Central Georgia polls

Some swapping, a little clarity, and a whole lot of “man, they’re pretty close to each other” in both polls. Next poll to come at the end of the season, whenever that is. By division, and an overall top 20.

Good, because Division II is a collection of very even teams who can’t seem to find much consistency, outside of Mount de Sales.

Division I (6A, 5A, 4A)

1. Warner Robins

Are the Demons better than the past two years? Will they get another shot at Rome at home, albeit in the second round? Warner Robins has momentum in every phase of the game going as the playoffs beckon.

2. Jones County

Friday was an odd night, and the Greyhounds have had a few interesting Friday nights. Now, they have to work to avoid a second straight first-round surprise.

3. West Laurens

The gap behind Jones County is pretty close, the Raiders boasting probably the best defense in the area and one of the top few offenses in the area. West Laurens is on a roll of consistency, a big plus entering the postseason.

4. Veterans

The Warhawks bounced back after last year’s 28-point loss to Warner Robins to give No. 6 Stockbridge fits. Clean up some things, and the Warhawks can pull off the first-round upset.

5. Houston County

The Bears won a game despite maybe being outplayed a little bit and making it closer at the end than it should’ve been. But they’re in the playoffs, and against a former region opponent they’re 6-0 against.

Division II (3A, 2A, A, others)

1. Peach County
Another rout for the varsity and JV. (Sorry, if there’s nothing new, there’s nothing new). Friday night against Westside was nothing new, except further muscle-flexing from a team that wasn’t anywhere near 100 percent healthy.

2. Dublin
The Irish are still the Irish, and may have been humbled at the right time. But a window to success against Dublin was opened a bit in Friday’s loss.

3. (tie) Bleckley County, Westside, Washington County

None of the three currently deserve, necessarily, a No. 3-type ranking in the area. The Golden Hawks are a little on the rise, and the Royals and Seminoles are a question mark. What will Game 10 mean for the three in the first round?

6. (tie) John Milledge, Mount de Sales

The Trojans have more weapons, but the Cavs play a tougher schedule. Both are consistent, both have weapons, both have defenses, both have upper-level coaching.

8. Northeast

The Raiders sit home as probably the second-best Central Georgia team done after 10 games. Northeast finally eased away to take care of business against East Laurens,

9. Central

The Chargers are in the playoffs for the first time since 2014. Worth noting: they’ve only been outscored by 7.6 points and 1.6 points in a pair of 3-7 seasons. It’s slow progress, but it’s progress.

10. Macon County

The Bulldogs didn’t hurt themselves in the playoff race, and may be set for a couple wins in the postseason.

Loughdmouthings

Well, shoot, of the big, burly games noted here last week, only two came down to the final minutes, Houston County holding off Northside and Thursday’s wild Mary Persons comeback win over Howard.

Friday’s Surprise, I: An underdog of anywhere from 23 to 29 points, Washington County came up with its defensive performance of the year, or two. Dublin was “held” to 346 yards rushing, 77 yards below average, and 28 points off the norm. Granted, Dublin was without JaQues Evans for disciplinary reasons, but the Irish didn’t adjust to that, also losing six yards in the passing game, things to keep an eye on in the playoffs.

Friday’s Surprise, II: Jones County losing by 30 in the regular season was certainly on nobody’s radar, at home or on the road or to anybody on the regular-season schedule. The Greyhounds may scoreless in a quarter when up big, but to get shut out in the second half is an eyebrow-raiser.

Friday’s Surprise, III: Bleckley County held to 11 by Southwest? Nobody saw that one coming, either. The Royals were brutal with presnap penalties, a very disconcerting change in Friday night routine entering the playoffs. The Patriots’ defense in the last two seasons games against a ranked team (in any class)? 65, 70, 56, 46, 48, 36, 50.

Friday’s Surprise, IV: Wilkinson County went into last week’s game having scored 80 points. The Warriors scored 49 in humbling Greene County, which had coughed up at least 40 points in five games, four in a row. It was Wilkinson County’s best scoreboard-flipping night since a 53-27 win over Greene County to end the 2017 season.

Other Friday night nuggets:

Peach County didn’t get any fourth-quarter work in again for the starters, although Noah Whittington turned in a couple games worth of stats, with 282 yards rushing on 10 carries. That and the defense led to a snoozer win over Westside at Ed DeFore.

Warner Robins and West Laurens took care of business in impressive fashion in outright region title games, and they go into the playoffs with confidence and momentum, and both are dangerous. The Raiders are going to sneak up on somebody.

There was grumbling back when folks were still sweating that maybe it was time for FPD to make – or consider – a change at quarterback. Parker Ingram grew, quickly, and now the Vikings are back in the playoffs on the heels of his record-setting passing performance (465 yards, six TD passes) for the most points Warren County has given up since Lincoln County’s 63-14 win on Oct. 13, 2017. …

Milestone watch: Stratford head coach Mark Farriba still sits at 199 career wins this week. Pretty funny – for those not involved – that his 200th could come against the last team he coached, Prince Avenue, in what would be a sizable upset. …

Looking ahead to mid-December: Houston County has four public high schools – two are ranked – with combined 28-12 record a in the playoffs, and Bibb County’s two are 9-11.

Uh, not to look ahead, but folks, the second round of the Class AAA playoffs could have Calhoun visiting Peach County.

There will be no replays.

Quotable

Minutes before his team stormed out of the locker room Thursday night, Mary Persons head coach Brian Nelson caught a little grief for not returning early-week texts and calls.

“I’ll tell ya what. I ran over my phone last week with my lawnmower, and I didn’t have a cell phone for six days. Best six days I’ve had in a long time.”

And Thursday night added to it, the Bulldogs coming back from 14 down in the second half to stun and depress Howard 45-38 and get the third seed in Region 2-4A.

Nelson said he thinks about ditching the cell phone, and living by the school phone and emails.

Dear Friday night gamecasters

It may become a weekly reminder that absolutely screaming incoherently – let alone two people screaming incoherently – really is annoying to anybody hoping that a broadcast/streamcast will be helpful to figuring out what happened.

You’re not in the mancave, you’re talking to people and explaining. Incoherent screaming doesn’t help, so if it takes medication, decaf, a reminder on the window that “people other than relatives are listening” to get something listenable to, so be it. …

God will look at your resume, and if you didn’t give time and score into and out of commercials, when you talk about what you didn’t see or don’t know, and pretty much after every change of possession, you may have to wait a little bit.

Sure, God knows what’s going to happen, but that doesn’t mean He can’t act for what wasn’t done for others.