GHSA Football Week 3 Top 5 Preview - Game of the Week Dutchtown vs Jonesboro

1. A neighboring county battle will take place south of Atlanta as the Jonesboro Cardinals (1-1) will travel into Hampton to take on the 2-0 Dutchtown Bulldogs who are under the now under the direction of new head coach, Niketa Battle. Battle, who coached at Benjamin E. Mays previously, was announced as the new head coach for Dutchtown back in March and therefore says, because of that early start of the transition, the summer period with the team was “smooth” as they began preparing for the start of this season.

“Once I got hired in March, I came in full steam ahead,” said of the time in which he was able to “observe” what the program already had in place, allowing him to add what he felt necessary. “I just started to implement small things at a time and by the time summer got here, I had everything I needed implemented. The kids bought into it and it just ended up working well for us”.

Now, as the Cardinals prepare for Jonesboro, Battle acknowledges that the Cardinals will be a force to reckon with, crediting their head coach, De’Timothy Floyd. “I want give coach Floyd a shout out because he’s been with that program a while and I know that his team will be very well prepared to play against us,” said of the match up.

2. After having the week off last week due to their matchup with Edison (FL) being cancelled, the defending GHSA 3A Champs, Cedar Grove will look to pick up where they left off in week one when they defeated Bainbridge 30-14 in their season opener. But it will not be an easy task as the Saints will head to south Fulton to take on Westlake, who is coming off a huge 47-7 win over Crisp County, bouncing back from their 21-17 season opening loss to North Cobb. Westlake

3. Once again, it’s on! The three time defending 6A champs, Buford will take on North Cobb for the third consecutive season. The two powerhouses have split their last two meetings, with North Cobb taking the 2020 meeting 28-14. But the Wolves would get redemption last season as they kicked off the season taking down the Warriors 35-27.

4. A pair of early unbeaten teams will battle as Kennesaw Mountain will take on North Paulding as both teams are off to 2-0 starts for the second consecutive season. The Mustangs are coming off a 45-14 win over Campbell, While North Paulding took down East Paulding 49-24

5. The Langston Hughes Panther are rolling once again to start the season, having knocked off national opponent, Spartanburg (SC), 47-16, then putting another 47 spot on the board last week as they held McEachern to 21 points. This week, the Hughes will face a newly lead Mays Raiders, who at 1-1 have been impressive in both of their first two games. The Raiders took it to city rival Douglass, 35-0 in their season opener, then last week fought to the finish but fell to Douglass County, 49-41.