Our Week Six Game of the Week takes us to Jefferson for the third time this season already, to catch the team with the top-10 offense and top-10 defense (#1-ranked Jefferson) and a solid, top-10 team in #10 Clarke Central.

JEFFERSON

The Dragons are the best in our area. Full stop! Jefferson is ranked #1 in one poll, and at or near the top in all the others. Downtown Sammy Brown has 491 rushing yards and 12 TD while collecting 43 tackles so far. He’s been tremendous. But Skyler Zimmerman recently had the best game of his career, and Jefferson is undefeated at 4-0, and have a top-10 ranked offense with 37.5 points per game, and a top-5 defense at 11.5 currently. The Dragons have allowed only 7 points in the past 2 games and only 21 in the last 3. Everything is clicking here.

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CLARKE CENTRAL

Clarke Central is a top-10 program of its own, and at 3-1, this team is good. The sole loss was a respectable 24-7 loss to #1-ranked Gainesville. The Gladiators are coming off a 21-20 emotional win over South Forsyth. The Glads score 23.5 per game and allow 20.5.

BY THE NUMBERS (2023)

JEFFERSON

• 4-0 (0-0 in 8-AAAAA)
• Region Standings: 1st
• 37.5 OFFENSE AVG (6th in Class 5A)
• 11.25 DEFENSE AVG (4th in Class 5A)
• #1 State Ranking

CLARKE CENTRAL

• 3-1 (0-0 in 8-AAAAA)
• Region Standings: 1st
• 23.5 OFFENSE AVG
• 20.5 DEFENSE AVG
• #10 State Ranking

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Be looking for highlights post-game late tonight as well as a story recapping Week Six. BLITZ partners with Fox 5’s 11 PM “High 5 Sports” show throughout the season. We make sure to get Jefferson coverage on the big market show! You can also follow us on Twitter (@BlitzSportsGa) for live score updates (5G pending).

OUR PREDICTION

We typically make a case for both, with our official pick linked below. The Dragons have home field, so that’s big. They have more talent, so there’s that too. If Jefferson takes care of the ball, and plays disciplined defense against the run, the Dragons will claim this game. For Clarke Central to win, the Gladiators would have to make Jefferson uncomfortable by scoring first and getting a couple of possessions up. That would force the Dragons to play from behind and likely make it a Sammy Brown-versus-Clarke Central game. That still wouldn’t be all. The Glads would have to also maintain a lead into the fourth, and get at least a turnover, and then capitalize. Point blank, a Gladiator win would mean everything goes right for CC, and not a lot goes right for Jefferson. OUR PICK: SEE HERE

DO WE BRING LUCK?

For Jefferson, we’ve been to 19 games for the Dragons since 2013. In that span, Jefferson is 16-3, including 2-0 this season and being winners of the last 4 games we’ve attended.

DETAILS OF THE MATCHUP

TIME: 7:30 PM Kickoff
PLACE: Jefferson HS / Jefferson, GA / Memorial Stadium
LAST MEETING: 2022 (#9 Jefferson 17, Clarke Central 7)
ALL-TIME RECORD: Jefferson leads 1-0 in the all-time series
RECORDS: #1 Jefferson Dragons (4-0; 0-0 in 8-AAAAA); #10 Clarke Central Gladiators (3-1; 0-0 in 8-AAAAA)
HEAD COACHES: Travis Noland (201-92; 26 Seasons); David Perno (57-31; 8 Seasons)

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

These teams have only last year as history. It was a 17-7 win for the Dragons at Clarke Central. The coaches are not without history though. Travis Noland, who just celebrated his 200th career win a couple of weeks ago, is 4-3 all-time against David Perno, who has been at Clarke Central his entire 8-year career. Noland was 3-3 against Perno while at Oconee County, and won last year with Jefferson. Noland has 7 region titles to Perno’s 3, so these coaches have great pedigrees.

TEAM LEADERS (2023 Stats)

*Stats accumulated by team-published data on Ga MaxPreps from this season

JEFFERSON

PASSING
Gavin Markey – 367 yds, 4 TD, 5 INT, 50% completion

RUSHING
Sammy Brown – 491 yds, 12 TD, 8.3 YPC
Dallas Russell – 158 yds, 0 TD, 4.5 YPC
Mickell Pittman – 83 yds, 0 TD, 4.4 YPC
Rett Hemphill – 33 yds, 1 TD, 5.5 YPC
Forrest Ross – 29 yds, 1 TD, 5.8 YPC
Gavin Markey – 24 yds, 1 TD, 1.6 YPC

RECEIVING
Rodney Hinton – 138 yds, 1 TD, 5 rec
Christopher Law – 82 yds, 2 TD, 6 rec
Talan Childress – 73 yds, 0 TD, 3 rec
Joshua Causey – 46 yds, 0 TD, 8 rec
Zay Minish – 30 yds, 1 TD, 3 rec

DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Sammy Brown – 43 TKL, 3 TFL, 1 Sack, 1 INT
Rett Hemphill – 38 TKL, 6 TFL, 2 Sacks, 1 FumRec
Jayden Yang – 38 TKL, 2 TFL
Skyler Zimmerman – 33 TKL, 6 TFL, 5 Sacks, 1 FumRec, 1 BLK
Jaden Butts – 22 TKL, 3 TFL, 1 INT
Kelan Butler – 17 TKL, 2 TFL, 2 Sacks, 1 FF

CLARKE CENTRAL

PASSING
Chase Berrong – 229 yds, 3 TD, 0 INT, 54% completion
Kamron Lawrence – 103 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 39% completion

RUSHING
Corey Watkins, Jr – 460 yds, 4 TD, 6.8 YPC
Kendrick Curry – 268 yds, 3 TD, 8.6 YPC
Jaylen Jackson – 61 yds, 0 TD, 8.7 YPC

RECEIVING
Jaylen Jackson – 157 yds, 1 TD, 7 rec
Jamarion Davis – 107 yds, 2 TD, 11 rec
Jaden Cofer – 72 yds, 1 TD, 7 rec

DEFENSIVE LEADERS
No Stats Available