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Most face region foes tonight

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Tonight is homecoming for both Starr’s Mill and Fayette County and their opponents, the Newnan Cougars and the Union Grove Wolverines, should be challenging guests.

Starr’s Mill (3-1) vs. Union Grove (4-0), 7:30 p.m.

The Panthers have played some very tough competition leading up to their region opener tonight. After losing a close battle to McEachern in the Corky Kell Kickoff Classic to start the season, the Panthers have won three consecutive games. Last week, Brandon Witta scored his second touchdown of the game with less than a minute on the clock to give the Panthers a one point win over the Tri-Cities Bulldogs. Tonight’s game could be just as close.

Union Grove has given up a total of 57 points this season and over half of them (35) came last week against Grayson. The Wolverines are averaging 41 points a game and Coach Mike Earwood stated that the Wolverines have several Division I prospects at the skill positions, as well as good size.

Coach Earwood and the Panthers are glad to be entering a game that counts in the region standings but they know they will have their work cut out for them.

McIntosh (0-3) at Alexander (1-3), 7:30 p.m.

The Chiefs need a win. They have played well in all three of their games but had breakdowns that put the games out of reach. Tonight, McIntosh needs to put it all together and get that elusive first win of the season out of the way. Coach Butch Prosser is hoping to have quarterback Brendan Hall back in the line-up and if the Chiefs can put together a defensive effort like the one people saw for three quarters against Sandy Creek last week, they should do just fine.

Alexander has losses to Creekside (18-8), Haralson County (34-0) and Northgate (31-21), while defeating Woodward Academy 22-20 on Aug. 26. The Cougars went 1-9 last year with their lone win coming against Chapel Hill. Alexander is led by quarterback Thomas Ellison and got good performances last week from Trez Gates and Monte Aaron.

Fayette County (1-3) vs. Newnan (1-3), 7:30 p.m.

The Tigers host the Cougars tonight in Fayette County’s 2005 homecoming game. They are coming off of a week that featured a low offensive output but a decent defensive effort against a stout Carrollton team. Fayette County welcomed back quarterback Jeremiah Enloe last week and will try to get a good passing game going by using a running game that has looked impressive in previous weeks with Brandon Boykin, Channing Welch and Alex Parsons all shining at one point or another.

The offense needs to do well tonight to take some pressure off of the defense and the special teams can’t afford to make the mistakes that led to 14 Carrollton points in the fourth quarter last week.

Newnan opened the season with a 23-14 win over LaGrange but has lost three games in a row. They fell to Carrollton 42-20 and then lost to Douglass 34-2 and then Decatur 38-37. The Cougars have an outstanding quarterback in Thomas Darrah, who threw for over 350 yads against Decatur last week.

The Fayette County Touchdown Club will be accepting donations at the game for two displaced families from Hurricane Katrina, who now have students enrolled at the high school and particpating in the football program. Donations will also be accepted at any Peachtree National Bank location.

Sandy Creek (3-0) vs. Chapel Hill (2-1)

The Patriots have remained unbeaten in regular season play now for 24 straight games. In the past they have had an explosive offense to go along with a dominating defensive presence. This year, the offense has been good in places, while the defense continues to eb one of the stingiest in region 4-AAAA. Last week, Sandy Creek scored most of their points in the fourth quarter and were using Corbin Miles, the emergency backup quarterback to the backup quarterback, after starter jake Turing injured his shoulder. Turing may not be back this week but Coach Chip Walker expects backup Maurice Jeffries to be ready to play. The Patriots will likely need to get on the scoreboard earlier this week as Chapel Hill is averaging over 22 points a game.

The Panthers are an athletic bunch with good players at the skill postions, many of whom also play in the defensive secondary. Chapel Hill opened with a 20-6 win over Lithia Springs before losing to Douglas County 21-19 in the second week. On Sept. 2, the Panthers defeated Villa Rica 28-13. They had last week off and have used the off week to heal some of thse nagging injuries and prepare for what promises to be a tough region game.

Whitewater (3-0) vs. North Oconee (0-3), 7:30 p.m.

The Wildcats kept their unbeaten streak alive last week with a nail-bitng 12-7 victory over a tough Carver, Atlanta team. Tonight’s game should not be as challenging for Whitewater, which has faced some impressive players this season. The Wildcats have a balanced offense, with a good corps of running backs, several receivers that can make the big catches and a field goal kicker who has already kicked some very important field goals this year. The Whitewater defense is also capable of changing a game by forcing turnovers and keeping teams out of the endzone.

North Oconee has been outscored by double digits in all three of their losses this year. They opened with a 41-20 loss to oglethorpe County and followed it with losses to Dutchtown, 21-6, and Aquinas, 42-21. As long as the Wildcats don’t overlook the Titans and focus on getting their offense back on track this week, they should win this game.

Landmark Christian (3-1) at Bremen (4-0), 7:30 p.m.

The War Eagles got a bit of a wake-up call last week as Bowdon ran all over the field, scored early and often, and won 44-21. Several penalties sustained drives for the Red Devils in the first hald of last week’s game and their defense was able to slow down landmark’s offense, which had little trouble scoring earlier in the season. Landmark should be able to avoid some penalties and turnovers that plagued them last week and get their offense back o track, but Bremen is a formidable foe.

The Blue Devils, currently ranked third in Class A, have only allowed 22 points this season and are averaging 41 points a game on offense. So far this season Bremen has wins over Stewart-Quitman, 34-8, Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy, 28-7, Whitefield Academy, 41-0 and Our Lady of Mercy, 62-7. Their last three oppnents are all members of region 5-A, so after tonight, landmark should know how they stack up in their region.

Our Lady of Mercy (0-4) at Aquinas (2-1), 7:30 p.m.

The Bobcats have played some of the best teams in the state this season and when you play the best, you can’t afford to make mistakes. As a oung team. Our Lady of mercy has continued to make mistakes and teams like Bremen and Oglethorpe County have made them pay. All Coach Bill Schmitz can hope for is that the team learns from their mistakes and eventually makes a big breakthrough. It could happen this week.

Aquinas has won two games in a row after starting the season with a 36-13 loss to Richmond Academy. On Sept. 2, the Fighting Irish beat Athens Christian 35-0 and last week produced a 42-21 win over North Oconee. They will be a hard team to beat but the Bobcats have shown that they can hang with good teams as long as they don’t help them out with silly penalties or turnovers.