Georgia high school football playoffs are now a sixty-four team field for eight state championships.
The round of wreckage was a year ago in quarterfinals, Mill Creek, Buford, Colquitt County and Carrollton were all ranked within top 25 USA Today and MaxPreps national polls at the time.
Their conquerors were Camden County, Grayson, Milton and Walton.
What will happen this year? Here’s how to start with the best teams, players, games and stories of the quarterfinals.
Teams to beat: Having all of the eight top-ranked teams enter the third week for the first time in finally fifteen years speaks volumes about the unpredictable nature of this basketball season. These are Carrollton of Class 6 A, Milton of 5A, Marist 4A, Peach County of 3A, Carver Columbus of 2A and Toombs County division A Division I, Manchester division A Division II and Savannah Christian in 3A – A division private schools.
Top players: There are more than usual eight players from the Super 11 at the AJC still playing. Three of them will be at the same school field when Houston County, with Antwann Hill, takes on Milton, with C.J. Wiley and Luke Nickel. Other Super 11s still around are Julian Lewis of Carrollton, Ousmane Kromah of Lee County, Kendarius Reddick of Thomas County Central, Justus Terry of Manchester and Elijah Griffin of Savannah Christian.
Newcomers: Cherokee Bluff and Cambridge aren’t in the quarters for the first time ever.
Drought breakers: This is the furthest Jenkins County has gotten in the playoffs, and it has been that long since 1960. Others carrying long quarterfinal jinxes are Southeast Bulloch (1974), Sprayberry (1982), Morgan County (1990) & Worth County (1997).
Regulars: This season, Irwin County has found itself in the quarterfinals for the twelfth year in a row. Other long elite-eight streaks are the nine title rule streak by Carrollton, eight titles by Marist, seven by Grayson and seven by Fellowship Christian.
Missing: Callaway’s win streak of eight quarterfinals was halted by a 35-33 loss to Stephens County last week. Perry and Cedar Grove are out defending state champions. Eastside topped Perry by 21 to 10 last week in Class 4A. Cedar Grove went out the previous week, depriving the Saints of the ninth quarterfinal in a row. As like another first round victim Rabun County also had made nine straight.
Best region: Two of Region 2-5A’s playoff teams have made it to the quarterfinals and the fourth was eliminated in that round. Those are Lee County, Coffee and Thomas County Central and Houston County.
Best games: Schedule of barbecue games: Class 6 A has two showdowns in Gwinnett County. No. 8 South Gwinnett hosts No. 1 Parkview while No. 4 Collins Hill hosts No. 5 Grayson. North Gwinnett has not faced Buford in a game in the last 25 years. Collins Hill won from Grayson by one point in August. Thomas County Central High School ranked No. 3 in the just mentioned list and the 2023 Class 6A champion is set to face Hughes at their home ground. Both are 11-1. … Blessed Trinity and Benedictine have claimed the past seven Class 4A titles, Benedictine winning it in 2021 and 2022 and the other in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Part of last week’s action saw them face each other at Blessed Trinity. In Class 4A, Cartersville (12-0) is at North Oconee (12-0) to date the only quarterfinal match up of two unbeaten teams in any class. Calhoun is visiting Peach County Friday, ranked No. 1 in Class 3A, and it will be their third game since their fiacscinating 2017 state championship game that Calhoun squeaked out 10-6. Video replay that was inadmissible at that time seemed to capture a Peach County scoring a touchdown after a play that was called an incomplete pass. Peach has triumphed in the last couple of meetings. … Pierce County is also the defending Class 2A champion and is traveling to No. 1 Carver-Columbus. No. 1 Manchester is at No. 6 Lincoln County, which is 12-0 in Class A Division II, while No. 2 Bowdon, the defending champion in A Division II, opens at home against No. 5 Clinch County.
Road trip: Irwin County High School is only 201 plus or minus driving miles away from Disney World, but the Indians’ Magic Kingdom is in Trion this week and that round trip drive is 281 on the odometer. Other long road trips this week are Benedictine of Savannah at Blessed Trinity (278), Clinch County at Bowdon (275) and North Cobb Christian at Savannah Christian, Pooler Stadium (273).
What’s next: Due to the GHSA coin toss on Monday, the team that is seeded lower on the bracket will be the home team next week in the semifinals if both teams have the same seed number. That could mean No. 1 Carrollton to No. 2 Buford or No. 3 North Gwinnett in Class 6A or No. 2 Lee County to No. 1 Milton in Class 5A. Otherwise the higher seeded team plays at their home ground, in the subsequent use of this paper I will be observing this format. Such arrangements only apply to classes 6A, 5A, 4A and A Division II only. College Football Playoff is set for Dec 16-18 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
