The first week of jitters are over for most high school football programs in Northeast Georgia. The opening week was filled with big wins and heartbreaking losses.
Here are five things we learned in Week 1 of the 2019 high school football season:
1. Gainesville makes a statewide statement
Second-year Gainesville head coach Heath Webb has often talked about his 1,000-day plan to return the Red Elephants to prominence. If Friday night represented the halfway mark of that calendar, day 1,000 could look really special. Gainesville rallied from a 14-3 second quarter deficit to stun Class 4A No. 8-ranked Mary Persons 27-21 in City Park Stadium. The win not only avenged a 42-0 rain-shortened loss to the Bulldogs in 2018, but also proved that Gainesville is once again ready to compete with and beat the state's top-tier teams. Quarterback Gionni Williams and running back Dez Brown paced a Gainesville rushing attack that pounded the Mary Persons defense for more than 350 yards rushing and Williams also connected on a pair of long touchdown passes. If the Gainesville offense can continue to click the way they did Friday night, they may already be prepared for a special season.
2. New quarterback, no problem for Flowery Branch offense
The biggest news to come out of preseason scrimmages in the area was the injury to Flowery Branch senior quarterback Elijah Gainey. The South Alabama commit was expected to pace a Falcons offense that seemed poised for a run at the Region 7-4A title. Instead, sophomore David Renard took the reigns in Friday night's opener against East Hall at Falcon Field. Renard and the offense showed no signs of concern, racking up 50 points on the Vikings to start the year with a shutout win. The Falcons relied mainly on their ground game, with running backs Jaizen Ellingham and Chase Dial-Watson both scoring multiple rushing touchdowns. But coach Ben Hall said Renard managed the game well, completing all of his pass attempts, and converting two big passes in a two-minute drill at the end of the first half. The performance from Renard will give the sophomore and his coaches and teammates something to build on as they prepare for the rest of a tough non-region slate.
3. North Hall may have found an aerial attack
Most of the questions surrounding North Hall's offseason were about replacing graduated quarterback David Seavey and running back Daniel Jackson. One of those positions was answered emphatically Friday night. New starter Trey Sanders threw for 148 yards and three touchdowns to hold off rival Chestatee for a 34-14 season-opening win. The War Eagles defense mostly kept the Trojans vaunted wing-t rushing attack contained, but Sanders converted a number of long-yardage situations with long passes to Jacob Dickey and J.T. Fair. Sanders finished off the win with a fourth quarter touchdown toss to Cody Smith with just over a minute to play. That big-play ability through the air could come in handy as North Hall looks to be one of the top contenders in Region 7-3A and tries to improve on a 2018 campaign that saw a run to the second round of the playoffs.
4. Thomas gives Dawson County a new weapon for 2019
Coming into Friday night's season opener against Habersham Central, the Dawson County Tigers were looking to find a new identity. The team that finished second in Region 7-3A and made the second round of the playoffs in 2018 graduated nearly all of its starting offense and had to replace its star-studded backfield of Se'Vaughn Clark and Ahmad Kamara. The Tigers may have found 2019's firepower in the form of running back Shawn Thomas. The senior ran for 135 yards and scored two touchdowns in Dawson County's 27-13 win over Habersham Central in Dawsonville Friday. Thomas started the game in electric fashion, retuning the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and punctuated his night with a 67-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter to give the Tigers the lead for good. Clark and Kamara left big shoes to fill, but Thomas looks ready to at least give Dawson County a weapon they can use to make another run in Class 3A.
5. New Jackson coaches start on the right foot
Jackson County and East Jackson each missed the playoffs in 2018 and entered 2019 with new coaches who came a long way to get to northeast Georgia. Rich McWhorter took the helm at Jackson County after spending nearly three decades at Charlton County in south Georgia while new East Jackson coach Cameron Pettus moved back to his home state after spending several years coaching in Illinois. Both coaches are now 1-0 in their tenures at their new schools. The Panthers won a defensive battle with Banks County 7-0 Friday night in Jefferson, while the Eagles came back from a 15-0 first quarter deficit to beat Lumpkin County on the road 25-22. The wins give both coaches momentum as they look to turn around programs that have combined for just one playoff win in their histories.
