Week 8 notebook: Lumpkin's Sullens new king of the state rushing hill -- for now

In recent memory, Dawson County has become synonymous with winning under head coach Sid Maxwell. That certainly wasn’t the case for most of the Tigers’ existence. 

Opening in 1967, it took 19 years for Dawson County to have its first winning season, going 7-2-1 in 1986. From that season until 2014, the Tigers would post just nine winning seasons total.

Maxwell, now in his 9th season in Dawsonville, has posted no worse than a .500 season (6-6 in 2020 but still advanced to the 2nd round of the playoffs) with 7 winning seasons with no less than 7 wins a year. The 2023 Tigers, shockingly, sit at 1-5 on the season.

One more loss for the Tigers would secure their first losing season since going 2-8 in 2014. Over that same span, only Buford, Jefferson, Rabun County, and Commerce have longer runs of winning seasons than the Tigers in the northeast Georgia area of teams covered by AccessWDUN/Friday Game Night.

BRONCOS BUCKING HARD AROUND .500

East Forsyth is in just its third year of existence as a program. For most programs, it takes time to build a consistent winner, especially when jumping into region play in just the second season. But coach Brian Allison and his staff are showing, why wait?

They won two games in their inaugural season and six in 2022. Last week’s win over East Hall put the Broncos over .500 as a program after just 25 games at 13-12. A win over Cherokee Bluff tonight would match last season’s win total for the Broncos (5-0, 3-0 Region 8-4A).

But it’s not as easy as the Broncos are making it look.

For context, Chestatee, now in its 22nd season, won its first-ever game over Flowery Branch but has never been back over .500 as a program after losing its next 21 straight games.

The Falcons, meanwhile, also are in their 22nd season but are 155-91 as a program. But it took them five-plus seasons to even reach the .500 level. They did not get over the .500 mark until beating Lumpkin County 34-3 on Sept. 14, 2007 -- their 55th game. They have not been below .500 since.

The Broncos have a tough road game tonight at Cherokee Bluff and a loss would put them back at .500 with No. 2-ranked and unbeaten North Oconee (5-0, 3-0 Region 8-4A) up next and a tough road game at Madison County (4-1, 2-1 Region 8-4A) to follow. Staying above the line is just as hard as getting to it.

Until Chestatee and Flowery Branch opened in 2002, West Hall had been the newest area school, opening in 1988. But the Spartans did not play a region schedule for their first seven seasons.

They did hit .500 in their 18th game and were 17-12 overall after their fourth season of play. But for the next 12 seasons they would hop back-and-forth across that .500 line. They were 82-78 overall at the end of the 2003 season and 85-85 at the end of 2004.  But they lost their first five games of the 2005 season and have never gotten back to the .500 level.

The Spartans are now 150-212-1 as a program.

Will the Broncos go the way of the Falcons and look back at the 2023 campaign as the one that started it all? Only time will tell.

MIDSEASON REGION REPORT CARDS

Several area regions are hitting the midway point of their schedules, and some are as tight as the NASCAR field on a Talladega straightaway.

In Region 8-6A, Gainesville sits alone atop the standings with six of the teams -- GHS, NoFo, Lanier, Habersham Central, Shiloh, Jackson County -- all bunched within 1 1/2 games of each other. Five teams are within one game of each other.

Region 8-4A has six teams within 1 1/2 games of first place North Oconee and East Forsyth, who are tied, and four teams -- North Hall, Madison County, Cedar Shoals, Cherokee Bluff -- within one game of third place. But with four huge games tonight (see schedule below) things could begin to shake up a bit. However, a couple of upsets could make it even tighter than a ball of rubber bands.

Region 8-5A has Jefferson and Eastside tied atop the standings with four teams -- Flowery Branch, Winder-Barrow, Loganville, Heritage-Conyers -- within 1 1/2 games of first place. The biggest surprise so far is Clarke Central, considered a region title contender, sits winless and in last place after the first three weeks.

Region 7-3A has Lumpkin County atop the field with White County right behind and four more teams -- Wesleyan, Gilmer, Dawson, Pickens -- all within one-half of each other after the first two weeks. The Indians and Warriors have huge games tonight and can separate themselves but Dawson County, the defending region champ, is just one game back.

Regions 8-7A, 8-2A, 8-A Divisions 1 & 2, GIAA, and GAPPS are just now getting under way.

STATE LEADERS

One-fourth of the top rushers in the state reside in northeast Georgia after Week 7, according to the comprehensive stats released by Georgia High School Football Daily on Friday.

And sitting at the top of the heap is Lumpkin County’s Mason Sullens, who continued his climb atop the state rushing ladder with a 200-yard effort last week. The senior now leads Class 3A, and the state, with 1,119 yards.

He is the only area runner to lead his classification but 10 of the top 40 runners in the state are from our area. Javin Gordon of Stephens County is 10th with 923 yards.

It may not be long before Class A Division 1 changes hands. Austin Clemons of Bryan County leads the class with 989 yards. But Commerce’s Jaiden Daniels (894 yards) is 15th and Tysean Wiggins 18th with 872 yards, and both are now within 100 yards of the lead.

Elijiah Hayes of West Hall is 27th with 801 yards, Jefferson’s Sammy Brown is 28th at 797, and Gainesville’s Gavin Hall now leads Region 8-6A with 770 yards and is 30th overall. Jackson County’s M.J. Spurlin (760 yards) is 33rd, Conner Hulsey of Cherokee Buff is 37th (748 yards), and Tripp Morris of East Forsyth sits 40th with 732 yards.

In passing, only three area quarterbacks have thrown for over 1,200 yards. After last week’s 400-yard performance, Flowery Branch’s Josh Oliver now tops area QBs with 1,457 yards, and he is 11th in the state overall. But that is still 254 yards behind Class 5A leader Brody Hannah (1,711 yards) of Loganville. Oliver would lead both Class 3A and Class 7A.

Buford’s Dylan Raiola is now 23rd with 1,310 yards and is just 121 yards behind 7A leader Neko Fann of Colquitt County (1,431 yards). Union County’s Caiden Tanner, whose Panthers were off again last week, is 35th with 1,214 yards.

In receiving, only three area players are in the top 20. 

With the success of Oliver for Flowery Branch, Jeremiah Ware has emerged for the Falcons and after 371 yards and 6 TDs the last two weeks, Ware now sits 4th overall in the state with 716 yards. However, he is only 2nd in Class 5A behind Ahmed Souare of Loganville, who had 825 yards going into Thursday’s game with Clarke Central. 

Willie Goodwyn of Rabun County is 16th overall with 606 yards and is still 2nd in Class A Division 1, but now just 42 yards off the pace of Bryson Campbell of Athens Christian (648 yards). Union County’s Jensen Goble is 18th with 589 yards.