High School Football Preview: North Fulton Teams Hope For Stellar Season

By Mike Blum

From 2011 to 2014, the Alpharetta Raiders dominated the region they were in, going 28-1 in region play with three unbeaten records and one shared region title. The last two seasons haven’t been nearly as successful for the Raiders, who missed the playoffs entirely in 2015 with a 4-5 region mark, and tied for third last year at 5-2 after the three strong Forsyth County schools in the region all moved up to the state’s highest classification while Alpharetta remained where it was.

The new region seemed designed for Alpharetta to return to dominance, consisting of five North Fulton
schools with little history of recent success and three non-Fulton schools with even less successful
recent track records. The Raiders lost games they could have won to both Centennial and Johns Creek, who shared first place in the region, leaving the Raiders in a tie for third with Cambridge, which made its first playoff appearance in its fifth season of varsity football.

The nine teams in Region 7-AAAAAA have all played two non-region games thus far this season, with
region play beginning this week with four games (Northview is off Sept. 8). With five of the nine teams going 0-2 in non-region play and the bottom two teams in the 2016 standings both 2-0 against relatively tame opposition, conditions appear optimal for the Raiders to return to their 2011-14 status as the dominant
team in their region.

The Raiders are 1-1, getting run over by Milton in the second half of their opener 31-9 before handily
winning 26-7 against Gainesville, a traditionally strong opponent that may have slipped a bit the past
two seasons. The Raiders have the deepest collection of talent in the area with five Division 1 prospects (CB Jaycee Horn, RB Nolan Edmonds, OL Oye Ozebu, WR Spencer Gaddis and DL Deporess Schletty). Three other players on the team’s senior-dominated squad (QB Matthew Downing, DL Nick Markus and K Dylan
Schorr) were first team all-region selections, with the Raiders returning several other starters on both
sides of the ball.

With the region’s other three playoff teams from 2016 all appearing to be slightly down this season after
significant player losses to graduation or transfer, Alpharetta enters region play as a strong favorite to
finish first. Judging by their first two games, the flaws that have prevented the Raiders from doing any damage in the state playoffs remain on this team. Alpharetta still struggles to run the ball consistently and the defense has problems with teams with strong running games, as evidenced by Milton’s success in the second half.

But those may not be major concerns in a region where defenses are less than stout and most teams
rely primarily on the passing game. Centennial came into the season as Alpharetta’s most likely challenger, but the Knights lost an opening shootout to Wheeler and were crushed by a strong AAAAAAA South Forsyth team. Although they lost standout QB Casen Conway to graduation, the Knights returned two of the area’s
most talented skill position players -- Blane Mason and Cal Dickie -- and added Northview’s Emeka Nwanza,
a highly recruited running back (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app).

Centennial also lost its coach who helped revive a struggling program, with Johns Creek and Northview also having new head coaches. The Knights had a huge game offensively against Wheeler and should score plenty of points in region play, but first year QB starter Max Brosmer has been intercepted five times and the team’s defense, never its strength, has yielded more than 40 points in both its games, 45 in the first half last week against South Forsyth. Fortunately for the Knights, they won’t face a team as strong as South Forsyth again this season, and this week’s game against Alpharetta could be the best chance for a region opponent to take down the Raiders.

Johns Creek shared the region title with the Knights in 2016, but head coach Matt Kemper, who did an
excellent job turning the program around in his two seasons there, left for Roswell, and most of the
team’s top juniors from last season transferred. The Gladiators still have junior Zach Gibson, in his third season as a starter at QB, and Zach Williams, one of the state’s best receivers, but the team has been plagued by turnovers in its first two games and the pass defense was shredded last week by North Forsyth. Johns Creek is at home Friday against Pope before a key home game next week against Centennial.

Cambridge also started 0-2 last season, losing to the same two opponents it faced to open 2017. The Bears’ offense played well in the season opener against Creekview, but struggled against what appears to be a quality Milton team headed for the playoffs in 7A. A young Cambridge defense held up pretty well last season, but had problems in its first two games, although it went up against two teams that are likely better than what the Bears will see for most of their region schedule. The Bears have had three straight winning seasons and have a shot at a fourth despite the 0-2 start, which would put them back in the playoffs.

Chattahoochee won a state championship in 2010 and made the playoffs the next two seasons, but the Cougars are 13-27 since, with last year’s 5-5 mark their best since 2012. After being overrun by Pickens in their opener, the Cougars rebounded with a strong defensive effort against Rockdale, forcing four turnovers and blocking two kicks. Until their season finale against Alpharetta, the Cougars were not competitive against the region’s playoff qualifiers, and will play the three that beat them by an average of 25 points in the next five weeks. The Cougars host Cambridge Friday night.

Northview is one of three North Fulton teams in the region with a new coach, and is looking to bounce
back after a 2-8 record in 2016 that followed the Titans’ first playoff appearances the previous two
seasons. Over the years, the Titans have had a number of their top players transfer out, and that was the case
again this season with the departure of Nwanze to Centennial. Without Nwanze, the Titans relied mainly
on the pass in their opener against Lanier, with Colton McDaniel passing for 334 yards and three touchdowns in a game Northview led until a late Lanier rally.

The Titans faced a strong Winder-Barrow team and lost last week, but appear to be improved over last
season and could contend in a region that is not exactly loaded with teams with recent records of
success.

A little further south, North Atlanta and Dunwoody are both 2-0, but North Atlanta is 10-50 the last six seasons and Dunwoody is 13-37 the last five. Even though both are 2-0, North Atlanta is listed behind all four of last year’s playoff teams in computer rankings that rate all the teams in the state, and Dunwoody is behind
both Chattahoochee and Northview. Pope is 8-32 the past four seasons and is 0-2 after losses to strong
7A opponents.

Over the past six seasons, the region’s 24 playoff representatives are a combined 5-19 in first round state playoff games, with Alpharetta scoring victories in 2013 and 2014 and three Forsyth teams now in 7A collecting the other wins. The region went 0-4 last year, but have drawn a different region that is not nearly as imposing this season, holding out some hope for the four teams in Region 7 that reach the post-season.

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