Editor’s Note: Unless otherwise indicated, any and all historical information is courtesy of the Georgia High School Football Historians Association at http://www.ghsfha.org/. All games listed are played on Fridays unless otherwise indicated.
FIRST DOWN: Miller County (2-1) at Pelham (4-0)
The Region 1-1A Hornets return to action this week looking to remain undefeated against the Pirates in Pelham. Pelham will not only look to stay unbeaten but also try to continue their streak of consecutive shutouts, as the Hornets have outscored their opponents 226-0 so far this season. As for Miller County, the Pirates opened their campaign by crushing Terrell County 51-8, followed by a bad 43-6 loss to Mitchell County, before bouncing back with an astounding 82-22 triumph over Randolph-Clay last week. It’ll be interesting to see which way the ball will bounce in this battle of Class 1A teams this week.
SECOND DOWN: Monroe (2-3) vs. Dougherty (0-4)
The Tornadoes and Trojans will meet for the 49th time this week in a battle of Albany-based teams that are trying to snap losing streaks of three and four straight games, respectively. Monroe has lost three straight games after a 2-0 start, while Dougherty has given up an average of almost 41 points in all four games this season. Monroe downed Dougherty 29-19 in last year’s meeting, while the Trojans stunned the Tornadoes 21-14 the year before. Although Dougherty leads the all-time series 28-19-1, Monroe has won nine of the last 11 meetings dating back to 2006.
THIRD DOWN: Crisp County (2-3) at Bainbridge (2-2)
The Region 1-5A Bearcats play host to the Region 1-3A Cougars in another game where both teams have had their ups-and-downs thus far in 2018. After outlasting archrival Americus-Sumter 17-14 to open the season, the Cougars lost three straight games before snapping that skid with a 21-6 win over Region 8-7A South Gwinnett last week. On the other hand, the Bearcats have lost back-to-back games to Lincoln (Fla.) and Brooks County after starting with wins over Seminole County and Cairo respectively. With only one non-region game to play following this contest, this will serve as a measuring-stick game for both the Bearcats and the Cougars.
FOURTH DOWN (GAME OF THE WEEK):
Cairo (2-2, 2-0 GHSA Region 1-4A) at Westover (2-2, 1-1)-(Thursday)
Less than a week after holding off their Patriot namesakes in Northside (Columbus), the Patriots from Albany must quickly turnaround and face a Syrupmakers squad that has pitched back-to-back shutouts in easy wins over Hardaway as well as this aforementioned Northside team over the last two weeks, winning both contests by a combined score of 62-0 during that span. Cairo opened its 2018 campaign with back-to-back heartbreaking losses to Thomasville (15-14) and Bainbridge (15-7) respectively.
As for Westover, it’s been an up-and-down season so far for first-year head coach Olten Downs, suffering a tough opening-week loss at Cook, as well as being crushed at Columbus just two weeks ago. However, the Patriots defense has been impressive in wins over Albany archrival Monroe as well as Northside. If Westover is to win another critical GHSA Region 1-4A game, the defense must not only lead the way once again, it’s also important for the offense to do its part, and put enough points on the scoreboard to stop the Syrupmakers.
The Patriots last win over Cairo came in 2013. That was when they stunned the Syrupmakers 14-9 en route to winning their lone region title that season. Cairo holds a commanding 23-4 lead over Westover in an on-and-off again series that dates back to the Patriots inaugural season of 1969.
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