Saturday Afternoon Quarterback: That was a fairly fascinating Friday night of Central Georgia football; GISA pairings set
Any thoughts of a routine Friday night lasted until about halftime.
By that point, we knew that Veterans, Upson-Lee, Perry, Southwest, Dublin, Taylor County, Tattnall and John Milledge were in trouble.
And Kendrick? Goodness, nobody expected that much trouble, 82 points worth.
Based on the Maxwell Ratings and Maxpreps computer picks, things went very wrong for the aforementioned teams.
Veterans was a 6-point underdog that lost by 28. And the other five teams were all favorites, mostly by single digits.
So in reality, the upsets – on paper – were fairly mild. Except, well …
There were those waiting for reality to hit Howard, a one-win team a year ago. It has yet to hit.
While Upson-Lee failed on every conversion, Howard overcame an 18-7 deficit with three field goals by Kody Burrell and the game-winning score by Quintin Sewell with 39 seconds in the third quarter for the monster road win, one of the biggest wins in program history.
And one of just 23 wins in program history.
Perry was hard to figure, since the Panthers still lacked any quality win but had avoided the major upset or step backward. Until Friday, when they lost to a one-win Spalding team that had scored 106 points in six games and blew up for 31.
On the road.
Southwest’s history with Washington County had been spotty, and not good: four straight losses, six points scored, but since 2001. The Patriots were favored, at home against a team not on a roll. And Southwest got rolled by 20 points.
Dublin head coach Roger Holmes said last week that discounting Northeast in the 3-AA race was a mistake, that the Raiders were better than people thought, even with an 0-3 region record.
Listen to Holmes. Always.
Northeast, all but out of the playoff race, pulled of a huge one-point win – and the program has no rep for pulling off huge close-game wins – over a team used to coming up clutch. It was Northeast’s biggest win since 20-17 over Taylor County in 2013 – the rare win over a team higher in the standings - and puts the Raiders back in the postseason race in an absurd region.
How funky? Dublin missed the PAT in OT, then had an interception in OT negated by a roughing-the-QB penalty. And Northeast’s won it with a kick.
Dooly County was, yes, on a roll, but this year, a roll for Dooly County was two straight wins against very weak teams: Hawkinsville and Crawford County, a combined 3-11 entering Friday.
But anybody who called a shootout win over Taylor County is fibbing. The 48-41 win didn’t really unsettle the region, except for opening up Taylor County to not finish second and have a home playoff game.
The Bobcats have been able to score this season, having outscored region leader Macon County by two points in the same number of games and against a respectable non-region schedule. But Taylor County has been better than Friday night on defense.
Tattnall was, according to Maxwell, a burly 23-point favorite over FPD, and that was logical. The Vikings were off a 28-7 spanking by Stratford, and didn’t have a win over a team anywhere near a winning record.
The Trojans had one close game this season, a 35-30 win over Washington-Wilkes, and appeared destined for a battle of unbeatens with Stratford while FPD struggled to stay alive in the power rankings.
Oh well. FPD had an answer for everything, ranging from a big pass play to an 86-yard kickoff return – both by Titus Moore – and using a balanced offense to win. FPD had 154 rushing and 236 passing yards to 372 and 33 for Tattnall.
Both sides will be dancing and mumbling about this one for a few days, and then after the season.
John Milledge was, according to Maxpreps, a slight favorite over Gatewood. And step away from the computer, and the Trojans still might have deserved to be a favorite, in that they were rebuilding and had the same record as last year at this point.
Gatewood turned annoying memories into a 17-point win over the defending GISA Class AAA champs, who won that trophy at Gatewood’s expense almost a month after a regular-season win over the Gators. John Milledge will no doubt stew while making sure that there’s another rematch in the state title game again.
On the opposite end is Peach County’s 82-0 win over Kendrick.
By the end of the first quarter, Peach County had more points – 33 - thanall but 13 Central Georgia teams had all night. The Trojans will pay for the third quarter: they won it only 7-0.
Six different Trojans scored, and Mitchell Fineran was perfect on PATs and had 13 touchbacks.
Friday’s Schedule
Houston County at Northside
Stockbridge at Jones County
Two 8-0 teams, for the 4-5A title, at the Barking Lot, which will be full before sunset
Warner Robins at Veterans
Spalding at Howard
Howard’s hot, but Spalding must be taken seriously after thumping Perry and challenging West Laurens
Mary Persons at Perry
Upson-Lee at West Laurens
West Laurens playing for home playoff game, Upson-Lee playing for playoffs
Baldwin at Hephzibah
Central vs. Westside
Pike County at Peach County
Southwest at East Laurens
Dodge County at Bleckley County
The showdown for 3-AA with longtime rivals a short ride from each other will be sporty
Northeast at Washington County
The Raiders are now a player for the playoffs, and Washington County may have some momentum
Heard County at Lamar County
Mount de Sales at FPD
No. 15 in the power ratings visits No. 16 in the power ratings, both in the hunt for a home playoff game
Stratford at Tattnall Square
Tattnall will be angry, and Stratford will work to make the Trojans angrier
Montgomery County at GMC
Hancock Central at Greene County
Wilkinson County at Twiggs County
4-A crossover
GISA playoffs
Westfield at Trinity-Sharpsburg
Southland at Trinity Christian
Loganville Christian at Gatewood
Bethlehem Christian at John Milledge
Piedmont at Brentwood