Friday night's Central Georgia high school football scouting reports
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Class 6A and A are on Saturday, and those scouting reports will be published Saturday morning. All other games are Friday at 7:30 p.m. unless noted.
Class 6A
Lakeside-Evans (R3/3, 4-6) at Northside (R1/2, 7-3), Saturday, 2 p.m.
Next: Douglas County or Riverwood
Houston County (R1/3, 4-6) at Evans (R3/2, 8-2), Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
Next: Johns Creek or Rome
Class 5A
Jonesboro (R3/3, 7-3) at Warner Robins (R1/2, 9-1)
The Demons will be without leading rusher Malcolm Brown, who went down early last week with a leg injury. He had 1,332 yards and 17 TDs. Fred Perry is a different style runner, with 515 yards and eight TDs on 49 carries, and more explosiveness. The passing game is still in check, with QB Christon Lane (112-173-4, 25 TDs, 1,951 yards), WRs Daveon Walker (44-934, 11), Deuce Petty (25-546, 9) and DK Sturn (20-242, 2). Jonesboro can throw, too. Chadrick Garner has completed 61 percent of his passes for 1,216 yards, 13 touchdowns and two picks, with 23 catches each from Devon Rainey and Malcolm Simmons. The run game is by committee. Jonesboro hasn’t gotten out of the first round the last three trips, and not since reaching the 2015 quarterfinals in 4A. All three losses are to top-5 teams: 48-7 to No. 4 Carrollton, 24-7 to No. 5 Woodward, 27-7 to No. 2 Creekside.
Next: Lithonia or Cartersville
Veterans (R1/4, 2-8) at Woodward Acad. (R3/1, 10-0)
The two numbers that stand out: 78 and 177. Woodward has given up 78 points, 99 fewer points than Veterans has scored all year, and three less than the Warhawks have put up in the last five games. They’re off a down night, a 59-3 loss to Warner Robins. QB Matthew Bruce entered the Warner Robins game with 1,887 passing yards. This is the sixth ranked opponent Veterans has played. Damari Alston has 1,450 yards and 23 touchdowns for the War Eagles, who went 13-1 in 2019.
Next: Blessed Trinity or Southwest DeKalb
Griffin (R2/4, 4-5) at Jones County (R4/1, 8-2)
The Bears of former Rutland head coach Rusty Easom are a competitive sub-.500 team, with 10 points their largest margin of defeat, to 7A Lowndes and 6A Lovejoy. The three region losses are by a total of 19 points. Khalfani Harps has completed 58.6 percent for 1,440 yards, 14 TDs and 5 INTs. The Bears have 23 rushing TDs, topped by 9 from Jakarri Ponder (437 yards). The Greyhounds have blown teams out and come back to win late. QB John Alan Richter has 2,381 yards on 71.5 percent passing, a nifty 25-5 TD-INT ratio. Javious Bond is versatile, with 610 rushing yards and 483 receiving yards, combining for 15 touchdowns, not to mention a kickoff return for a touchdown. Griffin, making its 21st straight playoff appearance, gets 29.7 points a game and gives up 23.1, to 41.9 and 23.6 for Jones County.
Next: Eastside or New Manchester
Class 4A
Hardaway (R2/4, 6-4) at Perry (R4/1, 9-1)
Hardaway brings balance to the Panther Pit, with 121.6 passing yards a game and 127.9 rush yards. The Golden Hawks are making their fourth straight playoff trip after a seven-year drought, which followed a 10-year drought. They’ll have to deal with the state’s No. 14 passing yardage QB, Armar Gordon Jr., who has 2,455 yards on a nifty 66.2 percent completion rate, with 27 touchdowns against only 10 interceptions. Daequan Wright is 82 yards from 1,000 for the season, to go with 11 receiving TDs. Five Panthers have at least two touchdown catches. Jarred Fuller leads a stout defense that is giving up 9.7 points a game, and has four shutouts, keeping two more opponents to single digits. Jordan Stubbs has six sacks, and three Panthers have two picks each. Perry has never won three straight first-round games, and has momentum from last week’s rousing region-title-winning 40-8 game over Baldwin.
Next: Mays or Flowery Branch
LaGrange (R2/3, 8-2) at Baldwin (R4/2, 6-3)
The Grangers are off a 21-12 win over Hardaway to get third place, while the Braves were thumped 40-8 at home by Perry for the top seed in the region. Baldwin hasn’t been handled like that in region play in several years, and LaGrange is good enough to take advantage of a flat start. The Grangers lost 42-27 in October to highly-ranked Carver-Columbus, but they’re in the playoffs for only the second time since 2014. Last year, they broke that slump with a first-round win before losing 34-4 to Perry in the second round. Baldwin’s Solomon Burney is 160 yards passing from 1,000 for the year, and Micah Welch is 91 yards rushing from the same milestone. The Braves have won four of their last five first-round games.
Next: Cedar Shoals or Marist
West Laurens (R4/4, 5-5) at Carver-Columbus (R2/1, 9-1)
The Raiders have a task, facing QB Devin Riles (1,370 yards, 67.2 percent) and RB Jaiden Credle (1,500 yards, 20 TDs), and four receivers with at least 200 yards in catches. The Tigers have two shutouts, and kept four more in single digits. The Raiders have been kept in single digits twice, and to two scores or less five times. Evan Guyton has 1,029 yards and 12 TDs on the ground for the Raiders, in the postseason for the seventh time in the last years, the best run in program history.
Next: Jefferson or Hapeville
Class AAA
Morgan County (R4/3, 3-7) at Peach County (R2/2, 6-3), 8 p.m.
The homestanding Trojans haven’t lost a first-round game since a 14-7 stunner by Appling County in2014, ending a season in which Peach County gave up only 87 points. It’s also been quite a while since Peach County lost to a team with a sub.-500 record once region play or the playoffs started. QBs Christian Martin and Colter Ginn have teamed for more than 1,500 yards passing, and Chris McMillian has more than 500 yards rushing to top a ground game averaging about 143.1 yards (stats updated through 8 games) a week.
Next: North Murray or Monroe Area
Mary Persons (R2/3, 7-3) at Burke County (R4/2, 7-2)
Burke County spent a few weeks in the midseason ranked before losing 59-28 to No. 4 Benedictine. Since then, the Bears are 4-1, the lone loss 27-14 to region champ No. 6 Thomson. The Bulldogs have won four straight, pulling the last three out of the fire, by eight, two, and two points. The teams are pretty similar, with 1,000-yard QBs (Marshall Flowers is 81-139-2 for 1,148 yards and 8 TDs for Burke, Logan Hickman is 101-159-5 with 14 TDs, and 1,446 yards) and solid top RBs (Eldrick Williams has 840 yards and 13 TDs for Burke, and Duke Watson has 1,619 and 23 for the Bulldogs). Watson, only a sophomore, is 44 yards from the single-game record at Mary Persons, set by Alvin Toles in 1980 in a 15-game season. The Bulldogs are OK on the road early in the playoffs, winning the 2019 first-round game at Eastside as a third seed. Like the last three Mary Persons game, the balance of the teams indicates another nailbiter.
Next: Stephens County or Rockmart
Class AA
Early County (R1/4, 4-4) at Bleckley County (R3/1, 10-0)
Home playoff games have been rare for Bleckley County, nor successful. The Royals lost 30-12 to Fitzgerald at home in 2019, 40-20 to Early County in 2012, and 35-12 to Lamar County in 2011. Those are the only home state playoffs games in Royals history, as per the Georgia High School Football Historians Association records. There were region playoffs in the old days, and Bleckley County followed a 10-0 regular season in 1978 with a region playoff loss – at home – to old R.E. Lee. Three of the Bobcats’ losses have been to ranked teams, while the Royals have beaten four ranked teams. Early County is run first and mostly, with 182.9 rushing yards a game. Bleckley County has more balance, QB Eli Mullis passing 1,000 yards two weeks ago, and Jahvon Butler leading the ground attack with 1,333 yards and 15 touchdowns. The Royals defense has momentum, with only one opponent cracking the 20-poin mark.
Next: Pepperell or Callaway
Cook (R1/3, 5-5) at Northeast (R3/2, 7-3)
Cook won’t be much intimidated, having played five ranked teams, including 5A Ware County and perennial contender Brooks County. The Hornets have made the playoffs every year since 2000, with three semifinals and four quarterfinals in that span. They’ve won six other first-round game, and are 5-5 for the second straight season. They average 79.7 passing yards and 182.9 yards on the ground, to 136.3 and 207.8 for the Raiders, led by QB Travion Solomon and RBs Tyler Terry and Kalik Evans. Northeast is trying to win its second straight first-round game for the first time since 2001-02, when the lower-seeded Raiders beat Westside-Augusta and Thomasville in openers.
Next: Chattooga or Haralson County
Dodge County (R3/3, 7-3) at Fitzgerald (R1/2, 7-2)
A rematch of the Sept. 10 meeting, a 15-6 win by Fitzgerald, thanks to a defense that stuffed Dodge County. That was the Indians’ fourth game under new head coach Ray Hardin, and after a 3-0 start. It was the third-lowest scoring total by Fitzgerald this year, and lowest for Dodge County. The Indians are 2-3 against ranked teams, the losses by a total of 25 points and two at home. Freshman QB Duke Johnson is a player, with 1,020 yards passing on 54.1 percent completions and a 12-5 TD-INT ratio, plus another 599 yards and 10 TDs rushing. He teams with Demron Gordon and Lamarie Mitchell for 185.9 yards a game, and they total 20 rushing touchdowns. The Purple Hurricane went to the championship last year, and haven’t lost a first-round game since 2017, to Toombs County. Fitzgerald leads the series 17-9, winning two straight by a total of 12 points.
Next: Bremen or Fannin County
Washington County (R3/4, 6-4) at Thomasville (R1/1, 9-1)
Thomasville has been around for awhile, winning 66.9 percent of its games covering more than 100 seasons. Washington County has won 62 percent of the time in 63 seasons. All that time, and they’ve never played each other. The Bulldogs have won four straight first-round games, reaching the quarterfinals in 2020 and semis in 2019, beating Dodge County each year in the playoffs. Thomasville is 8-2 in its last 10 games at home. Shannen White has passed for 1,102 yards and Malik Harper has run for 957. The Golden Hawks’ four losses are to ranked teams, three in AA and one in 4A, by 4, 13, 5, and 7 points.
Next: Heard County or Dade County
East Laurens (R2/4, 6-4) at Putnam County (R4/1, 10-0)
East Laurens hasn’t won many games in a long time, let alone clutch games. But the Falcons were huge last week in beating Toombs County 10-7 to make the playoffs for the first time since 2012, also their last winning season. They ride the legs of Eli Downing and Kash Bryant, who lead a ground game averaging nearly 200 yards a game (stats updated only through 5 games). The defense, led by Omarion Guyton and Trysten Baker, has allowed its lowest point total since, yes, 2012. Putnam County, meanwhile, has set a program record for most points in the regular season and best points allowed mark since 1991. Gerald Kilgore is a major reason, passing for 1,510 yards and 17 touchdowns while rushing for 355 and 9 more. Cedrion Brundage is 194 yards from 1,000, and Zemarion Little is a run threat. Jalon Kilgore leads that defense, with Michael Crumbley, among others. Crumbley has 9 TFLs and Unique Reid eight sacks. The War Eagles have lost four straight first-round games, dating back to 2011.
Next: Union County or Lovett
Class A Public
Turner County (R2/3, 4-6) at Dublin (R4/2, 6-4), Saturday, 1 p.m.
Next: Commerce or Bowdon
ACE (R7/3, 4-4) at Schley County (R5/2, 9-1), Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Next: Seminole County or Metter
Crawford County (R7/4, 3-6) at Macon County (R5/1, 9-0), Saturday, 2 p.m.
Next: Terrell County or ECI
Manchester (R5/4, 5-4) at GMC (R7/1, 10-0), Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Next: Mitchell County or McIntosh County Academy
Class A Private
Aquinas (R3/4, 6-4) at FPD (R1/1, 8-2), Saturday, 7 p.m.
Next: Mount Vernon or Mt. Paran Christian
Savannah Christian (R3/3, 4-6) at Tattnall (R1/2, 8-1), Saturday, 7 p.m.
Next: Hebron Christian or Darlington
Stratford (R1/3, 7-3) at Savannah Country Day (R3/2, 3-6), Saturday, 6 p.m.
Next: North Cobb Christian or Holy Innocents
Mount de Sales (R1/4, 5-5) at Calvary Day (R3/1, 10-0), Saturday, 1 p.m.
Next: Christian Heritage or Wesleyan