What to watch: Week 3

home series for the Braves. Because the Hornets don’t have a home stadium — they play the majority of their designated home games at Banneker — they will again travel to Heard County next season, with the two splitting revenues for both games.

Both teams are 1-0, with the Hornets defeating River Ridge 42-0 on Saturday, and the Braves edging LaGrange, 10-3, on Aug. 17.

Maxwell's projections peg the Hornets as 19-point favorites over the Braves.

While Friday’s game will represent bragging rights for the schools, both coaches — Winston Gordon of the Hornets and Tim Barron of the Braves — see it as a gauge for where their teams are early in the season, before region play.

“We do this all the time,” said Gordon, who scheduled Pace Academy and Alabama powerhouse Thompson last year. “We’ll play anybody on any Friday. When you do that, you don’t have false expectations. You know exactly where you are and you’re battle-tested. That pays dividends in the playoffs. We went to Thompson and played in front of 14,000, so after that there was no fear.”

Said Barron, “When you play a team that good and that talented earlier in the season, if you’re doing things wrong, that’s exposed, so it’s big for us to play someone like Hapeville Charter. To me, this is a great test to see where we’re at.”

There is significant turnover for both teams from last year. For the Hornets, they’re starting over at quarterback with the graduation of Hajj-Malik Williams, now at Army. In their opener, the Hornets split offensive reps between Jeremy Stephens, a 5-foot-11 junior, and Jordan Slocum, a 6-foot-5 senior who transferred from Southwest-Macon ahead of the season. Both are dual-threats and Gordon said he’ll continue using a two-quarterback system for the foreseeable future.

“We’ll let it take care of itself,” Gordon said. “We’ll let them play and have it figured out in time for the playoffs. Both have tremendous arms and can play at the next level, so it’s one of those things where we’re blessed to have two. If it works (using two quarterbacks throughout the season), then we won’t fix it, but if it’s broke we will. They’ve both handled it well and there’s no type of controversy.”

It also helps to have a workhorse running back in Marcus Carroll, who rushed for 180 yards on 15 carries last week. On defense, they lose Kingsley Enagbare (South Carolina), Caleb Kelly (Stanford) and Chris Smith (Georgia) but are seeing production out of East Carolina-commit Malik Fleming, Jameel Williams and Zachary Beckton, all of whom are defensive backs.

Regardless of turnover, opponents don’t care. All that’s known is the Hornets are the defending champions and for that, they’ll play every week with a bullseye on their back. Gordon said his team will play with the same attitude it always has.

“We feel like we always get the short end of the stick and that we do more with less,” he said. “Our kids go into stadiums knowing they practice on a dirt field adjacent to the school, but we give 110 percent every game. I make them own whatever stadium they go to because we don’t have one, and if the other team is better, they’ll be better, but we’re going to play hard.”

As for the Hornets coming into Staples Stadium, Barron acknowledged the anticipation that comes with a No. 1-2 matchup.

“It generates more excitement and there’s a different buzz in the air this week,” Barron said. “But from a coaching aspect, we’ve been preaching to the kids that it’s about going out and playing tough teams early to prepare for down the road. But there’s no doubt there’s a little more excitement in Franklin.”

The Braves also have a new quarterback after losing one of the country’s top dual-threats, Emory Jones, who is now at Florida. To replace him, they’re going with Alijah Huzzie, who was their best receiver last year.

“That’s like losing two players because we lost Huzzie at receiver,” Barron said.

Senior running back Aaron Beasley, committed to Tennessee, anchors the offense and is a key contributor at free safety on defense, where the Braves return eight of 11 starters. That includes cornerback Lequincy Sheppard and Zaylin Wood, a 6-foot-2, 260-pound defensive lineman who is committed to Temple, but whom Barron predicts will have a breakout season both on the field and recruiting-wise.

“He should blow up around midseason,” Barron said of Wood. “He’s only going to get bigger. For us, he’s an interior guy but he ran a 4.69 (40-yard dash) at 260 pounds and tied Beasley in the 40, so he has some special tools.”

As for the game itself, the Hornets will look to extend its win streak to 14 games and move one step closer to the first 10-0 regular season in program history. They play in a relatively weak Region 6, where Douglass will likely be their toughest challenge. They’ll play one more non-region game at AAAAAA’s Allatoona Oct. 12.

The Braves, on the other hand, play in one of AA’s toughest regions in 5-AA, where No. 3 Callaway and No. 6 Bremen reside. Not only will they look to avenge the heartbreaking loss to Hapeville Charter to end last season, they’ll be fighting for an edge over region foes with the No. 1 ranking up for grabs.

Barron is concerned by the Hornets’ progress thus far.

“I was so impressed with how much better they got from their scrimmage (against Centennial) to Game 1,” he said. “It looked like two different teams playing. If they improve that much from Game 1 to Game 2 then they’ll be dang good. Execution-wise, we’re behind them right now, so hopefully we’ve gotten better since last week.”

Gordon, who was on hand scouting the Braves’ opener against LaGrange, expects them to be up to the challenge.

“They still have the Beasley kid and their offensive line is blocking well,” he said. “They’re running well, they’re well-coached and I expect nothing less than a great football game. This will be a playoff-type atmosphere because everyone wants to beat the champs.”

Follow the AJC’s Class AA coverage on Twitter.