FOOTBALL PREVIEWS: Regular season finale to decide playoff seeding for three Houston County schools

Although no region championships will be won by a Houston County school this week, there’s still plenty to be decided when it comes to playoff seeding.

Rather than doing a Game of the Week plus another preview, I decided to go over all the matchups in Houston County this week, especially since two of them involve county matchups.

Westfield will not be included in this story because their regular season ended last week with a 28-16 loss to St. Anne-Pacelli. They (at the time of writing) are currently set for a bye in the play-in round, and will take on the sixth seed on Friday, Nov. 7.

Houston County vs. Lee County

When: Friday, Oct. 31, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Freedom Field

Houston County is coming off of a 31-7 loss to Thomas County Central, who claimed their third region championship in four years with the win at The Jackets’ Nest.

The Bears’ defense performed very well, despite what the score says, aside from giving up a few explosive plays that helped the Yellow Jackets along.

So while HoCo will not be playing for a region championship this week like they’d hoped, they still have a chance to host a playoff game for the first time under head coach Jeremy Edwards.

The winner of Friday’s game will take the second spot in Region 2-5A, even if by some miracle Coffee manages to beat TCC. Lee County and HoCo each hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over Coffee.

The Trojans have a plethora of rushers to throw out against the Bears, with four players tallying over 300 yards this season.

Jordan Bush, who played some quarterback while New York transfer Marcus Snipes Jr was out, leads the team with 651 yards and 10 touchdowns. Canton Williams and J.R. Walker have 345 and 344 yards respectively, while Dominique Ball is the battering ram with 353 yards and a team-high 12 touchdowns.

Lee County rushes the ball 70% of the time, so expect to see a heavy rotation of all four of those players to keep fresh legs on the field.

The quarterback situation in Leesburg has been somewhat fluid this season with Snipes suffering an injury earlier in the season, but he’s started their last two games now.

On the season Snipes is 41-of-70 (58%) for 696 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. The biggest (and almost only) target is junior Jaden Upshaw, who nearly triples the next on the list with 36 receptions for 705 yards and eight touchdowns.

Don’t forget tight end Carter Blackwell, though, especially in the red zone. He’s caught 14 receptions for 277 yards and three touchdowns.

Some good news for the Bears is Ryan Maxwell should face significantly less pressure than last week. The Lee County defense averages less than a sack per game, but linebackers Jace Murray and Greg Batson get after it.

Murray leads the team with eight tackles for a loss to pair with five quarterback hurries. Batson comes in with three TFLs and six QB hurries. Defensive back Lasiah Jackson has a team-high 58 tackles (31 solo).

Perry vs. Warner Robins

When: Friday, Oct. 31, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Panther Pit

This game lost a major storyline when Warner Robins beat Ware County last week, but there’s still a home playoff game on the line.

Perry, with their losses to Benedictine (41-17) and Ware County (21-14) can’t get any higher than the three seed, but with a win at the Panther Pit the Demons can host a playoff game for the first time in two years.

Warner Robins hosted all three of their playoff games in 2023, Shane Sams’ first year. The Panthers have hosted at least one playoff game every year since 2019. They’re also in the middle of the longest playoff streak in school history. The previous was five straight years from 2003 to 2007, and they’re currently on eight straight.

So while Perry doesn’t technically have anything to “play for” other than county bragging rights and spoiling Warner Robins’ playoff seeding, expect another close game like last year.

Injuries have been the story for the Demons this year, namely losing starting running back A.J. Alexander for the season earlier in the year.

After their losses to Wayne County (32-10) and Benedictine (61-0) Warner Robins seems to have found some rhythm after 34-26 and 48-44 victories over New Hampstead and Ware County respectively.

Though Perry has lost two straight they held on to the very end against the Gators and brought the game within 10 late against the Cadets before a pick six sunk their comeback hopes.

Northside vs. Veterans

When: Friday, Oct. 31, 7:30 p.m.
Where: McConnell-Talbert Stadium

Northside and Veterans are in similar positions to when they met in last year’s game, except now they’re at the end of Year 1 under new regimes.

Neither team will make the playoffs. The Eagles are missing their second straight year, the Warhawks their fourth.

Daniel Williams and Northside do have something to play for — not going winless for the second time in program history, and the first time since 1965 which was just their third year in existence.

Before running into some of the top teams in the 5A classification (Lee County, Thomas County Central, Houston County) the Eagles’ defense had been elite. They only allowed two offensive touchdowns against Coffee, held Peach County to 19 points and hadn’t given up 30 points.

Against a Warhawks offense that has been shut out twice and held under 30 all season you could see a return to form.

On the other hand, Veterans just put up their second-highest score of the season with 25 against Coffee. They have a chance to win three games, their second-highest total in the last five years, for the first time in two years with a victory on Friday.

Last year Veterans beat Northside to avoid going winless for the first time in program history, will the Eagles return the favor this year?