GAME OF THE WEEK: Cobb rivals square off with region positioning on the line

by Alex Ewalt

Region 6-AAAAA opponents Walton and Lassiter will meet on Oct. 23 for our GPB/Score Atlanta Football Fridays in Georgia game of the week. Six games into the season, both squads have survived their schedules and managed perfect 6-0 overall and 5-0 region records, which puts them in a three-way tie with Roswell for the No. 1 seed; each team will face Roswell in the closing weeks of the regular season. Walton holds a 17-9 advantage in the all-time series with Lassiter, but the Trojans broke a four-game losing streak to the Raiders with a 31-24 home win last season; this year’s game will be held at Walton’s Raider Valley.

Walton got past a previously undefeated Milton team in Week 6 by the score of 28-23, as QB Joey Windler rushed for two scores and completed eight of 14 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown, an 80-yard strike to Patrick Cosgrove which gave the Raiders their last points of the game with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Walton withstood a Milton comeback in the final minutes to seal the victory, recovering an onsides kick with 23 seconds left in the contest. A blocked punt at the end of the first half set up a Raiders score. However, the Raiders fell to Centennial in a wild 31-28 loss, their first in the region. Walton has relied on its ground game for most of the year, which is led by Windler and RB Kyle Vorster. On defense, DT Kyle Woestmann is a Vanderbilt commit who clogs up the middle for the Raiders.

Lassiter routed Alpharetta 44-7 in Week 6, making it the fifth game of the season that the Trojans had won by seven points or more (the closest game they have played is a 32-31 victory over Pope in Week 2). Lassiter QB Hutson Mason, who finished just five yards short of the state single-season passing record last year, racked up 326 yards on efficient 24-of-31 passing to go along with four touchdowns. The Trojans defense shined as well in the game, picking off Alpharetta three times, including a 27-yard pick-six by linebacker Marcus Stokes. Stokes’s fellow linebacker Rip Rowan showed his versatility, rumbling into the end zone from a yard out as a goal-line back.

It was last Friday, however, that Mason really caught everyone's attention. A ridiculous 545-yard passing performance (in only about three quarters of work) set the all-time, all-class state record in the Trojans' 56-26 win over Milton. At this point in the season, the Lassiter offense looks to be as close to unstoppable as any team's O in the state.

Coverage of this all-important region battle will begin at 7:15 p.m. at GPB.org/football/watch, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30.