HS Football preview: ACE and Southwest meet, Stratford and Mount de Sales battle to bounce back

With region standings heating up across the area, plenty of Bibb County teams play in some high-stakes contests this week.

Here’s a look at key matchups in Macon across GHSA and GIAA this week.

ACE vs. Southwest

There are two races in GHSA Region 2-A Division I.

Dodge County and Dublin, and Northeast to a lesser extent, are battling up top.

The real race is after that, with ACE, Washington County, Southwest, Bleckley County and East Laurens.

Especially ACE, Washington County and Southwest. And two of them play Friday when ACE hosts Southwest at Perkins Field.

The battle is for fourth place and the final automatic spot in the postseason and better seeding, but the region is likely to have two more teams earn at-large bids, maybe a seventh.

ACE was projected by the Georgia High School Football Daily, as of Oct. 2, as the fourth-place team from the region and the No. 17 team in the Class A/I playoffs, with the private schools removed.

Southwest was in as the sixth-place team, and No. 27 out of 32. The Patriots haven’t played since losing 49-0 to Dodge County Sept. 25. The Patriots have ACE, Washington County, Jefferson County and East Laurens left.

A win for the Gryphons puts them closer to that fourth-place finish and helps with seeding and the outside chance of a first-round home playoff game.

A win for the Patriots puts them back in a position to play for fourth, and helps solidify their playoff chances. Southwest’s regular-season finale against Washington County, despite the odds against it, could be for fourth place.

But odds are better it would be for fifth or sixth place. And Southwest needs a win to stave off their sixth losing season in the last seven.

The teams have played only twice, with Southwest rolling to a 62-28 win at ACE in 2022. The Gryphons returned the favor last season, winning 52-51 in double overtime.

How close the offensive fireworks will be to those two games is debatable.

Southwest is averaging 23.7 points a game and ACE 27.4. A year ago, those numbers were 29.3 and 41.4.

Southwest has given up at least 30 points a game the last six seasons, including this one. The Patriots have given up 42 points a game in their losses this season, about the same as ACE.

Against opponents they’ve both played, Southwest has been outscored 37-23 and ACE 33-17. Both have been shut out once, Southwest 49-0 to Dodge County and ACE 46-0 to Northeast.

ACE is on its third running back thanks to injuries, using linebacker Sawyer Raugh on Friday in the 27-21 win over East Laurens. Raugh took his first snaps as a running back in the game.

Establishing a running game has been difficult. Quarterback Ace Hatcher has also had trouble finding more targets than Brice Whitley and Jaylon Davis, who have 69 percent of the Gryphons’ catches.

Southwest moved Steve Robinson from wideout to quarterback when returning starter Chase Dupree suffered a summer injury. 

The 34 points the Patriots put up against Dublin is the most given up this year by the highly-ranked Irish and currently accounts for 37% of the points allowed by Dublin.

They scored 30 and 45 in the next two games, wins over Bleckley County and Central, but then were Dodge County’s first shutout since the start of the 2021 season.

The Patriots haven’t played since Sept. 25, while ACE had only a minimal schedule interruption from Hurricane Helene.

— Michael A. Lough

Stratford vs. Mount de Sales

The “Big Four” GIAA schools in Macon — FPD, Stratford, Mount de Sales and Tattnall — have already crossed over in a handful of combinations, and it’s Stratford and Mount de Sales’ turn this time around with FPD on bye and Tattnall hosting John Milledge.

Stratford fell to Tattnall 28-12 last week, a tale of two teams trending in opposite directions with the Trojans winning their sixth consecutive game and the Eagles losing for the third time in four games. 

Stratford, now 6-3 overall, will aim to bounce back with the home game against the Cavaliers.

The Eagles, after a hot start where they were 5-0 and one of the only undefeated teams in the Middle Georgia area at midseason, stumbled recently. Two of those three losses came against FPD and Tattnall, both crucial rivalry games. The other was a heartbreaking overtime loss to last year’s GIAA 4A runner-up Brookstone.

It’s been an emotional stretch for Stratford, but for head coach Paul Carroll, the end of the season is the most important stretch.

“We’ve got to finish strong. We’re going back to work on Monday,” he told The Melody after last week’s game.

Mount de Sales got a week off ahead of the tough matchup with the Eagles, and the Cavaliers might have needed one after the roller-coaster game they played against Tattnall two weeks prior. MDS and the Trojans turned the ball over with regularity, including two pick sixes by the Cavaliers’ Jackson Rowley in the first half.

A 15-2 Mount de Sales lead evaporated in the second half, but the 31-18 performance still showed a lot of growth for the Cavaliers. 

The game will be a crucial juncture for both schools as the Cavaliers look to fully break out in an upward-trending season while the Eagles attempt to stop a slight skid.

— Josh Davis and Micah Johnston

Howard vs. Cross Creek

The Huskies finally return to the gridiron after a long delay following Hurricane Helene, as they reside in a region with several Augusta-area teams.

That said, Howard is in the thick of the Region 4-3A postseason race, tied with three other teams at 2-1 in the region — Harlem, Aquinas and Baldwin — as schools jostle for the third and fourth place spots.

The top of the region looks steady, as Westside-Augusta is a perfect 6-0 while West Laurens 5-1 with a 3-1 region mark. Harlem and Baldwin are currently third and fourth based off of tiebreakers, but the region will have plenty of games to make up for down the line after several missed contests.

Howard has a great chance to gain some ground this week as Cross Creek comes to town. The Razorbacks are a dismal 0-4 in region play and 1-5 overall, with that lone victory coming against winless 2A Josey. The Huskies could move to 4-2 with a win, putting themselves in good position for the playoff push going forward.

It seems like a must-win game, though, once the rest of Howard’s schedule comes into view.

Howard plays the other top four teams in the region all in a row over the next three weeks, including two games in the final week of the season against Aquinas Nov. 5 and region top-dog Westside-Augusta Nov. 9 to make up for lost time.

— Micah Johnston

Other games

After a 28-12 win last week, Tattnall now turns its attention to next week’s matchup against John Milledge Academy in an attempt to keep a six-game winning streak rolling. JMA is no longer the powerhouse it once was, and home field advantage will give Tattnall an even better chance at extending their run.

Windsor and CFCA meet in another all-Macon GIAA game, albeit a lower classification one with less playoff implications. Still, the game could be an important jumping-off point for both teams — the Lancers and Knights both sit at 2-6 and are in rebuilding phases as programs. CFCA, in particular, has been one-dimensional on offense thanks to some injuries.

Northeast will have a chance to rebound from last week’s 17-7 defeat at the Shamrock Bowl with an easier opponent, Central. 

The Chargers are still searching for their first win of the season and have struggled to contain opponents on defense. Star back Nick Woodford had an uncharacteristic performance last week — though he did still manage more than 80 yards on the ground — and will look to bounce back.

FPD and Rutland get the week off. The Vikings will have one of the biggest games of the season against Tattnall when they return, while the Hurricanes will continue searching for their first win. Westside also gets a week off before taking on Rutland next week.