AJC > Sports > Highschools > Blog > Archives > 2007 > August > 31
Friday, August 31, 2007
New season’s here, looking so di-vine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Eventually, I’m told, the limb snaps.
But, as high school football season dawns anew today, it’ll take time to figure out exactly how far out on the prognostication vine I can go before finding its breaking point.
Let’s start on the thick end, with Lovett and Westminster, and work our way toward the twiggy end. Time was, Westminster would thump Lovett, and that was that.
Now, Lovett’s doing the thumping. And the Lions have been itching to thump somebody since wandering into single-digit side of a 65-7 Dublin drubbin’ in the Dome.
Westminster has to pay for that. Or at least that’s the way it’ll seem when Lovett beats the Wildcats for the third time in a row — something the Lions have done only once (1994-96).
Let’s venture a little farther out. You wouldn’t think that picking Etowah to beat Sequoyah would look so odd. But for six years, Sequoyah has beaten Etowah almost at will.
No more. Etowah started something last season in Bill Stewart’s first year at the helm. The Eagles went 8-4, deeper into a season than ever before. There’s the distinct sense of unfinished business, and finally getting over the Sequoyah hurdle is the most fitting place for it to resume.
Picking Brookwood to lose used to be a foolproof twig-breaker. Not this week.
The Broncos meet Roswell, a rematch of a second-round playoff game they lost by one point last year. Everything since then has only widened the gap.
The Broncos break in a new quarterback and an entire new starting lineup on defense. Meanwhile, Roswell has a share of a state title and coach Tim McFarlin’s resolve to forget the accompanying laurels. The Hornets have the team and the schedule to hold firm in the top spot for a while, beating Brookwood for starters.
Could the breaking point be in picking Mundy’s Mill, 0-3 against Riverdale, to finally beat the Raiders? Or in taking Irwin County, christening its brand new stadium, to end a seven-game skid against rival Fitzgerald? What about taking Darlington to beat Chattooga, after losing by 22 last time? Has enough of the old Valdosta rubbed off on Mike O’Brien’s Woodstock team (4-6 last season) that it can beat Pebblebrook (9-3 last season) for the second consecutive time?
Picked all that. Twig remains strong like bull.
I almost picked Thomasville, owned by rival Thomas County Central since the 1993 Class AAA championship, to break through. Four Central turnovers in a scrimmage against Lowndes, almost swayed me. Almost took McNair, which upset Stephenson last season, to kneecap M.L. King, too. But no.
There’ll be time for leaps of faith, more daring flights of fancy. This is week one. Plenty of healthy twig left.
THE WEEKEND PREDICTIONS
FRIDAY
Winners in bold
Adairsville Gordon Central
Alpharetta North Forsyth
Americus-Sumter Forest Park
Apalachee Winder-Barrow
Appling County Wayne County
Athens Academy Oglethorpe Co.
Baldwin Washington Co.
Banks County Jackson County
Beach Savannah
Berkmar Luella
Bleckley County Jones County
Blessed Trinity Clarkston
Bowdon Pacelli Catholic
Brantley County Bacon County
Brookstone Whitefield Academy
Cairo Osborne
Calhoun County Central-Talbotton
Callaway Cross Keys
Campbell Wheeler
Carrollton Douglas County
Cartersville Woodland-Cart.
Carver-Columbus Spencer
Cass SE Whitfield
Cedar Shoals Oconee County
Charlton County Clinch County
Chestatee West Hall
Collins Hill Grayson
Cook Colquitt County
Coosa Lakeview-Ft. Ogle.
Commerce Rabun County
Creekview Our Lady of Mercy
Crisp County Dooly County
Cross Creek Hephzibah
Dacula Central Gwinnett
Dalton Calhoun
Darlington Chattooga
Dodge County Telfair County
Dougherty Northeast-Macon
Druid Hills Avondale
Dublin West Laurens
Dunwoody Southside
Early County Bainbridge
East Paulding Paulding County
Eastside Newton
ECI Metter
Effingham County Richmond Acad.
ELCA Athens Christian
Etowah Sequoyah
Fannin County Gilmer
Fellowship Christ. Prince Ave. Christ.
Flowery Branch White County
GAC Mary Persons
Gainesville East Hall
Glynn Academy Bradwell Institute
Gordon Lee Model
Greene County Glenn Hills
Griffin Lithia Springs
Habersham Cent. Alcovy
Harlem Evans
Hart County Clarke Central
Hawkinsville Perry
Heard County Bremen
Henry County Dutchtown
Hiram Alexander
Irwin County Fitzgerald
Jackson Union Grove
Jeff Davis Montgomery Co.
Jefferson County Burke County
Jenkins County Wheeler County
Johnson County East Laurens
Johnson-Gaines. Jefferson
Kendrick Jordan
Kennesaw Mtn. Pope
Lakeside-DeKalb Stone Mountain
Lakeside-Evans Aquinas
Lamar County Meadowcreek
Landmark Christ. Ringgold
Laney Butler
Lanier County Albany
Lee County Westover
Loganville Monroe Area
Lovett Westminster
Lowndes Harrison
Madison County Franklin County
Manchester Greenville
Marietta Lassiter
Marion County Chattahoochee Co.
Marist Columbia
Mays Washington
McIntosh Co. Acad. Liberty County
Milton Forsyth Central
Mitchell County Pelham
M.L. King McNair
Morgan County Portal
Mundy’s Mill Riverdale
Norcross Duluth
North Atlanta Carver-Atlanta
North Clayton Morrow
North Cobb Kell
Northgate Central-Carroll
North Gwinnett Walton
North Oconee Ola
Northside-W.R. Houston County
Northview Mill Creek
NW Whitfield Murray County
Peach County Macon County
Peachtree Ridge Shiloh
Pepperell Cedartown
Pickens Lumpkin County
Pierce County Atkinson County
Randolph-Clay Stewart-Quitman
Richmond Hill Bryan County
Ridgeland Armuchee
Riverwood Therrell
Rockdale County Hancock Central
Rockmart Haralson County
Rome Decatur
Rutland Southwest-Macon
Sandy Creek McIntosh
Savannah Christ. Calvary Day
Sav. Ctry Day Long County
Schley County Glascock County
Seminole County Berrien
Social Circle Monticello
South Cobb Centennial
South Effingham Groves
South Gwinnett South Forsyth
South Paulding Sonoraville
Spalding Pike County
Sprayberry Lovejoy
Statesboro Screven County
St. Pius North Springs
Stephenson Banneker
Stockbridge Eagle’s Landing
Swainsboro Johnson-Sav.
Tattnall County Claxton
Taylor County Crawford County
Temple Hillgrove
Thomas Co. Cent. Thomasville.
Thomson Salem
Tift County Brooks County
Toombs County SE Bulloch
Tri-Cities Westlake
Trion LaFayette
Tucker Miller Grove
Turner County Worth County
Twiggs County Ga. Military Coll.
Vidalia Treutlen
Villa Rica Chapel Hill
Walker Mt. Pisgah Christ.
Ware County Brunswick
Wash.-Wilkes Warren County
Wesleyan Dawson County
Westside-Augusta Greenbrier
Westside-Macon Central-Macon
Whitewater Newnan
Wilcox County Miller County
Wilkinson County Putnam County
Woodland-Stock. East Jackson
Woodstock Pebblebrook
Woodward Acad. Heritage
SATURDAY
Winners in bold
Chamblee South Atlanta
Creekside Redan
Douglass Grady
Hardaway Columbus
Monroe Terrell County
Mt. Zion-Jonesboro Fayette County
Parkview McEachern
Roswell Brookwood
Shaw Troup
SW DeKalb Cedar Grove
Starr’s Mill Cherokee
Towers Lithonia
Warner Robins Camden County
Games involving out-of-state teams are not included.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Darryl Maxie
Region rankings, cool sites, Lesson Teachers, Sensitive Men … Oh My!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DP’s AAAAA Region Rankings
- Region 1
- Region 5
- Region 7
- Region 6
- Region 8
- Region 2
- Region 4
- Region 3
Check out this web site — Mratings.com. Kenneth Massey has complete computer rankings for nearly every sport, including rugby, lacrosse and volleyball. Here he ranks Georgia’s high school teams regardless of classification. Meadowcreek, according to Massey, was better than Savannah and Johnson-Savannah last year.
My region rankings are a little different than Massey’s. His are based on last year’s results. Mine are based on my feelings about what’s going to happen this season. Deciding between Region 6 and 8 was the toughest. I could have easily flip-flopped them.
Any thoughts?
Fantasy Football Dork Off: Kurt Aschermann vs. David Purdum
Each week two of the AJC’s dorkiest will pick a fantasy team made up of strictly Gwinnett high school players. Readers are welcome to pick a team—1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs and Defense—from anywhere in the state. Post your team on the blog sometime before noon Friday.
Kurt and I will then choose one reader-submitted team based on the creativeness of their screen name. That team will be posted on Friday along with our teams. If the reader’s team outscores both Kurt and my teams, they will receive a special prize.
(Citi Slicker, why don’t you form a DeKalb team for next week, if your boys are so good?)
Kurt’s Lesson Teachers
QB T.J. Smith, Berkmar (at Luella)
RB Brandon Davis, Peachtree Ridge (vs. Shiloh)
RB Diante Drake, Central Gwinnett (vs. Dacula)
WR Devonta Bolton, Norcross (at Duluth)
WR Isiah Jupiter, Berkmar (at Luella)
Defense: Peachtree Ridge (vs. Shiloh)
DP’s Sensitive Men
QB Mikey Tamburo, North Gwinnett (vs. Walton)
RB D.J. Adams, Norcross (at Duluth)
RB Ben Donald, Greater Atlanta Christian (at Mary Persons)
WR Brice Butler, Norcross (at Duluth)
WR Zac Johnston, Wesleyan (vs. Dawson County)
Defense: Grayson (at Collins Hill)
Scoring System
Passing
100-200 yards — 6
200-300 yards — 9
More than 300 - 15
Rushing/Receiving
50-99 yards — 6
100-150 — 9
151-199 — 12
More than 200 — 15
Rushing/Receiving/Passing TDs — 6
Defense: Every point the opposing team scores is subtracted from your total.
(Notes: Due to limited stats, QBs/WRs do not get points for rushing yards; RBs no points for receiving yards)
Note from Kurt: What a pleasure it’ll be to match wits with the world-famous David Purdum and share my thoughts on Gwinnett County football. After spending the last three years covering teams in Clayton, Henry, Fayette and Coweta counties, I’m looking forward to my new gig in Gwinnett.
Pick a Favorite/Pick a Dog
Favorite
Kurt: For my top favorite, let’s head to Suwanee, where North Gwinnett hosts Walton. The Bulldogs, fresh off a school-record 11 wins, are led by quarterback Mikey Tamboro (Purdum’s week one fantasy quarterback) and could surpass last year’s first-ever quarterfinal appearance. Also, and I feel like former ESPN analyst Norm Hitzges saying this, but North Gwinnett has won four of its last five home openers. (Note: I believe Hitzges’ career record was 65-700).
DP: I’ll take Greater Atlanta Christian over Mary Persons and give 35.
Underdogs
Kurt: As for my top dog, we head to the Georgia Dome for the final game of this year’s Corky Kell Classic. Defending co-Class AAAAA champion Roswell seems to be on everyone’s short list of title favorites, but putting the words “underdog” and “Brookwood” in the same sentence just sounds funny. I like the Broncos in an upset.
DP: South Gwinnett over South Forsyth.
Everyone have fun tonight … And it begins …
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: David Purdum
