By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

  

GIAA
Class AA championship
5 p.m.

Brentwood War Eagles
9-3

John Milledge             7-42

Mount de Sales           13-23

GMC                             27-16

Thomas Jefferson       12-20

George Walton           41-26

Briarwood                    21-0

Edmund Burke            31-8

Piedmont                      48-12

Trinity Christian         58-16

Gatewood                    42-21

 

Edmund Burke            24-10

Briarwood                    17-13

Head coach: Bert Brown, 23rd year, 168-109-4
GISA championships: 20022, 2003, 2021
GISA runner-up: 2009, 2020
FYI: Brown coached Walls at Westfield when Walls transferred from CFCA, back in the mid-90s when Brown was an assistant with the Hornets, and head baseball coach.

           The War Eagles are on a roll since 2017, going 55-20, including 11-1 last year and the AA state title, beating Terrell 37-28 in the final. Brown took over for Don Marchman in 2000, and the War Eagles have made the playoffs every year in AA, and have had six losing seasons in that span.
          Brentwood won the title in 2002, three seasons after it went 0-10 in Marchman’s final year. Offensive coordinator Jamie Dickey held the same position at Stratford under Mark Farriba – as well as head boys basketball coach – before leaving coaching for business for a few years, and then returning to his alma mater. Brentwood scored at least 455 points in a four-year span until dropping to 341 this season.

Central Fellowship Lancers
12-0

Rock Springs Christian 41-0

SW Georgia                 34-6

Tiftarea                        33-29

Crawford County       41-14

Piedmont                     55-14

Gatewood                   31-21

Trinity Christian         42-7

Terrell                          42-14

Harvester Christian 49-0

Thomas Jefferson      41-14

 

Piedmont                      41-6

Gatewood                    43-14

Head coach: Jake Walls, fifth year, 44-14
GISA championships: None
GISA runner-up: None
FYI: The Lancers’ current three-year run of 32-3 is the program’s best ever, by far. The program was in GAPPS for several years, and won the 2020 and 2021 AA titles before moving back to the GISA for this year.

           CFCA has bounced around within associations, and from 11-man to 8-man to 11-man, and thus gone through a list of coaches.
          Walls coached for several years at his alma mater, Westfield, as a football assistant and head boys basketball coach before moving to CFCA, where he eventually added head of school to his duties. The Lancers followed a good run in GAPPS with a great year back in the GISA/GIAA this year.

Common Opponents
Piedmont (Brentwood won 48-12; CFCA won 55-14, 41-6)
Gatewood (Brentwood won 42-21, CFCA on 31-21, 43-14)
Trinity Christian (Brentwood won 58-16, CFCA won 42-7)
Thomas Jefferson (Brentwood lost 20-12, CFCA won 41-14)

Series history
          They’ve only played twice, in 2010-11, Brentwood winning 61-28 and 48-30.

Scouting Report

          Brentwood may be a surprise finalist, or not. Roster numbers haven’t been great for the War Eagles lately. Asked for a two-deep, Brown offered a reminder of the numbers issue: “We are not two-deep. We’re barely one-deep.”

          But Brentwood is always in the hunt.

          They bolstered the roster a little bit, courtesy of Washington County when that school made a stunning change and released head coach Joel Igram. TE/OLB Colton Smith was a huge get, and has eight sacks despite being avoided by offenses.

          He and his defensive mates will have plenty of work to do against a balanced offense with talent at the skill spots: “Five or six guys that can burn you,” Brown said.

          One is FPD transfer Jaylun Goodrum, who is a pain in the opposition from all three units: offense, defense and special teams. He may be the best athlete on the field in the game.

          And the Lancers use those weapons.

          Brentwood is a wing team that has its own variety of run-game weapons, led by fullback Wells Muller, with 1,331 yards and 12 TDs on 177 carries. Wingbacks Harlan Scott (893) and Zach Denton (753) have teamed for 17 touchdowns, and are around 10 yards a carry.

          CFCA has been on a roll from the first kickoff, to Walls surprise, mainly because the Lancers started with four offensive linemen who had no starts under their belts, thanks to some returning all-staters who transferred.

          “We genuinely hoped we could be .500,” Walls said.

          Brentwood was a little shaky early, breaking in a new quarterback, fullback, wingback, two offensive linemen and two more skill players, plus five on defense.

          A couple position changes on offense (Muller from wing to fullback and Smith from fullback to tight end) after losing to eventual Class A state champ Thomas Jefferson were part of the spark that got Brentwood going.

          Jeb Walls stepped up and has passed for nearly 2,600 yards, unexpectedly, and leads the Lancers with 749 rushing yards, accounting for 44 touchdowns.

          Goodrum fit in immediately. He’s literally all over the place, having scored on a rush, pass, interception return, punt return, and kickoff return. He and Wells are also part of a defense that has two shutouts on the resume as well as holding three other opponents to single digits. He has 664 rushing yards, 1,096 receiving yards (and 25 offensive TDs), plus 515 general (kick return, punt return, interception return) yards.

          The War Eagles rush for 275.1 yards a game, the Lancers 172.7, Brentwood with seven more ground TDs. CFCA gets five times more yards through the air, the War Eagles throwing one more INT than TD.

          CFCA’s balance, and Goodrum, give the Lancers an edge. Brentwood is capable of gobbling up some clock in a big way. So with all that offensive talk, it comes down to defense. The Lancers need to get off the field, and the War Eagles need to avoid giving up big plays.

          The contrasting styles should make for an action-packed game.

 

Maxwell Ratings prediction: Central Fellowship by 16

The Sports Report prediction: Pretty clearly the top two teams are playing for the championship, and it’s a nice battle of different strategies and traditions: one has tradition, the other one doesn’t.

          Central Fellowship is on a recent quality run, so the current Lancers are used to winning and don’t know much about the past. Brentwood expects to be playing a 12th or 13th game.

          Both head coaches are loaded with raves and compliments about the other side, from “It will be hard to score and extremely difficult to stop them. They are also the best coached team that we will play” (Walls) to “Jake does a great job of finding ways to spread the wealth around so that you can’t just focus on trying to stop one or two kids” (Brown).

          And they’re both right. While both teams are sound, it’s likely to be one or two plays, maybe mistakes, that change momentum. The pressure is on defenses.

          Worth noting: CFCA has only two two-possession games, Brentwood has five, giving the War Eagles a perceived edge down the stretch. But the Lancers have some explosiveness.

          Got a coin?

          Central Fellowship 38, Brentwood 27.

 

AAA championship
8 p.m.
Stratford
9-3

Westfield                      39-17

Riverside Mil.              42-20

Brookwood                  42-20

St. Anne Pacelli           7-21

Brookstone                  37-34

Deerfield-Windsor     45-7

Tattnall                          28-33

John Milledge             7-21

Mount de Sales           41-14

FPD                               49-40

 

George Walton           42-7

Tattnall                         55-28

Head coach: Chance Jones, first year, 9-3; fifth year, 39-18
GISA championships: 1970, 1971, 1972 1983, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2004
GISA runner-up: 1977, 1978, 1994, 2011, 2013
FYI: The Eagles’ 434 points are sixth-most in program history.

 

St. Anne Pacelli
11-1

Glenwood, Ala.           28-13

Tattnall                          23-27

Lakeview Acad.           51-14

Mount de Sales            38-0

Stratford                        21-7

Gatewood                     42-7

Brookstone                   29-21

Strong Rock                  40-14

Heritage                        56-17

Westfield                      45-7

 

Bethlehem Chr.           62-0

Brookstone                   20-17  

 

Head coach: Dwight Jones, fourth year, 31-13; 22nd year overall, 123-110 (Hardaway, Northside-Columbus, McIntosh, Jones County, Harris County)
GISA championships: none
GISA runner-up: none
FYI: Jones is the second coach with Central Georgia ties to lead the Vikings. He spent 2008-13 at Jones County, going 31-30 . Windsor head coach Randy Grace went 19-23 in four seasons from 2011-14.

 

Common opponents
Westfield (Stratford won 39-17, Pacelli won 45-7)
Tattnall (Tattnall won 27-23, Stratford lost 33-28, won 55-28)
Mount de Sales (Pacelli won 38-0, Stratford won 41-14)
Brookstone (Stratford won 37-34, Pacelli won 29-21, 20-17)

 

Series history

          It’s recent, St. Anne Pacelli knocking off Stratford 21-7 on Sept. 16, the same score John Milledge topped the Eagles by.
          In fact, that’s the only history between the Vikings and Eagles, despite St. Anne Pacelli starting football in 1960 and Stratford in 1970.

 

Scouting Report

          Welcome to the Ronnie Jones Friday Night Bowlspalooza.

          The former Westfield head coach has ties galore to the day’s action.

          Brentwood head coach Bert Brown and Central Fellowship head coach Jake Walls were assistants under Jones at Westfield, Walls also coaching Hornets’ boys basketball.

          Stratford head coach Chance Jones is, of course, Ronnie’s son and a former Hornet player. Ronnie helped Chance when he was head coach at Tattnall, and as well now at Stratford.

          And Stratford assistant Jim Massey worked under Jones at Westfield.

          None of that, of course, has anything to do with this game.

          The first meeting, a 21-7 St. Anne Pacelli win, doesn’t have much to do with it, either. That was seven games ago for the Vikings and eight for the Eagles. They’re somewhat different teams.

          Both have had close calls and dominant nights. Add up the scoring margins of games with common opponents, and it’s only an 11-point difference.

          What hasn’t changed much is the game plans.

          Barring overtime, this won’t be any three-hour marathon.

          St. Anne Pacelli is run first, 75.5 percent of the time with 71.8 percent of its yards coming on the ground. That’s almost open-minded compared to Stratford, which runs 88.7 percent of the time with 84.6 percent of the yards by foot.

          (Stratford stats are from MaxPreps, through 11 games, last week’s stats not having been updated as of Thursday evening).

          While neither team throws much, Pacelli is much more of a threat to move the ball well with the pass mixed in. QB Cam Ellis has completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 1,003 yards, 11 touchdowns and six interceptions, Stratford countering with 55.1 percent on less than half as many attempts, with eight touchdowns and three interceptions.

          Both teams have a major playmaker in the backfield.

          Pacelli’s Jalen Turner has 1,307 yards and 21 touchdowns on 108 carries, getting 12.1 yards per try. He ran for 478 yards in a late-season two-game stretch, with five touchdowns.

          Stratford’s Keondre Glover gains 11.7 yards a carry, with 1,468 yards and 27 scores, with a 355-yard/6-TD game against FPD three weeks ago.

          In their mid-September matchup, Glover had 16 carries for 106 yards and a score, Turner going for 61 yards on 14 carries.

          In that game, each team tried six passes, Pacelli getting two touchdowns from Ellis, who had 10 yards on 10 carries. The Vikings ran 34 times for 176 yards and three scores, to 38 for 174 for Stratford.

          The Eagles lost two fumbles in the game, and trailed 21-0 before scoring in the fourth quarter.

          If one team can have a hunger edge at this point, it might be Pacelli. In more than three decades of coach, Pacelli’s Dwight Jones has never coached in a state championship game.

          And Pacelli is a sub-.500 program all-time, with a 313-24-8 record, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association website. The Vikings have never been in a GISA final, with only one semifinal and two quarterfinal visits until this season.

          Plus the Vikings knocked off cross-town rival Brookstone 20-17 in overtime last week, despite a flu-like situation on the team.

          Stratford? The Eagles are 389-214-6 all-time, with loads of trips to semifinals and finals.

 

Maxwell Ratings prediction: St. Anne Pacelli by 1

The Sports Report predication: Hope the officiating crew is fairly young and in good shape, because there are some athletes they’ll have to keep up with.

          Even in a run-oriented game, because somebody will have to throw a little bit, and there is potential for big special-teams plays.

          It’s about as old-school as it gets offensively. Video could be black and white.

          Pacelli may be on more of a mission, a program that hasn’t had much success. Jones has brought more than just better coaching to the team, injecting chemistry and teamwork and unselfishness, and smart hunger.

          Expect Pacelli to come out with more juice and emotion, but that can’t overshadow execution. It’s a championship game, so emotion won’t be a problem. Fundamentals and execution wins.

          St. Anne Pacelli 35, Stratford 31