September 2019 – Hartwell and Beyond

Month: September 2019

Regional High School Football Review Week 5/Preview Week 6

As the seasons move from late summer and approach the first days of fall, football schedules move from the first part of a season where teams play teams in their area in order to get ready for the second part of the schedule, the region schedule. Games in this part of the schedule are where teams start to move their focus to playing the games that will decide who can move on the third season, the state playoffs and the opportunity to compete for a possible state championship. It’s now that the games take on a different focus and a different level of importance. Speaking with Elbert’s Brad Waggoner, the change in importance can be measured in the following, “ our goal each week, is to be 1-0 for that Friday.” This second season began for teams in Region 8-AA this past weekend. The winners from week #1 in 8-AA, Elbert Co.,…

Regional Football Review Week 4/Preview for Week 5

Mother Nature once again paid a visit to high school stadiums in our area this past weekend, as for the second weekend this season, storms played havoc across our area. Many of the scheduled games for Friday in our area, were rescheduled or postponed. The most unusual of the schedule changes took place down at the Granite Bowl in Elberton, where Elbert was playing host to North Oconee. North Oconee stopped two Elbert County possessions in the fourth quarter, to defeat the Blue Devils 28-24, in a game that concluded after midnight. When asked about the evening and early morning, Brad Waggoner said “We decided that if we did not play the game on Friday night, we were not going to play the game”. He added that the coaches at North Oconee, “wanted to play the game on Friday”, and were willing to wait patiently to see what the weather…

Friday Night Lights Review of Week 3/Week 4 Preview

In 490 B.C. , a greek solider named Pheidippides ran from just outside the city of Marathon Greece to the capital city of Athens, to report on a great military victory over the Persians. The distance was about 25 miles. Over the next centuries, this distance would become known today as “The Marathon”. What does a foot race have to do with the high school football season? This week marks the 1/3 mark for the 2019 season. Most teams, depending on schedules and open weeks, will have completed either three or four of the ten games that are on their schedule, but are still looking at another eight weeks of games before the season completes in early November. A football season is not a sprint, it's a marathon. One that takes weeks to learn the results of. The first weeks of the season have shown that of all of the…

Football Week 2 Regional Wrap-up/Look Forward

After two weeks of competition for high school football, some of the smack talk around the local water coolers are beginning to be resolved. With 2 weeks left before the start of region play, some questions remain to be answered. Who are the teams that have started to separate themselves from the rest as we near the start of region play and who are the teams that have work to do before region play begins? At Toccoa’s Indian Reservation, Stephens County hosted Hart County in a matchup of winners from week one of this season. Hart County used a strong running game and opportunistic passing to defeat Stephens County 26 to 13. This is the first time since 2009, that the Bulldogs have wins over both Stephens County and Elbert County in the same season. The Bulldog ground game was led by junior Malechi Thomas and sophomore J’len Lackey. Thomas…