WEEK 4 LOOKAHEAD: Region champs Lee County, Americus-Sumter square off

The first quarter of the 2018 high school football regular season has passed, and some themes are taking shape.

Defense has come up big at Lee County and Pelham, a pair of 3-0 teams that haven’t allowed opposing offenses to score a single touchdown so far.

The area’s GISA Region 3-3A teams, Deerfield-Windsor and Southland, are both unbeaten. And three of the six new head coaches in the area — Americus-Sumter’s Larry Harold, Westover’s Olten Downs and Westwood’s Jimbo Hale — have secured wins with their new programs.

Here’s a look at this week’s games (all 7:30 p.m. kickoffs Friday, unless noted):

The big one: Lee County (3-0) at Americus-Sumter (1-1).

A pair of region champions from last season meet at Alton Shell Stadium in Americus.

While Class 6A No. 1 Lee County is a heavy favorite in this one, with the Trojans winning last year’s meeting 49-14 against the Class 4A Panthers, it’s possible both teams could be in region title fights again come late October.

Last year’s meeting was decided early, with then-Trojans fullback Nikko Cruz scoring four first-quarter touchdowns en route to a five-touchdown effort. But Americus-Sumter went on to win seven straight following that loss, securing its first region title since Americus and Sumter County consolidated in 2004.

Americus-Sumter is off to a similar start compared to 2017, losing a close season opener against Crisp County before winning its second game (Dooly County last year, Dougherty this year) by a comfortable margin. Quarterback Kierston Harvey is averaging more than 200 passing yards per game.

Second on the list: Heritage-Newnan (3-0) at Deerfield-Windsor (2-0).

Deerfield-Windsor has its first 2-0 start since 2010, pulling off close wins over Westfield and Glenwood (Phenix City, Alabama).

The Knights are putting the ball in the air more this season. Quarterback Jack Kimbrel has 432 passing yards in two games.

After opening with a 36-10 win over Terrell Academy, Heritage rolled to easy victories over Flint River and GISA newcomer Creekside Christian.

Two more big ones: Dougherty (0-2, 0-1 GHSA Region 1-4A) at Shaw (1-1, 0-1), 7 p.m. Thursday at Kinnett Stadium, and Westover (1-1, 0-0) at Columbus (1-1, 0-0), 7 p.m. Thursday at Memorial Stadium.

Region 1-4A play gets into full swing this week, with Dougherty and Westover heading to Columbus for Thursday night contests.

The schedule gets easier for Dougherty and first-year head coach Damien Gary after opening with the defending GHSA Class 6A champion (Lee County) and defending Region 1-4A champion (Americus-Sumter). Shaw, which went 1-9 last year, opened with a 48-0 win over Kendrick before losing 48-15 two weeks ago to Northside-Columbus.

Westover, meanwhile, is coming off a momentum-building 26-6 win over Monroe that snapped a four-game losing streak to the Tornadoes and gave Downs his first victory with the Patriots. Westover beat Columbus 26-13 last year, and a win over the Blue Devils on Thursday would set up a big region showdown Sept. 14 at Hugh Mills Stadium against Northside-Columbus.

Also of note: Monroe (2-1) tries to bounce back from its first loss of the season against Perry (3-0), which has wins over Houston County and Westside-Macon this season … Worth County (0-3) travels to Early County (2-1), a team with wins over Eufaula (Alabama) and Cook … Mitchell County (1-1, 1-0 GHSA Region 1-1A) has an important region contest at Miller County (1-0, 1-0), which opened its season last week with a 51-8 win over Terrell County.

Also, Baconton Charter (1-1, 0-1 GHSA Region 1-1A) hosts a Seminole County team (1-1, 1-0) that edged Calhoun County 7-6 last Friday … Calhoun County (0-2, 0-1 GHSA Region 1-1A) looks for its first win at home against Stewart County (2-0, 1-0), a team led by first-year head coach Ashley Harden, whose previous coaching stops include Northeast-Macon and a successful run at Twiggs County.

In addition, Southland (2-0) hosts Loganville Christian (2-1) … Terrell Academy (0-3) heads to Edmund Burke (1-1) … Westwood (1-2) travels to Monticello to take on Piedmont (1-0-1), which tied Thomas Jefferson last week … Sherwood Christian (1-2), which snapped a 29-game losing streak last week with a win at Pataula Charter, heads to John Hancock (0-2) … Pataula Charter, Pelham and Terrell Academy are off.