Creating a buzz
Newcomers shake up league; Mountaineers hope to repeat
North Murray found a way to stop one swarm of Yellow Jackets on the football field in 2019. The big question surrounding Region 6-AAA as a new season approaches in Georgia is can the Mountaineers do it again?
This time, though, it’s a different strain of Yellow Jackets who threaten to move into 6-AAA and make it their own. A year after North Murray ended Calhoun’s legendary 17-year region winning streak and run of league
titles, a new bully has moved in with its own gaudy credentials.
Rockmart exited Region 7-AA with a run of four straight region titles and as the winner of 24 consecutive league games. Reclassification now has these Yellow Jackets, the 2018 AA state runners-up, in 6-AAA, where they are seen by most as the clear preseason favorites.
Most of that has to do with the return of senior quarterback Javin Whatley, who had more than 2,500 total yards last year while helping Rockmart to an undefeated regular season. An injury kept him out of a quarterfinal playoff loss.
Some of it also has to do with returning champion North
Murray losing 19 seniors from the team responsible for the program’s breakthrough 11-win season, many of whom had started for three years. After working so hard to finally wrestle away the region title from Calhoun (now in Class AAAAA), the Mountaineers aren’t going to give it up easily, their coach said.
“These guys stood on the sideline, and now it’s their turn to step up and play,” Preston Poag said of the team’s 16 new starters. “Plus, we’ve had some guys come out this year who hadn’t played before, good athletes in other sports that are going to help us. We’ve built a winning culture these last few years, and these guys are ready to continue that.”
Also leaving the region was playoff team Haralson County, which moved down to Class AA. LaFayette, a Class AAAA team the past few seasons, is joining 6-AAA, a league that had five playoff berths the past two seasons due to the (now-defunct) power ratings that helped fill out Class AAA’s postseason field.
The new teams, combined with heavy graduation losses, have 6-AAA feeling a bit unknown to some of its holdover coaches.
“It’s a different type of year for this region,” Poag said. “Calhoun and Haralson were really good, but Rockmart is a really good team with speed, and LaFayette has some great speed. I think it’s wide open.”
North Murray will ride an electric group of playmakers headlined by senior running back D’Ante Tidwell, a 1,000yard rusher and one of the area’s top cornerbacks, Murray County transfer Cade Petty and fellow speedster Noah Lunsford. Any repeat success will be in how well the Mountaineers replace the production of current University of Georgia freshman Ladd McConkey and a good deal of the starters along the lines.
Most of the rest of the region’s teams will have veteran
quarterbacks. Sonoraville will count on senior Brady Lackey to lead an offense expected to throw quite a bit, with Nick Beddington, Brant Bryant and transfer JoJo McDaniels forming the region’s top receiving corps.
LaFayette, which is trying to break a playoff drought that is almost three decades long, brings a pair of 1,200-yard rushers to the region, including quarterback Jaylon Ramsey, who is expected to expand his role after a strong offseason. If the passing game gets up to speed, it will open up even more big-play opportunities for senior running back Jamario Clements, one of the area’s top college recruits.
“We were super young in the backfield last year, and anytime I’ve had that in the past, I didn’t throw it much,” LaFayette coach Paul Ellis said. “It wasn’t that Jaylon couldn’t throw it; we just had young receivers. Hopefully this year, with all those kids back, we’ll have a chance to take a step forward.
“It’s my third year, so it’s time we see some results. They
deserve a winner here.”
Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe has a three-year starting quarterback in Malachi Powell, who, like Ramsey, is expected to expand his game. A powerful runner, Powell will need to have some success through the air to help make up for a defense that brings back only one starter. The Warriors have two of the region’s most elusive players in running backs Jacob Brown and Jevonnie Womble.
Another returning quarterback expected to have even bigger numbers is Ringgold’s Kyle White. The Tigers, coming off an 0-10 season that was wrecked by injuries, will rely on White’s toughness as they transition to a more run-heavy offense that will also feature speedy backs Price Pennington and Peyton Williams.
Murray County has one of the most experienced teams in 6-AAA
with 14 starters returning and 23 seniors, the most in head coach Chad Brewer’s eight seasons. Veteran quarterback Kaleb Jones, backs Davis Redwine and Carson Voiles and receiver Brannon Nuckolls give the Indians a potentially potent balanced offense.
If the defense holds up, the Indians could break a 14-year playoff drought.
“We feel we turned a corner last year, and we like where we are right now,” Brewer said. “After Rockmart, I’m not sure how it stacks up. When you look at the rest of us, I don’t know that it’s ever been this wide open. Every region game will be really important. It’s going to come down to those last few weeks.”
Former defensive coordinator Danny Wilson takes over at
Coahulla Creek, which won two games last year, the Colts’ most in four seasons. There’s talent in the backfield with running back Tyler Locklear and quarterback Kade Kinnamon, and the linebacking corps, led by Titus Underwood and Mason Milstead, is the strength of the defense.