Our Week Three Game of the Week takes us to Jefferson as the Dragons host St. Pius X in yet marquee matchup. The Dragons come in with their fiery offense and a #5 state ranking, while the Golden Lions were shut out last week against top-10 ranked Flowery Branch, but are just outside the top 10 in the polls.

JEFFERSON

The Travis Noland era has opened with us already getting a great glimpse of what this offense can do. 51 points per game in two games, both against ranked opponents. Yes, the defense certainly could use some improvement, as the Dragons have allowed 75 points, just shy of last year’s 94 combined. Still, when you score at such a high rate, that means the other team will have the ball more as well. Sammy Brown and Elijah Dewitt have been oh so good, and those two along with Max Aldridge will continue to blast opposing defenses. It’s hard to see right now that this team can’t run the region, although Flowery Branch, who just shut out St. Pius X, might have something to say about it.

ST. PIUS X

The Golden Lions, ranked last week in the top 10 in the classification, are coming off a 9-0 loss to Flowery Branch. That came on the heels of a 10-7 slim win over Dacula. Safe to say, this offense lacks significantly. The defense, meanwhile, is pretty sturdy. St. Pius is a storied program that has 9 region championships since 2009, has made state every year since 2006, and made the state finals in 2012 and 2014.

BY THE NUMBERS (2022)

JEFFERSON

• 1-1 (0-0 in 8-AAAAA)
• Region Standings: 1st
• 51.0 OFFENSE AVG
• 37.5 DEFENSE AVG
• #5 State Ranking

ST. PIUS X

• 1-1 (0-0 in 4-AAAAAA)
• Region Standings: 1st
• 5.0 OFFENSE AVG
• 8.0 DEFENSE AVG
• N/A State Ranking

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Be looking for highlights post-game late tonight as well as a story recapping Week Three. Highlights are shared on Channel 5 (Fox) on the 11 PM “High 5 Sports” show throughout the regular season. You can also follow us on Twitter (@BlitzSportsGa) for live score updates (5G pending).

OUR PREDICTION

This pits a team with such explosion on offense (Jefferson) against a team that’s leaning heavily on defense (St. Pius). In games like this, often times you want to favor the defense. But when that St. Pius team only averages 5 points per game here early on, even if it were to hold the Dragons to half of its 51 point per game average, it would still be an easy Jefferson win. Home field won’t really be the factor, but it certainly helps. We don’t anticipate this game being very close. OUR PICK: Jefferson

DO WE BRING LUCK?

15 games in our time of doing this in catching the Dragons in action, and JHS is 12-3 in those contests. This will be the first time we’ve seen the Dragons since their epic first round loss to Hapeville last year, so we’re looking forward to seeing a Jefferson win to help get that memory further in the rearview mirror.

DETAILS OF THE MATCHUP

TIME: 7:30 PM Kickoff
PLACE: Jefferson HS / Jefferson, GA / Memorial Stadium
LAST MEETING: 2017: St. Pius X 43, Jefferson 29
ALL-TIME RECORD: Series tied 1-1
RECORDS: #5 Jefferson Dragons (1-1; 0-0 in 8-AAAAA); St. Pius X Golden Lions (1-1; 0-0 in 4-AAAAAA)
HEAD COACHES: Travis Noland (190-90; 25 Seasons); Chad Garrison (10-4; 2 Seasons)

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

These teams have squared off just twice in their history, splitting in those contests. The last meeting was in 2017 on an October night in which Gene Cathcart’s first year over the Dragons featured a 43-29 loss at St. Pius. The year prior, 2016, Ben Hall’s Jefferson team won 24-0 at Memorial Stadium. Not much history to pull from here, but neither team has won on the road.

TEAM LEADERS (2022 Stats)

JEFFERSON

PASSING
Max Aldridge – 346 yds, 4 TD, 0 INT, 48% completion

RUSHING
Sammy Brown – 383 yds, 7 TD, 11.3 YPC
Shontez Porter – 122 yds, 1 TD, 5.1 YPC
Vermarion Davis – 50 yds, 1 TD, 4.5 YPC
Isaiah Copeland – 29 yds, 0 TD, 5.8 YPC
Max Aldridge – 27 yds, 1 TD, 3.9 YPC

RECEIVING
Elijah Dewitt – 255 yds, 4 TD, 8 rec
Rodney Hinton – 25 yds, 0 TD, 2 rec

DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Sammy Brown – 17 TKL, 1 Sack, 1 INT
Isaiah Copeland – 13 TKL, 1 TFL, 1 Sack
Bowman Horn – 12 TKL
Elijah Dewitt – 11 TKL, 1 INT
Oscar Escobedo – 7 TKL
Skyler Zimmerman – 7 TKL, 2 TFL, 1 Sack
Talan Childress – 7 TKL, 1 INT

ST. PIUS X

PASSING
Will Moreman – 136 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 55% completion

RUSHING
Kevin Beirne – 66 yds, 0 TD
Jack Tchienchou – 40 yds, 0 TD
Shug Bentley – 34 yds, 0 TD
Will Moreman – 28 yds, 0 TD

RECEIVING
Jack Tchienchou – 76 yds, 1 TD, 3 rec
Hampton Gilleland – 27 yds, 0 TD, 1 rec
Kevin Beirne – 14 yds, 0 TD, 2 rec

DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Shug Bentley – 18 TKL
Liam Whitlark – 14 TKL
Jack Tchienchou – 10 TKL, 1 INT
P Chenault – 6 TKL, 1 INT
W Ingham – 3 TKL, 1 INT