Except for a few lightning delays, Week 1 and the start of the 2022 high school football season around the Northeast Georgia area went off pretty much without a hitch.
Area teams covered by AccessWDUN went 12-10 overall, but that included five matchups between area teams. Against outside competition, Northeast Georgia-area teams went 7-5 for the week, including two huge wins against defending state champions.
Buford, No. 1 in Class 7A, knocked off defending Alabama Class 7A champion Thompson, 38-7. Commerce, unranked in Class A, took down two-time defending South Carolina Class A champion Southside Christian, 21-17, on the road.
Another notable win was Gainesville going to Atlanta and beating Marist, 34-23, to open the highly-anticipated Josh Niblett-era. However, the Red Elephants almost squandered a 27-0 lead as the War Eagles rallied to within 27-23 in the second half.
So, where are the early region power centers around Northeast Georgia?
That will be one of several things covered in our first prep football notebook of the season.
POWER REGIONS? Region 8-7A, which houses Buford and defending Class 7A state champion Collins Hill, got off to a hot start going 5-1 in the opening week, with the only loss being Dacula falling to always-tough St. Pius, 10-7. Another all-Gwinnett County region, 4-7A, also went 5-1 in the state’s highest classification.
Region 8-A, which is split into two divisions, was a stout 7-1 last week, with the only setback a controversial finish in the waning seconds of a 13-12 Towns County loss to Hayesville (NC) on the road. The Indians had the game-winning touchdown called back on a shaky offensive pass interference call with just 36 seconds left.
Region 8-5A with Jefferson and Flowery Branch went a strong 6-1 last week. The only loss was the Dragons’ 47-46 loss to Alpharetta late in the fourth quarter.
Region 7-3A was a surprising 5-2 with Dawson County, Lumpkin County, and White County all getting wins. West Hall fell to East Hall.
Region 8-2A went 3-2 with Banks County and Union County both taking wins.
Region 8-4A was a modest 4-4. East Hall was the only area team to get a win with Cherokee Bluff, Chestatee, and North Hall all dropping their openers.
Region 8-6A was a major disappointment. Only Gainesville came out of Week 1 with a win as the rest of the region, which includes Habersham Central, went 0-6. That was the worst overall region record in the classification.
However, that wasn’t as bad as Region 7-2A. The Northwest Georgia region went 0-7 on the week, the worst in the state in any classification. The winless week included Union County’s win over two-time defending region champ Fannin County, which had won 21 games the past two seasons.
COACHING FOREST: Lee Shaw has more than proven himself over the past 20 years turning both Flowery Branch and Rabun County into perennial winners and playoff stalwarts. He took both programs to one state championship game appearance.
The longtime coach is now trying to do the same at Lakeview Academy. With the Lions now in the GIAA, which has more relaxed distracting rules than the GHSA since all are private schools, it could be only a matter of time before he has Lakeview rising through the ranks.
Shaw once had a powerful group of assistants with Shaun Conley, Benji Harrison, Chad Bennett, Chris Griffin, and Ben Hall all on staff at the same time. Matt Turner was an assistant under Shaw at Lakeview and Shaw’s son, Jaybo, was an assistant at Rabun County.
With Bennett being hired at White County before the 2022 season, all seven have been or currently are head coaches. Griffin replaced Shaw at Flowery Branch when he left to take over his alma mater, Rabun County. Griffin is now the defensive coordinator at Cherokee Bluff.
The rest are currently leading their own programs. Conley is at Chestatee and is the longest active tenured head coach in Hall County. Harrison is at Habersham Central. Hall left as Branch’s head coach after the 2021 season and is now at Oconee County. Turner returned to take over his alma mater, East Hall, in 2021. Jaybo Shaw left Rabun County, where he succeeded his father after the 2018 campaign, for Wayne County in 2022.
As a group, including Lee Shaw’s Lions, they went 4-2 last week. For Bennett, whose Warriors beat North Hall, it was his first-ever win as a head coach.
QB WATCH: With just a handful of returning starters at the always-key quarterback position around the Northeast Georgia area to open the 2022 season, who is ready to break out of the pack and make their bid as the area’s next Deshaun Watson or Gunnar Stockton?
Several guys had big opening weeks while some others may be ready to step forward:
-- Rabun County senior Keegan Stover, a transfer from West Forsyth, was 15-of-22 for 368 yards and 5 TD passes against Haralson County.
-- Chestatee sophomore Josh Kermode was 18-of-36 for 239 yards and 1 INT in a loss to Hebron Christian in his first varsity start.
-- Gainesville junior Baxter Wright was an impressive 12-of-14 for 235 yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT against Marist last week.
-- North Forsyth senior West Roberts was 18-of-32 for 196 yards and 1 TD, but he threw a pair of interceptions in a heartbreaking loss to North Atlanta.
-- Union County’s Caiden Tanner, making his first varsity start at quarterback, had 195 yards through the air with 1 TD for the Panthers in a stunning 14-7 win over Fannin County.
-- Jefferson senior Max Aldridge, running the Dragons’ new pro-style offense, went 6-of-12 for 173 yards and 2 TDs while leading them to a 46-point effort last week against Alpharetta.
-- Jackson County junior Chase Berrong, also in his first-ever start, was 11-of-28 for 163 yards with 3 TDs and 3 INTs in a loss to Dawson County.
-- Dawson County sophomore Davis Glass, another first-time starter, had 130 yards and 2 TD passes of over 50-yards in the Tigers win over Jackson County.
-- North Hall junior Tanner Marsh, also in his first varsity start, was 14-of-25 for 128 yards and 1 INT in the Trojans’ new-look spread offense in a loss to White County.
-- Buford’s Dylan Wittke was an efficient 10-of-15 for 125 yards and 1 TD in the Wolves’ win over Thompson (Ala.) in the two teams’ national showdown.
STILL RUNNING: Despite the uptick in pass-happy spread offenses, the run game is still prevalent for some area teams.
-- Banks County piled up 547 yards on the ground against Johnson, with Andrew Shockley amassing a whopping 398 yards while scoring all six of the Leopards TDs in a 41-20 victory.
-- Flowery Branch, known more for its passing attack the last six years, leaned on its ground game in a thrilling 39-38 win over Decatur. The Falcons got 218 yards from Myles Ivey and 195 yards from Malik Dryden as part of a 473-yard team performance.
-- Gainesville senior Naim Cheeks churned out 158 yards and 2 TDs on the ground in the win over Marist.
RECORDS WATCH: Rabun County’s Jaden Gibson continues to close in on the state’s all-time receiving record. After an 8-catch, 273-yard performance for the Wildcats last week, the senior now sits at 3,447 career yards and 34 career TDs. He is just 1,030 yards behind Stan Rome’s record of 4,477 yards set from 1971 to 1973.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2022/8/1126444/fgn-notebook-area-teams-regions-flex-some-early-muscle