The Rockmart Yellow Jackets will spend the rest of their season starting on Friday night playing for one thing: a fifth region title in a row, and to get to the mountaintop of Class AAA football after making it to the second round in 2020.

Region play opens on Friday night as the Jackets host Coahulla Creek for their Homecoming game, with Rockmart coming into the contest with a 1-1 record and high hopes for overcoming a Colts squad who has gone 2-0 against Class 4A teams.

The Jackets opened the year with a loss to Rome at home, and then after the Cedartown game was called off found an opponent and a victory by a touchdown against Villa Rica.

Now the Jackets face a Coahulla Creek squad who opened their year with a close win over Northwest Whitfield and then overpowering a Southeast Whitfield team who chose to sit out region play in 2020.

In last year’s 42-6 win in the first contest between the two teams, Rockmart set the pace for the rest of the year after taking a single loss to open the season against Rome and won 21-10 at home against Cedartown. After the region win over the Colts last season, the Jackets went on a seven-game winning spree into the second round of the playoffs, where they faced a Cedar Grove squad that took an overtime win over Rockmart to advance and ended the season in 2020.

Rockmart will first have to overcome a Coahulla Creek team that looks to be on the rise.

The Colts took a big win to open the season over the Northwest Whitfield Bruins in a 31-25 win, holding the Bruins to two field goals in the first overtime and then winning with a final score in the third overtime. Northwest Whitfield – who plays in the same region as Cedartown – has since taken a win over Gordon Central, and a loss to North Murray before they head into region play following a contest with an 0-1 Chattooga this Friday.

Coahulla Creek’s second victory on the year saw the Southeast Whitfield Raiders fall 38-7 to the Colts, putting up three first-half touchdowns and a field goal, and adding two more scores in the fourth quarter to take over the game after the Raiders added their only touchdown on the night in the third quarter.

The Colts and the Jackets are both coming off a bye week, and both have momentum coming into the game after both getting a win to end the month of August before their week off.

Rockmart won’t be easy for the Colts to beat by any stretch. Coming off of their fourth region title in a row and looking for a fifth, the Jackets continue with JD Davis under center and a deep roster of running backs to carry the ball and gain yardage on almost any play.

Jackets player Dennis Sims is also proving himself not only to be the best receiver on the team so far this year, but able to make big defensive stops when in pass coverage. The Colts will have to figure out how to stop him first if they hope to gain big yardage and get into the endzone in Friday’s game.

Additionally, the Jackets will be celebrating their Homecoming festivities at halftime of Friday’s game to open Region 6-AAA play, giving them additional reasons to play their hardest and come away with a region-opening win.

Kickoff at The Rock is at 7:30 p.m.

Check back on Saturday for more coverage from the game.