Monday Morning Quarterback: Some major surprises in the quarters; notes and observations
Last week’s not-so-good surprises
Good grief, where to start?
It’s hard to say which was more jaw-dropping, West Laurens getting blanked on the road or Peach County all but getting blanked on the road.
Both scenarios are fairly shocking.
Sure, the Raiders were obviously an underdog on the road against the perennial finalist.
Baldwin, as it turns out, did West Laurens no favors by giving Blessed Trinity a major tussle for a half a week earlier. The Titans blew it open against the Braves with three touchdowns in about 90 seconds, Baldwin doing its part with self-destruction.
That kind of game makes a team tighten things up, and Blessed Trinity certainly knew its season would end if it repeated that kind of half against West Laurens.
The Raiders, too, failed to help themselves, and before you knew it, they were down 24-0 at the half.
One’s not going to expect a comeback as an underdog on the road against a perennial finalist. Credit Blessed Trinity for keeping West Laurens out of the end zone. Shutouts in the playoffs are pretty burly.
But no doubt Central Georgia’s eyebrows were raised more by Peach County getting popped by the team that it lost to in last year’s state title game.
We thought Peach County might be better this year, and we knew Cedar Grove wasn’t quite as good, or at least as explosive.
Going the whole year without being tested was very much something to consider, at least on the outside. After losing to Houston County – a more tolerable loss as the year went on – the Trojans just weren’t challenged.
The three other playoff teams from Region 4? Lost 38-0, 49-14 and 68-21 to Peach County, and two were promptly sent home each was promptly sent home in the playoffs 28-7 and 49-6, the third (Jackson) reaching the second round before a 24-14 loss.
Still, nobody in the right mind – including Cedar Grove folks if they’re honest – expected a 33-point game, either way. The Trojans had Trojan-like plays made against them, like a strip and return for a touchdown, and a pick-6.
That the Trojans couldn’t mount any kind of rally or slow the bleeding was part of the shock.
Friday’s loss may sting more than the title-game losses to Calhoun and Cedar Grove, because Peach County was No. 1 at the start of the season, stayed there even after a loss, and showed no signs of slowing down, save the weather-hampered 19-0 first-round win over Brantley County.
This Trojan team was more senior-loaded that many in bigger classifications, and had loads of players with two state-championship visits on their resumes.
They’ve played in front of about 8,000 at Mercer and beaten 6A finalist Northside, rebounded from the Houston County loss, avenged a somewhat embarrassing loss to Lee County with a head-turning win, and took playoff wins at Greater Atlanta Christian and Calhoun.
It’s a game that’ll be played in many heads for a good while.
And about normal
It wasn’t necessarily the four-quarter game Jones County was hoping for, but goodness, that third quarter was mighty dang good.
The Greyhounds put 35 points up in the third, and overall scored in most every way imaginable in beating Griffin: kickoff return, punt return, pass to the quarterback, and the normal stuff. A big punt return set up a touchdown, and holding a quarterfinal opponent to two touchdowns is a quality defensive night.
John Milledge head coach J.T Wall picked up his 100th win Friday night, not exactly a surprise.
Wall, who was a finalist for a GHSA gig in the not-too-distant past before withdrawing, is 100-14 in nine seasons, a winning percentage of 87.7.
Yes, the GISA isn’t what it used to be – goodness, the organization hasn’t offered a Tweet of any kind of info in a long time, and the website doesn’t help much with results or standings, and so on – but there are more talented players in the association than many want to admit. And when a team is supposed to execute a beatdown and does, that’s the sign of a pretty good team.
The Trojans have coughed up all of 51 points this year. …
The Brentwood-Gatewood game had about as much action as expected.
Rarely when two big-scoring offenses get together is it going to be a big offensive game, and defenses almost no matter what won’t get enough credit.
In this case, Gatewood’s came up at the right time and slowed Brentwood’s rally to get a shot at repeating as Class AA champs. …
Houston County gave Harrison plenty to deal with, and gave Harrison some open doors for the win. The Bears trailed only 14-7 at halftime, but could have been tied after blocking a punt only to come up short in the final seconds.
Interceptions on consecutive possessions deep in Harrison territory ended up doing the Bears in. They were outgained 240-47 on the ground and 372-245 overall, also getting flagged 10 times for 61 yards.
Odds were against Houston County, but a 28-7 loss feels a little more like 28-17 or 28-21. A season-ending loss, but some program momentum.
Loughdmouthings
Did we call kind of miss the oddity? Warner Robins and Jones County both won 49-14. …
We were a week away from a Peach County reunion.
Had the Trojans and Hart County won, Chad Campbell would’ve gone against his predecessor, Rance Gillespie.
As it turns out, the Peach County coaching tree had a very rough Friday night.
In addition to Campbell and Gillespie losing, Dean Fabrizio at Lee County and Alan Rodemaker at Valdosta watched their seasons end.
Two-time defending 6A champ Lee County lost 56-21 to Dacula and 2016’s 6A champ Valdosta lost 16-14 to Richmond Hill. …
Work is beginning on next season’s Macon Touchdown Club Middle Georgia Kickoff Classic.
Their best bet is to see what playoff teams return the most players. That cancels some pretty good teams from this year, a few that are done a little early.
Some teams just aren’t going to give up a home game, even if they may make more money as part of the doubleheader at Mercer. Financially, things worked out in 2019 despite bad weather and late adjustments.
The new regions offer some additional options, and a few quality matchups that would work – at least as far as good games: Dublin-Washington County, Perry-Mary Persons, Howard-Northeast, Warner Robins-Westside, to name a few. …
Buford at Jones County? The vibes throughout the state sent to the hosts will be overwhelming. …
Folks, we need an area GHSA team to call John Milledge and get a game. A quality opponent is a quality opponent no matter the league it’s in. …
Maybe a Jones County-Warner Robins Class 5A championship, albeit in Atlanta, would inspire some decent support of the Demons.
There are way too many gaps on the home side – and most arguments regarding Warner Robins attendance hold less and less water – in the playoffs for a team having won its third straight region title and is in its third straight semifinal and is scoring more than 34 points a game for the third straight year. …
For the confident and organized in Gray, Warner Robins, and Dublin:
The AA final is at 1 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 13, followed by the 5A game.
Tickets are $20.00 at the schools, $22 at the GoFan.co website, and $23 when you just show up. Parking is $10, and the GHSA encourages pregame purchase online.
It’ll be the championships’ debut at Georgia State Stadium, hopefully the first step of getting them at championship-quality facilities in different parts of the state.
So, like Irwin County and Clinch County wouldn’t have to basically drive by sizable stadiums Freedom, McConnell-Talbert, Ed DeFore, Lakewood, and have to ignore Valdosta and Lowndes.
We can always hope to get a change in the championships.