Three games (for most squads) into the season, and we’re starting to learn a little bit more about the football teams around the state. But it’s always hard to separate the contenders from the pretenders before the schools really get into their region schedules. Here are some question-mark teams from around the state, and what they will have to do to prove they are among the elite in their classification.
Colquitt County – The Packers are 3-0 heading into Region 1 play, but only one of those can be considered a quality win (13-7 over Thomasville). Has Rush Propst turned Colquitt around after last year’s 2-8 debacle? We’ll find out soon enough; the Packers face Lowndes, Coffee and Valdosta in their next three games. If they can steal one of them, and look respectable in all of them, they might be on the comeback trail.
Northside-Warner Robins – What’s that you say? We have Northside ranked third in Class 5A, so how can they be one of our question-mark teams? Well, the Eagles lost a lot from last year’s team, and now they’re in the toughest region in the state. Scarily enough, Lowndes is better than they were last year, and Coffee is a top team as well. Northside is good, don’t get me wrong – but a 7-6 squeaker win over Carver-Columbus (an elite team, but two classifications below the Eagles) in which the Eagles were essentially outplayed leaves room for doubt. Right now in 5A, it looks as if it’s Lowndes, Camden County, and everyone else.
Stephenson – Let’s just say it: Anything less than an undefeated region record will be a disappointment for Ron Gartrell’s team. M.L. King has shown itself to be more than vulnerable, as has Douglass. The rest of the region is average. The Jaguars should earn the No. 1 playoff seed out of Region 2-AAAAA, but they’ll have to avoid the region slip-ups they experienced last year (14-6 loss to M.L. King, 13-12 loss to Douglass. Oct. 17 (King) and Nov. 7 (Douglass) are the dates to circle.
Alpharetta – Raiders fans might be thinking playoffs after a 2-0 region start, but this team will have to survive a midseason gauntlet of tough Region 6 games if it wants to nab one of those top four spots. Bill Waters’s team got by Wheeler and Centennial, but will have to go at least 4-3 against the likes of Milton, Walton, Lassiter, Roswell, Pope, Kell and Campbell to get into the postseason for the first time ever. That lineup, to me, looks like (in order): L, L, toss-up, L, W, toss-up, L.
Collins Hill – Making the playoffs is the goal for the Eagles in Billy Wells’s first year. Lucky for The Hill, they won’t get tested again until Peachtree Ridge visits on Oct. 17. We’ll see how the most likely 6-0 Eagles handle that one.
Bainbridge – We would have seen what the Bearcats were made of in Week 1, but Mother Nature went ahead and cancelled what would have been one of the best early-season matchups on the schedule. Bainbridge is 2-0 under former Thomas County Central head coach Ed Pilcher, but the real season starts on Sept. 19 with a home game against Westside-Macon (currently No. 2 in our GPB/Score Prep Top-10 rankings).
Washington County – Tough to say where this team belongs right now. The Golden Hawks have beaten up pretty badly on some fairly easy competition – Cross Creek, Greene County and Morgan County – but will receive their first test this Friday when they host Troup. Don’t let Troup’s 1-2 record fool you; they’ve narrowly lost to two top-tier 3A teams in Baldwin and Dunwoody. This game could knock WaCo right out of our rankings after they just slipped in at No. 10.
Lovett – The loss to Buford was expected; the loss in Week 2 to Callaway, however, was not. The Lions will have to prove to their doubters that the graduation of running back Andre Hicks (now at UAB) and a score of other talented players hasn’t sunk Lovett’s chances to advance deep into the postseason. Head coach Mike Muschamp and company play Westminster, Blessed Trinity and Greater Atlanta Christian in a three-game span between Oct. 3 and 24. That stretch will tell the tale for the Lions.
Ewalt can be reached at aewalt@scoreatl.com.
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