The Georgia High School Football Daily’s Weekend Predictions: Who’s winning and losing in Week Three

By CHIP SAYE
For the AJC

Picking the winners of high school football games can be easy a lot of the time. Even an occasional upset can be spotted a mile away. Other times, teams appear pretty even on paper, so you have to go one way or the other. Sometimes you’re right, sometimes you’re wrong, and you don’t worry about the misses. Then there are the frustrating times, when the teams defy all logic. Play poorly against a weak team one week, pound on a good team the next.

It’s not going to be easy for me to put up a good score from week to week if the teams won’t cooperate and play the games correctly. And here are some of the prime offenders so far:

Whitefield Academy: Whitefield, 10-2 in 2008, lost its opener to a Walker team that went 2-8 in 2008. So the Wolfpack had no chance against Athens Academy, which has won at least 10 games in four of the past five seasons, right? Wrong. The Wolfpack beat Athens Academy 21-15. This week, while Whitefield Academy is beating Southwest Atlanta Christian, Athens Academy plays at Walker. It doesn’t seem logical, so I’ll go with Athens Academy.

Woodland-Stockbridge: Woodland lost to Lowndes 75-14 in the opener. So few would have thought the Wolfpack would win last week when it traveled to Worth County, which won its opener 39-0. Woodland then went out and beat the odds as well as Worth, 31-13, to establish itself as a playoff contender in Region 4-AAA. The Wolfpack will beat Spalding tonight. (And Peachtree Ridge would tell you that Lowndes really is that good.)

Towers: The Titans were 1-9 last year. North Atlanta went 5-5 in 2008 and won by 20 in its season-opener. You can probably guess where this is going. Towers rolls over North Atlanta 49-18. And because the other six teams in its subregion are a combined 1-11, there’s no reason to believe Towers can’t win more. It just won’t be this week, as the Titans lose big to Grady.

Lakeside-DeKalb: The Vikings end a 14-game losing streak with a 21-7 victory in their opener against a down Columbia team, and they receive votes in a couple of the statewide polls the following week. How does that happen? Tucker wasn’t as impressed, beating the Vikings 60-27 last week. Perhaps the voters got this Lakeside confused with Lakeside-Evans, which upset Evans 17-0 last Friday. I haven’t picked the Vikings to win yet, so I’ll keep that up until I’m convinced otherwise and go with North Springs this week.

Elsewhere
● There are not a lot of high-profile games around the state tonight, but a few of the matchups are good ones. Take Buford, as always, but expect Lovett to score this time.
● Northside-Warner Robins, No. 6 in Class AAAAA, knocks off Carver-Columbus, No. 1 in AAA.
● Defending Class A champ Wesleyan beats Holy Innocents’.
● Go with Class AAA No. 5 Peach County against No. 4 Baldwin.
● Burke County has impressed in its first two games, but the Bears likely won’t have enough to take down Statesboro.
● Class A No. 2 Wilcox County beats No. 4 Wilkinson County, but in a closer game than their 30-14 meeting last year.

The weekend predictions
Last week: 130-44 (.747); Overall: 262-84 (.757)

Friday
Winner / Loser
Adairsville / Ringgold
Allatoona / Grovetown
Alpharetta / Centennial
Americus-Sumter / Hardaway
Appling Co. / Long Co.
Armuchee / Dade Co.
Athens Academy / Walker
Athens Christian / Georgia Military
Bainbridge / Lee Co.
Banks Co. / Dawson Co.
Banneker / Northgate
Benedictine / Jeff Davis
Berrien / Irwin Co.
Bleckley Co. / SE Bulloch
Bowdon / Temple
Brooks Co. / Langston Hughes
Brookstone / Greenville
Brookwood / Shiloh
Buford / Lovett
Calhoun / Cartersville
Calhoun Co. / Atkinson Co.
Callaway / Manchester
Carrollton / Avondale
Cedar Shoals / Winder-Barrow
Cedartown / Coosa
Central-Carroll / Northside-Col.
Central-Talb. / Stewart Co.
Chapel Hill / Morrow
Charlton Co. / Pierce Co.
Chattahoochee Co. / Schley Co.
Chestatee / Johnson-Gaines.
Clarke Central / Habersham Central
Claxton / Montgomery Co.
Clinch Co. / Randolph-Clay
Coffee / Shaw
Collins Hill / Chattahoochee
Colquitt Co. / Wayne Co.
Commerce / Franklin Co.
Creekside / Mundy’s Mill
Crisp Co. / Turner Co.
Dalton / South Paulding
Dougherty / Early Co.
Dublin / Laney
Dunwoody / Troup
Dutchtown / Stockbridge
East Coweta / Pebblebrook
East Jackson / Oglethorpe Co.
East Paulding / South Cobb
Eastside / Newton
Effingham Co. / Liberty Co.
Elbert Co. / Butler
ECI / Bryan Co.
Etowah / Kennesaw Mountain
Fayette Co. / Douglas Co.
Fellowship / Mount Pisgah
Fitzgerald / Worth Co.
Flowery Branch / Creekview
Gainesville / White Co.
Glenn Hills / Harlem
Gordon Lee / Heritage-Catoosa
Grady / Towers
Grayson / Dacula
Greene Co. / Hancock Central
Griffin / Ola
Harris Co. / Jones Co.
Harrison / North Cobb
Heard Co. / Howard
Hillgrove / Sequoyah
Hiram / Cass
Houston Co. / Bradwell Institute
Jackson / Jackson-Atlanta
Jefferson / Fannin Co.
Jefferson Co. / Toombs Co.
Johns Creek / Lambert
Johnson-Sav. / South Effingham
Johnson Co. / Portal
LaFayette / Murray Co.
LaGrange / Stephens Co.
Lakeside-Evans / Greenbrier
Lakeview Acad. / Hebron Christian
Lakeview-Ft. Ogle. / North Paulding
Lamar Co. / Spencer
Landmark / Pace Academy
Lassiter / Kell
Lincoln Co. / Hephzibah
Lithia Springs / McIntosh
Locust Grove / Drew
Loganville / Salem
Lowndes / Ware Co.
Lumpkin Co. / East Hall
M.L. King / McNair
Macon Co. / Jordan
Madison Co. / Monroe Area
Marietta / Cherokee
Marion Co. / Pacelli Catholic
Marist / Chamblee
Mary Persons / Rutland
McEachern / Woodstock
McIntosh Co. Acad. / Brantley Co.
Mill Creek / Norcross
Miller Co. / Pelham
Milton / Wheeler
Model / Trion
Mount Paran / Mt. Zion-Carroll
Mt. Zion-Jonesboro / Forest Park
Newnan / Lovejoy
North Clayton / Alcovy
NE-Macon / Dooly Co.
Northside-WR / Carver-Col.
North Atlanta / Columbia
North Forsyth / Duluth
North Gwinnett / South Forsyth
North Springs / Lakeside-DeKalb
Our Lady of Mercy / N. Cobb Christian
Parkview / Berkmar
Peach Co. / Baldwin
Peachtree Ridge / Northview
Pepperell / Villa Rica
Perry / Hawkinsville
Pike Co. / Crawford Co.
Prince Ave. / Glascock Co.
Putnam Co. / Columbus
Redan / Cedar Grove
Richmond Academy / Josey
Richmond Hill / Savannah
Ridgeland / Darlington
River Ridge / North Murray
Riverside Military / Rabun Co.
Rockdale Co. / Heritage-Conyers
Rockmart / Bremen
Rome / Paulding Co.
Roswell / Pope
St. Pius / Oconee Co.
Sandy Creek / Alexander
Sav. Christian / Wheeler Co.
Sav. Country Day / Jenkins Co.
Screven Co. / Dodge Co.
Seminole Co. / Lanier Co.
Sonoraville / SE Whitfield
South Gwinnett / Meadowcreek
Southwest DeKalb / Forsyth Central
Sprayberry / Northwest Whitfield
Starr’s Mill / Tri-Cities
Statesboro / Burke Co.
Terrell Co. / Bacon Co.
Therrell / Druid Hills
Thomasville / Cairo
Thomson / Hart Co.
Tift Co. / Cook
Treutlen / Calvary Day
Tucker / Lithonia
Twiggs Co. / SW-Macon
Union Co. / North Oconee
Union Grove / Henry Co.
Valdosta / Jonesboro
Vidalia / East Laurens
Walnut Grove / Arabia Mountain
Walton / Campbell
Warren Co. / ELCA
Washington Co. / Morgan Co.
Washington-Wilkes / Social Circle
Wesleyan / Holy Innocents’
West Forsyth / Pickens
West Hall / Gilmer
West Laurens / Haralson Co.
Westlake / Riverdale
Westside-Augusta / Aquinas
Westside-Macon / Upson-Lee
Westover / Mitchell Co.
Whitefield Acad. / SW Atl. Christian
Whitewater / Mays
Wilcox Co. / Wilkinson Co.
Woodland-Carters. / Osborne
Woodland-Stock. / Spalding
Woodward Acad. / Eagle’s Landing

Saturday
Clarkston / Cross Keys
Douglass / Washington
Miller Grove / Stone Mountain
Monroe / Glynn Academy
Warner Robins / Beach

*Games involving out-of-state teams not included

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