By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

Classification listed first if games pit games of different classes. Rankings are from Georgia High School Football Daily composite polls

Class 5A
Northside, 2-3, at No. 4 Coffee, 5-0

          Life doesn’t get any more manageable for Northside, which has to travel to take on the top-5 Trojans, playing their first opponent from Georgia since Aug. 23. Coffee is 2-0 vs. Georgia and 3-0 vs. Georgia. Third-year head coach Mike Coe is 30-3, but the Trojans are 2-5 against the Eagles, off a 7-0 win in 2019. Northside is going for its first win since beating Jones County to open last season, going 0-6 since then. The Eagles have gone backwards in scoring, putting up 38 against Eagle’s Landing in the season opener and 38 points since then.  

Class AAA
Upson-Lee, 2-3/1-2, at No. 12T Mary Persons, 0-4/0-2

          The importance of the game increased this week with Mary Persons’ wins being wiped out after the GHSA ruled the team had used an ineligible player, ironically a transfer from Upson-Lee, coached by former Mary Persons quarterback and assistant Justin Elder. Now, the Bulldogs are at the bottom of Region 2-AAA with six games left, including the visit by the Knights, but the ineligible player wasn’t of major impact, so Mary Persons can play its way back into the at-large playoff picture with wins, starting tonight against a team that it hasn’t lost to in 10 tries since 2014 or given up points to in the last two meetings. Upson-Lee’s Malachi Character has 5 rushing TDs and gets 5.8 yards a carry, and averages 10.6 tackles a game. Mac Nelson has completed more than 60 percent of his passes and Najeh Reese is good for nearly 90 rushing yards a game.

Many thanks to Dublin, Jasper County, John Milledge, Jones County, Mount de Sales, and Northside for sending in postgame information and/or stats, and FPD and Lamar County on Saturday.

🏈 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 A/Division I
No. 9 Lamar County, 3-1, at McNair, 2-3/1-0

          The Trojans are the last team I 4-A/I to play a region game, and are coming off a fairly rare non-region loss. McNair is trying for its first win over a ranked team since 2006 when the then-3A Mustangs edged 5A No. 3 Stephenson. That was also the last year McNair finished with a winning record. It’ll have to contend with an offense getting 182.5 yards a game, down a good chunk from last year’s average of 231.3 yards.

Class A/Division II
Wheeler County, 4-1/1-0, at Hawkinsville, 3-1

          The first task for Hawkinsville is to slow down Alvin Ricks, Wheeler County’s quarterback who’s getting 160.8 rushing yards a game. The Red Devils counter with RB Zernard Smith (84 ypg) Nieem Blair (64.8 ypg) and QB Malek Brown (81 passing ypg). The visitors have won four straight after being upset by Wilkinson County. The Red Devils lead the series 12-2, one of the losses coming in 2022, 13-7. Hawkinsville is going for its second straight 4-1 start.

This week
* Roundup, coming Saturday morning
* Maxwell Predictions
* Who’s going to win this week’s games
* Central Georgia state composite rankings
* Central Georgia rankings
* Monday Morning Quarterback: Two good weeks of football for Atlanta? Loughdmoutings galore (the wit, the wisdom, the sarcasm)
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week

Last week
* Roundup: Big nights-Houston County, Perry, West Laurens, ACE, FPD, Brentwood, Trinity Christian; Last-minute Ws-Jasper County, Westfield; huge game for Gatewood’s Johnsons; clutch W-Dodge County
* Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
* Maxwell Predictions
* Who’s going to win this week’s games
* Central Georgia state composite rankings
* Central Georgia rankings
* Monday Morning Quarterback: Suddenly, we saw Ridder and Smith …; Notable numbers, on campus, Loughdmouthings
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week

GIAA
Class AAA
AA Heritage-Newnan, 0-6, at Piedmont, 4-1

Piedmont has won its last two games by a point, 14-13 over Loganville Christian and 7-6 over King’s Academy. Heritage has been blanked in three straight games and is giving up 50.5 points a game. The Cougars have won both matchups, 41-7 in 2007 and 42-14 in 2006.
John Milledge, 1-5, at Stratford, 5-1

          The Revenge Tour for John Milledge continues in Macon, with Stratford next up in trying to get some revenge on the Trojans, who mowed down opponents more than a decade or so, including four straight undefeated seasons. Stratford is one of the few opponents with a winning record over John Milledge 4-3. The Trojans won the past two years, 40-6 and 21-7, Stratford winning the last meeting before that, 42-28, in 2011. A year after beating opponents by 24 points a game, the Trojans are on the other end of an 18-point margin. The Eagles are 5-1 for the first time since 2022 and the fourth time in five years.  

Saturday

(Scouting Reports to be posted Saturday morning)

GHSA

5A: No. 8 Houston County, 4-1, at Veterans, 0-5, 1 p.m.
4A: New Hampstead, 2-3, at No. 10T Perry, 3-2, 3 p.m.
4A: Jones County, 4-1/3-1, at Stockbridge, 4-1/4-0, 2 p.m.
3A: No. 8 Westover, 5-0, at No. 2 Peach County, 4-1, 12 p.m.
2A: No. 2 Morgan County, 5-0, at Westside, 2-3 (Ed DeFore), 2 p.m.
A: Social Circle, 3-2/1-0, at Putnam County, 1-4/0-1, 1 p.m.
A: Central, Talbotton, 1-3, at Crawford County, 2-3/0-2, 12 p.m.