All seven teams in action
♦ Region schedules set to begin in Week 7 of season.
Non-region competition is over. Week seven is here as all seven Floyd County-based teams suit up for region games. Armuchee travels to Mt. Zion, Coosa and Model duel at Coosa, Darlington hosts Bremen, Pepperell faces Fannin County in
Lindale, Rome travels to Dalton and Unity Christian entertains Cherokee Christian at Grizzard Park.
Halfway through October, the heat gets turned up (both literally and figuratively) as the battle for region supremacy gets underway. Welcome to Week 7.
Armuchee (2-2) at Mt. Zion (5-0), 7:30 p.m.
The Armuchee Indians prepare to open Region 6-A Public play against the undefeated Mt. Zion Eagles at Mt. Zion High School.
The Indians enter Friday’s contest after holding off The King’s Academy 14-13 last week. The King’s Academy elected to go for a 2-point conversion, but were denied by the Indians’ defense.
The Eagles are coming off a 28-10 home win over Heritage (Newnan) last Friday. A week prior, the Eagles eked by Armuchee’s former Region 7-AA opponent Dade County 35-33.
Armuchee is 11-8 all time against Mt. Zion. Friday will be the first meeting between the two football programs since 1996, when the Eagles defeated Armuchee 28-14 in the first round of the state playoffs.
The Indians last win came in 1993, a 41-0 shutout.
Model (2-2) at Coosa (3-1),
7:30 p.m.
Both teams open Region 7-AA competition Friday night as the high-flying Eagles welcome the Blue Devils to their backyard.
Both teams have had strong starts to their respective seasons, but Model has had some time away from the Friday night lights. Following a 49-7 loss to Haralson County, the Blue Devils had a bye week, then saw their originally-schedule region opener against Chattooga postponed due to a Chattooga quarantine.
Meanwhile, the Eagles are off to their best start since 2017, with wins over Trion, Lookout Mountain (Tenn.) and Lakeview Academy.
There is much history between the two football programs, but Coosa has the series edge 38-19. The longest win streak by either side has 14 consecutive by the Eagles from 1964 to 1977.
Jeff Hunnicutt’s Blue Devils won last year’s meeting 38-0.
Bremen (3-2) at Darlington (4-1),
7:30 p.m.
The Darlington Tigers, fresh off their first shutout of the season, remain at home and welcome the Bremen Blue Devils from Region 5-Class AA to Chris Hunter Stadium.
The Tigers (4-1) have been led by a combination of stingy defense and efficient offense. Darlington’s D has held opponents to single digits in four of its first five games.
On the offensive side, recent Cornell Uni
versity commit Harrison Allen has been the Tigers’ go-to back and has flashed his ability on defense too.
Bremen (3-2) travels to Darlington after a bye week. Its most recent victory was a 31-22 home victory over Maynard Jackson High School.
Darlington is 7- 3 all time against Bremen. The Tigers are on a five-game winning streak versus the Blue Devils.
The most recent contest saw the Tigers triumphant 41- 7 in 2015. Bremen’s last victory was a 35-6 win in 2008.
Fannin County (4-0) at Pepperell
(2-3, 1-0), 7:30 p.m.
The undefeated Fannin County Rebels bring their talents two hours southeast to Lindale to battle the Pepperell Dragons. Both teams enter the contest 1-0 in region play, with Pepperell taking down Dade County and Fannin topping Gordon Central.
Fannin County is the newcomer to Region 7-AA after realigning from Region 7-AAA.
Pepperell running back DJ Rogers feasted against Dade County with three rushing scores. Friday marked his second game with at least three touchdowns.
Against Gordon Central, Fannin County senior quarterback Luke Holloway was extremely efficient, throwing 9-for-12 for 231 yards and four touchdowns. Fellow senior Cohutta Hyde was Holloway’s top target in the 51-point win, with three receptions for 70 yards. Two of his catches were TDS.
This is the first time the two football teams have met on the gridiron since 1989. Pepperell is 2-0 all time against Fannin after winning both meetings of a home-andhome in 1988 and 1989.
Rome (2-3, 1-1) at Dalton (1-3,
0-2), 7:30 p.m.
The Rome Wolves remain on the road and battle the Dalton Catamounts Friday in Whitfield County. Rome is coming off a 34-12 loss to Carrollton last week, while Dalton is looking to rebound from a 20-15 road loss to South Paulding.
Versus the Spartans, Dalton junior quarterback Ashton Blackwell threw for 118 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Blackwell also led the team in rushing yards with 96. However, senior running back Maurice Howard led the Catamounts in carries with 11 and one rushing score.
Defensively, the Catamounts surrendered 378 yards of offense to South Paulding. The Spartans used the ground game for the majority of their assault. Senior Brian Maina recorded 158 yards on 19 carries with all three of his team’s touchdowns.
Two weeks ago at Barron Stadium, Rome allowed 265 yards to the South Paulding offense. Maina registered just eight yards from scrimmage.
Last week at Carrollton, senior quarterback Caleb Ellard was 9-for-18 for 133 yards with one TD and one INT. Rome garnered 271 yards of total offense in the 22-point loss.
Rome is 5-11 all time against the Catamounts. The Wolves are in search of their first win over the Catamounts since 2008. Rome’s last win at Dalton came in 2001.
Cherokee Christian (6-0) at Unity
Christian (6-0), 7:30 p.m.
The Unity Christian Lions welcome a fellow undefeated to Grizzard Park on Friday, with the teams ranked as the top two in the Georgia Association of Parochial and Private Schools.
Head coach Nick Jones said expects a tough Cherokee Christian coming out of a bye week.
“This will be a very, very important game for us as a football team as the bigger picture begins to shape up,” Jones said in a phone interview. “A win over them, we’ll be a No. 1 seed in our region.”
Unity Christian’s offense has been firing on all cylinders, averaging 54.8 points per game, while conceding an average of just 7.6.
“This is why we work,” Jones said. “We work to play high-caliber teams like Cherokee. This game has really shaped up to be a really, really poignant game for our team.”