Sports

Early County holds Herald No. 1 ranking with one game to go

• Westover moved up one spot in the Herald Top 7 of ’07, while Americus-Sumter fell out after its loss to Eufaula (Ala.)

Danny Aller

ALBANY — After 10 weeks, everything comes down to Friday and Saturday.

For some teams, it’s do or die, while for others, the goal is survive one more week — and stay healthy in the process — as their stellar regular seasons come to a close.

In the latter group sits Early County (8-1), Bainbridge (7-2), Westover (6-3) and Deerfield (8-1). Coach Trey Woolf’s group romped against Albany last week to keep them at The Herald’s No. 1 spot and in a tie for second place in Region 1-AA. And whether the Bobcats can spoil Thomasville’s perfect region season will be decided when the two teams clash Friday in a game that’s been anticipated since the schedule came out.

Bainbridge’s convincing 34-0 win against Dothan on Friday firmed its grip on No. 2, while the movement in this week’s poll begins from No. 3 through No. 7 as red-hot Westover continued its late-season climb.

The Patriots jumped Deerfield-Windsor to move to No. 3 this week, proving themselves to be the hottest team in the area after winning three tough games in a row, including two, one-point victories against city rivals Monroe and Dougherty — earning the Patriots their first city championship in 21 years — then handily downing Crisp County last week to vault to second place in 1-AAA and assure a trip to the postseason.

As for DWS, while a team shouldn’t ever be punished for winning as they did Friday against Stratford Academy, the votes spoke loud and clear this week: Until the Westover Express loses, it’s going to keep right on truckin’ through the poll.

In the bottom half  this week sits Calhoun County, Worth County and Monroe. After a 34-0 thumping by Cairo, Monroe dropped from No. 5 to No. 7 this week, switching spots with Calhoun from Week 10. The Cougars had a bye last Friday and benefitted from losses by the Tornadoes and Americus-Sumter, both of whom were ahead of Calhoun.

The Panthers are the only team to get dropped this week after barely falling to Eufaula (Ala.), 17-14, and pushing their overall record to 5-4.

Once again the college football adage is true with this move: ‘Win all you want early, but lose late, and it’ll cost ya.’

As for No. 6, Harris Rainbow’s Rams broke back into the poll after beating Dougherty, 22-7. The Rams will be able to gain even more ground when next week’s final regular-season poll is released if they can beat Westover in the finale Friday in Albany.

And lastly sits Monroe, The Herald’s No. 1 team for much of the season.

However, struggles late have hurt the Tornadoes, and a win vs. city rival Dougherty on Saturday would go a long way to getting back on track — and doing so right just in time for the playoffs.

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