Sunday, September 30, 2018

Richmond outlasted Greenbrier, Jefferson County grabbed a hold on first place, South Aiken outgunned Aiken, and North Augusta surrendered a lead; full highlights from those games plus a look forward at the coming Friday's region tests

Clydell White skies for a catch in Friday's win at Greenbrier. Photo Credit: Richard Dunn

***This post was made possible by the combined efforts of AugBball and the CSRA All Star Bowl Week. Learn the latest news about the all star week at this link.***

Last Friday

Richmond 20, Greenbrier 14 - Overtime


Winless Greenbrier proved Friday that records don’t tell us everything by taking unbeaten Richmond to overtime before the Musketeers prevailed to reach 6-0 before their 4 game league schedule gets underway this Friday:



Coming Next Friday - Class 4A


Richmond (6-0, 0-0) vs Baldwin (1-5, 0-0)
Class 4A, Region 3


Both teams will enter region play this Friday, when, in case we didn’t learn last week, we should definitely now realize that the records won’t matter. Richmond will have to adopt that mindset because Baldwin (1-5) will visit the Musketeers after their own 14-0 win over the same Greenbrier team the Musketeers just got past. The 5 losses compiled by the Braves came against what Ashley Brown (Prep Sports Report) called maybe the most difficult schedule any team in Georgia faced during the first half of the season.

The results from Baldwin’s first 5 weeks of play read like one of GPB's top ten in Georgia rankings:


Washington County (#8 Class 2A) 19, Baldwin 7
Jones County (#2 Class 5A) 41, Baldwin 14
Veterans 38, Baldwin 30
Warner Robins (#6 Class 5A) 49, Baldwin 14
Northside Warner Robins (#8 Class 6A) 45, Baldwin 0

The results from Richmond’s first 6 games look almost like the complete opposite of Baldwin’s:


Richmond 45, Hephzibah 20
Richmond 34, Westside 0
Richmond 41, Evans 7
Richmond 24, Grovetown 14
Richmond 46, Midland Valley 20
Richmond 20, Greenbrier 14

This is where I remind myself, again, that records don’t matter because region play is here! Richmond and Baldwin have developed a football (and basketball) rivalry in only two seasons. Both teams have to have their eyes on not just a state playoff spot, which automatically comes to four teams in their five team region, but the opportunity to host state playoff games, which goes only to the top two teams.

With Richmond playing Baldwin and #8 Burke County in the next two weeks, and with Baldwin playing Richmond and Thomson in that same time period, we will quickly learn if Richmond and/or Baldwin can break the strangle hold Burke County and Thomson have had on the top of the region standings the past two seasons.

Coming Next Friday - Class 6A


Greenbrier (0-5) at Heritage (2-3)
Class 6A, Region 3


Greenbrier will open region play at Heritage Friday. In keeping with the theme of records not mattering when predicting future results, the non-region records of the 4 area teams (Greenbrier, Lakeside, Grovetown, and Evans) in this league cannot be used to decide which team is the favorite in the approaching 5 week, 5 game league schedule. Those 4 teams enter the "second season" limping with a combined record of 3-16. Lakeside earned wins over South Aiken and Midland Valley, and Grovetown also defeat Midland Valley.

Evans visits Lakeside this Friday, and Grovetown will host Alcovy as this 6 team region starts things.

Last Friday

South Aiken 35, Aiken 34
Class 4A, Region 5 Region opener


Aiken also missed the memo Friday about records not mattering because the also winless Hornets came roaring back from a 21 point second quarter hole against their rival South Aiken to twice take the lead. But they, like Greenbrier, failed to finish the job and fell to 0-5, while the Thoroughbreds grabbed a region schedule opening win.



Coming Next Friday - South Carolina Class 4A


South Aiken (1-0) vs Brookland-Cayce (1-0)
Class 4A, Region 5


Hosting Brooklyn-Cayce this Friday, South Aiken will get a chance to finish the job that North Augusta started last Friday (more on that below) in their 6 team region’s only game this week between teams with 1-0 records. The Thoroughbreds enter the game on a 3 game winning streak, and Brookland-Cayce, winners of 2 straight, must be riding high after Friday’s comeback win over the Yellow Jackets.

Aiken (0-1) at Midland Valley (0-1)
Class 4A, Region 5


This region battle may be short on combined wins (Aiken is currently smarting from a 15 game losing streak, while Midland Valley has only recorded 2 wins in the team’s last 17 outings). But if the games we’ve been present for are any indication, this matchup may make for an entertaining contest. Aiken quarterback Kory Wallace is averaging 291 yards passing and 3.5 touchdowns per game in the last 4 outings. And Midland Valley's Harper Puckett threw for 288 yards and two touchdowns in an earlier loss to Richmond.

Last Friday

Jefferson County 24, Hephzibah 0
Class 2A, Region 4
Jefferson County improves to 4-0; Hephzibah falls to 3-1




My two takeaways from Friday's class 2A, region 4 results:


Although the Warriors are firmly in first place, the race for the top 2 region spots is still very much alive. Three teams (Harlem, Hephzibah, and Screven County) sit with 3-1 records with four games remaining, keeping in play the possibility of the top spot being contested yet. And those three teams will all see each other the next two Fridays when Hephzibah visits Harlem this Friday, and Harlem goes to Screven County the following week. So right when the other region races are getting properly heated, we might know a lot about which two teams will eventually earn a state playoff home game in this 9 team league.

Last Friday


Brookland-Cayce 41, North Augusta 34
Class 4A, Region 5 Region opener


I bet North Augusta (0-1) can't wait to take the field Friday when they will get the chance against Airport (1-0) to bounce back from last week's 41-34 defeat by Brookland-Cayce. The visitors stormed back from a 20 point third quarter deficit with 27 unanswered points that left the home crowd stunned.



My vote for the move of the season so far goes to Aquinas's Kam Brinson for this stutter step against GMC


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