Region play accounted for nearly the entire slate in Week 6 of high school football, and the games keep on getting better each week.
Here are five things we learned from Week 6:
Dawson County showed they can score in 7-3A, Jefferson proved they can win in a different way and Jaiden Daniels impresses yet again for Commerce. North Hall's defense could prove to be the difference in 8-4A, and Buford is starting to look like the team we know they can be.
1. Dawson County's offense is alive
The Tiger offense had been, well let's just say, not very good through the non-region portion of their schedule. Part of that was the competition, playing teams from a higher classification like Jackson County, Lambert, North Hall and a top-10 team in 3A in Stephens County. But Dawson County figured some things out during their off week, putting Preston Bannister behind center and getting Dom LeBlanc a lot more involved in a 32-14 win over West Hall. Next week's defense will be another tough task in White County, but if that offense keeps improving, we may see the scoreboard break in Dawsonville Friday night.
2. Jefferson can grind one out
We've seen Jefferson win games running away from teams for most of the season thus far. Friday night, the Dragons found themselves in a good, old-fashioned slobber knocker against Clarke Central to open 8-5A play. The Dragons proved that they can win a tight, defensive struggle as they took down the Gladiators, 22-14, to firmly entrench themselves as the favorite to win the region this season. We don't know how many of these type games are left on the schedule for Jefferson, but now we know if it's tight down the stretch, we won't be counting the Dragons out.
3. Jaiden Daniels can do it all
We all know Jaiden Daniels is one of the top running backs in the area. He ran for two touchdowns, including a 70-yarder Friday night against rival Banks County. What we didn't realize was that he can throw the ball too, passing for a touchdown as well against the Leopards. How opposing defenses stop Commerce's physical offense to start with is a tough task that we aren't sure how teams do it, but now that Daniels has shown he can pass as well, good luck to the rest of the Tiger schedule.
4. North Hall's defense is really stingy
The Trojan offense has shown they can put up numbers, but the defense coming into Friday night had been inconsistent. A lot of questions were answered as the Trojans only allowed the Bears to score on three possessions Friday night, forcing three punts, two turnovers and a turnover on downs. North Oconee comes to the Brickyard Friday night, giving this defense its biggest challenge to date, but if the offense can put up points against the Titans, the defense just needs a couple of stops to pull off the upset. We aren't sleeping on that defense at home.
5. Buford is starting to put the pieces together
We've seen glimpses of a dominant Buford throughout the season, but we hadn't seen all the pieces really come together. Until Friday night when all three phases of the game got to put points on the board in a 30-3 win over Marietta. We knew Buford was going to be really good and hungry to avenge the result of last season, and now that the pieces are coming together and the Wolves are playing pretty good ball, the entire 7A classification needs to watch out.
