Gordon Central Warriors to play 0-5 Haralson County
Two football teams seeking their first win of 2023 square off Friday night when Gordon Central High School hosts Haralson County on homecoming at Ratner Stadium.
They both began Region 7-2A play last week with Gordon Central falling 42-0 at Fannin County while Haralson dropped a 28-16 decision to North Murray in a game that was 16-14 at one point.
For the winning team, they will be right back in the middle of the playoff chase while for the team that loses, that will be two losses in the league, making every game they play from here on out a must-win if they hope to have an 11th game.
But for Gordon Central, the playoff race has to be the farthest thing from their mind.
Instead, just doing all the things they need to do to experience success and put together 48 minutes of football every week is still the top priority.
True, a win would put them right in the playoff hunt but a win would also take a 900-pound gorilla that seems to be getting larger each week off their backs going forward.
This is a team simply searching. Searching for consistency. Searching for some kind of spark to light up their Friday nights.
They did get their quarterback back last week with senior Peyton Chastain returning to the lineup after missing one game with an injured ankle. And they came into the game against Fannin wanting to throw it around a bit.
But they couldn’t quite make those connections happen all night long.
They definitely had a chance to make a game of it against the Rebels when senior speedster Camden Miles returned a couple of first-half kickoffs more than 50 yards each to start drives in Fannin County territory. But they couldn’t move the ball from that point and had to turn it over on downs one time and on a punt the other.
So they will look to put it all together this week against a Haralson County team that is also 0-5, but has been very competitive in a couple of their games.
In their first 7-2A game, the Rebels were beating North Murray 16-14 last Friday evening before the Mountaineers scored touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters to rally for the win and grab an early share of first place in the Region. Also, one of HC’s losses was a 10-7 verdict to Breman in Week Two.
The Rebels have been a very effective running team this season, rushing for nearly 200 yards in the game against North Murray. Through the first five weeks of the year, they have over 800 yards on the ground and broke off two long runs for touchdowns against North Murray.
But they are still looking to do a better job of finishing drives as they have scored two touchdowns or less in three of their games.
They have also been a bit vulnerable defensively, having given up four or more touchdowns in three of their setbacks.
Kickoff Friday night on homecoming at Ratner Stadium is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.