It has been a wild and crazy start to the 2016 prep football season in the first three weeks of the season. We’ve seen long losing streaks ended (Chestatee, 18) and a long win streak to open a season come to an end (Buford, 17) and just about everything else in between.
The new region realignment has produced some interesting non-region matchups so far, with many more to follow in the coming weeks.
So how have the new regions fared against one another to this point? Some of the numbers might surprise you.
-- Region 8-A, usually a top-heavy region, has been stout top-to-bottom so far going 8-1 in non-region games. Every team but one in the 10-team region is .500 or better so far. They started region play this past week so expect some titanic battles down the road.
-- On the flip side of Region 8-A is Region 8-AA. Only one team -- Rabun County -- has a winning record. As a whole the region -- which looked good on paper with Rabun County, Elbert County, Banks County, a surging Social Circle among others -- is just 4-11-1 so far in non-region play.
-- Region 7-AAA, however, has been even better than expected with a 10-3 overall mark in non-region play. Dawson County, Greater Atlanta Christian, North Hall, and Union County are all 2-0. We can’t wait until the region battles begin in this one as well.
-- In Region 7-AAAA, Marist and White County, teams expected to be in the playoff race, have yet to win a game on the young season. And no team in the region is unbeaten.
-- Region 8-AAAA is upside-down from preseason projections so far. Oconee County and Madison County, which won just once in 2015, are both 2-0 so far while both North Oconee and St. Pius, a quarterfinalist in 2015, are winless. Jefferson’s only loss came in a top 4 showdown with Thomson last week.
-- Cedar Shoals, a team that had won just twice in its last 21 games, is 2-0 to start the season while Buford, Flowery Branch, and Loganville all have one loss each in Region 8-AAAAA.
-- Habersham Central also is another surprise team early in Region 8-AAAAAA. The Raiders are 2-0 for the first time since 1990 and need just one more win to match their entire win total from 2012-15 (3-37 overall). Gainesville, Lanier, and Dacula all have one loss.
-- Mill Creek is off to its second straight 3-0 start and is ranked No. 1 in Class AAAAAAA for the first time in program history. North Gwinnett has won two straight since a loss to Brookwood in the Corky Kell Classic to open the season. We’ll find out if the Bulldogs are getting back to their playoff form ways this week when they play host to Class AAAAAAA No. 5 Norcross, which has won three straight over the Bulldogs.
There have been some outstanding team performances as well.
Dawson County had a huge road win last week against Chattooga, which had routed the Alabama Class A state runner-up the week before. West Hall also had a big road win last week over Washington-Wilkes traveling to traditionally one of the tougher places to win in the state.
How good is the Rabun County defense? It may be too early to tell but the Wildcats held Stephens County to just 10 points one week after the Indians put up 61 on Franklin County.
North Hall is showing early on that it is resilient. The Trojans held off a late charge by Chestatee and then survived a late field goal miss by Flowery Branch to stay unbeaten.
And then there’s North Forsyth (2-1), which already has matched last year’s win total and has scored more touchdowns through the first three games in 2016 than the Raiders scored in all of 2015 combined.
After being shutout by Clarke Central in its opener, Winder-Barrow's offense has come to life scoring 86 points the past two weeks. The Bulldoggs pilled up nearly 600 yards last week in a win over Northview with 356 yards rushing and 235 yards passing.
There also have been some big individual performances so far on the season.
Of course the first two Locos Grill and Pub Friday Game Night Players of the Week Edmond Graham (Mill Creek) and Kyle Bacus (North Hall) had big games.
This past week Isaac Teasley had a huge game for Riverside Military Academy accounting for four touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing, 1 kickoff return) and Simon Holcomb of North Forsyth has 341 yards rushing and five touchdowns on the season.
Nick Lyles of Chestatee has posted three straight 100-yard games and helped the War Eagles snap an 18-game losing streak.
Flowery Branch’s Malik Drayton in just two games is proving to be one of the more exciting players in northeast Georgia. Drayton has had a 100-yard game rushing and a 100-yard game receiving and has nearly 400 all-purpose yards in two games.
And offensive players weren't the only standouts.
Dawson County linebacker Luke Martin had 21 tackles in the Tigers' win over Chattogga, including three for losses, and he returned an interception 34 yards for a touchdown.
Mill Creek defensive end Ayoola Ogun-Semore had five solo tackles, three assists -- two for losses -- and a fumble recovery for a touchdown in the Hawks' win over Dacula.
At the same time, there are a few teams that are still looking for some answers.
While East Hall has started slow once again (0-2) the Vikings started 2014 just 1-3 and were 0-3 to start 2015 yet rallied to make the playoffs both seasons. Once they get their offense untracked they should be a factor in 7-AAA before it’s all over.
White County (0-2) has had a tough opening schedule and it doesn’t get any easier with Rabun County, North Hall, Dawson County, and Blessed Trinity -- who are a combined 6-0 so far -- following in consecutive weeks.
Gainesville is 2-1 but has not been its high-flying self so far. The offense has not scored more than 21 points and the Red Elephants had to hang on late to beat Clarke Central last week. They Red Elephants have two straight off weeks to try and sort things out. The defense has had some dominating stretches but with Jefferson, Marist, Habersham Central, and Dacula all coming in consecutive weeks after the bye weeks, they will need to be back on track offensively.
And how have the six new coaches in the area fared so far? As a group, they are a combined 7-7 with each coach picking up their first wins of the season.
