The McDonough Warhawks, formerly known as Henry County High School have an opportunity to make history this Friday night in their Region 5 opener against Mt. Zion-Jonesboro. Despite having multiple 10-win seasons over its previous 73 years as a program, Friday stands as an opportunity to record the first 3-0 start in school history. Head coach Rodney Cofield, who has also coached at Douglass and Booker T. Washington in the APS is in his third season with the Warhawks and did not realize last Friday was historic in its own right.
McDonough secured a 28-23 win over county rival Union Grove and that was the first time in eight tries that the Warhawks had ever defeated their neighboring rivalry. “I didn’t know until we I got an email Saturday morning,” Cofield told GPB’s Sam Crenshaw .”The email said, ‘You know coach, this is the first time that McDonough High has ever beaten Union Grove.’ I had not even thought about that.”
The key to McDonough’s success this season has been senior quarterback Terrell Riley, who has started every season since Cofield’s arrival. Riley has been named Region 5 athlete of the year in each of his previous two seasons and is off to another incredible start with eight total touchdowns. In the season opener, Riley accounted for six touchdowns, more than 400 yards of offense and nine tackles.
McDonough cruised to a 49-7 win over Mt. Zion-Jonesboro last season at home and were just short of earning a playoff berth with close losses like the Woodland-Stockbridge (29-28) and Pace Academy (42-40) region battles. This game will be updated live tomorrow night on the ticker as a top 30 game as Roswell hosts Milton on PeachtreeTV. There will be three Region 4 openers Friday night in addition to McDonough and Mt. Zion-Jonesboro with Pace Academy at Lovett, Luella at Stockbridge and Hampton at Woodland-Stockbridge.
In Region 1, No. 6 Bainbridge will take on Class 2A No. 8 Thomasville. Cairo, which defeated Thomasville 24-3 last week to improve to 2-1 will visit Godby (FL), Hardaway will look for its first win of the season at Newnan and Westover will host Monroe.
Spalding (at Dutchtown) and Westside-Macon (vs. Rutland) have opportunities to improve to 4-0, while Howard can achieve a 3-0 start this Friday at Harris County. Baldwin fell 48-20 last week to Class 5A No. 1 Ware County and will host Washington County. This week, Class 4A No. 1 Benedictine will take on Ware County in a battle of defending state champs. Ware County is the only Georgia team that has defeated Benedictine during their active run to back-to-back Class 4A state titles.
Just three of the eight teams in Region 4 will have games this week and Region 5 will have its four previously mentioned region openers. The headline in Region 6 will be Miller Grove taking on a 2-1 Class 7A Campbell team on Thursday, Southwest DeKalb visiting Class 7A No. 7 Westlake and Stephenson hosting Class 3A No. 6 Carver-Atlanta in another top 10 challenge.
Additionally, Central-Carroll improved to 3-0 with a 42-7 victory over Hampton last week. Freshman quarterback JR Harris helped fuel the Lions to their first 3-0 start in seven years with 225 all-purpose yards. Harris finished 12-of-20 for 155 yards and a touchdown through the air and added 70 yards and two rushing scores. Central Carroll will look to improve to 4-0 this Friday with a road trip to Class 5A McIntosh. Cedartown is 1-2 and will host Calhoun after dropping back-to-back games to Callaway and Sequoyah.
There are three region games in Region 8 with undefeated Madison County at Cherokee Bluff, Chestatee at East Hall and North Hall at Walnut Grove. Additionally, two-year program Seckinger is 0-3 and will host Shiloh with an opportunity to record the first win in its history.
Class 4A Week 34 Standings and Schedule
Region 1
Cairo 0-0, 2-1
Westover 0-0, 2-1
Bainbridge 0-0, 1-2
Shaw 0-0, 1-2
Hardaway 0-0, 0-3
Thursday, Sept. 7
Shaw vs. Northside-Columbus
Friday, Sept. 8
Bainbridge at Thomasville
Cairo at Godby (FL)
Hardaway at Newnan
Westover vs. Monroe
Region 2
Spalding 0-0, 3-0
Westside-Macon 0-0, 3-0
Howard 0-0, 2-0
Baldwin 0-0, 2-1
Perry 0-0, 1-1
Griffin 0-0, 0-3
West Laurens 0-0, 0-2
Friday, Sept. 8
Baldwin vs. Washington County
Griffin vs. Northgate
Howard at Harris County
Perry vs. Veterans
Spalding at Dutchtown
West Laurens at Vidalia
Westside-Macon vs. Rutland
Region 3
Benedictine 0-0, 3-0
Burke County 0-0, 2-0
Wayne County 0-0, 2-0
New Hampstead 0-0, 2-0
Southeast Bulloch 0-0, 1-1
Islands 0-0, 0-3
Thursday, Sept. 7
Islands at Windsor Forest
Wayne County at Appling County
Friday, Sept. 8
Benedictine vs. Ware County
Burke County at Evans
New Hampstead at Camden County Southeast Bulloch vs. Effingham County
Region 4
North Clayton 1-0, 2-1
Troup 0-0, 3-0
LaGrange 0-0, 1-1
Trinity Christian 0-0, 1-2
Whitewater 0-0, 2-1
Starr’s Mill 0-0, 1-2
Fayette County 0-0, 0-3
Riverdale 0-1, 0-3
Friday, Sept. 8
LaGrange at Upson-Lee
North Clayton vs. Chattahoochee County
Riverdale vs. Drew
Region 5
McDonough 0-0, 2-0
Hampton 0-0, 1-2
Pace Academy 0-0, 1-2
Stockbridge 0-0, 1-2
Lovett 0-0, 0-2
Luella 0-0, 0-3
Mt. Zion-Jonesboro 0-0, 0-2
Woodland-Stockbridge 0-0, 0-2
Friday, Sept. 8
*Lovett vs. Pace Academy
*Mt. Zion-Jonesboro vs. McDonough
*Stockbridge vs. Luella
*Woodland-Stockbridge vs. Hampton
Region 6
Holy Innocents’ 0-0, 3-0
Stephenson 0-0, 2-1
Miller Grove 0-0, 2-1 Southwest DeKalb 0-0, 1-2
Westminster 0-0, 1-2
Hapeville Charter 0-0, 0-3
+Druid Hills 0-0, 2-0-1
+Clarkston 0-0, 0-2
+Stone Mountain 0-0, 0-3
Thursday, Sept. 7
Clarkston vs. Cross Keys
Hapeville Charter vs. Dougherty
Miller Grove vs. Campbell
Friday, Sept. 8
Druid Hills vs. Dunwoody
Holy Innocents’ vs. Lake Highland Prep (FL)
Southwest DeKalb at Westlake
Stephenson vs. Carver-Atlanta
Stone Mountain vs. Douglass
Region 7
Central-Carroll 0-0, 3-0 Heritage-Catoosa 0-0, 2-1
Northwest Whitfield 0-0, 2-1
Cedartown 0-0, 1-2
Sonoraville 0-0, 1-2
Southeast Whitfield 0-0, 1-2
Friday, Sept. 8
Cedartown vs. Calhoun
Central-Carroll at McIntosh
Heritage-Catoosa at Ridgeland
Northwest Whitfield vs. North Murray
Sonoraville vs. LaFayette
Region 8
East Forsyth 1-0, 2-0
Madison County 0-0, 2-0
North Hall 0-0, 2-0
North Oconee 0-0, 2-0
East Hall 0-0, 1-1
Walnut Grove 0-0, 1-1
Cherokee Bluff 0-0, 0-2
Chestatee 0-0, 0-2
Cedar Shoals 0-1, 0-3
+Johnson-Gainesville 0-0, 0-2
+Seckinger 0-0, 0-2
Friday, Sept. 8
*Cherokee Bluff vs. Madison County
*East Hall vs. Chestatee
Seckinger vs. Shiloh
*Walnut Grove vs. North Hall
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