Coaches always say “rankings don’t matter until the end of the season.”
Being the No. 1 team, though, puts a very big target on you. Ware County (4-0) will be carrying Class 5A’s top billing into Friday’s homecoming matchup against Jenkins of Savannah (1-4) in the Region 1-AAAAA opener inside Memorial Stadium.
The Gators, who are also atop the MaxPreps Class 5A rankings, last held the Atlanta Journal-Constitution No. 1 ranking the last two weeks of October 2020 beating sixth-ranked Coffee 24-14 and falling 22-19 at third-ranked Warner Robins.
Overall, Ware County is 8-4-1 when playing as the top-ranked team dating back to 1961. The Gators are 8-3 since 2008.
Neither Jenkins nor Ware County will have an advantage of a bye week Friday night in the third overall meeting (WCHS won 2012 - 49-6 at home; 2013 WCHS won 54-26 there) between the two programs. Each were open last week with the Gators having a second bye in three weeks.
“We had a very good week of practice,” said head coach Jason Strickland. “We did film study Monday and had some great workouts in the weight room. Tuesday and Wednesday were two great, intense days of practice matching our best against our best and that was a lot of fun.”
Jenkins, who has a streak of six consecutive playoff appearances, enters in the midst of a three-game skid with the last a 17-14 loss to Class 4A 10th-ranked Wayne County. The Yellow Jackets rallied from a 14-6 deficit entering the fourth quarter.
“I think they (Warriors) are trying to figure out an identity of who they are,” Strickland said. “That is a very athletic team, but with their struggles against a very challenging schedule are they still mentally in the fire.”
The Warriors and Ware County have two common opponents with Benedictine and Richmond Hill on the schedule. Jenkins fell 45-0 in two quarters to the Cadets and 38-10 vs. the Wildcats. Ware County beat BC 14-10 and Richmond Hill 20-7.
Strickland said Jenkins does a little bit of everything offensively from one-back sets to five-wide formations to wing-T.
“They (Warriors) want to be a running team with RPOs (run/pass option),” said the veteran coach. “They want the big plays to come from play-action.”
Through five games, Jenkins is 87 percent run and 13% pass. The Warriors average 35 rushing attempts a game generating 174.6 yards. They pass just 5.6 times a game for 14 yards on 2.6 completions with receiver having more than four catches.
Senior quarterback Troy Smith (6-foot-2, 210 lbs.) operates the offense. He’s completed just 6-of-11 passes for 29 yards. Smith has run for 200 yards and three scores with a high of 133 yards against Richmond Hill.
“He is a big, athletic kid,” said Strickland.
Senior Joshua Pridgen (5-10, 180) is the hammering running back. Pridgen, who rushed for 1,087 yards and 12 scores a year ago, has 322 yards and three scores this year with his best game a 165-yard effort in the lone win.
Sophomore Jayaun Albert (5-5, 165) is the second leading rusher with 212 yards including 128 vs. Bluffton.
“The key for us is recognizing formations and understanding the concepts of what they (Warriors) are trying to do,” said Strickland. “We’ve got to continue to force turnovers and get hats to the point of attack. We (coaches) all understand we’re a defensive-minded football team.”
Jenkins schemes defensively out of a four-man front. The Warriors have eight players between 11-19 tackles. Junior middle linebacker Jelani Sims (5-8, 205) leads the team with 19 tackles. Senior free safety Hunter Newman (5-11, 165) anchors the secondary.
“They are going to play man coverage underneath and make you fit the ball into a small window,” Strickland said. “They play light in the box, but those safeties are coming in hard.
“We’ve got to take steps forward with our short passing game. It’s got to be an extension of our running game to help us stay on schedule (down and distance). We’ve (coaches) also got to do a better job of playing with tempo, which we haven’t done a very good job of thus far.”
