Monday Morning Quarterback: Upsets, surprises, rosters, Perry-Houston County, Loughdmouthings, Central Georgia polls
Last weekâs upsets
The new era at Peach County is off to a thudding start, a double-digit favorite getting popped at home by a sporadically sluggish-starting Baldwin team, the Braves taking control early.
In Fort Valley. A bit of a surprise, but not a bit of a surprise. Of all the coaching changes in Central Georgia, thatâs the one involving the biggest transition, for the coaches as well as the players.
Followed by Westfield, and former Peach County head coach Chad Campbell. âŠ
Jasper County had one of the more eyebrow-raising wins, a 19-point underdog to a 4A school holding on for a road win. There are all sorts of impressive things about that win for the Purple Hurricanes, eyeing their first non-losing season since 2003. âŠ
Northside pulling away from Jones County surprised many, including about 72 percent of Eagle âNationâ, which has been tossing and turning and different speeds for several years now, moreso in the last eight months.
While favored by the GHSF Daily computers, Northside in reality was an underdog Saturday. The Eagles looked better than expected, but a stumble against a Peach County team that didnât look good would be a huge stumble.
If not, could be a mighty interesting season â more than expected â on Green Street. âŠ
East Laurens is, simply put, a struggling program, so donât underestimate how big coming back to beat Washington-Wilkes is, especially considering the new facilities all over the campus. Does it propel the Falcons to their second winning season since 2003?
Last weekâs surprises
Mount de Sales was favored, but thumped by Rock Springs.
Upson-Lee is off to an inspiring start, finding a way to, well, win, on the road, against a bigger school, rather than finding a way to lose. If the Knights can avoid the weekly hiccup that makes a game closer than it should be or turns a probable win into an annoying loss âŠ
Weâll find out soon enough if Schley County is that good or Tattnall is in a fairly big rebuild.
A win on the road and by 28 points is a good night, and Macon County had a better night than expected.
Coaches, please PLEASE fix MaxPreps rosters
Friday night, wouldâve loved to tell you the QB who dove over for the winning TD in OT, or that same QB and receiver hookup on a big play to set up a TD during a comeback.
Couldnât. Roster was wrong. Have gotten no information from that team.
Would have liked to tell you who the kicker was that hit a couple field goals.
Couldnât. Roster was wrong. Have gotten no information from that team.
For folks who hammer away on details, having incomplete or inaccurate rosters is absurd, and should be embarrassing.
Donât preach if you canât execute, especially the simplest thing in the world: Names of people you work with.
Kids and parents deserve to have names spelled properly. It should be embarrassing for this to be such a difficult accomplishment.
This is a recording.
Packing the Pit is mandatory
There is plenty of yammering about crowd support regarding area high schools which is often more wishful thinking than reality.
Really close by, we constantly hear about great atmospheres â thereâs none â and a packed house â thatâs never packed.
Good teams have fan bases that donât necessarily travel far, and itâs baffling. A team that has been to several state championship games in a row has might disappointing support on Friday nights at home.
All that said, if game officials arenât turning people away around 7 p.m. Friday when Houston County visits Perry, something is wrong, something is very, very wrong â quoting âStripesâ â with people.
People should be allowed to bring lawn chairs. Bleachers better be brought in from baseball and/or softball.
Perry has only become a statewide player in recent years, and the number of games at Herb St. John Stadium pitting a ranked Panthers team against another ranked team have been extremely minimal since, well, the stadium namesake was on the sideline.
Which stopped happening in 1968.
We have the No. 4 team in Class 6A driving eight miles to face the No. 5 team in Class 4A. In fact, based on two mileage websites, Perry is the closest public school in the county to Houston.
Seating capacity is almost 4,500. Should be the biggest crowd in stadium history. By a chunk.
Hereâs hoping the game lives up to its potential.
Loughdmouthings
Northeast-Mary Persons wasnât exactly a clinic, and both teams better tighten up.
The Raiders made loads of mental mistakes, which combined with another year of kicking issues is something to watch in big games and the postseason.
The Bulldogs will not be able to win a game the rest of the year without completing a pass, like they did/didnât Saturday.
Both teams, though, have some talent at running back behind Duke Watson and Nick Woodford, neither of whom was overly busy in the second half. Letâs hope, too, to see both get some pass-catching chances, because no cornerback wants to see them a-cominâ. âŠ
Dear teams/coaches for some reason paying somebody to do fancy and irrelevant social media graphics: How about telling us whyyyy kids got team players of the week?
Otherwise, the graphics are pretty much a waste. People do like to know why they should care about a shiny graphic with names. Anybody can do that. Information? Well, thatâs substance.
Itâs OK to have substance on social media. âŠ
Kabooooooom.
Sure, the competition was a mighty not good â being nice â team, and a AA team that went 1-9 last year.
But going 16 for 16 for 287 yards, four touchdowns, and no picks?
People canât do that on a video game. But thatâs what Houston Countyâs Antwann Hill did Friday against Sumter County.
Nine players caught passes Friday, Ricky Johnson with four for 146 yards and Kale Woodburn eight for 65. Whoâs on the clock? Perryâs secondary. âŠ
Shutouts were thrown Friday by ACE, Dublin, Macon County, Westside, Central Fellowship, and Piedmont.
Everybody played â aka teams that cracked 50 on Friday â for ACE, Dublin, Houston County, and Westside â or won by 35 â for those teams, and Lamar County, Veterans, Central Fellowship, and John Milledge. âŠ
Howâd they do?
GHSA Region 1-6A: 5-1; 2-4A, 4-1; 2-A/I, 4-1
On the other hand, Region 2-5A, 1-6; 1-AA, 3-4; 2-AA, 3-4; 4-AA, 1-4; 4-A/II, 1-4; 5-A/II, 1-3. âŠ
Note, and please remember: Just because somebody has âcommittedâ â and add the words âfor nowâ to every âcommitmentâ discussion â does not mean that player is actually that good, or it will stick.
Research, context, and logic are OK to utilize as a fan and/or media/âmediaâ.
Take it all with less than a grain of salt. âŠ
Northeast is off this week, and then visits No. 1/AA Fitzgerald. Not a good week to be off. If the Raiders could play on Wednesday, it would help. A week off after Saturdayâs performance is not a positive. âŠ
Know somebody who is in front of a microphone on Friday nights? Buy them a pair of binoculars, and beg them to use them on Friday nights â not like theyâre keeping stats or anything - so theyâll stop saying âI donât knowâ and âI didnât see itâ so often on Friday nights.
And ask your favorite streamer/screamer: âHey, ever thought of binoculars so you can see whatâs going on and we can believe what youâre telling us?â
The halftime show with the bands from Houston County and Perry will be worth the price of admission as well. âŠ
Peach County, after about two decades, changed kickoffs from 8 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. this year. The Trojans are at Northside and Jones County, and then host Perry.
If that night doesnât go well, will Peach County return to 8 p.m.?
Polls
Letâs expand Division I for a week to 10 teams, while keeping Division II at 10, which it will remain at for the season. Maybe weâll do 10 again for Division I after everybodyâs played five games.
Peach County may need awhile to get back near the top 5 in Division I when the poll returns to five teams next week. Ditto Jones County. And if Mary Persons canât get some level of a passing game, and if Northeast doesnât focus, and âŠ
Division 1 (6A-5A-4A-3A, 13 teams; Next week, 10 teams, then back to 5)
1. Houston County
2. Northside
3. Perry
4. Warner Robins
5. Veterans
6. Baldwin
7. Mary Persons
8. Jones County
9. Peach County
10. Upson-Lee
Division II (AA-A-GISA, 34 teams)
1. Dublin
2. John Milledge
3. ACE
4. Macon County
5. Lamar County
6. Northeast
7. Bleckley County
8. Putnam County
9. Washington County
10. Jasper County