Preview: South Paulding Spartans vs. Gainesville Red Elephants
The South Paulding Spartans will head out on the road to face off against the Gainesville Red Elephants at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. South Paulding will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Georgia Rankings (they are ranked 142nd, while Gainesville is ranked 14th).
Last Friday, South Paulding was the victim of a tough 30-7 loss at the hands of Douglas County. South Paulding was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 23-0.
Despite their loss, South Paulding saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Kade Wigginton, who threw for 106 yards and a touchdown while completing 100% of his passes, was perhaps the best of all.
Meanwhile, Gainesville put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They took their game on the road with ease, bagging a 28-0 victory over Jackson County. Considering Gainesville has won six contests by more than 26 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Gainesville can attribute much of their success to Baxter Wright, who threw for 179 yards and two touchdowns while completing 76.9% of his passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Eric Hart did his part to keep the secondary busy, picking up 103 receiving yards and a touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Gainesville's defense and their five sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Julius Columbus and Xavier Griffin who racked up four sacks between them.
This is the second loss in a row for South Paulding and nudges their season record down to 3-7. As for Gainesville, they have yet to lose a match on the road this season, leaving them with a 10-0 record.
South Paulding suffered a grim 42-21 defeat to Gainesville in their previous meeting back in November of 2022. Can South Paulding avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
