Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

How I see the 2005 season going for local teams

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Let’s pretend this is my own football preview show.

Cue the intro music. Something snazzy with a lot of trumpets and a wailing electric guitar.

There I am with my $1,000 suit and $500 hair cut. Wow, make-up did a great job wiping away those blemishes.

Here we go.

Welcome to Mike’s 2005 football predictions. The program where I pontificate on how the local football teams will do.

How’d I do last year? Well, to be honest with you, not great. I was a little off on all the high school teams. For some teams, I was too generous and for others, I was not generous enough.

In region 4-AAAAA, I had Fayette County winning five games and Starr’s Mill winning six games. I was so very wrong. Fayette County struggled for much of the year and finished 1-9, while Starr’s Mill went 9-1 in the regular season and 10-2 overall.

Oops.

Well, this year will be different. In fact, I’ll say definitively that Fayette will win four games, a marked improvement over the 1-9 records of the last two years, while Starr’s Mill will win nine games. I see Fayette County getting two region wins this year and I still see either Lovejoy or East Coweta causing some problems for the Panthers.

How about region 4-AAAA? Well, I was right on the money for McIntosh last year as they went 4-6, but I predicted that Sandy Creek would go 8-2 and instead they went 11-1. So, yay for me on the McIntosh pick. Well, be prepared as I work my magic again and this year I will pick Sandy Creek’s season accurately as well.

McIntosh will go 5-5 this year and Sandy Creek will go 9-1 with a loss to Creekside in the last game of the year for the region championship. I see McIntosh beating all the same teams they did last year but also getting a win over Chapel Hill in the final game of the year. Sandy Creek’s defense should help carry them undefeated through much of the year but the Patriots had trouble slowing down Creekside last year and their offense may be slowed down by the Seminoles this year. I didn’t make a Whitewater pick last year, as they had one JV game as part of their non-region schedule. They went 6-3 last year and I think they will be better than that this year with an 8-2 record.

Last year, I had Landmark at 8-2 and Our Lady of Mercy at 5-5. Well, Landmark went 6-4, while winning another region title and Mercy went 1-9 and made the state playoffs. Landmark will go 7-3 this year and win another region crown and Mercy will go 2-8.

In college, I had Georgia make the SEC Championship with a 10-1 record. Well, as an alum, that’s just where my heart led me. I do think they will contend for the SEC East title this year though the games with Tennessee and Florida are too close to call right now. As for those who see Boise State upsetting the Dawgs in week one, save that type of pick for March Madness. Mark Richt will have the Bulldogs ready to take care of business and they will win. As for Tech, I had them at 6-4 and they went 7-5. This year, I’m sticking with 6-4, though I do love to watch Calvin Johnson play and hope he has a great year.

As for the NFL, I had the Falcons at 9-7 and they went 11-5. This year, I’ll split the difference, 10-6, and I’ll say they return to the NFC Championship game. As for making the Super Bowl, I’ll give a conditional yes. The conditions are that Peerless Price has a huge year and T.O. and the Eagles are a non-factor in the mix for the NFC title.

I did have it right last year on who would win it all, my hometown team, the New England Patriots. I think they’ll make it back to the big dance again this year and win one more. This one will be for Tedy Bruschi.

So, there you go. Don’t use these predictions for gambling purposes and enjoy the 2005 season.