Commerce enters the week tied in the region with Prince Avenue Christian for third, with the top four teams getting the chance for post-season play.
Athens Academy sits atop the standings, but is off this week. That leaves the door open for George Walton, which is 4-1 after its 21-0 victory over Commerce, to tie for the top spot, as they’ll face Athens Christian. Prince Avenue, meanwhile, will close its regular season against Riverside.
The Tigers will travel to Social Circle on Friday looking to end their regular season on a high note, as they’ll face off against the 1-4 Redskins.
A win would give Commerce third in the region, and probably send them to Bremen for the first round of playoff action. Should Prince Avenue also win, the tiebreaker would be Commerce’s victory over Prince Avenue on Oct. 22.
A loss would relegate the Tigers to fourth, sending them to Rome to face Darlington, which is number one in region 6-A.
Social Circle enters play off of a non-region win against River Ridge last week. Prior to that, its only other victory came on Oct. 1 against region opponent Riverside.
In 15 previous meetings, Commerce has bested Social Circle 13 times, including last year’s 42-14 win. You have to look all the way back to 2005 to find the last time Social Circle beat Commerce.
“Social, like always, has got great speed,” said Commerce head football coach Steve Savage. “They can give us trouble. We’re going to have to play every snap on defense like it’s our last one. If we don’t, they’re going to score points.”
Savage said it’s the same story for his team on offense.
“We’ve got to execute better than we have been,” he said. “We’re close to doing things pretty good, we just don’t do it all the time.”
Kick off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
George Walton
The first quarter was filled with near misses for both teams. After intercepting a Commerce pass just over four minutes in, the Bulldogs appeared to have run in their first touchdown. But a penalty call brought the ball back, and the Tiger defense stopped the Bulldogs there.
With just over two minutes left in the quarter, Commerce moved into position for a field goal attempt from 34 yards out. That attempt was no good, and game remained scoreless.
The game would remain scoreless most of the second quarter, George Walton missed on a 39-yard field goal attempt, but with under a minute left in the half, the Bulldogs struck, running in their first touchdown of the night from two yards out to take a 7-0 lead at the half.
Four minutes into the second half, George Walton scored from 20 yards out to make it 14-0.
The Bulldogs got their final TD three minutes later, making it a 21-0 advantage on a two yard run. George Walton missed a 42-yard field goal attempt with less than two minutes left to play.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News.
