Ware County came into the season as the favorite to win the Region 3-AAAAA championship, which the Gators have done each of the past two seasons.
To win the title again in 2014, the second-ranked Gators will have to get off to a good start, and that begins on Friday when they open region play against what is likely to be their biggest challenge – longtime rival and recent nemesis Coffee – at 7:30 p.m. in The Swamp.
Fifth-ranked Coffee dropped into Class AAAAA this season after years of playing in Region 1 of the highest classification. Although Coffee and Ware County have not been in a region together since 2001, they have continued to play each other almost every year.
Coffee leads the series 25-16, but Ware County has closed the gap by winning nine of the 11 games from 1999-2011.
The past two meetings have belonged to Coffee, however, and those have been particularly noteworthy for the Gators. Ware County is 20-2 in the regular season since the start of the 2012 season, and those losses were 21-14 and 38-13 setbacks at the hands of the Trojans.
The winner of Friday’s game will emerge as the unquestioned favorite in what should be a competitive playoff race in 3-AAAAA.
Here are some of the other things to look for this weekend in Class AAAAA:
- The playoff picture in 8-AAAAA will begin to take shape when region newcomer Lanier takes on ninth-ranked Flowery Branch. Lanier knocked off perennial playoff team Clarke Central 35-20 last week and could put itself in the driver's seat for a playoff berth, if not a run for the region title, with a victory against the Falcons. Meanwhile, Clarke Central and Heritage-Conyers need to get on track fast if they're going to return to the playoffs. Clarke Central meets Athens rival Cedar Shoals, and Heritage faces a dangerous Loganville team. Losses would leave both teams at 0-3 overall and 0-2 in the region, with a steep hill to climb.
- M.L. King will be aiming for a couple of firsts when it takes on former region rival Tucker at Hallford Stadium. The Lions are seeking their first points of the season (they have been shut out in consecutive games for the first time in school history) and their first victory (M.L. King has never started a season 0-3). M.L. King is 1-1 in the series with the Tigers but lost 60-34 last season.
- Five teams in 2-AAAAA enter the weekend undefeated in region play, but no more than four will remain after Lakeside-Evans takes on top-ranked Northside-Warner Robins. It will be the first of four consecutive games against playoff contenders for Lakeside, which meets Evans, 10th-ranked Houston County and Jones County in the next three weeks. Lakeside finished fourth in the region last year.
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