While each of these Top 5 Players have made the list on multiple occasions, none more often than Chase Parrish. In a big game on a big stage, Parrish did incredible damage to the Valdosta Wildcats defense, on TV, all in the first half. His passing stats resemble most QB’s stats for an entire game despite only playing 2 quarters, leaving no doubt that he belongs high up on the list this week.
“Chauncey Manac is a straight beast,” said one of our interns that attended the Clinch vs Turner County game on Friday. I absolutely agree. Seeing Manac dominate both sides of the ball is a spectacle worth watching, and he did it again on Friday night. Ramping up the intensity for a region game against the formerly undefeated Rebels, Manac made the most of each of his opportunities.
But commending Manac and attributing the win solely to him would be misleading, especially if you look at the stat sheet. The Clinch run game proved to be freakishly good, controlling the game and racking up crazy numbers. Between Zebulon Johnson and Shannon Young, they ran for 337 yards on 29 carries. And as I’m sure these young men would do if asked, I certainly accredit the Clinch County offensive line in their ability to dominate at the line of scrimmage.
Despite probably the most surprising outcome of the week, Lowndes QB Austin Dixon has long passed the point of surprising me with his play. Performances like this one against Lee are no longer to be consider outliers or flukes, and instead are marks of consistently good quarterback play throughout his senior campaign. In a game where one might have expected Garet Morrell to be in the limelight, Dixon actually stole the show, getting it done in the air and on the ground yet again. While the Vikings might not have the win-loss record that they were striving for at this point in the season, players like Austin Dixon, Gabe Nabers, Logan Neeley, and Michael Barrett would contend that the season is far from over for the Vikings.
TOP 5 TEAMS:
The 6A defending State Champions are playing like it. Putting together an unblemished, and really uncontested, bid for the region 1-6A title, the Packers seem to have it, whatever “it” is, figured out. The combination of coaching, talent, depth, experience, and numerous other factors place them as clear favorites for this year’s region and state title. With an off week on Friday, they will look to gain momentum against Tift the following week as they head into the decisive week 12 match-up against Camden.
After Colquitt, however, comes some shifting. With Lee County dropping their second consecutive region game and Fitzgerald losing their first game of the season to Brooks, 2-5 wasn’t easy.
Bainbridge, formerly ranked behind Fitzgerald on our Top 5, outlasted the Purple Hurricanes in their battle for undefeated seasons within their respective classifications. Bainbridge now sits at 8-0 (3-0) with 2 region games remaining in the regular season. The Bearcats seem up to the challenge, led by Dameon Pierce (RB), Brett McLaughlin (QB), and Tyler Story (WR) on the offensive side of the ball.
Valwood dominated their game last Friday with little resistance once again, sliding them up to the top of our one-loss teams. However, the next two weeks will be the biggest challenge for the Valiants as they go to battle against the other two region title contenders. They travel to Brookwood on Friday and to Deerfield-Windsor the following week. These two games (as well as Deerfield-Windsor’s defeat of Brookwood earlier this year) will decide the fate of GISA 3-AAA.
Clinch, who was on our Top 5 to start the season, has made their way back to prominence. Since their one loss to Irwin early this year, Clinch has looked like the team that we thought they could be, would be, and should be. The last two games on their schedule seem very winnable, but it is a matter of staying focused each and every week.
Lastly, there is Fitzgerald. Losing to Brooks County, while not projected, isn’t totally surprising either. The Trojans have an extremely talented and well coached team, so when they managed to contain the Fitzgerald rushing attack (relatively speaking, at least), it produced a win for the Trojans and the first loss of the season for the Purple Hurricanes. This doesn’t spell doom for Fitzgerald though, as we project that they will learn from the loss and rebound against Pelham.
* Our criteria is NOT creating hypothetical matchups amongst teams in an effort to crown a champion; that is settled on the field within each respective division, from A to AAAAAA. Since high school, unlike college, crowns multiple champions per year, our Top 5 is meant to highlight great teams who are excelling within their schedules, regardless of classification. It would be unreasonable and unfair to eliminate teams in lower classifications from our Top 5 simply because of that fact. We can only hold teams accountable to whether or not they are impressively performing against the teams that they are scheduled to play. In short, our criteria is based upon projecting performances and the likelihood of championships, regardless of classification.
