What we learned from Friday’s Middle Georgia action
Crown the new champion
After former Westside assistant Joseph Dupree led Southwest to an 8-3 victory Friday over the Seminoles, Westside head coach Spoon Risper (who worked on the same staff with Dupree under former head coach Robert Davis) gave Dupree the champion’s treatment. Along with a big hug, Risper walked with Dupree toward the Southwest side of the field, with Risper holding Dupree’s arm up in the air as if Dupree won a boxing match. It was the first time in 34 games a Bibb County school district team had defeated Westside.
Good losses
For the second week in a row, Houston County beat a smaller-classification team by double figures. And for the second straight week, the vanquished found plenty of positives. Peach County’s offensive line performed well, James Jackson and Chris Gibson showed what a quality 1-2 punch they provide the running game, pass coverage can be good when the Trojans execute the simple stuff, and Mitchell Fineran is a huge weapon at place-kicker.
Ready for region return
Crawford County spent a few season as an “independent” as it tried to bolster its numbers after four straight winless seasons. The Eagles have won three straight openers and avenged a 35-12 first-game loss in 2013 to Pacelli with a 32-0 romp over the Vikings.
Region 1-6A is tough
Northside, Houston County and their region mates are all 2-0, and the average score is 38-14. And region play doesn’t start until October.
Solid start
Perry’s struggles are no secret, but a 35-14 win over Class 3A Rutland was the Panthers’ biggest margin of victory since 49-6 romp over Howard late in the 2012 season. Since then, the Panthers’ top margin was 14, the lone double-digit win since topping the Huskies.
Streak still standing
Granted, Henry County is a Class 4A program that had played Northside only twice before this week, and not since 2003. But the Warhawks still haven’t made their side of the scoreboard move and have been outscored 142-0 in the three meetings. And that young Northside defense allowed two first downs and 14 yards on only 30 plays.
Work in progress
Houston County’s good news is the offense. A little iffy, at least statistically, is the Bears’ defense, which has averaged allowing 428.5 yards in total offense and 285.5 rushing yards in two games against Class 4A and 3A teams, albeit both ranked in their classifications.
This story was originally published August 27, 2016 at 3:58 PM with the headline "What we learned from Friday’s Middle Georgia action."