There seems

to be nothing but adversity in store for some of the

local football teams this season.

Whether

they come in the form of injuries, turnovers, mental

errors or officiating, it just seems some teams cannot

get by. Friday night produced one win and three losses

for the four county teams and some playoff hopes were

dashed.

Fayette

County hosted Upson Lee Friday night in the FCHS

homecoming game. The Tigers came out and looked

ferocious. Wes Clark ran for close to 50 yards on the

first play of the game and, though the drive eventually

stalled, Fayette County scored on the next possession,

with a 62-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Bowman. It was

just what the Tigers needed, offensive production.

Fayette

County then missed the extra point, leading to a score at

the end of the first quarter of 6-0. The Tigers gave up a

touchdown to Upson Lee early in the second quarter and

then both teams did nothing for the rest of the half.

Upson-Lee

opened up the second half with huge runs from their

quarterback and a touchdown. Fayette answered with a

field goal and then would answer no more. They drove deep

into the Knights' territory in the last two minutes of

the game, but quarterback Nathaniel Enloe was intercepted

and the Tigers' hopes for a win were dashed.

McIntosh

played the Griffin Bears Friday and they were hoping that

the Bears would still be stuck in the slump that had them

lose three of their last four games. The Bears were

feeling OK, mostly because they overmatched the Chiefs at

nearly every position.

Luke Wiggs

returned from an early season injury and got some time at

quarterback. Unfortunately, his stint included an

interception that was run back for a touchdown. Griffin

also had several huge runs for touchdowns and they ran

back a punt for a touchdown. The final score was 41-0.

Sandy Creek

might have been looking past Woodward Academy Friday. The

Patriots lost 35-7 and were ineffective on both sides of

the ball. Their usually explosive offense was very

limited with J.R. Lemon gaining 85 yards rushing. The

defense, which has typically been intense and the fire in

the team belly, fell flat and gave up the most points in

any game this season.

The

Patriots trailed Woodward 21-0 at the half. They allowed

280 yards rushing, unusually high for the usually potent

defense. The offense sputtered, gaining 125 yards on the

ground and 76 yards passing. Their touchdown came early

in the third quarter when quarterback Andre Green hit

Kedric Golston with a pass across the goal line on fourth

down. The drive looked like vintage Patriots, going 80

yards in 10 plays.

Starr's

Mill needed to get back on the winning track after their

disappointing overtime loss to Mt. Zion. The Panthers

traveled to face Jones County and got everything back in

order. The Panthers led 13-6 at the half, scoring on two

field goals and a 19-yard touchdown pass to LaDon Cooper.

As in many

of their games this year, the Panthers really started

clicking in the second half. The defense played fired up,

despite giving up a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

Tony Tofanelli, Matt Defenbaugh and Matt Fuhrmann all

continued to tackle well. The main man was Drew Cofty,

who caught a touchdown pass in the third quarter and then

had an 11-yard touchdown run in the fourth. Quarterback

Brad McClaren continued to lead the team. He ran for over

100 yards and had two touchdown passes.

Looking

ahead to this weekend, there is the biggest match in the

county this season. Starr's Mill (6-1) will host Sandy

Creek (5-2) at Tiger Stadium. This game has major playoff

and region standings implications. Currently, Starr's

Mill is all alone in second place and Sandy Creek is tied

for third with Woodward Academy. The two teams are very

much alike and both squads are extremely well-coached.

Last year's game went down to the wire with the Panthers

pulling out a victory in the last seconds. Do not miss

this game.

In other

matches this weekend, McIntosh (1-7) hosts Newnan (6-2)

and Fayette County (3-5) travels to Griffin (4-4). It

will be a long road for both teams. In other games of

interest, East Coweta (6-2) hosts Carver, Columbus (4-4),

Landmark Christian (1-6) hosts Mt. Zion, Carrollton (1-6)

and Northgate (4-3) hosts Temple (0-7).

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