High School Football Thread 2012-13

[BYU 14]

Nice story Jon

[JonInMiddleGA]

We get a huge win over one of our biggest - and most respected - rivals, beating Commerce 45-7 (4-4) in our first home game in a month. After a 4-0 start, injuries/illness/suspensions rendered the long powerful Tigers almost helpless from the outset. Playing without your starting QB, your top RB and your two leading tacklers will do that. Meanwhile we welcomed back members of our 2006 & 2007 Final Four teams for a halftime ceremony, they had to be pretty happy with what they saw from their successors.

Next Friday still looms large, as we host George Walton. They were in the top 5 this week but are almost certainly unranked next week as they suffered a shocking 29-10 upset at Pinecrest (the team we rolled over last week). Playing without your starting QB and your D1 signee RB creates problems, apparently more than they could handle tonight. No word yet on the status of either player for our matchup, with the region title still on the line (and still likely to go to the winner of this game), if they're ambulatory I figure they'll play.

Elsewhere tonight Tucker recovered from last week's loss to shutout SW DeKalb 29-0 and, sadly, my alma mater lost a tough one to their archrival 21-13. Gilmer scored on three plays of 60 yards or more and shut Pickens out in the second half. That gives the hated Bobcats the inside track to at least a sub-region title. The game, between two programs that have experienced very scant success (only 3 region titles in combined 110 seasons, all Gilmer's), drew a relatively massive crowd of 6000-6500 as well as attention from both TV & Radio stations in Atlanta. Big night in my old hometown, sucks that it turned out like it did.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Shameless promotion time. Athens Academy is one of 5 teams nominated as Team of the Week by the local Fox affiliate. Winner gets a morning show visit on Thursday. This would make for an extra special Homecoming Week highlight. Follow the link & vote in the poll on the right please.

High 5 Sports - Prep sports coverage from FOX 5 Atlanta - Team of the Week Poll: October 25

[Ben E Lou]

My FB status update announcing that we are pregnant again: 63 "Likes"
My FB status update about my daughter asking to go to a high school football game: 64 "Likes"

"You might have a lot of Facebook friends from the South if...."

[JonInMiddleGA]

So, after staring at the schedule all season, week 8 arrives. Athens Academy hosting George Walton, for Homecoming no less. This is definitely not a Duke/Vandy HC opponent.

Despite their shocking loss last week, GWA (5-2, 2-1) was a legitimate favorite to win the region behind an enormous O-line, a veteran QB and a transfer RB who was offered a scholarship by UGA when he was just a freshman. Now a junior Stanley Williams can be a beast, approaching the thousand yard mark despite missing a lot of playing time due to a lingering ankle injury.

But we (7-0, 3-0) don't come unarmed or unprepared. We lead the classification in scoring defense, giving up no more than 7 to anyone all year, 47 total through 7 games. There's a lot of pride in that stat, it won't be surrendered easily.

Local paper focused on the Spartans defense for the game preview story and in it there's a quote that I'm pretty sure our FOFC coaching contingent will appreciate. Coach Gunn is talking about the importance of playing assignment football & the challenge of having young players take care of their responsibilities

When you’re dealing with high school kids, you’re dealing with high school kids. Sometimes it’s hard enough to get them to eat right and wear their shirts coming out of the locker room.

Ya just gotta LOL I think.

[Poli]

De Soto finishes their worst season that I've been a part of. 3-7. Four seniors on the team. Long year.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Poli

De Soto finishes their worst season that I've been a part of. 3-7. Four seniors on the team. Long year.

4 seniors? Oof.

Our boys basketball team had 6 seniors.

[MizzouCowboy]

Webb City improves to 10-0, with a win over West Plains in the first round of districts, 47-7. Score isn't even close to what kind of game this was, Webb City ran out to a 38-0 score in the first quarter. So far this season Webb has outscored opponents 456 to 80. I can't imagine how bad it would be if the starters got to play more than a half (or less). Winning streak is at 40 and regular season is over 90 in a row. Just crazy.

Joplin opens district play after a 5-4 regular season, probably won't go far.

[JonInMiddleGA]

8-0 baby.

But it could hardly have been any closer, as we rally for a 21-20 win, surviving a 42 yard field goal that went (apparently) just wide. Honestly, every single person in the press box thought the kick was good, the refs saw it otherwise ... and I'll take that.

The stud RB got 125 yards for the night, 75 of them on a run late in the 1st quarter that put them in front 14-7. They added two field goals to lead 20-7 at the half, our offense completely stifled after going 70 yards easily on the opening drive to draw first blood.

2nd half they get the ball & we hold, until they fake a punt convert to near midfield ... except for that little yellow flag, one of their umpteen procedure calls on the night. That saved our butts. We draw within a score when Eric Williams turned a 20 yard slant into a 50 yard TD by simply being the fastest man on the field. We put together a nice drive on the next possession, dinking & dunking our way downfield steadily, scoring with 2:36 left in Q3 on a 2 yd QB keeper, PAT kick is good, it's 21-20 good guys.

And from there we fought & scratched & clawed, swapping punts & a turnover each, their final drive starts at their 44 with 3:14 left. The end up 4th & less than 1 at our 28, out of time outs and around :40 left after the measurement, so they calmly line up for a 45 yarder that misses -- officially -- a little bit wide right. Kicker was good from 27 & 45 earlier, had missed a late first half 52 yard try, it couldn't have been much closer on the game-winning miss.

One victory formation, one kneel down, and the celebration was on. And much nerves are still frazzled.

8-0, with a chance to clinch the region title (and at least a top 4 seed it appears) if we win on the road next week at 1-7 Hebron Christian, a team that got slaughtered tonight by Commerce.

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[cougarfreak]

Conner got a pretty good upset win last night, over Covington Catholic (the local all boys team). Conner will finish number 2 in the area, behind highly touted Highlands. Gives us the 2 seed in our district for the playoffs. Our stud QB was on his way to Columbia after the game last night to have breakfast with Spurrier.

[MizzouCowboy]

As expected, Joplin falls to Raymore-Peculiar 51-21 in the first round of district play.

It was a tale of two halves, with Joplin racking up 269 yards to go into halftime tied 21-21. Ray-Pec took control in the second half and held Joplin to -5 yards.

Not a bad season for Joplin, but I really wish we could go back to two high schools like it was in the 80's. (as if we need to rebuild/build yet another school, but anyway). As it is now, we really have no chance against the elite 6A teams in Missouri.

[MizzouCowboy]

Webb City beats Republic 48-7 last night in the 2nd round of district play. As usual, the game was over at halftime with Webb City up 34-7. The score was the same as their week 4 game.

Webb City takes on Springfield Hillcrest (10-1) on Monday night.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Southwest Atlanta Christian (one of the state's smallest private schools fielding a football team) has forfeited tomorrow's game against North Cobb Christian, a pair of teams that went 1-9 last year. The story began as something about SWAC having sent out their pads & helmets to be reconditioned but they haven't come back yet. The growing rumor seems to be that they're down to 14 players and are planning to forfeit the entire season.

Why is this notable? Our NBA fans here may recognize the name Dwight Howard ... his dad Dwight Sr. is the AD at SWAC.

There was an article in the AJC about this team today. VERY moving. A high school buddy of mine appears to be moved to action regarding it. I'm going to help him.

Small team with big hearts | www.ajc.com

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

There was an article in the AJC about this team today. VERY moving. A high school buddy of mine appears to be moved to action regarding it. I'm going to help him.

Small team with big hearts | www.ajc.com

It's a situation that is, honestly, starting to look a little stranger by the day. This article comes on the heels of several apparently spontaneous comments on the Vent along the same lines. And yet ... they still list Brother Dwight Howard as the AD.

I'm not necessarily expecting his famous son to pay for every penny of every cost at the school, but to go to the brink of cancelling the season (which seemed to be the plan) because you didn't have the funds to have helmets & pads reconditioned? Does that seem like something that should have happened under the circumstances?

From the article the current head coach sounds like a heck of a great guy & I certainly wish him well with what appears, honestly, to be a Herculean task. They were 4-36 the past four years with more players (although always on the shorthanded side afaik). But the article also fails to mention/explain how he became head coach in the first place, as of the beginning of the season at least DeMarco Thompson was still in place. Where'd he go? (note: while asking the question, further research turned up one article from Dalton, GA that said Chism took over in July .... but that seems to have been news that nobody else knew in August, but it does explain why "calls to Coach Thompson have not been returned") Heck, even the typically reliable GHSFHA.org site still lists Thompson as the head coach.

The whole thing just has the strong aroma of political infighting and/or personal issues to me. I wish them (and your friend, and you) well with it, but I'd keep some anti-drama pills handy just in case

[JonInMiddleGA]

Meanwhile, we'll take our (co)#2 ranking in the AJC poll, and #1 in the private school power rating on the road to Dacula, GA to play Hebron Christian (1-7). They are, well, a bad football team. Their one win, 60-0, was over Cross Keys, a program that is always among the state's worst. Their five losses to teams in our region have been by an average score of 43-8, they haven't scored more than 14, haven't allowed less than 35 in those games. A win tonight should, best we can figure the tiebreakers, clinch the Region 8 title for us, as well as clinching a playoff spot.

Alas, no matter the final score, we're virtually certain to wake up tomorrow as the #2 team in the private power ratings. They will hit our SOS so hard that we'll drop around a full point & likely slip behind Eagle's Landing Christian.

Our JV's are excited, they expect to see significant playing time tonight.

[JonInMiddleGA]

We win 44-20 in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the final score. Our JV's played the entire 2nd half & our hapless opponents chose to use three timeouts in the final 30 seconds while down by 30 in order to get a TD on our freshmen (our defense was using guys who were JV backups for most of the 4th quarter). Tacky, but I suspect we'll remember that down the line somewhere.

We led 21-0 less than 7 minutes in, three TD's in 8 plays while they had 2 fumbles on their first three plays. From that point it was just a matter of waiting for a final score.

Better still, George Walton routed Athens Christian 42-3, meaning that it's time to congratulate your 2012 Region 8A Champion Athens Academy Spartans. Tremendous senior leadership from as determined a group as I've had the pleasure to watch up close in all my years and perhaps a season like none I've ever seen in terms of a coaching staff being dialed in week after week. It's a good staff but I don't believe it's ever been this good over & over.

No rest next week as we wrap up the regular season though, even with the region clinched, we're still fighting for playoff seeding & need a win to stay in the hunt for one of the top two seeds which would guarantee home field all the way through the semifinals.

[rjolley]

Hey Jon, how's Eric doing? We need football season to end. Time to get him on the court.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by rjolley

Hey Jon, how's Eric doing? We need football season to end. Time to get him on the court.

Put us up 37-0 with a 30something yd TD catch tonight, our only completion I believe. (One of only 2-3 attempts all night). Good to have him in the scoring column for a second straight week after a quiet game or two midseason, he's gotten a lot of double coverage as the season progressed which dialed back his catches but opened up our TE and the other WR for quite a few big catches.

[BYU 14]

We entered the playoffs as the #10 seed tonight and were 3 point underdogs to #7 Pinnacle. They marched down and scored on their first possession and then we went to work. Behind Seivion Morris' 301 yards on 19 carries and 3 TD's, we piled up 670 yards total offense and went on to a 56-20 win to advance to the quarterfinals.

Here are 3 of Seivions highlights, had a great game on both sides of the ball.

[JonInMiddleGA]

This time of year things can get pretty lean for teams that already had short rosters.

-- Last night we lost a freshman backup CB/RB to a broken collarbone.
-- Last week we lost a senior backup LB/FB to a torn MCL/ACL (undiscovered until Monday of this week) & a starting LB sat last night due to a dislocated shoulder.
-- We were already missing a senior backup OL/DL to a broken ankle/leg suffered midseason.

So last night we had a DB playing LB and two freshmen trying to play corner.

[MizzouCowboy]

Webb City rolls over Hillcrest 55 - 10 to win the Missouri District 4 Championship. The Cardinals racked up over 400 yards rushing with 8 rushing touchdowns.

Webb City will host Sullivan, a 32-17 winner against St. Clair, this Saturday in the quarterfinals.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Final week of the regular season for us, and serious potential for a letdown is enough to make me nervous.

Ranked #3 in Class A by AP, Athens Academy is unbeaten (9-0) and has already clinched the region title and the guaranteed spot in the 16-team playoff field that goes with it. We're currently sitting with the #1 power rating but should be no worse than #2 after tonight ... IF we win. But we're not 100% physically and it's senior night.

Athens Christian (4-5) is a rival that beat us for the first time ever last season. They're currently #13 in the power ratings and know that a loss could move them out of the post-season. They're dangerous offensively with a beast of a back that 2-3 two hundred yard games to his credit (978 yds & 9TD's for the season).

Quite a bit at stake with the power rating here, as the top 2 seeds in the bracket are guaranteed to be at home through the semfinals (finals are once again at the Georgia Dome). An undefeated regular season isn't a common occurrence either, would be a great legacy for our seniors.

ACS is deceptively tough if you look only at their record. They played the toughest schedule in the region by a fair margin, losing to a pair of same-class teams that are/were ranked in the top 10, a top 10 teams from two classifications higher and a playoff team from two classifications higher..

I'm more nervous than the the game should make me ... on paper. They keep playing these darned games on grass though.

Webcast should be available at the usual link, just scroll up a few posts if you'd like to enjoy the dulcet tones of our student announcers (including my kid). Kickoff at 730p

[JonInMiddleGA]

TCB baby, TCB

27-9 win and not really that close, as for the second straight week we have a team call timeout in the final seconds to get a cheap TD against our backups. That ACS for you though, only class they've got takes place between 815a-315p.

We hold their RB to around 60-70 yards while our little senior TB goes off for about a buck-fifty (near his career high) and outrushes their whole team by himself. Oddly though, he didn't score, so we settle for a 1 yd plunge by our senior FB, a pair of short TD passes by our senior QB, one to his favorite senior WR and another to our underclassman hoops star Eric Williams, and a couple of FG's (37yd, 38yd) from our kicker (Jr) Did I mention it was senior night?

It looks like we should hang on to the #1 overall seed when the playoffs begin in two weeks, lots of losses in the bottom half of the power ratings, not many weeks for the teams that were on the wrong side of the bubble, probably be late tomorrow or early Sunday before we get a really good handle on it.

Congrats to Skydog and his alma mater are in order tonight as well btw. His Brookstone Cougars scored 2 unanswered 4th qtr touchdowns and beat Greenville 30-21 to claim the region 4-A title. They are likely to be the #4 seed when the brackets are official on Wednesday.

[cougarfreak]

Conner was ousted in the 2nd round of the playoffs tonight, 62-59. Two tremendous offenses, but your defense has blown all year. On top of that, our coach evidently decided to onside kick EVERY time last night. All 10 times. We recovered 1. That gave the other team a short field all night. Stud QB accounted for over 400 yards himself, 296 passing and 110 rushing. Ohio State was at school yesterday to speak with him. I hope he avoids that. Out of all the offers he's got, I hope he goes South Carolina. But, I supposed things could change his senior year.

[JonInMiddleGA]

How's this for wacky doings?

If I've done the math correctly, the 16th and final spot in the Georgia Class A-Private bracket will be determined by how many digits are deemed significant in computing power rating.

Team A is at 10.525 power rating
Team B is at 10.521(repeating) power rating

Nothing in the published rules spells out the rounding procedures, nor the number of significant digits. Anecdotal evidence from earlier in the year points to rounding being done inconsistently by the official provider of the power ratings (MaxPreps, under contract, who has come off incredibly inept throughout the whole process)

Compound the oddity of the situation, Team B beat Team A head to head and that's the first tiebreaker, so the advantage is clear ... question is whether they're tied or not.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Here's a little more Georgia power rating irony for you.
(Remember, the whole power rating thing came about because of an enormous uproar by the small public schools who felt they couldn't compete with the small private schools in football)

If this year's playoffs had been conducted under the old system, a single 32 team bracket would have contained 16 publics & 16 privates.
First round pairings would have had home games for 8 publics & 8 privates.
2nd round pairings to chalk would have had home games for 4 of each as well.

1st round would have included 4 "mixed pairs" (public vs private), 2 each favored by seed.
2nd round to chalk would have included 2 "mixed pairs", 1 each favored by seed.

Under the old system last season, the bracket contained 19 public & 13 private.

The difference this season consists of who's in & who's out, with at least one team that was among the complaining group staying home, replaced by their other favorite target: a public school from a small city system instead of a county system.

Be careful what you wish for.

[MizzouCowboy]

Webb City improves to 13-0 with a 35-6 win over Sullivan, who were ranked #3 in MO Class 4. Webb City runs their unbeaten streak to 43 games, and have also won their last 13 playoff games.

Their last loss in the regular season was in week 7 of 2003, a 30-0 loss to Columbia Hickman.

Webb City travels to St. Louis St. Marys (11-2) on Saturday in the semifinals.

[MacroGuru]

My alma mater Timpview is playing for the State Championship again. You can have the cross town rival bitch about fund raising, call for an audit, have the head coach fired because of the audit (discrepancy of funds, basically he used some money for personal, didn't pay it back.) forced to forfeit their first 4 games for an ineligible player playing (improper paperwork) and then come in as a bottom seed and go all the way to the title game.

We have won seven state titles since 86 with 4 straight from 06-10, played in the title game last season and lost to East.

[cougarfreak]

Here is the highlight video of our schools QB, Drew Barker for the year. He's been ranked the #5 QB for the class of 2014:

Drew Barker 2012 Jr. Highlight Video - YouTube

[MizzouCowboy]

Webb City defeated St. Mary's 47 -7 to book their third straight state championship appearance. Webb passed for 249 yards and ran for 242. Webb City led at the half 35-0.

They take on Jefferson City Helias (10-4) in the Show-Me-Bowl at the Edward Jones Dome.

Webb City's freshman and JV teams are also undefeated this season.

[MizzouCowboy]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

Here is the highlight video of our schools QB, Drew Barker for the year. He's been ranked the #5 QB for the class of 2014:

Drew Barker 2012 Jr. Highlight Video - YouTube

Nice touch on the deep throws. Looks like a young Elway.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

My alma mater Timpview is playing for the State Championship again. You can have the cross town rival bitch about fund raising, call for an audit, have the head coach fired because of the audit (discrepancy of funds, basically he used some money for personal, didn't pay it back.) forced to forfeit their first 4 games for an ineligible player playing (improper paperwork) and then come in as a bottom seed and go all the way to the title game.

We have won seven state titles since 86 with 4 straight from 06-10, played in the title game last season and lost to East.

Timpview went into 2OT to defeat Mtn .Crest and take the 4A State Championship...we now notch an eighth!

[JonInMiddleGA]

We are extremely lucky to survive and advance, rallying in the 4th quarter for a 17-13 win over #16 seed Mt. Pisgah Christian.

We could not have played much worse for three quarters & still be alive to tell the tale. The week off + the holiday seemed to take a major toll, flat doesn't begin to describe it. We simply refused to block anyone, our steady as a rock QB couldn't hit an elephant in the ass, our receivers tripped over their own feet, just an utterly abysmal half that saw us trailing 13-0. A dropped bomb late in the 3rd looked like it might be the end of us, that one chance for a spark snuffed out by fumbling fingers.

And then, speed kills. Eric Williams gets one step on a DB and is off to the races for 61 yards and a score with about 9 mins left. An enormous stop on 4th & 1 at midfield ... 5 minutes later, after converting twice on 4th down, we sneak it in from a yard out and take the lead 14-13. A diving interception on a tipped ball lets us add a 41 yd FG with 2 mins to play. And then we let them come right down the field dinking & dunking. Final play is a jump ball in the end zone, must have been at least a 10-11 guys all in the air ... tipped once, maybe twice, and they have a receiver get both hands on it as he's going to the ground ... and it slipped through this fingers.

We survive but next week might be too much. Remember that dramatic win on the road over archrival Prince Avenue earlier in the season? Well they certainly do ... and they'll come to our place looking for revenge after going on the road to beat Darlington handily.

If we don't play a LOT better next week, we'll not only lose, we'll get destroyed.

[MizzouCowboy]

Not a major surprise to anyone in Missouri that follows high school football, but as expected, Webb City wins their third straight state championship beating Jefferson City Helias 49-14 at the Edward Jones Dome.

Webb City started out fast, taking five plays to get their first TD. Their second possession was a one play 59 yard td pass. They went up 35-0 until Helias finally gets on the board with 17 seconds left in the half to make it 35-7.

Webb City takes the 2nd half kickoff and drives down to make it 42-7. At the start of the 4th qtr Webb City pulls it starters, and Helias punches in a TD late in the 4th.

This was Webb City's 11th championship since '89. Also the win extended their winning streak to 45 games.

[Grover]

My alma mater won their first Class A state title since 1986 in Maine.

Thornton Academy Golden Trojans, huzzah.

[Young Drachma]

Ishpeming (Mich.) High wins Sports Illustrated's Underdogs contest - More Sports - SI.com

[JonInMiddleGA]

Pretty much the whole team is on Tamiflu right now. We've somehow managed to find ourselves with several players suffering from it last week and several different ones this week. We may need a miracle to avoid getting blown out Friday

[Suburban Rhythm]

Wanted to post this last week.

Local school has the current longest winning streak in the US at 60 games. Clairton, as the story explains, is a typical steel town around Pittsburgh. Booming in the 60's-70's, mass exodus in the 80's, crumbling in the 90's - now.

4 part series

The Pride of Clairton - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[JonInMiddleGA]

When you fumble on your first offensive play, it's not usually a good sign. Tonight was no exception and the season comes to an end in the quarterfinals for Athens Academy, losing 24-7 at home to crosstown rivals Prince Avenue. We held them under 100 yards offense in the first half but between the fumble inside our own 30 and a blocked punt, we were down 14-0. A dropped pass that would have converted 3rd & 27 in the 2nd quarter didn't help matters either. We opened the 2nd half with a quick drive & score to cut it to 14-7, they answered with a field goal to make it 17-7. We turn it over again on a pick, force a fumble to delay the inevitable, throw another pick at midfield and they put it away with another TD. Evenly matched teams I think, maybe they're a tad better but we simply had too many mistakes to overcome on a night when they were nearly (other than that fumble) perfect. I lost track of our penalties, had to be well over 100 yards including 2 PI calls (both legit), the first 3 chop blocks I've seen called all season, at least a half dozen false starts and a very very questionable blow to the head call (they blew that one badly).

Always tough to watch a season end but this one was rougher than most for me I think. This was really the first time in over 20 years when I had followed a team with a sizable number of kids I actually know playing. These weren't just names & numbers, these are the seniors that my son eats lunch with every day, the ones who have been awfully good to him, the ones who I've talked to before & after games all year. It was also the final football webcast for our remarkable young pbp guy, wrapping up his sixth season as the voice of the Spartans. Yeah, we've still got basketball to do but football was his passion as an announcer & it was tough for me to see him trying to grasp that it was finally over both for him & for his classmates that have largely been together since kindergarten.

On a happier note, that announcer had a pretty good week leading up to today. He got a full 4-year academic ride to UNC, earning a prestigious Morehead-Cain scholarship. I'll mention that here because, well, I'm pretty danged proud to know somebody who can pull that off (and it's a hell of a consolation prize).


http://onlineathens.com/sports/prep/...struggles-loss

[cartman]

My alma mater, Nolan Catholic, picked up their 4th state title in the past 5 years. It came down to a FG attempt with 4 seconds left to get the win 48-45 over Trinity Christian Addison.

There was a Leon Lett style play to end the first half. Nolan had their field goal blocked, but one of the TCA players for some reason tried to field the ball at the three. He knocked the ball into the end zone, where a Nolan player recovered for a TD.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Heading to the final round in Georgia this coming weekend. Here's the schedule
Championship Matchups
Class AAAAAA
Lovejoy (13-1) vs. Norcross (14-0)
Class AAAAA
Ware County (13-1) vs. Gainesville (11-3)
Class AAAA
Sandy Creek (14-0) vs. Ridgeland (13-1)
Class AAA
Buford (11-3) vs. St. Pius (12-2)
Class AA
Jefferson (13-1) vs. Calhoun (14-0)
Class A (private)
Prince Avenue (11-2) vs. ELCA (12-1)
Class A (public)
Dooly County (11-2) vs. ECI (12-1)

Championship Game Times
Friday, Dec. 14
2:30 pm - Class A Private
5:30 pm - Class AAA
8:30 pm - Class AAAAA
Saturday, Dec. 15
11:30 am - Class A Public
2:30 pm - Class AA
5:30 pm - Class AAAA
8:30 pm - Class AAAAAA

Television/Web
Online simulcast coverage will be available on GPB.org/sports and GHSA.tv.
-----
A few observations ... Lovejoy will try to break the Gwinnett Co + Region 1 stranglehold on the highest classification title. It's been a decade since anyone from outside those two places won it. ... In 5A, Gainesville QB Deshaun Watson (verbal to Clemson) has over 3,000 passing/1,000 rushing yds and accounts for nearly 70 TD's this season. He's a junior ... In 3A Buford didn't let 2 forfeits derail their bid for yet another title ... In 2A Jefferson tries to win Coach T. McFerrin his 2nd state title after he's reached the final four with a state record 5 schools ('69 Lithonia, '71 Forest Park, '81/'82 Peachtree, '95 Elbert Co, '12 Jefferson). His QB is a kid who transferred out of "my" school to play for him ... In Class A private, the rival who eliminated us with be a huge underdog against ELCA, a team that a lot of people annointed as champs before the season began. They've lived up to their billing thus far ... In Class A public, Dooly & ECI eliminated Lincoln & Wilcox, two of the schools that engineered the split classification in order to enhance their chance at titles. Karma is a bitch.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Heading to the final round in Georgia this coming weekend. Here's the schedule
Championship Matchups
Class AAAAAA
Lovejoy (13-1) vs. Norcross (14-0)
Class AAAAA
Ware County (13-1) vs. Gainesville (11-3)
Class AAAA
Sandy Creek (14-0) vs. Ridgeland (13-1)
Class AAA
Buford (11-3) vs. St. Pius (12-2)
Class AA
Jefferson (13-1) vs. Calhoun (14-0)
Class A (private)
Prince Avenue (11-2) vs. ELCA (12-1)
Class A (public)
Dooly County (11-2) vs. ECI (12-1)

Championship Game Times
Friday, Dec. 14
2:30 pm - Class A Private
5:30 pm - Class AAA
8:30 pm - Class AAAAA
Saturday, Dec. 15
11:30 am - Class A Public
2:30 pm - Class AA
5:30 pm - Class AAAA
8:30 pm - Class AAAAAA

Television/Web
Online simulcast coverage will be available on GPB.org/sports and GHSA.tv.
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A few observations ... Lovejoy will try to break the Gwinnett Co + Region 1 stranglehold on the highest classification title. It's been a decade since anyone from outside those two places won it. ... In 5A, Gainesville QB Deshaun Watson (verbal to Clemson) has over 3,000 passing/1,000 rushing yds and accounts for nearly 70 TD's this season. He's a junior ... In 3A Buford didn't let 2 forfeits derail their bid for yet another title ... In 2A Jefferson tries to win Coach T. McFerrin his 2nd state title after he's reached the final four with a state record 5 schools ('69 Lithonia, '71 Forest Park, '81/'82 Peachtree, '95 Elbert Co, '12 Jefferson). His QB is a kid who transferred out of "my" school to play for him ... In Class A private, the rival who eliminated us with be a huge underdog against ELCA, a team that a lot of people annointed as champs before the season began. They've lived up to their billing thus far ... In Class A public, Dooly & ECI eliminated Lincoln & Wilcox, two of the schools that engineered the split classification in order to enhance their chance at titles. Karma is a bitch.

T. McFerrin is still around???? Wow.

And I'm giggling at Lincoln County. Couldn't happen to a nicer jackass.

[JonInMiddleGA]

In a move that isn't necessarily shocking but might be of a little interest to Ben E. Lou and a few other Georgia guys here ...
Mount de Sales leaving the GISA for the GHSA | Latest News | Macon.com

For Mount de Sales, it's a return to the GHSA from the GISA after they had considerable success in the bigger/more competitive organization. The big question now is whether fellow Macon private school power Tattnall Square will vote to follow them or stay in the smaller group. And if Tattnall goes, that may lead to as many as 4 other dominoes in the lower half of the state falling as well.

Meanwhile, speaking of Tattnall, coaching legend Barney Hester (5th winningest coach in state history) leaves to take the head coaching job at nearby Howard HS. That's a public school that's lost 24 in a row & has been consistently bad in their brief five year history. Hester says he wants a new challenge, it'll be interesting to see how the 59 year old fares.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Kinda stumbled into this thread accidentally (while looking for something else related) and man, some serious flashbacks.

And the some of the names ...

The recruitment of Nkemdiche was a thing

We (Athens Academy) shut down a stud running back ... who turned into Rashard Fant, probably the best DB in the history of Indiana University and a Chicago Bears UDFA signing.

The introduction of power ratings for Class A football in Georgia & the mess made of it. That improved - VERY slowly - over the years though still had errors weekly for most of its use. Starting with the next reclassification cycle they will be gone (despite working very well from a competition standpoint) as the state drops them for a complete public/private split ... but only in Class A

QB prospect Drew Barker would end up at Kentucky, his career cut short by injury. Also ending up at Kentucky was the stud running back from George Walton HS we faced ... Stanley "Boom" Williams

My alma mater somehow managed to beat a team with Nick Chubb lol
Six years later they would win the first region title in school history

SW Atlanta Christian would eventually drop football after this season, managing to play 8 of their 10 scheduled games though

And after 7 years, the Class A-Private football title in Georgia has largely been contested between us, our main rival Prince Ave, and the seemingly unstoppable ELCA. They've won 5 titles in the 7 seasons since (including the one in 2012), 4 of the 5 have involved at least one team from Athens in the semis or the title game.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

We (Athens Academy) shut down a stud running back ... who turned into Rashard Fant, probably the best DB in the history of Indiana University and a Chicago Bears UDFA signing.

I might go with Tracy Porter over Rashard Fant, but Fant was definitely one of the best CBs IU has had. It's funny that Fant was a stud RB in high school. Early in his career at IU, Fant was really scrawny, but still found his way onto the field.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oh, and I left out a thing I was gonna mention.

That graduating play by play kid I thought so much of? He ultimately turned down UNC and stayed here to attend UGA. He ended up student government president during college and is now the youngest state representative in the Georgia legislature.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Kinda stumbled into this thread accidentally (while looking for something else related) and man, some serious flashbacks.

And the some of the names ...

The recruitment of Nkemdiche was a thing

We (Athens Academy) shut down a stud running back ... who turned into Rashard Fant, probably the best DB in the history of Indiana University and a Chicago Bears UDFA signing.

The introduction of power ratings for Class A football in Georgia & the mess made of it. That improved - VERY slowly - over the years though still had errors weekly for most of its use. Starting with the next reclassification cycle they will be gone (despite working very well from a competition standpoint) as the state drops them for a complete public/private split ... but only in Class A

QB prospect Drew Barker would end up at Kentucky, his career cut short by injury. Also ending up at Kentucky was the stud running back from George Walton HS we faced ... Stanley "Boom" Williams

My alma mater somehow managed to beat a team with Nick Chubb lol
Six years later they would win the first region title in school history

SW Atlanta Christian would eventually drop football after this season, managing to play 8 of their 10 scheduled games though

And after 7 years, the Class A-Private football title in Georgia has largely been contested between us, our main rival Prince Ave, and the seemingly unstoppable ELCA. They've won 5 titles in the 7 seasons since (including the one in 2012), 4 of the 5 have involved at least one team from Athens in the semis or the title game.

Rumor had it Barker was going to try and play at Troy after he moved on from KY after 3 years I believe, but already had his degree, and ultimately chose to give it up. Never recovered from the back injury, but I'm not sure he was cut out for SEC football.

[henry296]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

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A few observations ... Lovejoy will try to break the Gwinnett Co + Region 1 stranglehold on the highest classification title. It's been a decade since anyone from outside those two places won it. ... In 5A, Gainesville QB Deshaun Watson (verbal to Clemson) has over 3,000 passing/1,000 rushing yds and accounts for nearly 70 TD's this season. He's a junior ... In 3A Buford didn't let 2 forfeits derail their bid for yet another title ... In 2A Jefferson tries to win Coach T. McFerrin his 2nd state title after he's reached the final four with a state record 5 schools ('69 Lithonia, '71 Forest Park, '81/'82 Peachtree, '95 Elbert Co, '12 Jefferson). His QB is a kid who transferred out of "my" school to play for him ... In Class A private, the rival who eliminated us with be a huge underdog against ELCA, a team that a lot of people annointed as champs before the season began. They've lived up to their billing thus far ... In Class A public, Dooly & ECI eliminated Lincoln & Wilcox, two of the schools that engineered the split classification in order to enhance their chance at titles. Karma is a bitch.

Good call on Watson

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by henry296

Good call on Watson

Thanks, though Ray Charles probably could see he was gonna be pretty good lol

Your quote did cause me to catch something I missed on my earlier walk down memory lane though.

Jefferson did indeed go on to win a state title that year, led by the QB that left Athens Academy to go there. The QB? NC State commit turned UConn 3 yr starter Bryant Shirreffs. While his tenure saw some very tough times, he left as their #4 all-time passer and was well-liked enough to warrant an unusually long post-career feature story in the Hartford Courant

I didn't realize he was as well thought of there as he seems to have been, having seen more of the struggles than the local reaction to his determination. Good on him.

[miami_fan]

I guess this thread will work.

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