Friday night football returns tonight with Chattooga at home against Gordon Lee and Trion making a long road trip to face Northview, and WZQZ will have coverage of both games.

For Chattooga, tonight marks the beginning of an important stretch of the schedule. The Indians host the Gordon Lee Trojans at The Little Big Horn, with kickoff at 7:30 PM.

Coach Roone Gable’s Indians are 0-4, but the last two games have been considerably closer than the first two. Chattooga fell 14-7 at Coosa before scoring a season-high 17 points in last week’s 27-17 loss at Ridgeland. Chattooga opened the season with losses to LaFayette and Model.

Gordon Lee enters tonight at 1-3 under head coach Josh Groce. The Trojans opened the season with a 36-7 loss at Trion, then defeated Ridgeland 21-7. Since then, Gordon Lee has lost 28-14 at Ringgold and 35-21 against Heritage.

The Trojans are coming off an 11-2 season in 2025 and a first-place region finish, but graduated personnel from that team. Before this season, Groce described the 2026 Trojans as a physical team and identified Dyllan Currie, Braxton Daniel, Sean Harms-Benafel, Eli Hasty, Logan Price and Will Slaton among his key leaders.

Chattooga entered the season with several experienced players, including Aiden Fletcher, Kane Baker, Ja’Vion Cotton, Jayden Foster, Major Blair and Jovanni Hill. More recent statistics published by MaxPreps list Cotton as Chattooga’s leading rusher among reported statistics and senior Colton McCary as the leading receiver.

Tonight’s game is also notable because Chattooga and Gordon Lee are both members of Region 7-AA, making this the beginning of region play for the Indians. Gordon Lee is also listed at 0-0 in region competition entering tonight.

Meanwhile, Trion takes a three-game winning streak on the road tonight.

Coach Sean Patrick’s Bulldogs are 4-1 after last week’s dominating 49-0 victory over Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe. Trion’s only loss came against Model, 31-7. Since then, the Bulldogs have beaten Ridgeland 38-17, Dade County 42-35 and LFO 49-0. Combined with the season-opening 36-7 victory over Gordon Lee, Trion has scored 165 points in its four victories.

Senior quarterback Linc Allen has been a major part of Trion’s production. MaxPreps currently lists Allen at 98.4 rushing yards per game with 10 total touchdowns. Junior TK Smith leads the listed receiving statistics at 43 yards per game, while linebacker Frank Carrillo leads the defense with eight tackles per game and senior Hudson Thomas is credited with 1.5 sacks.

Tonight’s opponent presents an unusual matchup. Northview is a Class AAAAA school from Johns Creek, while Trion competes in Class A. The Titans, coached by Mario Drayton, enter the game at 1-3. They lost 24-17 to Johns Creek and 26-7 to Drew before defeating Berkmar 20-12. Northview lost 56-21 to King’s Ridge last week.

Available Northview statistics show senior Drew Beane leading the passing game, with senior Cade Zeman the leading receiver and senior Omari Drayton leading the Titans in rushing. Junior linebacker Matthew Crotsley has been Northview’s leading tackler in the statistics reported to MaxPreps.

Both games kick off at 7:30 tonight.

WZQZ will have both Chattooga and Trion available live on the WZQZ Facebook page. Chattooga-Gordon Lee will also be tonight’s radio game on 99.1 FM, with Chris “Bubba” Wilson on play-by-play, Steiner Davis providing analysis and Mason Gilreath on camera. The Trion broadcast will feature Paul Cavin on play-by-play, Jeremy Burke providing analysis and Sam Kholer on camera.