GHSA/GISA football scouting reports
QUARTERFINALS
GHSA
Class 6A
No. 7 Northside (R1, 3, 7-5) at No. 5/10 Sequoyah (R6, 2, 10-2)
The Eagles have gone from a team in transition and having battled through some injuries to a typical deep-in-the-playoffs Northside team. The Chiefs are out of the second round for the first time since 2004 when they went 11-2 and lost to Lowndes in a 5A quarterfinal on the road.
The hosts have a road shutout of Allatoona – giving up only 175 yards overall and 86 on the ground – in a 17-0 win in the regular-season finale, only to pull out a 50-49 overtme win over Creekside on the road two week later.
CB Emmanuel Jenkins has more than 20 offers and teams with Myles McGee to anchor the secondary. The Chiefs are senior-heavy up front, important against the increasingly versatile Jadin Daniels, who has 1,367 rushing yards and 1,476 passing yards, completing 60.9 percent of his passes.
Northside’s defense will have to deal with a wing-T led by a three-year starter at quarterback, Collier Pecht, who has completed 59.1 percent for 1,468 yards.
RB Cole Jacobs has 1,144 yards and 14 touchdowns, and leads a run game that has 41 touchdowns and averages 5.9 yards a carry. He’s also the top receiver, with 21 catches for 507 yards and five scores.
Grant Gibson, Adam Laselva, and Jordan Bowers team for 46 tackles for loss.
The Eagles still aren’t completely postseason healthy, but got some snaps last week for RB Eric Smith (ACL). He and a few others are game-time decisions.
The stage is old for the Eagles, who are 3-2 in their last five road playoff games. Sequoyah is still searching for regular consistency, but it’s a program of stability. James Teter is in his 10th season as the program’s third head coach in its 29 seasons.
Next: Valdosta (R1, 2, 8-4) or Dacula (R8, 1, 10-2)
Class 5A
Clarke Central (R8, 3, 8-4) at No. 3/3 Warner Robins (R1, 1, 10-2)
Former Georgia baseball coach David Perno has the Gladiators in the quarters in his third season and for the first time since a runner-up finish in 2009. And they’re in a region with No. 2 Buford, also playing two ranked teams early in the season (going 1-1).
The Demons are the stronger offensive team, getting 15 more points a game, but the Gladiators are holding their own on defense, giving up a point less. QB I Ward has completed 50.3 percent of his passes for 1,414 yards, 12 scores and five INTs, while O Barnett leads the ground game with 1,047 yards – 87.3 a game – with 10 touchdowns. The defense is senior-laden with the top eight tacklers – Quavion Teasley gets 7.9 stops a game – all 12th-graders. Daiquan Brown has 20 tackles for loss.
Clarke Central has cut a touchdown off its points-allowed average in the second half of the season. The defense has been steadier the whole season while the offense – healthier with the return of RB Jonathan Sewell – is picking up some momentum.
Clarke Central hopes the run game – 33 carries for 150.4 yards a game – and a controlled passing game – 14 attempts a game, a long of 53, which Warner Robins just about gets one of a game – can keep the Demons off the field. Defense and the run game have been the equation.
Dylan Fromm went over 7,000 career passing yards last week, and is unofficially in the top 25 all-time – Georgia High School Football Historians Association records aren’t updated until after the season – in that category and with 73 passing touchdowns. Junior Marcayll Jones has the state single-season receiving yardage mark now, and the Demon air game is only stronger with the late-season return of Tyler Fromm (shoulder), who is due for a big game.
Next: Rome (R7, 1, 12-0) or Dutchtown (R4, 1, 12-0)
Class 4A
No. 6/6 Marist (R7, 2, 10-2) at No. 3/2 Mary Persons (R2, 1, 12-0)
Marist knows a little about starters getting breathers in the second half, racking up five wins by at least 35 points. The War Eagles are 3-2 against ranked teams, sharing a common opponent with the Bulldogs, Lovett, which lost 40-20 loss at Marist two weeks before losing 58-21 at Mary Persons.
QB Connor Cigelske is off a 155-yard rushing night in the 24-8 win at St. Pius X, getting revenge on its non-region rival. He led the War Eagles to a 249-43 advantage on the ground. That came a week after they rambled for 355 yards – 149 from Cigelske – in a 61-20 stomping of Heritage-Catoosa in the first round.
Kyle Hamilton was big in that revenge win on offense and defense and special teams. The Notre Dame-bound senior had 99 all-purpose yards, seven tackles and a blocked PAT.
The defending state runners-up have reached the semifinals three times since 2012 under Alan Chadwick, one of the state’s active coaching legends. He’s been at Marist since 1985, and has yet to taste a season worse than 7-4. He is 374-70, a whopping 84.2 percent, with 18 region titles and two state championships.
The Bulldogs set a program record for points in a game in last week’s 65-21 win over Woodward, Mary Persons’ adding their fifth top-10 scoring game in history
They remain an offense machine with QB J.T. Hartage (134-191-3, 2,652 yards, 28 TDs) rewriting the record books and RB Quen Wilson (16-0-1,484, 24 rushing TDs, 22 catches for 422 yards and four scores) racking up a big play or two a game.
The defense, led by pick-6 whiz Desmond Williams, has improved all season and has yet to give up more than 21 points in a game while throwing three shutouts.
The only meeting between the teams was in 2015, a 45-21 Marist win at Mary Persons in the second round.
Next: Cartersville (R5, 1, 12-0) or Baldwin (R3, 1, 7-5)
No. 2/2 Cartersville (R5, 1, 12-0) at Baldwin (R3, 1, 7-5)
Baldwin has played a No. 2 team in its class twice in the last two years, and lost. The Braves are, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association, 2-20 against top-2 teams since 1985. The wins: 22-0 over No. 2 Carver in early 2008 and 31-21 over AA No. 2 Washington County in 1998. Of the 20 losses, only four have been by two touchdowns or less.
So, yeah, this is one of the biggest home games for Baldwin in a good long time.
The Purple Hurricanes have been in the top 5 all season, slipping a hair after close wins (21-20 over Cedartown and 7-0 over Sandy Creek). After that, they’ve won by less than 35 points only three times.
Tee Webb took over for future Clemson starter Trevor Lawrence at quarterback this year, and the junior is 174 of 290 for 2,466 yards and 32 touchdowns with eight interceptions. Seven receivers have at least 193 yards, and all have three or more touchdown catches.
One is Marcus Gary, who leads Cartersville with 1,179 yards rushing and 15 scores.
A simple stat glance: It took Baldwin to the fourth quarter of its sixth game to score as many points as Cartersville has given up all season (74). Since then, including that game, the Braves – with Torez Hicks or Derrick Lewis at QB – are scoring 28 points a game with a season high of 39 in the first-round win over Perry.
Next: Marist (R7, 2, 10-2) or Mary Persons (R2, 1, 12-0)
Class 3A
No. 10/10 Westminster (R5, 3, 8-4) at No. 4/4 Peach County (R4, 1, 10-2)
The visitors have played a salty schedule, with eight ranked opponents, and a non-region schedule of all ranked teams, three in higher classes and with one (4A Marist, at Mary Persons) still alive. The Wildcats have a stronger region, with No. 2 Cedar Grove still alive and Lovett losing by 15 to No. 1 Calhoun last week. Peach County’s defense faces a unit that throws a lot of looks and formations out there, forcing above-average mental discipline to not get caught overthinking or overreacting. Scoring was about even in those games against ranked teams, 201-198.
And this program that that reached the quarters last year after a 5-5 regular season and 5-2 region year is 5-1 on the road, including the two playoff wins. The Wildcats won it all in 2015, a year after making the semis. Westminster doesn’t blow teams out as much as wear them down, but Peach County is underrated fundamentally, and usually avoids many mental mistakes, many of which can come from being worn down.
Parks Harber passed for 261 yards in the win over GAC, in which the lead was 25 at halftime. Nance Hill had 156 yards receiving, Paul Weatherington had 130 yards on the ground, with John Izlar picking off two passes.
And the Wildcats know the Trojans well. Comes from having the last two seasons end at Peach County’s hands, 45-15 and 27-17.
The Trojans have sharpened up in practice after a sluggish start, and have survived a rash of injuries to turn in normal Peach County numbers.
Next: Jenkins (R3, 3, 9-3) or Calhoun (R6, 1, 12-0)
Class AA
No. 7/3 Heard County (R5, 1, 10-2) at No. 6/6 Dublin (R3, 1, 11-1)
In 2002, Roger Holmes took over at Dublin and Tim Barron made his debut at Heard County.
And now, here they are, Holmes with a record of 147-57-1 and Barron 139-59, having never played. Heard County is looking for its second straight semifinal trip, Dublin its first since 2007.
Heard County hasn’t lost since an early two-game losing streak, 33-3 to No. 1 Hapeville Charter and 33-0 to No. 8/10 Rockmart. Every win since except one has been by at least 13 points, the Braves racking up some easy wins in a so-so region (fourth seed Spencer went 3-8).
One was a 13-10 win over Callaway, which hosts Dublin region rival Washington County.
Barron has tried to keep his team focused each week, moreso during a holiday week. And now the Braves – and Tennessee commit RB/DB Aaron Beasley - get the Dublin wing-T.
The three-headed monster of Jermaine Cooley, Greg Jones, and Corteveyas Mitchell have rushed for 872, 859, and 859 yards, and 30 touchdowns. QB Rodriquez Martin adds 443 yards and seven touchdowns, passing 44 times for 553 yards, 10 touchdowns and two interceptions.
The Irish have some moves to make, one because of the ejection last week of OLB-FB Stacey Sharpe, who was caught retaliating after a cheap shot late hit near the end of the 23-7 win over Thomasville (which also had a player ejected). But the Irish have dealt with injuries all year and grown deeper.
Next: Fitzgerald (R1, 2, 9-3) or Rabun County (R8, 1, 11-1)
No. 10 Washington County (R3, 3, 10-2) at No. 4/4 Callaway (R5, 2, 10-2)
The Golden Hawks won’t get lost making the winding three-hour trip to LaGrange, having played at Callaway in the second round of the 2014 playoffs, a 31-7 loss.
Two years earlier, the Cavs won 28-0 in the second round in Sandersville. Odds are against anywhere near those kinds of margins in the latest meeting.
Callaway is plus 22.3 points a game scoring to 16.2 for Washington County, one reason being a tougher WACO schedule: All four of the Golden Hawks’ non-region opponents made the playoffs, with Baldwin still alive in 4A, to one of the Cavs’ three in-state non-region foes.
Washington County’s Dyquan Bloodsaw has cracked the 2,000-yard rushing mark out of the Golden Hawks’ single wing. He has been a playmaker all year, and come up big at crucial times in wild wins over Southwest, Vidalia, and Brooks County, among others.
The offensive line – including tight ends - of Brian McAfee, Jabari Brooks, Jalen Mathis, J’Khristian Duckworth, Dylan Waters, and Juwan Dukes has dealt out some punishment in the run-heavy offense.
LB Preston Daniels leads a defense that has given up some points but made the right play at the right time.
The Golden Hawks have been winning the physical battles, including at Vidalia and at Brooks County, but face a team that’s a little less physical but more athletic.
Callaway, though, was strong in hammering Hapeville-Charter, which had spent the season ranked first or second, 31-13 last week. RB Tank Bigsby led the way with 200-plus yards, Qua Hines adding a quality night.
Bigsby is a Georgia commit and offensive lineman Keiondre Jones is headed to Auburn.
This will be a keep-it-on-the-ground game, and a battle of wills and mistakes.
Next: Washington County would travel to Rockmart (R7, 1, 12-0) or Jefferson County (R4, 1, 10-2)
GISA
Class AAA
Semifinals
John Milledge (R4, 1, 11-0) at Tiftarea (R3, 1, 11-0)
Longtime GHSA coach Erik Soliday has the Panthers past the first round for the first time since 2008, and giving up the third-fewest points per game. Tiftarea is in a stronger region that had two teams win a playoff game. As dominant as the Trojans can be – six wins by at least 29 points –they can also win close games.
Next: Heritage (R1, 1, 9-2) or Frederica (R2, 1, 8-3), Nov. 30, 8 p.m., at Mercer, championship
Class AA
Memorial Day (R2, 8-3) at Gatewood (R1, 1, 8-2)
Memorial Day was in control in a 35-26 win earlier this year, Gatewood getting a late score to make it closer. The Blue Thunder have a number of prospects, including West Virginia commit Winston Wright. The Gators are 3-0 since then and have allowed 14 points. Memorial Day has won four of the last five AA titles, while Gatewood reached the AAA semifinals last year and championship the year before.
Next: Edmund Burke (R4, 1, 9-3) or Terrell (R3, 1, 7-4), Nov. 30, 5 p.m., at Mercer, championship