Road warriors from Perry have sights set on ending another team's season at home, and reaching its first state final

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By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Back in 1959, before the current head coach was born, Perry made the state semifinals, after beating Vidalia and ECI in region playoffs.

          The head coach at the time would eventually have Perry’s stadium named after him. Starr’s Mill? The school wasn’t even a twinkle in the community’s eye, with the debut not coming for another 39 years.

          It took Perry until 2007 to win another state playoff game, and until 2020 to win the program’s second region title.

          Since the first season in 1998, Starr’s Mill has three quarterfinal and is in its fourth semifinal.

          But the past is unlikely to matter when the road warriors from Perry visits southeast Peachtree City for a GHSA Class AAAA semifinal battle with Starr’s Mill in the first meeting between the teams.

          Perry is 11-2, for the second time in three seasons, and Starr’s Mill is 10-3, its first double-digit win season since 2019, when it reached the 5A semifinals and lost 55-3 to Warner Robins.

          The battle of the Panthers pits the state’s composite (Georgia High School Football Daily, rankings through the regular season) co-No. 5 team at the No. 9 team.

          Part of the history? Stability, and a lack thereof.

          Starr’s Mill has had only two head coaches in its history, Mike Earwood from 1998-2009 and Chad Phillips since then. Earwood went 90-48 with three region titles, and Phillips is 111-53 with seven region championships.

          Kevin Smith is Perry’s seventh head coach in that span, and architect of three of the program’s four region titles. He is 58-26 in his seventh season with the Panthers, No. 2 on the school list, 22 wins behind St. John, who went 80-64-7 in 15 seasons.

          Smith has won 69 percent of his games, to St. John’s 55.3 percent.

          Perry is in rare air despite losing starting quarterback Colter Ginn for a few games with a broken thumb.

          He is near 2,000 yards passing, completing 61.3 percent with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions. And he has a quality selection of targets with Dakarai Anderson, Kiel Sparks, and Khalid Miller.

          Ahmad Gordon has a assorted program rushing records that he’s only adding to. He’s scored 29 times on the ground en route to 1,650 yards, but Carrion Daniels is underrated, with 727 yards and nine touchdowns.

          The defense also has a variety of playamkers, led by Jordan Daniel and Jerrell Pinckney, who team for 16-3 tackles and and have seven tackles for loss. Chayden Barber has six sacks, and four Panthers have eight of the defense’s 12 interceptions.

          Starr’s Mill has more run-game weapons, led by Dorsey Benefield’s 960 yards and 17 touchdowns. Three teams have between 256 and 423 yards, and that trio has 14 rushing touchdowns.

          Part of the group is quarterback Logan Inagawa, who is second with 423 yards rushing yards to go with 1,275 yards (Starr’s Mill hasn’t updated last week’s stats) on a 63.4-percent completion rate.

          Evan Bartek anchors the defnse with 10.4 tackles a gme and nine tackles for loss, Ethan Bramlett adding 7.9 tackles.

          Taylor Ratinaud is a ballhawk in the secondary, with six interceptions.

          Starr’s Mill had a magical quarterfinal win over Central-Carrollton, tying the game with 56 seconds left on a touchdown and conversion and then winning it on a 41-yard Hail Mary on the final play.

Maxwell Ratings prediction

Perry 25, Starr’s Mill 15

The Sports Report prediction

          At this point, Perry is just a collection of road warriors. Hop on bus, ride, and conquer.

          The Panthers have won at Bainbridge 7-3 in one style of game, and then 34-20 at Stephenson another style of game. That’s huge, the ability to adjust on the road to the opposition and the flow of a game.

          Throw in that Perry is more balance on offense and has more weapons, plus a defense that shut down Bainbridge and is playing well in the playoffs and down the stretch, and there’s some momentum for the visitors.

          It is, however, a new stage and a bigge stage, and that can obviously have an impact. Perry has had a hump staring away the past few years. Is it time to put that hump in the rearview mirror?

          Perry 28, Starr’s Mill 21