AA in brief: Will Hornets defense go regular season without allowing TD?

The top-ranked, defending state champion Hapeville Charter Hornets are five games into the season and, as mentioned more than once in the Class AA blogosphere, they have only given up a field goal all season after their 24-0 win over Douglass on Friday.

With the win, they have four shutouts in five games and have outscored the competition 220-3, the lone points coming from then-No. 2 Heard County on a 30-yard field goal. The team they played on Friday — the Douglass Astros — were undefeated heading into the contest and perhaps the second best team in 6-AA.

Given their dominance, I ask aloud: Will the Hornets’ defense — led by defensive coordinator Kevin Pope — go the entire regular season without giving up a touchdown?

“Most definitely,” senior defensive tackle Jujuan White said after Friday’s game, when asked that question. “Our main thing: no scoring, all year. That’s our biggest goal.”

It will be hard for the defense to achieve keeping all opponents out of the end zone, obviously. For one, they sub out their starters when the games get out of hand. Also, a mistake on offense or special teams could give the opposition favorable field position.

That’s what happened on Friday, when the Hornets fumbled two punt returns, one of which led the Astros start at the Hornets 36, the other on the Hornets 30. But the Hapeville Charter defense dug in and both of those Astros possessions ended in turnover-on-downs.

The run-oriented Astros had a good plan for the Hornets, which was to keep the Hornets offense off of the field by using the run game, led by the program’s all-time leading rusher, Juan Powell. It worked for more than a half, too, with Hapeville holding a 10-0 lead late into the third quarter.

The Astros received the second-half opening kickoff and, on that drive, chewed all but two minutes of clock off the third quarter, running the ball on all 12 of their plays and moving from their own 22 to the Hornets’ 36. Had they scored on that possession, it’s 10-7. But the drive stalled when, once again, the Hornets forced a turnover on downs, this time on fourth-and-4. The Hornets would then score touchdowns on their next two drives to put the game away.

For the game, the Hornets tallied eight sacks — three from White — and White, Bryant Griffin and Kiersten Lee shared the team lead with six tackles each.

The Hornets’ remaining opponents are South Atlanta next week, Allatoona (Oct. 12), KIPP (Oct. 18), Washington (Oct. 27) and B.E.S.T. Academy (Nov. 2). Perhaps the team with the best chance at finding pay dirt against the Hornets  is Allatoona (3-2), an AAAAAA school averaging 37 points over their last three games, all wins.

---

For a recap of Friday's games involving AA ranked teams, go here.

The top 10 remains intact this week, though the order was shuffled. Take a look below. The number in parenthesis is the previous week's ranking.

1. (1) Hapeville Charter (5-0)

2. (2) Callaway (5-1)

3. (5) Rockmart (6-0)

4. (4) Bremen (4-1)

5. (6) Dodge County (6-0)

6. (7) Rabun County (5-1)

7. (3) Thomasville (4-2)

8. (8) Washington County (5-0)

9. (9) Vidalia (5-0)

10. (10) Brooks County (4-2)

In brief:

• Callaway's Tank Bigsby headlined GHSF Daily's top performances from last week, rushing for 309 yards with touchdown runs of 80, 80 and 58 yards against Bremen. AA players earning "best of the rest" honors include: Coosa's Kenon Dixon (302 yards passing with five touchdowns, 67 rushing yards and 110 kick return yards); Jordan's Cam Greene (nine receptions for 331 yards, three touchdowns); Jordan's Emmanuel Mann (19-of-35 passing, 397 yards three touchdowns; 104 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries); Pepperell's Gage Moses (14-of-23 passing for 173 yards and three touchdowns; 112 rushing yards and a touchdown on four carries); Temple's Daimar Ivey (275 yards, three touchdowns on 21 carries); Toombs County's Trey Cloud (11-of-16 passing for 272 yards, two touchdowns); Toombs County's Chandler Lynn (six catches, 124 yards); Union County's Pierson Allison (26-of-41 passing for 400 yards, two touchdowns; 70 yards on 12 carries); Union County's Kanon Hemphill (122 receiving yards); Union County's Sawyer Drake (113 yards on six catches). Elbert County and Jordan earned "lines of distinction" honors.
• Prep Sports Nation has video highlights of Hapeville Charter's 24-0 win over Douglass.
• The Hornets football staff and athletic director recently honored alumni from last year's state champion team.
• The Hornets also got a new trailer, complete with a championship logo.
• In most cases, offensive performances steal the headlines, so here's an acknowledgement of the defense and special teams units for Rockmart, which played a big role in the Yellow Jackets' 56-0 shutout of Chattooga. Offensively, Zeri Taylor earned Player of the Week honors.
• Jeff Hart of accessWDUN notes "toughness and guts" Union County played with in its 29-28 win over Elbert County in a key 8-AA game. The Panthers are now 6-0 and 3-0 in region play.
• Morgan Lee has more on Union County's win for accessWDUN.
• Here's WJRB's recap of the Union County-Elbert County game.
• Todd Forrest of NGN provided a live thread for the Union County-Elbert County game.
• Here are some more stats from Callaway's 37-25 win over Bremen.
• SportalTV spoke with Callaway coach Pete Wiggins following the game.
• Former Washington County standout Takeo Spikes will be one of three to be inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. He talked about it on Instagram.
• Here's Jeff Davis coach Lance Helton giving a fiery speech following the Yellow Jackets' 54-21 win over Bryan County, which was the 300th in program history.
• Here are highlights from the Jeff Davis game from WJCL, as well as an interview with Helton.
• The Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane defeated AAA's Worth County 50-13 in their final game before 1-AA play, moving to 4-2. They'll play Berrien (5-1) next week.
• The Swainsboro Tigers opened 2-AA play with a 15-0 shutout of Metter to move to 3-2.
• WMAZ tailgated at Bleckley County for the Royals' game against Dublin. The Fighting Irish won 46-15, as Dave Whitaker writes for The Bleckley Progress, to move to 6-1, 2-0 in 3-AA. Dublin is in a three-way race with No. 6 Dodge County and No. 8 Washington County for the region title.
• Tyler Serritt of the Calhoun Times covered Dade County's 13-12 nail-biter over Gordon Central. The two teams each have one win on the season and compete in 7-AA with No. 3 Rockmart.
• The Harlem Bulldogs edged Butler 16-12 to move to 4-2 and 3-1 in 4-AA. After a 7-4 finish last season, they're seeking their consecutive winning seasons for the first time in nearly 40 years, when they finished above .500 from 1973-81.
• The Pepperell Dragons beat Model 41-7 to move to 4-2, 2-1 in 7-AA as they prepare for next week's showdown against No. 3 Rockmart.
• The Walton Tribune covered Social Circle's 36-23 win over Oglethorpe County in 8-AA play. The Redskins moved to 3-2, 1-2.
• Gunner Stockton threw for seven touchdown passes in Rabun County's 68-7 win over Banks County in 8-AA play as the Wildcats moved to 5-1, 3-0. Blitz has highlights of Stockton's big night.
• The Screven County Gamecocks improved to 4-2, 3-1 in 4-AA with a 35-26 win over Josey. They're in a four-way tie atop the region with Jefferson County, Harlem and Hephzibah.
• Toombs County beat Bacon County 42-41 to move to 4-2 and 2-0 in 2-AA, enjoying a half-game lead over Vidalia and Swainsboro (both 1-0) in the region. ToombsNow has the coverage.
• Here's the coaches poll for 2-AA from SportalTV. The rankings, which are released later in the week, don't reflect Friday's games.
• Getting up before the crack of dawn for football practice has its perks. Just ask Model.

One final note. Over the weekend, the GHSA football community lost one of its own, when Pike County Pirates junior Dylan Thomas collapsed on the field during the Pirates’ home game against Peach County and died on Sunday. A number of AA coaches took to Twitter to express their condolences: