Week 2 Playoff Match: North Gwinnett at West Forsyth

Barrett Carter, 2021

Matt DeBary November 30, 2020 @ 07:12 AM

After a great first round of the Georgia high school playoffs, the pretenders are gone, and the contenders shined. Now, a big matchup in week two to keep an eye on is West Forsyth hosting North Gwinnett. The Wolverines, without star tight end [player_tooltip player_id="33945" first="Oscar" last="Delp"], had their way with a struggling Meadowcreek team as they beat them easily 39-14. West Forsyth, led by 4-star OL [player_tooltip player_id="33668" first="Dylan" last="Fairchild"], might have their best team in school history. They are stout defensively, and they have plenty of talent on offense. The Wolverines are now 8-3 on the season, but they’ll have their toughest test of the year this weekend as they host the 9-3 Bulldogs. North Gwinnett has won a state championship recently, and even though their season hasn’t gone according to play, they’re a team with playoff experience and two of the top players in the country. That would be four-star linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="33661" first="Barrett" last="Carter"], a Clemson commit, and four-star defensive back [player_tooltip player_id="33662" first="Jordan" last="Hancock"], an Ohio State commit. Hancock sat out most of the season due to Covid-19, but he’s back now and ready to end his high school career on a strong note. Carter, one of the top linebackers in the country, has been excellent for the Bulldogs as a running back in the last few weeks. Carter rushed for 4 touchdowns in last week’s 29-16 win over Cherokee. He did all the scoring, and ended the game with a 55-yard TD run to seal the victory. So how can West Forsyth pull the upset? It will be tough without star TE [player_tooltip player_id="33945" first="Oscar" last="Delp"] who will miss his second consecutive game due to a hand injury. The matchup between Delp and [player_tooltip player_id="33662" first="Jordan" last="Hancock"] was going to be fun to watch, but without Delp, it’s going to be tough for the Wolverines, led by 2023 QB Keegan Stover, to get much going through the air. So the Wolverines will be without star RB Daba Fofana due to an ACL injury, and now they won’t have [player_tooltip player_id="33945" first="Oscar" last="Delp"]. Freshman RB Ryder Stewart has been outstanding for the Wolverines in Fofana’s absence, but they’ll need more firepower on offense if they want to get past that strong North Gwinnett defense. The Bulldogs have given up more than 16 points just once in the last six games with two shutouts. They also held Cherokee’s strong offense to just 16 points in week one last weekend. It should be a close game no matter what, but unfortunately for the winner, they’ll likely have to play Grayson, arguably the best team in the entire state, in the next round.