By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          A year ago, the conventional wisdom seemed to be that the best two teams in GISA Class AA were playing in the semifinals.

          Brentwood was 10-2, Gatewood 12-2. The War Eagles were 41.7 points a game and giving up 17, the Gators 41.4 and 12.1. Each had a loss to John Milledge, 21-10 for Brentwood and 37-0 for Gatewood, on consecutive early-season Fridays.

          They both more than recovered, Gatewood cracking 60 points four times and Brentwood passing 50 five times by the Nov. 29 semifinal.

          Gatewood won 35-20, and then hammered Briarwood 49-7 in the final.

          “They had a relatively easy time of it the following week,” Brown said of the finale against Brairwood. “I think they were up 41-0 at half.”

          There’s not much doubt that the new GISA system of using MaxPreps ratings to seed teams rather than go by region finishes -  AA has only 11 teams in three regions – worked out as hoped for, with the 11-1 defending champs taking on the 9-2 War Eagles.

          “I think we have the two best teams in AA,” said Brown, in his 21st season in Sandersville.

          Kickoff is 4 p.m. at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium, with the AAA final between defending champ John Milledge and 2018 champ Frederica to follow.

          Thomas Jefferson beat Piedmont 41-13 last week in the constructed “Class A” championship. There is no Class A. Before the season, Class AA schools determine if they will stay in Class AA, or pull out and be part of a Class A playoffs-only field. A team can’t change its mind.

          Needless to say, that wasn’t anywhere near a possibility for Brentwood nor Gatewood, who in the previous 10 seasons – 20 cumulative have had only six losing seasons, only three with less than five wins.

          Brentwood (9-2) has reached the semifinals three of the last four years, and are looking for their first title since 2003, when they defended their 2002 title.

          Gatewood (11-1) has a heftier resume.

          Since Jeff Ratliff took over after several years on the staff at Tattnall, the Gators have reached the quarterfinals every year – including four seasons in 3A - and finished as runner-up once, taking  AA titles in 2018-19.

          The Gators are 56-9 since 2016, including this year. Brown, who took over at Gatewood in 2000, was on the staff at his alma mater at Westfield (Class of 79) and got plenty of looks at Tattnall and Hester.

          He sees almost too much familiarity from Ratliff, against whom he’s 2-8, and on a seven-game losing streak.

          “I was a young coach at Westfield,” Brown said. “I was watching Barney’s team. A lot of things Barney and his team did a quarter century ago, establishing a program things, Jeff’s doing, and some of his own things.”

          Ratliff is 101-47, a 73.3-percent winning mark, at Gatewood. Brown is 148-104-4 (58.6 percent) at Brentwood.

          Gatewood’s 22-18 win on Nov. 20 was the closet game among the losses Brown has had against Ratfliff, and close more than on the scoreboard.

          Brentwood had one more first down, both teams were 3 for 8 on third downs, and they both punted three times.

          The War Eagles outrushed the Gators by 69 yards on nine more tries, but Brentwood didn’t try a pass and Gatewood was 3 for 6 for 91 yards.

          The details, though, are still fresh for Brown.

          “We led for 46 of the 48 minutes,” he said. “We fumbled inside the 15 twice, had some penalties that were drive-killers.”

          Brown said the team was reminded this week that Gatewood basically broke open for three big plays and a field goal, and that was it. The three touchdowns went for 44, 59, and 47 yards, 46 percent of Gatewood’s total yardage.

          The last one was the killer.

          “The Haley kid, on a third and 3, they were just trying to move the sticks because they were about to take a shot,” Brown said. “He bobbled the snap as he was going through the line of scrimmage, our linebacker got pinned inside, and (Haley) saw a crease out side and he went through the guard and tackle gap, our free safety missed a tackle, and he was off to the races.”

          Haley’s 47-yard touchdown – part of his 132-yard rushing night from the QB spot – came with 2:08 left. The Gators more than left the door open after missing yet another conversion try, but the War Eagles couldn’t take advantage.

          Brentwood runs from a variety of sets, mostly a  hybrid wing-T and “the Delaware wing-T from 1992,” Brown joked.

          Junior fullback Thomas Denton has 1,475 yards and 17 rushing TDs on 110 carries, Robert Jackson adding 585 and nine on 66 tries. Quarterback McKinley Newton has completed 45 of 74 for 697 yards and eight touchdowns. Denton also lines up at linebacker and Newton at safety.

          The War Eagles are a mix of experience, with four senior starters on defense and seven on offense. Seven players, four seniors, start both ways. Those on defense will be keeping an eye on Haley.

          “He’s shifty, he’s quick,” Brown said. “The kid can throw the ball. … He’s as good as any of the quarterbacks I’ve seen Barney have at Tattnall.”

          Haley – whose father Scott is a Gatewood grad who played baseball at Georgia - is the lone all-stater Gatewood returns, but the roster of about nearly three dozen has seven seniors and 15 juniors.

          So the Gators will try to be more forceful and control the ball and line of scrimmage better than last month, and the War Eagles plan to lock down better on fundamentals and keys and keep the ball in front of them.

          The first meeting was so even, but this is a bigger stage, one Gatewood is more familiar with.

          “They don’t look really impressive getting off the bus,” Brown said. “But Jeff and Tyler VanDusen, both of ‘em coached and played  for Barney, and they do a terrific job with those kids. They’re physical, and it’ll be a battle.”