Week 2 notebook: Can county teams break through in Jackson County?

Week 1 saw some stunning outcomes -- like Towns County and Chestatee both ending long losing streaks -- and Jackson County routing Flowery Branch at Falcons Field. How about Gainesville dismantling Marietta on the road with a basically new cast of offensive players?

The opening week also was marred by rain and lightning that caused several games to finish in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Other games were forced to resume Saturday afternoon, and one, North Forsyth at Wheeler, resulted in an eventual forfeit win for the Raiders.

But there were still some outstanding showdowns. Buford took defending Class 7A state champion Milton down to the wire in a 13-10 loss. East Hall used a goal line stand at the buzzer to hold on for a 16-14 win over Banks County. Cherokee Bluff put Region 8-3A on notice with an impressive 31-20 win over Cal Faulkner and Lumpkin County.

Week 2 is not as marquee-packed as the opening weekend. Gainesville played its first out-of-state road game since 1950 on Thursday and came away with a 31-7 win over Moody (Ala.) to highlight the weekend.

But what looked like a titanic matchup in the offseason with Benedictine traveling to take on Buford at Tom Riden Stadium may have lost some luster after the Cadets were hammered last week by Rabun Gap in Savannah.

Dawson County, Johnson, North Hall, and Union County will get their seasons under way on Friday after having a Week 1 bye.

Here’s the Week 2 Friday Game Night Notebook:

BATTLE OF JACKSON COUNTY

This week we have the four schools in Jackson County -- Commerce, East Jackson, Jackson County, and Jefferson -- playing each other. It has not been a good matchup for the two county schools against the two city schools. And it hasn’t been close.

The Dragons and Tigers are a combined 23-0 all-time vs. East Jackson and Jackson County. The average margin of victory has been 32.6 points.

Jefferson is 18-0 vs. Jackson Co. and East Jackson, including a perfect 10-0 vs. the Panthers, which is where they head on Friday.

Commerce is 5-0 vs. the pair, including two wins over East Jackson, the Tigers destination on Friday. The two teams have not met since 2013.

Could one or both of the county teams finally put an end to that streak? The Panthers have a great shot at home on Friday against the Dragons while Commerce will be without Jaiden Daniels, at least in a full-time capacity, again this week.

We’ll know in about 12 hours if either Jackson County or East Jackson has made history. Or, if it will be business-as-usual.

TOWNS COUNTY ON THE RISE?

Towns County has been playing football since 1969 and has played 83 different schools in that span. They have an overall winning record against just two programs in their history where they have played five or more times.

They have never lost to Providence Christian (5-0, all since 2014) and the other is their opponent this week -- Riverside Prep in Gainesville. The Indians are 12-10 vs. the Eagles all time.

The Indians have a solid chance to expand their lead on RPA after coming off a stunning 42-14 thumping of Murray County last week.

And, a win also would give them their first 2-0 start to a season since 2008 when they opened with three consecutive victories.

EARLY POWER REGIONS

Only one region in all of the Georgia High School Association went undefeated in Week 1, and it should come as no surprise as to which one for avid fans that follow the GHSA. Region 1-6A, which has Camden County, Colquitt County, Lowndes, Tift County, Valdosta, and Richmond Hill went 5-0 last week, with Richmond Hill having the week off. All five won by double-digits as well.

The next best was Region 3-5A, which includes Hughes, which went 7-1 with only Northgate losing to Starr’s Mill.

As for northeast Georgia area regions, 8-6A with Buford was just 3-4 and 6-6A, with North Forsyth, had a rough night going 2-6, with one of the victories a forfeit win for the Raiders.

Region 8-5A, with Jackson County and Habersham Central, went 3-4. Region 8-4A was a respectable 4-2 with both losses, including Flowery Branch, coming against higher class teams.

Region 8-3A was 3-3 with all three losses coming to higher class teams and Region 6-3A was just 2-3. Region 8-2A went 4-2 and 8-A Division 1 struggled going 2-5 as both Commerce and Elbert County dropped their openers.

TOUGH WEEK FOR RANKED TEAMS*

It was a rough opening week for northeast Georgia area teams ranked in the Friday Game Night Composite poll last week.

Buford and Jefferson, both ranked No. 1 in their respective classifications, went down in tough road games at Milton and Marist. The Wolves are now second in Class 6A and the Dragons dropped to second in Class 3A. Lumpkin County dropped out of the Class 3A poll after falling to Cherokee Bluff on the road.

Gainesville, despite demolishing Class 6A Marietta on the road, remained third in Class 5A. Commerce dropped from fifth to ninth in Class A Division 1 while Rabun County remained fourth after beating White County.

Buford, Gainesville, Jefferson, Rabun County, and Commerce all are in action this week and face tough matchups.

(* -- Rankings are based on a composite average of the rankings of the AJC/GHSFD, Maxwell, MaxPreps, Score Atlanta, GPB, 680 The Fan and RecruitGA.)

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