Central Georgia polls

Note that going into the week, there were only a few consensus top-10 teams, in both the GSWA and AJC polls: Jones County, Warner Robins, Peach County, Dublin, and Washington County. That won’t change.

Mary Persons will be out, and maybe for awhile. Northside may be back in both, and it seems like West Laurens is getting closer. And that’s it.

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

1. Jones County
The Greyhounds barely took care of business against a team they smashed a year before. It’s doubtful that Union Grove got that much better, so it appears the Greyhounds strolled in flat and/or cocky. That doesn’t bode well for the next opponent.

2. Warner Robins
Surviving too many penalties stops this week against a team with, well, more than one win. The Demons’ opponents so far are 1-11, so just being better allows for mistakes to get overlooked. But the next three non-region games are Colquitt County, Northside, and Houston County. Yellow will equal some Ls.

3. Houston County

You’ve read that the Bears were definitely better than the past few years, but we didn’t know how much better. We kind of know, but one game doesn’t a season make. Losing to Veterans – or at least not playing well or intense – pretty much erases the Peach County win.

4. Northside
There’s still some bumpiness, and questions. The wins are over a pair of winless teams, and one of the two losses was a winnable game. The sluggish passing game lessens the margin of error, and puts more pressure on the defense.

5. West Laurens

The Raiders have been on the fringe, and Veterans’ loss opened the door. West Laurens has balance on offense, and another punishing defense. Avoiding that one stumble that leads to a big-game loss is still there, but this is the best team in Region 2-4A, just ahead of Howard.

Latest
Friday night’s roundup and scores
Scouting Reports (Coming Friday)
Statewide polls and Maxwell predictions (Coming Thursday afternoon)
The Sports Report tells you the winner
Monday Morning QB
Macon TD Club honorees

Last week
Dooly County makes a change
Friday night’s roundup and scores
Scouting Reports
Statewide polls and Maxwell predictions
The Sports Report tells you the winners
Monday Morning Quarterback

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

1. Peach County
Last week was perhaps a combination of a number of things, and should be less shocking than it was. Teens being teens, they can be flat and overconfident, and mediocre practice habits can finally catch up on Friday night. The Trojans remain a top-25 all-class team that is unlikely to repeat mistakes of Friday night.

2. Dublin
A real test awaits this week with Brooks County. As good as Dublin is, a little more balance on offense makes the Irish better. That and some depth may be the only major difference between them and Peach County

3. Washington County
Overlooked in the precision of the single-wing is that the Golden Hawks keep getting special-teams points.

4. Westside
And now there begins to be a gap in the poll. The Seminoles will have to do something nobody on this current team has had to do: come back from a thorough pounding by a Bibb County team.

5. Dodge County
Despite a surprising thumping at Appling County, the Indians get the edge over the Trojans. But coughing up a two-touchdown lead at home in the fourth quarter to Dodge County and following up with the rare rout – albeit to a ranked bigger-class team on the road – does start leading to some wondering.

6. Lamar County
The Trojans are still fairly untested, the three wins over teams with a 2-7 record. We’ll find out more in this week’s road game with 3A Pike County.

7. John Milledge

The top of the GISA heap remains here because the Trojans do to the opposition what they should, kinda like, eh, Georgia and Arkansas State.
8. Mount de Sales
The Cavs have had two weeks off.

9. Bleckley County
The Royals are at the same point as a year ago, but the defense has given up 32 fewer points at the same juncture.

10. Vacated
It’s still an iffy proposition on who deserves to have “ranked” next to their name.

Our first all-class top 10 of the season, with an observation when necessary:

1. Jones County

The close game with Union Grove raised a few eyebrows.

2. Peach County

The Trojans would’ve been No. 1, and could easily be in the spot in the next all-class poll.

3. Warner Robins

A coaching change, but still pretty steady.

4. Houston County

Dealing with success and hype and congratulations is on the to-deal-with list.

5. Northside

The Eagles gives up some yards, but not points. Feels a lot like last year.

6. Dublin

The Irish are more well-rested than they’d like to be.

7. West Laurens

Best team in the region. The fourth-quarter comeback at Dodge County was quality.

8. Washington County

A big test is this week with Swainsboro. At the House of Pain.

9. Howard

The process started last year, but the Huskies are in position to be the top team in Bibb County for a bit, and they’re No. 2 in the region.

10. Veterans

They kind of gave one away at Statesboro, so expect a tighter group this week. Which the Warhawks will need to be against Houston County.

Many teams are still tough to figure out, like most of 2-4A and some Class A teams.

Boy, it’d sure be nice to have a Laurens County Championship with Dublin and West Laurens. And for a GHSA school of note to play John Milledge home and home.

Stat stuff

The first 1,000-yarder in Central Georgia?

It was Jones County quarterback Hunter Costlow, who is at 1,077 yards passing. Westside quarterback Victor Dixon is next, about two or three completions away at 934 yards.

Northside quarterback Mason Ford is almost halfway to the magic number in rushing, with 532 yards. Mary Persons’ William Stewart is next at 414 yards and Jones County’s Andrew Carner at 395 yards.

It’s no surprise that Westside’s Jaylen Barden leads the area – and state, by a yard – with 531 yards. And it’s no surprise that a pair of Jones County wideouts aren’t far behind, Maleek Wooten with 440 yards and Jontavis Robertson with 388.

All are among the state’s leaders, regardless of class, according to MaxPreps.

Major note (and feel free to inspire changes if your team/players are never listed): All hype around MaxPreps rankings and stats – in all sports – are subjective, because the information is based on what information teams enter.

Stats don’t just appear, somebody’s got to share them. And very, very few non-GHSA schools seem interested in MaxPreps information.

Thus, national rankings and spreads from MaxPreps, computer-generated, are pretty iffy, and incomplete. The defensive and special teams information – two-thirds of what wins games - is even more incomplete.

Some teams use the service for a few weeks and then just quit, even skipping updates later in the week. Or they have a link on their website that links to the 2016 season.

But for now, it’s a safe bet that only one or two players in those stat areas are being overlooked. All of the aforementioned players are mighty proven.

More than just talk

Balanced? Few teams are as balanced right now as West Laurens.

The 3-0 Raiders in three games have tried 76 passes. And they’ve run it 76 times. Stats are as per MaxPreps.

QB A.J. Mathis – the program leader in career TD passes - is 42 of 73 for 588 yards, with six touchdowns and two picks. Daniel Dorsey, Christian Dorsey, and Shonta Burney, Jr., have between 106 and 169 yards.

That balance – moreso steadiness and confidence in the passing game – led to the big comeback against Dodge County, and is why the Raiders – already stellar on defense - are the region favorite and can get a win or two in the playoffs.

Warner Robins is pretty close, with 85 pass attempts and 99 rushes in three games.

The surprises

Well, Houston County was a 24-point underdog, as per Maxwell Ratings, and that was a pretty legit number.

But maybe an even bigger surprise, although less attention-getting, was Northeast obliterating Manchester by 50 points.

Fifty. Northeast.

The Raiders completing 69.2 percent of their passes? A running game racking up 331 yards on a perennial ranked team? Picking off four passes?

All that said, we still don’t know much about Northeast. …

Jones County was a nearly 30-point favorite, and did have a two-touchdown fourth-quarter lead before settling for a seven-point win. …

Howard over Westside was no surprise. Howard being in control in the first half, though, was a surprise. …

The interesting numbers in Houston County’s win over Peach County? The Bears had only five flags, to 11 for 111 yards for the Trojans. A team held another team to less than two yards a carry and lost.

Note to keepers of standings, results

In this age of technology, certainly more teams can have stats on Friday night or Saturday morning to send to centralgasports@gmail.com so folks can find out what happened – everybody loves reading about high school football on a Saturday morning, right? - other than seeing video of a few plays that don’t tell much about the game.

Thanks last week to Brentwood and Northside for Friday night full game boxes, Upson-Lee and Peach County for boxes on Saturday, and Perry, Howard, Northeast, and Washington County for some for some names and numbers later on during the weekend.

Dear beloved Friday night gamecasters

Gamecasting teams should really, really, really, really remember that they’re not in the mancave on a Saturday, and have a signal that says “You shut up till I’m done, and I’ll shut up until you’re done, unless there’s nothing going on and we’re just chatting.”

This goes, yes, for last-second plays. A broadcast board with a mute button would be kind of a dream, too. …

Larry Munson, Vince Scully, Skip Caray, and Wes Durham all believe/believed that you give the score and game situation going into a commercial and you give the score and game situation coming out of a commercial.

Really.

The archive:

Occasional sounds of silence aren’t terrible – particularly considering the alternative, in some cases – so speed-talking, especially in attempts to impress or dazzle, doesn’t help a listener understand what’s happening. Slow down. …

Go into a break: score and time. Come out of a break: score and time. Clock stops: score and time. Has nobody ever mentioned that the score and time are relevant to the people listening? …

Kinda take it easy on raging shmoozing hyperbole, overuse of "great" and "awesome" and "good" and "remarkable" and "incredible." And avoid telling us what you don't know and then keep talking about what you don’t know. Skip those kindsa things. And it’s funny how the more verbal exclamation points we get, the worse the team actually is. …

You're watching only the ball, whereas refs all have different things to watch, and from pretty much the worst angles. Just because you didn't see it doesn't make it horrible. And 17-year-olds will commit dumbness 30 yards from the ball. So, ya know ...

One a time. Please. One person talk at a time. When one person is done, the other person can start. Otherwise, well, the brilliance get lost because of people talking over each other for no apparent reason other than the glory of hearing one’s voice.

And the now-weekly reminder: time and score, score and time, and school name over nicknames. Go into a break, time and score. Come out of a break, time and score. Awaiting for the next flash of an attempted Munsonism, time and score.