The South Paulding Spartans and the Gainesville Red Elephants squared off in some playoff action on Friday, but sadly the South Paulding Spartans had to settle for second. South Paulding took a 46-27 bruising from Gainesville. While losing is never fun, South Paulding can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Georgia football rankings (they are ranked 135th, while Gainesville is ranked 17th).
Gavin Hall was a one-man wrecking crew for Gainesville as he rushed for 209 yards and four touchdowns. Another player making a difference was Baxter Wright, who threw for 238 yards and three touchdowns on only 19 passes.
Another reason for the win was Gainesville's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for eight sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Zarion Harvey and Xavier Griffin who racked up five sacks between them.
South Paulding are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 3-8. Those losses could be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they only averaged 14.7 points per game. As for Gainesville, they pushed their record up to 11-0 with that win, which was their 14th straight at home dating back to last season.
South Paulding does not have any more games scheduled as of now. Gainesville will face off against Blessed Trinity at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Blessed Trinity will be looking to extend their current five-game winning streak.
