Friday wrapup: Roswell, Newton, East Coweta become region front-runners
Roswell’s most recent region titles in football have come in 2000, 2005 and 2010.
The writing was on the wall Friday night as the third-ranked Hornets routed sixth-ranked Walton 48-14 in a game between the remaining unbeaten teams in Region 5. Roswell’s Quintarius Neely passed for 369 yards and five touchdowns.
Roswell, the clear region front-runner now, is 5-0 overall, 3-0 in region play and a great bet to keep that five-year region-title pattern in tact. Walton fell to 5-1, 2-1.
In other noteworthy games Friday …
-Region 1 had its opening games. The ranked teams beat the unranked teams – No. 1 Colquitt County over Lowndes 42-20, No. 8 Lee County over Tift County 42-14, and No. 9 Camden County over Valdosta 31-10.
-Newton (5-0, 1-0) became the team to beat in Region 2 with a 37-20 victory over Tucker, the defending champion. Newton has not won a region title since 1987. Tucker (3-3, 1-1) has not lost more than three games in a season since 1999.
-East Coweta (5-0, 2-0) became the team to beat in Region 3 with a 7-0 victory over defending champion Westlake (3-2, 1-1). East Coweta has not won a region title since 2001. Arch-rival Newnan (4-1, 2-0) is the only other unbeaten team in region play.
-Region 7 might have its playoff teams. Norcross, Peachtree Ridge, Mill Creek and Collins Hill are 3-0. North Gwinnett, Duluth, Meadowcreek and Mountain View are 0-3. The have’s beat the have-not’s Friday, most notably Norcross over North Gwinnett 38-10. The 3-0's play the 0-3's next week, so we might be looking at 4-0's and 0-4's.
-Central Gwinnett (4-1, 3-0) beat Dacula (4-2, 3-1) 25-6 in a Region 8 game. Central and Grayson are the only teams without a loss in that region.
