Central Georgia polls

          People grumble a little bit at polls and who’s where, but remember: somebody has to be ranked in a spot.

          Except here, where No. 10 in Division II has been vacated for a few weeks. That’s changed this week, but there’s a clear gap right now after No. 2 Dublin. Frankly, currently, there’s not a huge difference from No. 3 to 10, and in a week or so, there’ may suddenly be a number of rankable teams.

          But there are a lot of middlin’ teams, and that’s where things are even. There’s not a lot of consistency right now in Central Georgia.

          It still comes down to if a team is a little better than the team it’s ahead of, win or lose last week, because it’s a big-picture view, and competition is a huge part of the equation.

          Division I has Howard and West Laurens on the fringe. 

Division I (6A, 5A, 4A)

1. Jones County
          Back to normal after a little hiccup win, the Greyhounds appear to be back to the pinball machine offense and a solid defense. They have the week off and then 0-5 Locust Grove before another burly showdown, with region co-favorite and also-undefeated Dutchtown.

2. Northside
          The Eagles lost QB Mason Ford to injury in the first quarter against Baldwin, and gutted out a win against the improving Braves. Still, as per last week; “The sluggish passing game lessens the margin of error, and puts more pressure on the defense.” And that’ll be much more important this week.

2. Warner Robins
          Yessir, a tie. The Demons have the balance on offense, and are perhaps underrated on defense. They’re off a quality loss at Colquitt County, which passed for 332 yards and four touchdowns but had trouble running the ball. But penalties, penalties, penalties.

4. Veterans

          What an odd win, 7-2 over Houston County. But it’s the kind of win following an annoying loss that can propel a team, inject some confidence, and make the region a little more interesting. But again, only if it’s followed by a decent performance against Perry, which is looking to do to Veterans what Veterans did to Houston County, and what Houston County did to Peach County.

5. Houston County

          Last week: “Losing to Veterans – or at least not playing well or intense – pretty much erases the Peach County win.” The Bears didn’t play well, at all, and thus lost all that momentum and edge and confidence from the Peach County win. The Bears remained ranked, a smidgeon ahead of Howard.

Last week
Friday night’s roundup and scores
Scouting Reports
Statewide polls and Maxwell predictions
The Sports Report tells you the winners
Weekly football honorees (from teams)
Henderson work not quite done, Rutland game changed
Class A power rankings
Monday Morning Quarterback (with all-class area poll)
Macon TD Club honorees

Earlier Coverage
Saturday’s games
Friday night’s roundup and scores
Scouting Reports
Statewide polls and Maxwell predictions afternoon)
The Sports Report tells you the winner
Monday Morning QB
Macon TD Club honorees

Dooly County makes a change
Friday night’s roundup and scores
Scouting Reports
Statewide polls and Maxwell predictions
The Sports Report tells you the winners
Monday Morning Quarterback

Monday Morning Quarterback
Friday night’s scoreboard and roundup
Monday Morning Quarterback
Macon TD Club Kickoff Classic: Good for Westside and Washington County
First week’s Central Georgia HS football scoreboard

Division II (3A, 2A, A, others)

1. Peach County
          The prediction was a rolling-clock sort of game against Mary Persons, and that’s what happened. The Trojans seem to be missing something a little bit, something that may not show up until the playoffs.

2. Dublin
          Any offense that is executed consistently well is a joy to watch. Dublin’s wing-T? Is averaging 9 yards a carry, and has 13 touchdowns in three games, and has thrown – thrown – five passes, for 148 yards and two touchdowns. Granted, this isn’t the playoffs, but still.

3. Washington County
          And now there begins to be a gap in the poll.

          The Golden Hawks defense gave up 241 yards on 15-of-28 passing, and 169 yards on only 27 rushes. Where’d that come from? It was a 47-45 WACO win last year.

4. Westside

          A week off after getting topped hard by Howard is followed by facing Rutland, an improved Rutland but not improved enough to make the Seminoles sweat too long.

5. Lamar County
          The Trojans picked up another quality with over a Class 3A playoff team, and are giving up only 10 points a game. Jordan is 0-4, but this is a trap game. If Lamar County takes care of business, it’s a sign that the Trojans are mentally prepared to have a great season, because it’s easy to overlook a winless opponent.

6. Dodge County
          The Indians may be reeling, but it’s hard to believe it’ll continue.

7. John Milledge

Lather, rinse, repeat: The top of the GISA heap remains here because the Trojans do to the opposition what they should.   
8. Mount de Sales
          The Cavs were pretty impressive after two weeks off, taking care of business at Greene County. Ever so slowly, MdS gets a little more balance on offense, getting more than Dexter Williams.

9. Bleckley County

          After avenging last year’s loss to Marion County, by two touchdowns and overcoming a 22-14 halftime deficit, the Royals are 3-1 for the second time in three years. The defense stood up in the second half.
10. Northeast
          Consecutive quality performances have the Raiders rankable. Now comes the question if the Bibb County Tease – because Bibb teams do some teasing – emerges this week against Bleckley County in a big game, because every game in this region is big.

Loughdmouthings

          Congrats to Kevin Kinsler for his 100th win as head coach at Northside.

          Kinsler is now 100-23, and his winning percentage of 81.3 is 14th among active head coaches in the state, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association website. He’s third in Central Georgia, behind John Milledge’s J.T. Wall (88-14, 86.27 pct.) and Peach County’s Chad Campbell (135-27, 83.3 pct.).

          Next to 100? Trinity Christian’s Jimmy Fields is 94-114 and Westfield’s Bruce Lane is 93-77. …

          In its last two games, Northeast has scored 96 points.

          Last year’s best two-game stretch: 61. Year before: 92. Year before that: 49. Year before that: 61.

          More importantly for the Raiders is they’ve only given up 20 points in those two games. No, they’re still not a contender for the Region 3-AA title or second place, but suddenly, third place seems pretty feasible.

          Of course, in that region, a team can be good enough for third place and be sitting home. Right now, Dublin and Washington County are a solid 1-2 – even with the Golden Hawks’ stumble against Swainsboro at home – with a gap after that.

          For now. It’s hard to imagine Dodge County not turning it around in short order. …

          Speaking of the Indians, they’ve given up a stunning 151 points in four games. That more than surrendered in all of 2015 (132) and 2011 (149) the past decade. Teams scored 193 in 12 games last year.

          The Indians of Greg Robinson coughed up all of 94 back in 2007.

          Stunningly uncharacteristic numbers. …

          Central Georgia=QB Heaven?

          Of the top 50 quarterbacks in yardage on MaxPreps – which is an incomplete compilation based on teams inputting info – five are from Central Georgia: 1. Hunter Costlow, Jones County, 1,355; 11. Victor Dixon Jr., Westside, 934; 26. Jake Davis, Upson-Lee, 764; 27. Travion Solomon, Northeast, 761; 43. Parker Ingram, FPD, 667. …

          There’s not a game alive where coaches aren’t on the field, usually to communicate with players or seek information from an official.

          It’s never a big deal, never interferes with the action. And if a coach overdoes it, he gets flagged.

          So West Laurens head coach Kagan McClain gets tossed Friday night for two unsportsmanlike penalties for coaches being on the field? Doing normal stuff, not barking at refs?

          Makes you wonder if a GHSA officials observer was on hand and some folks were working for playoff-assignment brownie points.     

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, and Mount de Sales for Friday night’s boxes, and info from Northeast, FPD, Covenant, Dublin, and Howard, and Saturday from Jones County, Upson-Lee, and Peach County.