By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

Last week: 26-5, 83.9 percent
The season: 215-64, 77.1 percent
Within 7: 10, 65 for the season
Upsets/perfect spread: Upset watch: 30-point underdog Perry vs. Ware County, Perry won.
Maximum spread prediction of 39 points

 Rankings are from the Georgia High School Football Daily composite polls

 Games of the week

No. 3 Thomas County Central, 7-1/2-1, at No. 8 Houston County, 6-2/2-1
          If you’re going, don’t expect a big defensive showdown, but expect a couple defensive plays to be the difference. The defending 6A champs only get about 10 more yards a game on offense than the Bears, but TCC is among the state leaders at 52.3 points a game, 10 more than Houston County, which is off a rare shutout last week. But the Bears’ defense only gave up 14 in one of its top efforts of the year. Can Houston County finally get over the third-place region hump?
TSR pick: Thomas County Central by 14

No. 8 Perry, 6-2/3-0, at No. 9 Benedictine, 4-3/2-1
          Another week, another fairly monster Region 1 showdown of top-10 teams. The Cadets rolled up I-16 and took a left three weeks ago and went home with a 35-21 win over Warner Robins. They lost by 24 to Ware County, which lost a week later by 10 to Perry, a huge – inexplicably - Maxwell computer underdog. This’ll be a bit of a quarterback show.
TSR pick: Perry by 5 (mild upset special)

No. 11 Warner Robins, 6-2/2-1, at No. 13 Ware County, 3-4/1-1
          The Demons defense got a scouting report on Ware County’s offense when Perry held the Gators to negative yards on the ground, more than 120 yards below their average. Warner Robins – which doesn’t post stats on MaxPreps – has to make that long drop down I-16 and farther, where Ware County fans remember the 23-21 loss to Warner Robins in last year’s playoffs and hope for a rerun of the 38-13 win in the 2022 championship game. The Gators are likely to have fixed what happened last week.
TSR pick: Ware County by 3

CENTRAL GEORGIA’S BEST HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COVERAGE

This week

* Roundup, Saturday morning
* Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games, Friday morning
* Maxwell Predictions, Thursday afternoon
* Who’s going to win this week’s games, Thursday morning
* Central Georgia state composite rankings
* Central Georgia’s rankings
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week
* Monday Morning QB: A really good - not epic - win in Austin, with silliness; weekly CFB playoff sermon; Loughdmouthings: Dumb Ho orn (this week) fans, really good HS slate, Falcons are fine, but …
* The schedule

Last week
* Roundup: Perry gets the ‘upset’, HoCo blanked, Baldwin wins on the road; big nights for Upson-Lee, West Laurens, Dublin, Northeast, Stratford, Brentwood; Jasper County gets 3-OT W
* Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games, coming Friday
* Maxwell Predictions
* Who’s going to win this week’s games
* Central Georgia state composite rankings
* A breakdown of the playoff pictures, the power ratings for A-AAA and others
* Central Georgia rankings
* Monday Morning Quarterback: Which Nation is the most absurd this week?; HS stat stuff, playoffs sermon; Loughdmouthings galore: stats, QB shoving, tackling, Falcons,and Jerry’s happy-for-us birthday
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week

Two weeks ago
* Roundup: Dublin holds off Northeast, Tattnall handles Stratford; ACE outlasts East Laurens, routs for Baldwin, West Laurens, Lamar County, Taylor County, Westfield; who had big nights?
* Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
* Maxwell Predictions
* Central Georgia state composite rankings
* Central Georgia rankings
* Monday Morning Quarterback: A Saturday like most others (really); the new Falcons? They still need O; Loughdmouthings galore (the wit, the wisdom, the sarcasm …)
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week

No. 7T Cairo, 6-2/3-0 at No. 2 Peach County, 7-1/3-0
In what should be one of the largest home crowds since moving to the new stadium, the Trojans – who haven’t had this long of a top-5 run since 2020 – bring some balance and the Syrupmakers bring a 1,600-yard rusher. Peach County – which doesn’t update MaxPreps stats – hasn’t really had a challenging opponent in awhile, and Cairo had to fight of Dougherty last week, so conditioning and sharpness in the fourth quarter is a key.
TSR pick: Peach County by 11

Westside-Augusta, 6-1/4-1, at Baldwin, 3-3/3-1
Both teams are back in something of a routine, and the Braves, after a rough start, are sort of tied for first with four other teams. Westside suffered it first loss, 24-0 last week to Harlem, which edged Baldwin 17-14 more than a month ago. The Braves also fight their regular inner battle of consistency and penalties, and can beat them and the Patriots. But the win over Aquinas is be a sign of what can happen when they don’t beat themselves.
TSR pick: Baldwin by 4 (upset special)

No. 5 Dodge County 8-0/7-0, at No. 7 Northeast, 6-2/6-1
Want to see two of the best players in Central Georgia on the same field? Thompson is the place to be for Dodge County’s Darrell Johnson and Northeast’s Nick Woodford. Johnson is an offensive and defensive playmaking machine who is headed to Alabama when the semester ends. Northeast will have to be a little more balanced and a lot more disciplined and fundamental – single-digit penalties, to start – to have a shot. A good home crowd couldn’t hurt.
TSR pick: Dodge County by 9

Tattnall, 7-1/3-0, at First Presbyterian, 8-1/3-0
The Trojans have been a squirrelly scouting report all year. Of course, losing a quarterback for several weeks and then getting hit by a stomach flu that led to wretching being louder than the halftime talk and then losing perhaps the GIAA’s top athlete for a week will do that. Tattnall is as close to healthy as it’s been all year, but now some conditioning of the returning players may be a concern in a 48-minute battle. FPD may have some personnel issues, too, but the Vikings have been so steady for five straight games.

TSR pick: FPD by 8

🏈 Teams: Please email game information – stats (offense and defense), names, big plays, etc. – to centralgasports@gmail.com by 2 a.m. Saturday morning to be in Central Georgia’s most comprehensive game-night coverage - the most names and stats and details - for the first roundup, and by 10:30 a.m. Saturday to be added.

Class 5A

No. 2 Lee County, 8-0/3-0, at Northside, 2-6/0-3
TSR pick: Lee County by 39

Veterans, 0-8/0-3, at No. 5T Coffee, 7-1/2-1
TSR pick: Lee County by 39

Class 4A

Eagle’s Landing, 3-5/3-4, at Jones County, 6-2/5-2
TSR pick: Jones County by 24

Class AAA

Aquinas, 3-3/2-2, at West Laurens, 6-1/4-1
TSR pick: West Laurens by 7

Howard, 4-2/3-1, at Harlem, 5-1/3-1
TSR pick: Harlem by 9 (upset watch)

No. 1 Sandy Creek, 8-0/6-0, at Mary Persons, 1-7/1-5
TSR pick: Sandy Creek by 22

Trinity Christian, 1-7/0-6, at Upson-Lee, 5-3/4-2
TSR pick: Upson-Lee by 19

Class AA

Westside, 3-5/1-2, at Rutland, 0-8/0-3
TSR pick: Westside by 29

Class A/Division I

ACE Charter, 5-3/4-3, at Bleckley County, 2-5/1-5
TSR pick: ACE by 14

Central, 0-7/0-6, at No. 2 Dublin, 8-0/7-0
TSR pick: Dublin by 39

East Laurens, 2-5/1-5, at Jefferson County, 0-6/0-5
TSR pick: East Laurens by 21

No. 10 Lamar County, 7-1/4-0, at Social Circle, 5-3/3-1
TSR pick: Lamar County by 14

Putnam County, 4-5/3-2, at Jasper County, 6-1/3-0
TSR pick: Jasper County by 15

Southwest, 2-5/2-4, at Washington County, 4-4/4-3
TSR pick: Washington County by 17

Class A/Division II

Central-Talbotton, 1-6/0-3, at Macon County, 4-4/3-1
TSR pick: Macon County by 31

Crawford County, 3-4/0-3, at Taylor County, 6-2/3-1
TSR pick: Taylor County by 17

Treutlen, 3-4/2-1, at Hawkinsville, 5-3/2-2
TSR pick: Hawkinsville by 12

Twiggs County, 2-5/1-1, at Hancock Central, 3-5/1-2
TSR pick: Hancock Central by 20

Wilkinson County, 4-4/2-1, at GMC Prep, 0-7/0-2
TSR pick: Wilkinson County by 30

GIAA

Class AAA

Mount de Sales, 3-6/0-3, at John Milledge, 1-8/0-3
TSR pick: John Milledge by 15

Piedmont, 5-3/3-3, at Athens Christian, 3-6/2-4
TSR pick: Piedmont by 9

St. Anne-Pacelli, 4-4/2-1, at Westfield, 7-2/3-0
TSR pick: Westfield by 21

Class AA

GAPPS Cherokee Christian, 1-5, at Central Fellowship, 3-6
TSR pick: CFCA b 18

Gatewood, 3-4/0-2, at Brentwood, 7-1/3-0
TSR pick: Brentwood by 23

Trinity Christian, 5-4/0-2, at Robert Toombs, 2-5/0-2
TSR pick: Trinity Christian by 4

Windsor, 2-7/0-3, at Heritage-Newnan, 0-8/0-3
TSR pick: Windsor by 20