Monday Morning Quarterback: A polls shakeup; interesting few weeks for Kinsler; the area's next 5,000-yard QB?; around the state
Central Georgia polls
Well, No. 10 in Division II is open again.
Northeast had it for a week, but a run of two good games came to a halt at Bleckley County, which is moving up.
There is shuffling in Division I all the way through, and there will be shuffling there the rest of the season.
It still comes down to if a team is a little better than the team itâs ahead of, win or lose last week, because itâs a big-picture view, and competition is a huge part of the equation.
Division I (6A, 5A, 4A)
1. Warner Robins
Yeah, you beat Northside 39-0 â to nothing â at McConnell-Talbert, youâre going to jump teams and clearly deserve it. You hold Northside to a stunning â maybe the stat of the year â 1.2 yards a play, youâre going to jump teams. The Demons are a revelation, with rare balance, which means when it matters, theyâll be able to rely on one thing if something else isnât working.
2. Jones County
The Greyhounds were off. Yes, they beat Northside a couple weeks ago, by 23, but in Gray. Thereâs not much difference â other than schemes and such â between 1 and 2. And yes, one starts looking ahead to possible meetings in the playoffs (From Kathleen: âNot so fast, our friendâ. No doubt).
3. Veterans
No, the Warhawks arenât really playing phenomenal football on either side of the ball right now. Theyâve pulled two pretty ugly games out the past two weeks. But for a still-fairly-young program and a second-year staff, those are huge signs of progress, and things that set up for that big win. Must respect taking care of business. Donât underestimate gritty and stubborn, and be prepared for that game when they click.
4. Houston County
The Bears were off, and got a good look at their next opponent, Warner Robins. The oddness of their loss to Veterans â outgained the Warhawks 243-161 but lost three fumbles and ran for two yards a carry â likely led to a good week of practice. And the door to the playoffs may â may â now be a little more open, so the Bears need more consistent play since that regular-season finale with Northside is most likely for the final playoff spot.
5. Howard
The Huskies get the nod ever so slightly over West Laurens. And who does Howard play this week? West Laurens. And that is a game worth a little drive if youâre free. The Huskies are playing more disciplined, are a little more versatile than expected, and taking care of business, better than many programs much older.
Division II (3A, 2A, A, others)
1. Peach County
The Trojans got the passing game going, such as one can in a game like the rout of Kendrick. And they started building depth â because depth doesnât just happen â by giving backups the entire second half.
2. Dublin
It wouldnât have hurt the Irish to throw some passes in the expected hammering of East Laurens and sharpen up that part of the game for when itâll be needed in the postseason, and perhaps once or twice in the regular season. But goodness, that wing-T is just rocking.
3. Washington County
A week off is followed by East Laurens â geez, poor Falcons â and then Bleckley County. The Golden Hawks will need to tighten up the pass defense a little bit for three of the following four weeks.
4. Westside
The Seminoles took care of business against Rutland, avoided any letdowns or looking ahead.
5. Lamar County
A legit top-1o team in AA â in one poll, while another poll has a 1-3 team ranked - for the first time since early 2015, when they opened at fourth, but fell out after a 20-7 game 3 loss to 4A ranked Mary Persons. The Trojans won six straight and couldnât get back in. Lamar County avoided the trap game syndrome against Jordan, and Spencer is better than a trap-game opponent.
6. Dodge County
As expected, the Indians got back in sync with an easy romp over Southwest, one that would have been a bigger margin save for some mistakes. But donât expect abundant consistency, with a young offensive line and quarterback, fairly substantial tweaks on offense, still some transition to a new staff, and a little less depth and experience than usual. Clearly, though, Dodge County doesnât have to go far to look like Dodge County.
7. Mount de Sales
The strength of schedule â although Central Georgia Class A is down again â lifts the Cavs past John Milledge. They handled Stratford, and now have to muddle through two winless opponents before Tattnall, and a chance to knock off the Trojans and Stratford in the same year for the first time in awhile.
8. Bleckley County
The Royals avenged last yearâs loss to Northeast, and showed some big-play ability and the ability to bounce back quickly after a bad play. A 94-yard catch-and-run put them on top, and the lead was 35-14 until the final 80 seconds, a good second half for the defense.
9. John Milledge
The Trojans havenât gotten any worse, itâs just that some other teams have gotten better. And rest assured, thereâs not much difference between No. 6 and No. 9, but thereâs a gap after No. 9.
10. Vacated
There are 10 Class A and six AA area teams below .500, with two at .500 and five with winning records. And there are more âouchâ losses in the .500-and-below group than âoooohâ wins. By far.
Loughdmouthings
Ah, the fun of Region 2-4A is here. And it gets off to a burly start with West Laurens and Howard, the top two teams in the region.
This wonât be fancy, and there wonât be a flurry of pitchinâ and catchinâ around the ballfield. But both passing games, especially that of West Laurens and A.J. Mathis, are a little underrated.
All games are invariably won and lost based on the performances up front, and this is a huge posterchild game for that. The Raiders have had an upper-level defense for years now, and the Huskies have some size up front.
The ball will matter, and itâll be a shocker if it doesnât come down to the final few minutes and if somebody can make that play on offense. âŠ
Memo 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 â and much appreciation â have had incorrect scores all over the place. More, in fact, have been wrong than right.
And itâs never a bad time to check rosters on MaxPreps and Hudl and anywhere else. âŠ
Find somebody with such a roller coaster set of weeks.
Kevin Kinsler goes from his 100th win on Friday to the biggest loss of his career the next. And now, one of the biggest challenges is ahead: spend an off week trying to get better and convincing enough players that the Eagles arenât done, and can repeat last yearâs stunning playoff run.
But Houston County is better, and that regular-season finale should be the biggest since the end of the Fromm and Co. period. Expect it to be for the final playoff spot from the region. âŠ
Wisdom and logic won out last week, and the ejection of West Laurensâ head coach Kagan McClain was overturned, so he was on the sidelines for Fridayâs game against Statesboro. âŠ
Stat watch: Jones County quarterback Hunter Costlow is three or four games from becoming yet another Central Georgia 5,000-yard career passer. Heâs at 1,355 yards this year, on top of 2,413 last year and 656 as a sophomore.
Costlow needs 571 yards, which heâd cover in a little more than two games. But after winless Locust Grove this week, the Greyhounds have co-favorite Dutchtown on the road, and then 1-4 Eagles Landing on the road.
At 250 yards a game through the regular season, Costlow would have 5,679 yards, which puts him ahead of the likes ofConnor SHaw, Buck Belue, A.J. Bryant, Mike Bobo, and David Greene.
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 â everybody loves reading about high school football on a Saturday morning - other than seeing video of a few plays that donât tell much about the game.
Thanks last week to Northside, Brentwood, John Milledge, Dublin, and Mount de Sales for Friday nightâs boxes, and info from Northeast, Peach County, and Lamar County afterward.
Around the state
Adding to the belief that anything is possible, Holy Innocents followed its win over Rutland by knocking off Eagleâs Landing Christian Academy, a Class A powerhouse, 42-41.
And so ended the longest streak of being ranked No 1 by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, at 48 weeks. There is currently no notable active such streak.
It was Holy Innocentsâ second win over ELCA, breaking a six-game losing streak. The Chargers went 13-1 last year in winning their fourth straight state title, and that followed two undefeated seasons.
Staggeringly, it was ELCAâs first region loss since Holy Innocents did the dead 35-13 on Sept. 4, 2009. âŠ
Calhoun had its streak of 119 straight region wins come to an end with a stunning 31-7 loss to North Murray.
Stunning in that Calhoun was a 33-point favorite in the Maxwell Ratings. Stunning in that North Murray is in its first decade of football, and hadnât been closer than 24 points in losing seven times to Calhoun, which fell out of the AJC poll for the first time in 146 weeks. .
The Mountaineers, though, are midway through what will be their fourth straight winning season, and sixth non-losing season out of 11.
Quotable
Spoon Risper and Rusty Easom had known each other for years, and when Easom took the Rutland job, Risper saw that heâd be driving from home to Rutland every day, a drive of more than an hour.
âCoach, if youâre ever working late and you need somewhere to stay, you can always come stay at my house,â Risper said, Easom told the Macon Touchdown Club last week. âI called him (last Sunday) night and said, âHey man, I think Iâm just going to crash at your place this week.ââ
Westside and Rutland played Friday night.
âHe told me I couldnât stay. I said, âWhat kind of neighbor are you?â