WEEK 2 LOOKAHEAD: Early Region 1-4A matchup, Saturday morning special headline schedule

The opening week is in the books for most high school football teams in the Albany Herald coverage area, giving area coaches the first chance to see what they have when it comes down to gametime.

Week 1 wasn’t a highly successful one for area teams against out-of-area competition. Only Monroe (47-14 over Jordan) and Pelham (41-0 over Macon County) posted wins against teams outside of the Albany area, with Lee County (47-6 over Dougherty) and Baconton Charter (54-14 over Pataula Charter) winning in-area contests.

The first week also didn’t treat first-year head coaches kindly. All six head coaches making their debuts with Albany-area teams lost, although Westover’s Olten Downs (14-10 loss at Cook), Americus-Sumter’s Larry Harold (17-14 overtime loss at Crisp County) and Worth County’s Frankie Carroll (28-19 loss at Turner County) had single-digit decisions.

The second week of the regular season brings a key GHSA Region 1-4A contest and a Saturday morning special involving a pair of state champions. Here’s a look at this week’s games (all 7:30 p.m. kickoffs Friday, unless noted):

The big one: Dr. Phillips (Orlando, Florida) at Lee County, 11 a.m. Saturday.

The first two weeks of the high school football season in Georgia includes some big-time contests worthy of regional or national television. This game between large-school state champions didn’t get picked up by one of the cable networks, but it carries heavyweight billing.

The matchup is also the first of two games (Peach County is next) in which Lee County head coach Dean Fabrizio will go up against a team where he served as an assistant coach.

Both teams won state titles for the first time last year, with Lee County claiming the GHSA Class 6A title and Dr. Phillips winning the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 8A crown. Both teams had heavy graduation losses, although Lee County has three senior power-five conference prospects starting on defense.

Lee County’s defense held Dougherty to negative yardage in Friday’s Hamp Smith Classic. Osceola beat Dr. Phillips 21-3 on Friday in a preseason Kickoff Classic scrimmage.

Second on the list: Dougherty at Americus-Sumter.

The Trojans and Panthers weren’t originally scheduled to have their Region 1-4A game until late September, but both teams had undesirable double bye weeks scheduled for Weeks 2 and 3. They agreed to move their game up to Week 2, splitting the bye weeks and giving the teams a break at the season’s midpoint.

The matchup features two first-year head coaches, with record-holding University of Georgia return man Damien Gary leading Dougherty against Americus-Sumter and Larry Harold, who developed UGA and Chicago Bears linebacker Roquan Smith while at Macon County.

Americus-Sumter played Crisp County evenly Friday, losing in overtime when the Panthers couldn’t answer a Crisp County field goal. Dougherty, meanwhile, scored first on Lee County last week before the much deeper Lee County squad took control.

Another good one: Terrell County at Monroe.

Both teams scored a bunch of points in their season openers, with Terrell County scoring 32 in a 14-point loss to Chattahoochee County.

Monroe quarterback David Dillard is coming off a five-touchdown performance in which he threw for 210 yards and ran for 113.

The Tornadoes are looking to claim their first 2-0 start since 2015, when they opened with wins over Perry and Terrell County.

Also of note: Worth County has a chance to snap a 12-game losing streak when it hosts Dooly County, a team that went through a late coaching change when Jimmy Hughes was hired as athletics director at Crisp County over the summer … Pelham, which shut out Macon County last week after losing to the Bulldogs in the playoffs last year, is the opponent for Randolph-Clay’s season opener in Cuthbert … Calhoun County opens its season with a home game against Schley County, which lost 28-7 to Marion County last week … Deerfield-Windsor (Westfield) and Southland (Southwest Georgia) also open their seasons this week with home games.

Also, Terrell Academy hosts Tiftarea, which is coming off a 53-12 win over Creekside Christian in Erik Soliday’s coaching debut with the Panthers … A week after beating Sherwood Christian, Aucilla Christian of Monticello, Florida, takes on another team from the Albany area, hosting Pataula Charter … Westwood heads to Fullington for a crossover game against a GICAA opponent … Sherwood Christian gets arguably the area’s most enjoyable road trip of the regular season, heading to Florida’s Emerald Coast to take on Rocky Bayou Christian … Westover, Baconton Charter and Mitchell County are off.