With nearly one-third of the season now behind them, many area football teams are beginning to find an identity. Others, however, are still searching for one, while a few may be looking at more full-blown rebuilding projects than expected this season.
Friday will mark Week 3 of the 2018 season (though for some teams it will be their fourth contest) and Friday Game Night has found some interesting trends to this point in the season.
REGION 8-A IS AS GOOD AS ADVERTISED: Nestled in the northeast corner of the state, 8-A is in the smallest classification of the Georgia High School Association and is home to some of the smallest schools in the state. Towns County is the state’s smallest public school and Lakeview Academy is one of the state’s smallest private schools.
But both are part of perhaps one of the biggest powerhouse regions, regardless of classification, in Georgia. Athens Academy was the 2017 Class A Private state runner-up and Prince Avenue Christian advanced to the Class A Private semifinals. Commerce is a perennial playoff power. In all, six of the 10 teams made the playoffs and three others missed out by mere percentage points in the final power rankings in 2017.
So far in 2018, the region has flexed its considerable muscles. Nine of the 10 teams are .500 or better with only Lakeview (0-2) posting a losing record so far. As a collective whole, 8-A is 16-5 in non-region play, and as a whole they have been feasting on larger prey.
For instance, Commerce (3-0) has taken down Class 4A West Hall and Class 3A Hart County, both playoff teams from a year ago. Athens Academy (2-0) knocked off Class 4A Stephens County, and George Walton (2-0) and Providence Christian (2-0) have both bagged wins against Class 5A teams for a 5-1 record against larger classification teams. Against other Class A teams the region is a whopping 10-3. Towns County’s (1-1) only loss came to Class 2A Union County.
If fans around the state didn’t already know of the power of 8-A, they are getting a strong sense of it now.
BREAK ‘EM OUT! The area has witnessed some breakout performances. But Flowery Branch senior wide receiver Jalin Strown and Buford senior running back Derrian Brown have shown sustained brilliance early on.
Strown had a huge game last week in a Falcons’ win over Clarke Central with 167 yards and 3 touchdowns receiving. For the season he has 10 catches for 259 yards (129.5 yards per game; 25.9 yards/catch) with the three scores. He had 735 yards and 7 TDs on 33 catches in all of 2017.
The Wolves’ Brown also is showing his worth as a feature back. Brown tallied just under 400 yards with 7 TDs rushing in just three games. Brown was the third option for Buford in 2017 with 844 yards rushing and 11 scores in 13 games.
TOTAL GROUND ASSAULT: With the emergence of pass-happy spread offenses over the past decade, the ground-and-pound rushing teams like Commerce, which still adheres to a traditional wishbone attack, have faded over the years. North Hall also has stuck to its wing-T and in 2018 may own one of its most deadly attacks.
In fact, for the last several years, they seemed to be the only teams sticking to a primarily rushing offense. That may be changing.
Old-school rushing attacks, or at least the desire to run the ball, seems to be making a fashionable comeback in 2018. Lumpkin County left its one-year spread experiment behind, going back to its wishbone roots; Johnson has reinvigorated its option offense; Banks County has adopted North Hall’s wing-T offense behind former Trojans assistant Kerry Kidd.
Now, Dawson County, which jumped on the scene the past four years with a blitzkrieg spread passing attack, has tilted more toward the run. The Tigers, behind senior running back-turned-quarterback SeVaughn Clark and newcomer Ahmad Kamara, have produced one of the more devastating 1-2 backfield punches over the first few weeks.
Clark and Kamara have combined for 512 yards and 7 TDs in the Tigers first two games while the team as a whole is churning out a whopping 422.5 yards a game so far. By contrast, they have just 139 total yards passing in 2018. That would have been just over a quarter’s worth through the air the last few years.
WHO’S BEING DEFENSIVE? Well, several teams. North Hall has opened with its best defensive work over a three-game stretch (24 points) since yielding that exact amount in wins over White County, West Hall, and Banks County in 2012. The Trojans stymied Chestatee and Jackson County to just 7 total points and then held Class 7A Cherokee to just 17 points last week as they improved to 3-0. ... The Jackson County (2-1) defense has pitched two shutouts so far on the young season. It is the first time since 1993 that the Panthers have had two shutouts in a season. ... Flowery Branch leads Region 7-4A teams in defense yielding just 10 ppg. The Falcons held Clarke Central’s vaunted rushing attack to nearly half its season output last week. ... Union County (2-0) surrendered just 13 points in its first two games, the best defensive work to open a season for the Panthers since allowing 13 in their first two games in 1985.
GROWING PAINS: Several area teams, however, are finding the going tough in 2018 under new management or trying to fill some huge holes personnel-wise. ... East Hall (0-3) which has made the playoffs 3 of the last 4 years and last year led all classifications in passing offense (the Vikings averaged 45.4 ppg in 2017) has scored just 18 total points so far as they try to find someone to replace Austin Parker at quarterback. Injuries, youth, and inconsistent play has led new coach Scott Patrick to try four different players under center in the first three games. ... Chestatee also has struggled without the graduated Nick Lyles. The War Eagles (0-2) averaged 30.3 ppg in 2017 but so far have just scored 7 points in their first two games, and that came on a kickoff return. ... Lakeview Academy had its second-best offensive season in 2017 averaging 23.7 ppg behind Alec Bornhorst. But the Lions (0-2) have struggled to find a replacement scoring just 28 total points so far. ... Banks County (0-2) averaged 23.7 ppg in 2017 in a pro-style attack. The Leopards switched to a new wing-T offense and have yet to score. But the losses came against two solid defenses in Jackson County and Franklin County, which are yielding just 9.6 ppg collectively.
