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Power Ratings Week 8 Hall County Football 2007 Power Rating
End of Week 8
At the end of week 8 the Hall County football players have created the following power ratings. As the season goes on I take into consideration the following criteria: 1) Head to head competitions; 2) win/loss record; 3) ratio of points scored vs. points allowed; 4) opponents win/loss %.
Head to head competition from now on will trump the power numbers if most of the other factors are pretty close.
Each week I look inside the stats of all teams, read newspaper accounts and talk to football people who have seen teams I have not seen yet and I always see at least one game.
After studying football stats for 15 seasons in the National Football League and 8 seasons at Ohio State and William Mary we found some stats were more important than others.
North Hall (7-0-0) Average Points Scored 47.71: Average Points Allowed 7.00: Power Rating 6.82: Dominating in every way against Gilmer County last Friday night, much of the game was played with back ups and JV players. The younger players who played much of the game, however continued to put up winning numbers. The Trojan offense averaged 11.14 yards per carry in 36 rushing attempts, while their defense held Gilmer County to 2.45 yards per run on 29 rushing attempts. On pass offense, North Hall averaged a very strong 11.14 yards per pass attempt, while holding the Bobcats to 4.31 yards per pass attempt. While many of the high school football teams have gone to the spread formation and shifted their emphasis to the pass, Coach Christmas has stayed with the winged T and is going to make you stop his high powered running game. Fewer and fewer high school football players have had much experience defending the Winged T, making it doubly difficult to prepare for North Hall. When most teams prepared for the Trojans, their scout teams were trying to simulate an offense which requires great timing. When they actually play North Hall on Friday night, they are playing against an offense which operates like a well oiled machine, and they are having to fight off a strong and determined offensive line. All dominate football teams have to fight complacency, often, during the season, the Trojans are playing with a 3 or 4 touchdown lead. These Trojans will play a game or maybe several games where they will be put in the unfamiliar situation where every play counts and the winner is not determined until late in the fourth quarter or in overtime. That’s the game and the situation that this splendid North Hall team needs to be preparing for and it may happen any week.
Flowery Branch (6-1-0) Average Points Scored 32.71: Average Points Allowed 16.71: Power Rating 1.96: The Falcons had the week off last Friday night, tomorrow night they host Pickens County at the Branch.
Chestatee (5-2-0) Average Points Scored 35.43: Average Points Allowed 24.86: Power Rating 1.43: The War Eagles got beat by a very good White County football team. The White County Warriors only three losses were against three real good football teams. Statistically, Chestatee had an edge, but like in the War Eagles only previous loss to Flowery Branch, they lost the turnover battle. When any team throws four interceptions and loses 3 fumbles they are going to lose. If you check the upsets every week in all levels of football, it is turnovers which have allowed the underdog to pull off a victory. The War Eagles did a lot of good things last Friday, they ran the ball 48 times and averaged 6.35 yards per rush. Jo Jo Sweet had another dominating night carrying the ball 22 times for 175 yards and averaged 7.5 per carry. Ethan Souther had another solid night running, averaging 7.55 yards per carry on 9 carries. The War Eagle defense had a solid night holding the Warriors to 251 total yards and White County’s passing game to 4.67 yards per pass attempt. Gilmer and Lumpkin County, Chestatee’s next two opponents, know the War Eagles are beatable; they will both be putting game plans together which might force turnovers. This is a much improved football team, but a team which has learned a lesson all of us have learned at one time or another, we are not bullet proof. Correct the mistakes, move on, and don’t get beat the same way twice.
Gainesville (5-3-0) Average Points Scored 39.98: Average Points Allowed 24.25: Power Rating 1.64: The second most productive offense in the county, the Red Elephants put up awesome numbers last Friday night vs. Pickens County. On the way to scoring 77 points in a 77-35 win, Justin Fordham threw 24 passes for 334 yards which is an average of 13.92 yards per attempt. Gainesville completed passes to four different receivers, with Gerald Ford and Tyler Adetona catching 6 each. Kendrick Harris, Gainesville’s splendid running back caught two passes, while carry the ball 19 times for 124 yards with an average of 6.5 yards per carry. The last couple of games Gainesville has added some QB running to the mix, which in my opinion, makes them more difficult to defense, particularly because Fordham is a fine overall athlete. Fordham carried the ball last Friday 5 times and averaged 6 yards a carry. Gainesville’s defense gave up an average of 4.12 yards per rush to Pickens County. With the Red Elephant’s offense you can win with that number, but they also allowed 8.21 yards per pass while intercepting two passes. The interceptions are good, but the 8.21 yards per pass attempt is a little high. Gainesville has two winnable games left on their schedule, Johnson at Johnson next Friday night, and then West Hall at West Hall in the last week of the regular season. In my opinion neither of these wins will be easy, both of these teams are better in my opinion than they were last year and both are improving and have improved each week during the 2007 season. Johnson beat West Hall without Bobby Wirsing, their starting QB, last Friday night and won the game with a fine Sophomore Anthony Prophet. Prophet scored 2 TDs running, but did not throw a forward pass. Wirsing helped defeat Gainesville last year, frequently hitting his tight end and his slot back on seam routes, plus some timely QB running.
Johnson (3-4-0) Average Points Scored 18.14: Average Points Allowed 17.86: Power Rating 1.02 The Knights won a hard fought victory against a tough competitive West Hall Spartan team last Friday night. Three huge fourth quarter plays turned out to be the margin of victory. They occurred at a time when it looked like West Hall was about to gain momentum and take over the control of the game. Play one - West Hall had started to move the football when coach Friel started to give them a heavy dose of blitzing. Gilbert Espinoza broke through from his linebacking position, stripped the QB of the football which Josh Owens picked up and took it for an 80 yard TD. Play two - with the game still very much in contention, Seth Evans, the Johnson fullback broke an off tackle play for 50 yards and a TD. Seth had been the workhorse all night and I am sure his play inspired his teammates.
Play three - under extremely intense pressure from the Johnson blitzing defense, West Hall’s very talented Freshman QB was intercepted by Johnson’s strong safety Joey Wirsing, who took the ball up the sideline for 86 yards and a TD. We saw this same kind of intensity and determination from the Knights last year, when they came to Gainesville and upset the Red Elephants. The Gainesville-Johnson game tomorrow night should be 4 quarters of great football. There will be a lot on the line for both teams and both coaching staffs will have their teams ready.
West Hall (2-6-0) Average Points Scored 18.00: Average Points Allowed 26.00: Power Rating 0.69: West Hall was 2-8 last year, but I promise you this year’s team is better. Tomorrow night the Spartans have an open date, and then they play Gainesville and finish the season against Flowery Branch. Both will be home games for West Hall. This is clearly an improving football team which has some tough competitive football players playing for them. Early in the season, I am not sure they could have played toe to toe with Gainesville and Flowery Branch. They have a first year coach and the players were learning a new offense and a new defense. Daniel Drummond is as good an all around football player as anybody at his position in the county. A fullback on offense and a LB/DE on defense, he is strong, he is tough, has good speed and will hit you like a ton of bricks and he is only a junior. Another Junior is Marquise Stevens, the Spartan tailback who has been putting up impressive numbers from the tailback position all season long. He is fast, he is strong and has good balance and is also a threat as a receiver. The guy who I had been hearing about all season was Marquise’s younger brother freshman QB Shunquez Stevens. For a freshman at his position he is having a great year. He took some nicks last night against a Johnson defense which was designed to put maximum pressure on him. I was impressed with him from every respect, he is big (I am not sure what size), he is fast and athletic, he has a great arm, plus he, like his brother, is mentally tough. I promise you, if he makes the kind of progress he should make over the next three years, the Spartan football fans are in for a treat. Will Edge a senior wide receiver had a great game last Friday against Johnson. He caught 8 passes for 107 yards and not all of them were easy catches, he can and will catch the hard ones. Another defensive stand out is Trey Malone, this senior linebacker is a big play maker and a fine open field tackler. Free Safety Jake Copeland also stood out both on defense and on offense.
East Hall (0-7-0) Average Points Scored 6.86: Average Points Allowed 40.43: Power Rating 0.17: The Vikings lost to Lumpkin County last Friday night 48-6. The East Hall touchdown was scored by Chris Duong when he hauled in a 25 yard pass from Destin Gardner. Chris Ingram was the Vikings leading rusher. The freshman carried the ball 4 times for 34 yards and averaged 8.5 yards per carry. Receiver Chris Duong is a junior and Destin Garner is a sophomore and each is getting valuable experience. The Vikings travel to Cleveland tomorrow night to take on the White County Warriors.
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