Sunday's Daily News 'n Notes: GHSA, GISA FB playoffs; Macon TD Club welcomes Paul Johnson; the Falcons whaaat?; Scoreboard; college FB & more
Sunday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.
GISA football playoff pairings set
Gatewood, Brentwood, and John Milledge have first-round byes in the GISA football playoffs, while Westfield is on the road.
The Hornets head north to Loganville Christian in a first-round AAA game, while undefeated John Milledge awaits the winner of Southland and defending state champ – by virtue of a stunning 48-0 win over JMA - Frederica.
Brentwood and Gatewood get a break in AA.
Brentwood hosts the winner of Terrell Academy and Robert Toombs Christian, while Gatewood welcomes Memorial Day or Westwood.
The state championships are Dec. 6 at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium.
Area GHSA Class A teams wait out appeal process
Mount de Sales is in, and Macon County is in. Now, Stratford, FPD, and Taylor County sweat out the appeals process for GHSA Class A football.
And Tattnall’s holding out slim hopes.
The GHSA will finalize the Class A pairings Monday afternoon after appeals have been made and decided upon.
If things hold to the rankings as of 1 p.m. Sunday’s update, one first-round game will be pretty interesting. Mark Farriba’s current team would play his last team.
No. 22 Stratford would visit No. 11 Prince Avenue Christian, giving Farriba a chance to win his 200th game with a team he has coached for 11 years against a team he coached for six years. He is 79-50 at Stratford after going 42-26-1 at Prince Avenue, following a 78-51-2 mark at FPD in 11 seasons.
Mount de Sales has a bye, and No. 24 FPD would go to whatever team is ranked ninth. Region champs automatically move up into the top eight spots and get first-round byes. Currently, Mount de Sales is ninth.
Four other private schools ranked ahead of MdS also won titles: No. 3 Savannah Country Day, No. 4 Holy Innocents, No. 6 Athens Academy, and No. 7 Fellowship Christian.
No. 1 Eagle’s Landing Christian, No. 2 Darlington, No. 5 Christian Heritage, and No. 8 Wesleyan did not win their regions.
That would put Mount de Sales at No. 5, and a second-round game against the Hebron Christian-Mount Vernon winner.
Tattnall is No. 25, and needs help from appeals to make it.
In Class A Public, as it stands, No. 19 Macon County travels to No. 14 Turner County and No. 24 Taylor County is at No. 9 Manchester.
The rankings and pairings are likely to become official shortly after lunch Monday.
Who did what in New Orleans?
On a Sunday of a superb running game and hungry pass rush … the Falcons had both and won at New Orleans.
Atlanta put together four solid quarters in all three phases – as well as coaching – to stun New Orleans 26-9 in a game the Falcons pretty much controlled from the start, even after losing key players.
Running game makes a big appearance
Pass rush makes a big appearance
Former Tech, Southern head coach Johnson returns to the Macon Touchdown Club.
Former Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson is Monday night’s speaker at the Macon Touchdown Club.
The club meets at the Methodist Home for Children and Youth, in the Rumford Center, at 304 Pierce Ave. It starts at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and the program to begin around 7. Cost is $30 for non-members.
Westside the featured high school.
Jeff Monken, and West Alabama’s Brett Gilliland are the final speakers of the regular season.
The 62-year-old, a Touchdown Club stalwart for about two decades, announced his retirement from Georgia Tech just after the 2018 regular season, and coached the Yellow Jackets in the Quick Lane Bowl, finishing 7-6 in his final season.
The Western Carolina grade went 82-61 at Georgia Tech in 11 seasons, 45-29 in six seasons at Navy, and 62-10 in five at Georgia Southern.
His only losing seasons: 2-10 in 2002 – his first – at Navy, 6-7 in 2010 at Georgia Tech, 3-9 in 2015 at Tech, and 5-6 in 2017 at Tech.
Johnson led Georgia Southern to two FCS national championships. He was also an assistant at Hawaii and Lees-McRae.
The North Carolina native departed The Flats with a 189-100 career record, going 5-8 in bowls and leading Tech to a top-10 finish and Orange Bowl win in 2014.
Monday Morning Quarterback
Coming Monday morning: Central Georgia’s polls, Division I and Division II, Loughdmouthings, and more high school football.
In The Latest Coverage by mid-morning.
In case you missed it …
Your Central Georgia source for the first round of the GHSA and GISA playoff pairings is in The Latest Coverage, plus the most comprehensive high school football coverage. Revisit last week’s action with names, stats, details, aka information on the participants.
Gain knowledge. Get details. More than a Tweet or video clip.
All in The Latest Coverage all week long.
Around/About Central Georgia
Mercer hosts Kennesaw State in men’s BKB
Georgia College seeded fifth in PBC tournament
Scoreboard
College
Football
The Falcons completed a 10-0 regular season with their 22nd straight win, and expect to play for the NJCAA national title next month. Lackawanna led 16-3 at halftime and upped the margin to 23-3 early in the third and then 30-16 entering the fourth quarter. The ninth-ranked Bulldogs cut the margin to seven at 30-23, but the Falcons returned it to 14 points at the 5:55 mark, the Bulldogs scoring with less than a minute left.
Soccer
M-Mercer 3, Furman 2, Southern Conference semifinal
Peach State College FB Report
UGA: Missouri’s Odom thinks Dogs are underrated
UGA: Bryant-less ‘putrid’ offense played a role in the shutout
UGA: Minus starting QB, Tigers were fairly doomed
Georgia Tech: Good outings in a tough loss
Kennesaw State: New QB, old result
Georgia Southern: Winning streak over
Around/About Georgia
Shorter breaks a 48-game losing streak