The No. 4 Pace Academy Knights (4-2, 2-1) will travel to the No. 9 Cedar Grove Saints (4-2, 2-1) in a Region 5 game Friday night at Buck Godfrey Stadium in Decatur. The Knights are looking to regain momentum after losing to No. 3 Westminster last week.
Credit: Stan Awtrey
Credit: Stan Awtrey
A lot is riding on the game for Pace, because it must win for any chance to remain in the top two in Region 5. Cedar Grove and Pace have lost to Westminster this season.
"This is another tough region game," Pace coach Chris Slade said. "Like last week, it is not getting any easier for us. Cedar Grove is really good. They have some big-play guys who can really stretch the field. They can run the football very well and they are big up front, so it is going to be an awesome challenge for us. But because we have played Thomson, West Forsyth and Westminster, we have been in some big games. We are used to it, but this will be another big challenge for us."
Cedar Grove has momentum after a 28-0 victory against Towers. Freshman linebacker Isaiah Ratcliff anchored the Saints' defense, recording nine tackles and helping hold Towers to 56 yards of offense. The Saints will look for Ratcliff to slow the rushing game of Pace's Deon Jackson, who rushed for 276 yards and two touchdowns in the loss to Westminster. Quarterback Jelani Woods was 14-of-28 passing for 189 yards and two touchdowns, despite eight drops.
This will be the first meeting between the two programs.
Here are other key games worth following:
-- No. 1 Greater Atlanta Christian (6-1, 3-0) will host Lumpkin County (3-3, 1-1) at the Spartan Sport Complex in a Region 7 game. GAC's Kyler McMichael was very efficient last week against East Hall, rushing for 84 yards and three touchdowns and also returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
-- No. 2 Peach County (5-1, 2-0) will travel to Rutland (2-5, 1-2) for a Region 4 game at the Bibb County Sports Complex. The Trojans defeated Central-Macon 48-0 last week to give coach Chad Campbell his 100th victory. Quarterback Antonio Gilbert was 15-of-25 passing for 213 yards and four touchdowns.
-- No. 3 Westminster (4-2, 3-0) will travel to McNair (3-3, 1-2) for a Region 5 game at Mustangville in Atlanta. This will be the first meeting between the two programs. Westminster is coming off a huge 49-36 victory against Pace last week.
-- No. 6 Lovett (4-2, 2-1) will play host to Redan (2-4, 1-2) at Memorial Stadium at Conley-Oakley Field in Atlanta. Lovett is coming off a 42-0 victory against Stone Mountain last week. The Lions held Stone Mountain to 72 yards of total offense.
-- No. 7 Crisp County (6-0, 0-0) will play host to Monroe (2-3, 0-1) in its first Region 1 game. The Cougars were off last week.
-- No. 8 Liberty County (5-1, 1-0) will host No. 10 Appling County (5-1, 1-0) in a Region 2 game. Last week, Liberty was scheduled to play Tattnall County, but the game was postponed by Hurricane Matthew. Appling County's game against Long County was postponed until Tuesday . Appling won 59-29.
-- No 5. Calhoun (5-2, 2-0) has the week off.
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