Ware County’s road tour continues this week as the Gators travel to topranked Creekside for a Round 2 matchup against the unbeaten Seminoles.
Region 3 third seed Ware County (9-2) advanced with a 44-27 victory over Region 8 runner-up Flowery Branch (7 4) to set up the date with “speedy” Region 4 champ ion Creekside. The Seminoles are ranked inside the Top 50 in four of seven national polls. They are 16th in the NationalHSFB.com Top 25 poll, 33rd in the Massey Ratings Top 100, 42nd in the Max-Preps
Top 100 and 46th in the High School Football America
Top 100.
Speed is the optimal word to best describe the Seminoles’ skill set.
“That’s a good note,” said Gators’ head coach Jason Strickland. “If you’re going to watch them, don’t watch them in the dark. They’re good. They’re obviously one of the best football teams in the state.
“They have a ton of speed in a lot of places and great size along the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. From a defensive standpoint, they’re very active with that defensive front, with movement and twists and those sorts of things. They also haven’t punted a whole lot this year.”
“We’re (coaches) trying to dip into some territory that they haven’t been this year. They haven’t had to return but just a few kickoffs. Hopefully we can find a way to get a few stops and find a way to get some points.”
Friday’s meeting is just the second between the two programs with the first coming in the second round of the 2020 plays. The Gators recorded their only “Sweet 16” road victory beating Creekside 49-25.
That meeting is part of 19 consecutive second round appearances for Ware County and 22nd overall since the turn of the century. The Gators are 1-6 on the road and 10-11 overall when advancing to the second round.
Ware County has been ousted in six of the last eight “Sweet 16s” since 2017 including the last two years on the road at Warner Robins (23-21, 2023) and eventual 2024 champion North Oconee (35-6).
The Seminole, who are 8-7 in second round pairings, are making an eighth consecutive trip to Round 2. The previous four years have ended with a quarterfinal loss (2022), two semifinal losses (2021, 2024) and a championship game loss.
Creekside brings video game stats into the game. The Seminoles are averaging 62.2 points per game scoring 55-plus points in eight of their 11 contests including five games of 70-plus with a high of 91. They have generated 440.8 yards (235.5 rush/ 205.3 pass) against outmanned foes.
Three players have scored at least 10 touchdowns and 13 others have crossed the goal line at least once. Senior kicker Delano Jones has con-verted 90-of-96 PATs through 11 games.
The offense is directed by senior Cayden Benson (5-11, 170 lbs.), who has completed 126-of-190 passes (66 percent) for 2,216 yards. He’s thrown for 32 touchdowns and suffered two interceptions.
Gary Walker (6-foot, 180) leads the ground game with 1,045 yards (9.7 average) and 14 touchdowns. He has six 100-yard rushing nights.
Senior Ced Kelly (5-9, 170) has accumulated 748 yards (11.2 per attempt) and scored 19 times while posting four 100-yard rushing games. He has 19 receptions with a touchdown.
Senior Damien Henderson (5-10, 170) is the top receiver with 40 catches for 764 yards (19.1 per catch) and 10 touchdowns. Classmate Eric Paul, Jr., has 37 catches for 654 yards (17.7 per reception) and nine touchdowns.
Junior Armani Hill (6foot, 165) is third in receiving yards 386 yards on 14 receptions (27.6) and nine touchdowns.
Starting along the line are seniors Devin Harris (6-4), Louis Johnson (6foot) and Mycal Reynolds (6-foot, 210), juniors Kaleb Noel (6-2) and Lawrence Martin (6-1, 265).
“They (coaches) want to get downhill behind a big offensive line and run the ball,” said Strickland. “They’ll run power counter, inside zone and mix in a little bit of quarterback run stuff. They get real close splits and do a great job of just covering people up. They’ve got two excellent running backs.
“They do a really good job of pounding the ball, and then slipping in a screen or some sort of double move on the outside ... they’ve got some gazelles sitting out there. It’s a well coached offense.”
Strickland said Creekside’s offensive scheme is very similar to what the Gators faced in 2020.
“It hasn’t changed a whole lot,” Strickland said, “except for the personnel. Somehow we’ve got to you’ve got to dent that offensive line and create some negative plays to get them in some uncomfortable situations.
“The big thing for us is not helping them. There’s been so many teams who have helped them leaving guys wide open, not tackling very well, not attempting to tackle, getting out of their gaps, all those sorts of things.
“Playing teams like this you’ve got to play with great leverage along the defensive line, our linebackers have got to be great tacklers and we’ve got to be very disciplined with our eyes in the secondary. They are talented and they’re going to make plays. We’ve just got to make them play one more play.”
The Creekside defense, which plays four-man and five-man fronts, has allowed 10 touchdowns all season while pitching six shutouts including five in a row to start region play. Teams are averaging just 6.6 points per game.
Senior linebacker Decari Farley (6-foot) leads the team in tackles with 74, has six tackles for loss and four sacks. Junior linebacker Major Levell (5-11, 195) has 61 stops, 10 TFLs and a sack.
Junior defensive lineman Cassius Burch (6foot, 240) anchors the defensive front with 51 stops, 12 TFLs and 11 sacks. Classmate Tavarre Terrell, a linebacker, has 49 tackles and a teamhigh 16 TFLs and teamleading 13 sacks.
Junior defensive tackle Kenny Fairley (6-foot) has 48 tackles, nine TFLs and five sacks. Senior safety Tyree Colzie (6-foot, 175) leads the secondary with four of the teams’ 17 interceptions.
“They (coaches) mix up the fronts,” said Strickland. “Outside it’s a very aggressive tight man-toman coverage. They’ve (Seminoles) got length in that secondary.
“The question we have to answer is can we run the ball? We’re probably not going to average six or seven yards of carry, but we have to be efficient enough to make them have to defend the line.
“If we’re able to run, then can we take advantage with some concepts that are really good against man coverage. Hopefully some of our play-action stuff will mess with their eyes a little bit to get some guys open in the passing game.”
Injury-wise, Strickland said the defensive unit suffered a blow with an injury to junior free safety Lojuan Blue.
“He got hurt at the end of the game,” said Strickland. “It looks like some sort of MCL issue. It seems like every time we get the secondary back intact somebody goes down.”
Senior Jah Evans will move into the spot. Strickland is hopeful senior defensive end Walker Hudson, who has not been cleared from his injury, returns this week.
