Special - Greg Spell
Amehre Morrison and River Ridge will get everyones best shot this season as they defend their Region 7AAAAAA championship.
KICKOFF 2021 139
REGION 7AAAAAA
River Ridge ready to defend first region championship
By Anna Snyder
MDJ Sports Writer
Region 7AAAAAA, a mixture of Cherokee
and Fulton County schools, has the
potential of being one of the state’s most
competitive regions.
With teams like Johns Creek, River Ridge,
Creekview and Sequoyah, it is hard to pick a
clear-cut favorite to win the region title.
“We have a great region,” Creekview coach,
Trevor Williams, said. “We’ve got a really tough
region, week in and week out, great athletes.
I mean, you’ve got big time Power 5 DI kids
at a number of different schools. The coaching
in this region is unbelievable. It’s going to
be a dogfight every week, it’s going to be one
of those things where you got to have your
team ready to play and you won’t be able to
make too many mistakes and get by with it in
this region.”
River Ridge was at the top of the region last
year, completing its first undefeated regular
season in program history, but coach Michael
Collins knows it is going to be a fight for his
team to stay at the top.
“You know, it’s going to be a very competitive
league,” Collins said. “I think most of the
teams in our league are even throughout. I
don’t think there’s a clear-cut team that stands
out above the rest. I think it’s going to come
down to teams catching a break, and staying
healthy.”
Creekview finished second with a 5-1 region
record. Johns Creek (4-2) came in third, and
Sequoyah (4-3) was fourth. They were closely
followed by Cambridge, which tied Sequoyah
at 4-3 but lost the tiebreaker.
The region returns a large number of quality
players. River Ridge has running back Amehre
Morrison, who led Cherokee County with
1,958 yards last season on 265 carries. Coaches
around the region said they are keeping an
eye out for him and his talent.
“River Ridge’s running back is unbelievable,”
James Teter, Sequoyah’s coach, said.
“He is outstanding.”
Creekview is bringing back three-year starter
Tyler Stevens at tailback. The 6-foot-1,
210-pound rising senior was the team’s leading
rusher with 886 yards last season.
Mattew Traynor returns under center for
Sequoyah. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior
threw for 700 yards last season with nine
touchdown passes.
Coaches said they are expecting the region
race to come down to the wire, and they refuse
to count any team out.
Collins said that teams like Centennial, who
finished last in region play last year after going
0-6, should not be discounted.
“Even a team like Centennial that maybe a
lot of people would not mention, but I think
could definitely be a dark horse in this thing,”
Collins said. “They’ve got a great coaching staff
and they had a lot of young kids last year that
showed a lot of promise.”
While it is unclear who will come out on top,
it is likely to be a fight for the top spot.
“I think there will be five, maybe six teams
to compete in those four spots,” Teter said.
“So it’ll be a battle right there, all the way
to the end.”
Prediction
1. River Ridge
2. Johns Creek
3. Creekview
4. Cambridge
5. Sequoyah
6. Riverwood
7. Chattahoochee
8. Centennial