County, Lamar County.
Class A: Mount de Sales.
On the bubble, trending toward “in”:
Class 4A: Baldwin, Perry (up from “sweating).
Class 3A: Westside.
Class AA: Washington County (up from “sweating)
In the “seriously sweating it out but alive” category:
Class 6A: Northside, Houston County.
Class 4A: Mary Persons, Howard, Upson-Lee.
Class 3A: Central.
Class 2A: Dodge County, Northeast, Putnam County (joins field).
Class A: Taylor County, Macon County, Dooly County, Stratford (down from “trending”), FPD, Hancock Central (joins field).
Dropped out: Tattnall, Dooly County.
The weak year, again, in Class A in Central Georgia has the ratings and rankings all goofy and tough to figure. But good grief, it’s just – apologies for the word – bad.
Two teams that have won Class A Public state titles in the past half-decade are likely out. There’s a chance that there’ll be only one Macon private school with a winning record.
Mount de Sales can all but end its local rivals’ season after 10 games, having already beaten Tattnall and Stratford, by 21 and 22 points.
Class A’s winning teams: Mount de Sales, 7-0; FPD, 4-3; Hancock Central, 4-3; Taylor County 4-3; Macon County, 4-3. Total: 23-12.
Class A’s non-winning teams: Tattnall, 3-4, Stratford 2-5; Dooly County, 2-5; Crawford County, 2-5; GMC 2-6; Hawkinsville 1-6, Wilkinson County, 1-6; Twiggs County, 0-8; ACE (with an asterisk), 1-6. Total: 14-51.
Overall, the area’s Class A teams are 37-63.
Ouch. …
Coming Tuesday: football notebook, including a look at the area’s reps among the state’s stat leaders, plus some team stats on a state-wide level. …
In no way expected what happened with Perry and Howard.
But a fist bump to the Panthers, especially on defense. Howard didn’t seem to give them anything different to react to or adjust to, and Perry played disciplined. And the offense was efficient and effective.
It’s amazing, on all levels, what happens when simple fundamental defense – like, eh, tackling as you were taught for the last 600 days – is employed. …
Anybody who has written proof of a month ago that Northside would go three straight games – against anybody – without scoring a point, provide it.
It’s stunning, frankly. And it sure does get the rumor mill swirling on and about Green Street. Will Kevin Kinsler retire? Should he retire? Is the expectation of Chad Alligood as the successor decreasing some? When the time come, should an outsider be considered?
There’s another major area program that could have a change after the season, based on administrative disagreements, and if that happens, well, it’d be interesting.
But barring some unforeseen or unknown circumstance, it’s hard to imagine Kinsler going out after this kind of year, unless the Eagles somehow can make the playoffs and win a game or two. …
Four games I’d love to see this year:
Jones County and Warner Robins: The coaching changes is of idle chatter. It’s about the teams. They score, they can D. Man, that’d be fun.
Peach County and Dublin: Sure, the Trojans might win by a bit, but if Dublin’s offense is clicking and it avoided head-banging mistakes, it’d be a pretty dandy matchup.
West Laurens and Jones County or Warner Robins: The Raiders are underrated on offense, and punishing on defense. That D against an open offense? It may only by 21-14, but it’d be a great game.
John Milledge against somebody of playoff caliber in the GHSA. …
Memo reminder to all coaches using Hudl for box scores and stats: please check the final numbers out before sending/finishing, because the majority of boxes forwarded the past few weeks – and much appreciation – have had incorrect scores all over the place. More, in fact, have been wrong than right.
And it’s never a bad time to check rosters on MaxPreps and Hudl and anywhere else.
It really isn’t, because there are issues. Still.
Note to keepers of standings, results
In this age of technology, certainly more teams can have stats on Friday night or Saturday morning to send to centralgasports@gmail.com so folks can find out what happened – everybody loves reading about high school football on a Saturday morning - other than seeing video of a few plays that don’t tell much about the game.
Thanks last week to Northside, John Milledge, Dublin, Mount de Sales, and Trinity Christian for full Friday night stats, partials on Saturday from Perry, Howard, and Washington County, and then Peach County and Lamar County. But really, really need game info on, you know, game night, or postgame morning, to enhance Central Georgia’s only full names-and-stats-and-details coverage of four dozen high schools.
Dear Friday night gamecasters
Gamecasting teams should really, really, really, really remember that they’re not in the mancave on a Saturday, and have a signal that says “You shut up till I’m done, and I’ll shut up until you’re done, unless there’s nothing going on and we’re just chatting.”
This goes, yes, for last-second plays. A broadcast board with a mute button would be kind of a dream, too. …
Larry Munson, Vin Scully, Skip Caray, and Wes Durham all believe/believed that you give the score and game situation going into a commercial and you give the score and game situation coming out of a commercial.
Really.