The Week 4 Game of the Week takes place in Suwanee, Georgia at North Gwinnett Bulldog Stadium at 7:30 PM. This matchup features No. 8 Parkview who are 2-0 fresh off a bye week. Head coach Eric Godfree talked about some of the things they worked on in the bye and some areas they touched on. “Just some corrections we tried to make up front on offense. Defensively, we had some corrections we had to make as well. It was a good week to get out and make some corrections,” said Godfree. “Our biggest point of emphasis was working on some depth.” Cross trained a lot of guys on both sides, We can help create some more depth for us in the long haul this season.”
North Gwinnett comes in at 2-1 after their 31-19 loss to Winter Park, Florida. Winter Park scored 21 points in the 4th quarter, and head coach Bill Stewart revealed what happened in that loss.
“There was a little momentum swing. We gave up a big play. It was poor execution on both sides at that point,” said Stewart. “We played well going into the 4th and then kind of collapsed a little bit.”
Parkview has a great playmaker on the outside in wide receiver Mike Matthews and a workhorse in Khyair Spain at running back who has very few negative plays on offense. Matthews has 10 catches for 156 yards and three touchdowns on the season while Spain has 335 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
“He’s explosive and long and runs good routes. He understands the concepts of the offense and what we are trying to accomplish,” said Godfree. With his high intelligence of football and high athleticism it really helps him to create openings and get open.”
Khyair Spain being the dynamic and strong runner that he is, you know people have to pay attention to the run game,” said Godfree. “What is great about him is that he is strong and he is tough. He takes very few negative carries. He finishes runs. When he gets an open field, he can pull away from people, he is tough to bring down, just great balance and strength.”
Players to watch for North Gwinnett is sophomore phenom QB Ryan Hall who had 237 yards passing and two touchdowns in the season opener against McEachern, and Kentucky Commit LB Grant Godfrey who leads North Gwinnett in total tackles and sacks.
“He definitely commands everything. He’s a leader even though he’s just a sophomore,” said Stewart. “He made some big plays even in that last game. He did a punt fake this last game and got a first down on it. He will improvise a little bit. For a sophomore, he is really a good player.”
“The biggest thing for Grant is that he puts on his hard cap every day. He is going to go to work. He checks in and gets busy every day which makes him a great athlete when he gets out there on the field,” said Stewart. “You can see his explosion. He wants to be the best one in the state.”
A matchup that can loom large in this game is the front seven of the Bulldogs against the offensive line of Parkview.
“Their defensive front seven is as good as anybody in the state. They are so good. I watched that game against Winter Park and they sacked that quarterback a lot,” said Godfree. “They did a great job with their pressures. Offensively, I want to see if we can establish a run vs this defensive front, and if we can pass protect to get the ball downfield.”
“On our side we have to take care of some things fundamentally. We do have Kayden McDonald, he’s a big piece inside,” said Stewart. “He always makes an impact in the game. He had another great game last week. We were without Tyler Walton last week who is another D1 commit. We are hoping to get him back this week to sure up that front.”
This game will be a battle of the trenches as both offensive lines brought back experience this year and are trying to continue to build consistency.
Both coaches shed light on the keys of the game and how their teams could come out with a victory.
“We gotta make sure they don’t have explosive plays. They do have skilled kids who can get you down in one down,” said Stewart. “Their quarterback is legit. He will be one of the best guys we see. Offensively we have to be able to put drives together and just be consistent. You have to get an explosive play too.”
“I want to see defensively if we can continue to play consistent and have great alignment,” said Godfree. Continue to have a pass rush. DBs continue to cover well. We are going to see if our defense continues to be consistent out there.”
North Gwinnett is 4-3 all-time against Parkview and won last year’s matchup 34-27.
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