Titans nearly perfect in rout of Warriors

BOGART — North Oconee’s coaching staff didn’t believe the Titans played a perfect game during their undefeated regular season.

But after a 63-6 defeat of Gordon Central in their Class AA playoff opener on Friday, they may have found that elusive effort.

Behind its trademark defense, which had five shutouts in the regular season, and six different players scoring touchdowns, North Oconee rolled.

“As players, you’re never going to play the perfect game, we’re going to ask you to, but you probably never will,” Titans coach Terry Tuley said. “But if you don’t ever strive to be there, then it never will happen. … It’s just a critical eye of the coaches expecting perfection.”

Georgia Notebook: Fritts returns to Western Georgia

Sid Fritts returns to western Georgia this week for the first time since he was on the sidelines as the head coach at Rome.

Fritts, the Elbert County, coach will lead his No. 7 Blue Devils (9-1) some 170 miles from Elberton this week when they travel to Lindale, Ga. to play Pepperell. The Dragons (7-3) fell in the Region 7-AA championship game last week to Calhoun, their second loss of the season to the Yellow Jackets.

Fritts and Rome never played Pepperell during his five-year tenure, but he said the Dragons are a physical bunch with big linemen.

“They are similar in philosophy to us, I just think we’re a little more explosive,” Fritts said.

Game of the Century

There have been several games that have drawn similar hype as this week's Tussle in Tuscaloosa, or Showdown in T-Town, between LSU.

Personally, Alabama has the edge in coaching, while LSU has more overall talent. There's talk that 35 NFL prospects will be on the field, and there have been 600+ media credential requests.

Keep in mind that no one handles rematches like Nick Saban. According to Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News, 10 years have passed since Saban lost in consecutive years to the same college coach. Since Steve Spurrier beat LSU 41-9 and 44-15 in 2000 and 2001, Saban is 12-0 in rematch games.

What's more, Alabama RB Trent Richardson will be the best player on the field. For investment advice, take the Crimson Tide -5 against the Bayou Bengals.

Big blown lead ends Eagles' crazy ride

After a lackluster first half, George Walton Academy looked nothing like a team that could pull off a fourth-quarter comeback. Not that it appeared the Bulldogs would even have that chance.

But thanks to an 85-yard touchdown run by quarterback Hunter Rice, the visiting Bulldogs were given hope with less than a minute left in the third quarter. And after Athens Christian struggled to drain the clock late in the fourth, George Walton came back to finish an improbable 23-21 victory on Friday night.

Georgia Notebook: Stephens prepares for region championship game

In arguably the program’s biggest game in four years, Stephens County travels to Gainesville this week to play the Red Elephants for the Region 8-AAA title.

The Indians appearance in the game flies in the face of most preseason predictions, which had Gainesville against North Hall. But the Trojans have lost two in a row, to Franklin County and Stephens, which knocked them out of contention.

“It’s a big game for us in the fact that no one gave our kids and team a chance to be in this game,” Stephens coach Travis Noland said.

Stephens earned its way after it dispatched of North Hall last week, 39-14.

Gainesville and Stephens have had similar campaigns as each lost their opener to a strong AA team (Buford and Elbert County), but have rolled since. The Red Elephants have scored at least 40 points in every win, and topped 50 twice.

The Red Elephants' closest game was a 41-21 win against Monroe Area. The Red Elephants, behind their spread offense, have averaged 51 points per game in subregion play. That’s why Stephens’ big play trio of running back Chaz Thornton, quarterback Dionte Mayfield and wide receiver T'omas Colbert is especially important this week.