A week 5 review, including full highlight videos from 5 games: The race for first place is on in the 2A region, and Richmond and Aquinas continued to roll

Harlem's AJ Brown continued his run past the area's defenses in Saturday's win.

The beginning of the region schedule for our area’s class 1A and 2A regions has given a post season flavor to the early part of the regular season. Three consecutive wins each by Harlem and Hephzibah, including 2 within their league during the last couple weeks, give those upstart programs the hope of eventually earning the chance for multiple home playoff games come November, a prize only reserved for the region champion. But despite a couple non-league losses to open the season, long time power Jefferson County has revealed no intention to hand over a top spot without a legitimate fight.

All three teams enter week 6 with 2-0 region records. But those conditions are guaranteed not to last because this Friday Jefferson County will invade Harlem in a game that will be televised live on MeTV. And the following Friday will feature a matchup between Hephzibah and Jefferson County. So when October arrives, the class 2A region schedule will be half finished, and the favorite to win the crown will have emerged.

But before we look ahead, let’s take a look at the ways in which each of these teams was able to earn their second region win last weekend. And let’s also take in the high points from the week 5 outings of the area’s only two undefeated teams, Richmond and Aquinas. Richmond, which is yet to be seriously challenged, continued to click on all cylinders. And Aquinas, coming off an emotional rivalry win in front of an electric crowd, has found ways to win regardless of who is healthy enough to play, and what position they on the field they take.

Jefferson County continued its storming of region 4

Jefferson County's Jaden Jenkins stretches to cross the goal line against Josey.

Both the eye test and a glance at the final scores show Jefferson County to be the overwhelming region favorite. The Warriors followed a 57-16 home win over Butler in week 4 with a 56-6 rout over Josey, this time on the road.

Coach J.B. Arnold told AugBball’s Robert Drew about the changes he made after his team suffered two losses to begin the season:

“We learned after the first two weeks, it just wasn't pretty. We had no identity offensively. We had to come up with something," coach Arnold said after the win over Josey. "We thought playing a lot of kids, getting a lot of kids touches, and getting down hill as fast as we can would fit our personality a lot better than any kind of spread offense.”

Harlem stuffed the run and ran past Laney

Harlem showed the ability to stop such a straight forward running attack Saturday. With the exception of two consecutive long drives by Laney that resulted in second quarter touchdowns, the Bulldogs consistently stopped the Wildcats, keeping them from sustaining any drive during the other three quarters.

During Saturday's win and during the team's opener against Aquinas, nose tackle Dequan Dorsey regularly provided penetration up the middle or required multiple linemen to keep him from doing so. That has freed up linebackers Kye Grey, Quest Caines, and Logan Eterlee to meet the runner at the line of scrimmage, and none of them are shy when it comes to making a hit. On the edge is super sophomore Cameron Garnett, who came into the season with a reputation for running the ball but has impressed me with his hard hitting and his ability to contain the rush on the outside on defense.

What remains to be seen is whether Harlem’s run defense can hold up against a team like Jefferson County, which blitzed the Bulldogs 49-0 in Louisville last season. But everything about Harlem’s team looks improved from a year ago. Turnovers and key penalties have been effectively nonexistent in the games I’ve seen. And even the team’s strength from last season, its rushing attack, looks significantly better. Senior tailback AJ Brown has piled up 840 yards and 9 touchdowns in the first four games, and he seems to be brimming with confidence running the ball.

Harlem will reach for new heights Friday against Jefferson County.

All signs point to Harlem being able to take the next step and challenge for a championship. But Friday will bring the first true test of whether that kind of progress has been made.

Hephzibah won third straight behind key plays

Hephzibah will need to get past Glenn Hills Friday on the road before the Rebels will get their shot at the supposed top dog Jefferson County the following week. And the Rebels’ close call against Butler last Thursday should have taught the surging team not to look past any opponent.

If not for a key open field tackle inside the 10 yard line by Ronald Coleman and a subsequent interception in the back of the end zone by Coleman right before halftime, I may not be writing about Hephzibah’s 2-0 start to region play.

But instead of trailing by two scores in the third quarter, Coleman’s heroics kept the Rebels close enough to Butler to allow a pair of scores, one by E’Shawn Mayes and another by by Marshall Chambers, that were enough to let Hephzibah escape with a 16-14 win, their third straight victory.

Aquinas engineered a win to start strong in league play

In the only other area region where league play has begun, Aquinas found a way to start with a win over rival Lincoln County in front of a packed crowd, despite facing significant obstacles. Missing quarterback JP Lambert and running back Ferris Lowery paved the way for a group of players to fill major holes and to prove that the program's #family mantra is more than a meaningless hashtag. In these highlights from Friday's 14-7 victory you'll see Kam Brinson, usually a receiver, filling in at quarterback and completing a key pass to sophomore Joseph Welch, who goes high to make a nice grab. That play set up a score by sophomore Tyler Evans, who scored both of the team's touchdowns. You'll also see a vicious hit on the quarterback by senior John Parrish and consecutive sacks, on third down and fourth down with 1 minute remaining, by Jaden Blount that ended all hopes of a Lincoln County victory.

Aquinas gets this week off before hosting region foe Georgia Military College on September 28. The time for rest and recovery will come in handy for this undefeated family.

Richmond and Torri Taylor showed no sign of slowing down

Richmond continued to take the area by storm Thursday with a commanding 46-20 win on the road against Midland Valley. The Musketeers have yet to be seriously challenged. And Torri Taylor is red hot having followed his Augusta Chronicle Player of the Week performance in week 4 with a 5 touchdown, 215 plus yard rushing game Thursday.

Coming this week at AugBball

Soon I'll share the "player profile" videos from last week's games, and I'll preview the games that will be featured at AugBball in week 6. A teaser is that we are trying to decide which 2 or 3 games to attend between the following:*

North Augusta at Strom Thurmond

Effingham County at Burke County

Jefferson County at Harlem

Grovetown at Thomson

*subject to change