HSFB2019: Friday night's Central Georgia GHSA/GISA playoff scouting reports
The overall record, region and region finish accompany each team. Ranking is from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s final regular-season poll. Most stats are based on information – often not updated – provided by teams to MaxPreps.
GHSA
Quarterfinals
Class 6A
Houston County, 7-5, R1/4, at No. 2 Harrison, 12-0, R1/6
The Bears are 1-4 against ranked teams – regardless of class – this season, getting a good playoff draw. Average score: 19-24. Houston County has scored 20 only against Valdosta (52-20 loss) and Lee County (24-20) to go with the 32-31 win over Peach County. Harrison has given up more than 20 points only twice, to Dalton (7-4, 42-21) and Winder-Barrow (3-8, 45-25).
The Hoyas have made the playoffs four straight years – with two quarterfinal visits – after a drought of five straight misses and in six of seven years. They haven’t gotten past the quarters since a championship visit in 2000.
Houston County faces an experienced defense with nine starters back, led by LBs Marcus Bleazard (11.3 tackles per game) and Ryan Smith (8.9). Harrison has more than two dozen sacks and has picked off a dozen passes, led by Victor Pless’ four.
Harrison, located west of Marietta, offers a much more balanced offense than the Bears, with 153.1 passing and 193.8 rushing yards a game. David Roberts has nearly 1,300 rushing yards, and only two fewer rushing TDs than the Bears.
Houston County has some ground-game momentum, with 192 yards against Evans and 230 against South Paulding.
Last week: Houston County beat South Paulding 38-22; Harrison beat Brunswick 51-19; Who’s next: Dacula or Lee County
Class 5A
No. 9 Griffin, 11-1 R3/2, at No. 7 Jones County, 11-1, R4/1
A battle of two teams that would surprise nobody with a state title this year.
Griffin’s Kareem Reid is the Bears’ fourth head coach since 2013, but the Bears have hardly slowed down, with 6-5 being the worst season in that run. Still, Griffin has a state title (2013) and is making its third trip to the quarterfinals.
They bring a respectable scoring defense to Gray, having surrendered 20 or more points only to No. 9 Starr’s Mill (38-35 loss) and to Bainbridge (21-20 win in the first round).
Jones County’s defense may be a little better than some stats show, doing some bending without breaking before somebody makes a play. The Greyhounds have given up only 19 points in two playoff games, clutch outings while an offense tried to get going.
QBs Hunter Costlow of Jones County and Darshaveious Foster of Griffin are first and third in 5A in passing yards, but Costlow has more weapons, with Jontavis Robertson and Malik Wooten leading a quality group of pass-catchers,, that duo teaming for 1,870 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Both offenses are pretty balanced, despite the hefty passing numbers, with 1,000-yard rushers Andrew Carner of Jones County and Aalijah King of Griffin. The Greyhounds have have an edge, too, with sophomore kicker Evan West, 4 of 5 on field goal tries.
Last week: Griffin beat Hiram 49-14; Jones County beat Cedar Shoals 17-6; Who’s next: Buford or Carrollton
Clarke Central, 9-3, R8/1 at No. 2 Warner Robins, 11-1, R1/1
The Demons won this playoff meeting in 2018, coming back from a 7-0 deficit at the half for a 21-7 lead in the fourth and a 21-14 win.
This is a different Warner Robins team, head coach, and offense, but all back in the same spot.
Defensive backs will have a night, tangling with two of the state’s top receivers. Clarke Central’s Jairus Mack leads 5A with 1,117 yards and 17 TDs. Warner Robins’ Marcayll Jones set the single-season yards mark last year and has nowhere near those numbers (656 yards and 2 TDs), but is still the same receiver and threat, albeit in a different offense.
Clarke Central QB Isaac Ward has completed 59.8 percent of his passes for 2,380 yards, 32 touchdowns, and five interceptions, while Warner Robins’ Jalen Addie counters with 52.2 percent, 1,881 yards, 20 TDs and six interceptions.
Addie, though, is a much bigger threat on the ground with 426 yards and three TDs, to 141 yards and a score for Ward.
The Demons defense has raised the bar a bit, holding five teams to two touchdowns or less, countered by only three by the Gladiators.
Clarke Central, though, hasn’t much been held down on offense, cracking 40 points five times, to three times for the Demons.
Warner Robins had issues with points after touchdowns last week, and had there not been a stop on the game’s final play inside the 5, it could have ended the Demons’ season.
Clarke Central is 46 of 49 on PAT kicks and 7 of 10 on field goals, huge in a game that is likely to be action-packed while coming down to the final possession or two.
Last week: Clarke Central beat Wayne County 28-20; Warner Robins beat Rome 25-17; Who’s next: Dutchtown or Starr’s Mill
Class 4A
No. 7 West Laurens, 11-1, R2/1 at at No. 3 Blessed Trinity, 11-1, R7/1
The letter of the game is D, since both play some dandy defense.
Blessed Trinity has held eight opponents to 15 points or less, West Laurens nine. The Titans, though, have done more to ranked opponents – three – than the Raiders – one – from a schedule with more ranked opponents.
The Titans go with running backs Justice Haynes (160-1458, 16 TDs) and Elijah Green (143-1,093/14), getting 289.3 yards a game on the ground to 73.4 by air. Blessed Trinity has five TD passes and has been picked off four times.
West Laurens’ Daniel Dorsey has six interceptions of his own.
The Raiders have impressive balance and consistency. QB AJ Mathis has been above 60 percent in seven games and only twice has had as many picks as TDs. Wideout Brent Carr has at least four catches in 10 of 12 games, and a touchdown in four of the last five games.
And the defense, with playmakers on all three levels, is as steady as any in the state, with Dorsey in the back, linebacker D’Eryk Jackson at linebacker and Spencer Dacus up front, and talent all around them.
The Titans are pretty decent at home. Their last five home losses: 13-10 to 4A No. 7/6 Woodward, 2019; 25-24 to No. 3/6 Marist, 2017; 28-17 to No. 1 Washington County, 2014 semifinals; 46-17 to No. 3 Washington County, 2013 quarterfinals; 49-10 to No. 1 Buford, 2012.
So the home losses are few and far between.
Stage fright might be a consideration for some opponents, with that home record, two straight state championships, and a swagger of confidence at home.
But West Laurens is pretty blue-collar, and has the swagger of a team clicking in all three phases and one that can win if one phase has an off night.
Which hasn’t yet really happened this season.
Last week: West Laurens beat North Oconee 34-17; Blessed Trinity beat Baldwin 36-3; Who’s next: Woodward or Cartersville
Class 3A
No. 1 Peach County, 11-1, R4/1 at No. 2 Cedar Grove, 10-2, R5/1, Godfrey Stadium
Losing star wideout Jadon Haselwood to Oklahoma and head coach Jimmy Smith to Georgia State hasn’t much phased the Saints, a year after the broke the Trojans’ hearts in the state championship game in the final seconds.
Cedar Grove doesn’t necessarily have such a game-breaking weapon, but the defense is comparable, and on a good run, having allowed all of 30 points in the last seven games, with three straight shutouts.
The Saints are giving up two more points a game and scoring seven fewer compared to all of last year.
Peach County has four shutouts, including both playoff games, but gave up more points in a three-game stretch – albeit all running clocks in the fourth quarter – in the three final regular season games (55) than Cedar Grove since the end of September.
Of course, the Trojans have scored 175 points in those three games, 17 points better than Cedar Grove’s best three-game stretch this year.
Peach County’s individual stats seem down, thanks to so many blowouts, but the Trojans and Saints have their share of power-5 prospects as well as superb high school football players.
The Trojans’ Noah Whittington is on a roll, with 437 yards rushing in the first two playoff games.
Peach County is more versatile on offense, led by QB Jaydon Gibson (1,762 yards passing, 66.2 percent, 20 TDs, 3 INTs, 276 yards rushing, 6 TDs).
The Trojans again have a stellar kicking game, but it hasn’t been test much with field goals, something that becomes more important late in the playoffs. And this meeting should be no less tight than the last one.
Last week: Peach County beat Calhoun 35-0; Cedar Grove beat Benedictine 49-13; Who’s next: Hart County or Greater Atlanta Christian
Class AA
No. 4 Hapeville Charter, 10-1-1, R6/1, at No. 6 Dublin, 11-1, R3/1
Any concerns Dublin might have a chance at overconfidence after another win of three touchdowns or more were eliminated when the Irish saw the score of the next opponent.
Hapeville’s hammering of Swainsboro 70-28 was quite the eyebrow-raiser, a quality and established program losing by 42. The Irish beat Swainsboro 35-13 in Game 2. And the higher-scoring Fridays for Dublin haven’t quite been against the same opposition.
The Hornets are 3-1-1 against ranked teams, falling 26-16 in the opener to 3A quarterfinalist Cedar Grove and tying Class 6A quarterfinalist Allatoona. The Irish are 3-0, including a win over AA quarterfinalist Brooks County.
Dublin’s rushing numbers remain staggering: 398.8 yards a game, 9.5 a carry, a touchdown every 7.1 carries, 71rushing touchdowns, rushing TDs from 10 players, with six runners having broken off a run of at least 40 yards.
An average game from JaQues Evans will leave him 11 yards from 2,00o for the year. Average is 165.7. And he has 32 touchdowns.
Zion Kemp gives the Irish a huge 1-2 punch, with 1,263 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Hapeville doesn’t throw much more than Dublin, but that wouldn’t be hard. QB Jeremy Stephens passed for 240 yards and four scores last week, only 93 fewer yards than Markell Mitchell has all year.
Then again, eight of Mitchell’s 13 completions have gone for touchdowns.
Last week: Hapeville Charter beat Swainsboro 70-28; Dublin beat Bremen 45-26; Who’s next: Rabun County or Thomasville
GISA
Semifinals
Class AAA
Tiftarea 8-3, at John Milledge, 11-0
The young-blood coach against the wily veteran is watchable in this one, John Milledge’s J.T. Wall and Tiftarea’s Erik Soliday, who took over the Panthers after two years with another set of Panthers, Perry.
Tiftarea made the semis last year and lost 24-17 to these Trojans. It was Tiftarea’s first semifinal trip since 2005.
The Trojans, meanwhile, are in the semis for the seventh time in eight years, and have their eighth straight double-digit win season under Wall.
John Milledge has some avenging to do to get their first state title since running the table in 2016. And the Trojans, who have allowed 37 points this season, are getting healthier.
A win doesn’t just put the Trojans back in the championship game, but it puts Wall at 99-14 in nine seasons.
Last week: Tiftarea beat Heritage 24-21; John Milledge beat Southland 21-0; Who’s next: Valwood or Pinewood Christian
Class AA
Gatewood, 10-2, at Brentwood, 10-2
About 50 miles separate the Gators and War Eagles, so it’ll be standing-room only a good bit before kickoff.
The high-scoring teams have played 28 times, including every year since 2010, and twice in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, Brentwood won both, 37-17 in the playoffs, as part of a five-game winning streak in the series.
That streak ended a year later in the first round of the playoffs under then-first-year head coach Jeff Ratliff, the Gators taking a 14-7 win.
Gatewood has won five straight over Brentwood since then, all by at least 17 points.
Such a margin for either team in this one would be a surprise. Gatewood averages 40.8 points a game, Brentwood 41.7.
The Gators give up 12.5 points a game, the War Eagles 17.
The losses to John Milledge? 37-0 over Gatewood in the season opener, and 21-10 a week later for Brentwood, which then beat Gatewood 27-10 a week later.
Last week: Gatewood beat Memorial Day 60-12; Brentwood beat Terrell 42-14; Who’s next: Edmund Burke or Briarwood