Georgia News

[GardenStateBaller]

Class 5A

1. Warner Robins (14-1)

AJC Super 11 defensive tackle Vic Burley, who is committed to Alabama, and three-time 1,000-yard rusher Malcolm Brown lead the Demons’ quest for a third straight state title. Opener: Friday vs. Lee County

2. Creekside (11-3)

The Seminoles lead 5A with four preseason all-state players (OL Caleb Holmes, LB Javeon Miller, DB Roderick McCrary, DB Daiquan White). They lost to Warner Robins in the 2021 semifinals. Opener: Friday at Rome

3. Cartersville (11-1)

The Purple Hurricanes have lost only 10 games over the past 10 seasons and were knocked out of the 2020 and 2021 playoffs by eventual champion Warner Robins. First-team all-region RB Malachi Jeffries should prosper behind a talented offensive line led by preseason all-state Johnathan Cline. Opener: Friday at Cherokee

4. Calhoun (12-3)

Running back Caden Williams rushed for 1,431 yards as a sophomore for the 2021 runner-up. Opener: Friday vs. Blessed Trinity

5. Jones County (10-3)

The Greyhounds, winners of three straight region titles, now share a region with Warner Robins. RB Javious Bond and WR Zion Ragins are Georgia Power 100 players, but the ’Hounds will miss 3,000-yard passer John Alan Richter. Opener: Saturday vs. Northside-Warner Robins (at Mercer)

6. Jefferson (9-2)

Jefferson spent 10 weeks at No. 1 last season before injuries to five-star prospects Malaki Starks (now at Georgia) and Sammy Brown stalled the Dragons’ momentum. Brown, a linebacker /running back, is back. Jefferson has a new coach, Travis Noland, hired from Oconee County. Opener: Friday at Alpharetta

7. Ware County (9-2)

The Gators were the only team to beat Warner Robins last season and won a region title by doing so, but four-year starting QB Thomas Castellanos is now at Central Florida. DL Demetrius Baldwin and LB Trey Hargrove are all-state quality. Opener: Friday at Appling County

8. Clarke Central (10-3)

The Gladiators, starring preseason all-state DL Jailen Howard and DB Malachi McNeill, are the defending Region 8 champions. QB Lucian Anderson III had 20 scholarship offers, one from Yale. Opener: Thursday vs. Cedar Shoals

9. Coffee (8-3)

The Robbie Pruitt coaching era is complete (2012-21) after the coach returned to his native Florida, replaced by Mike Coe, who led Madison County of Florida to four titles in the past five seasons. The team’s five leading tacklers graduated, so there’s some rebuilding in store. Opener: Friday at Tift County

10. Cambridge (9-2)

The Bears return eight defensive starters, leading rusher Christian Isibor and receiver Will Taylor. They must replace QB Zach Harris, who passed for 2,708 yards. Cambridge is down from 6A, where the team advanced a playoff round each of the past two seasons. Opener: Friday vs. Creekview

[GardenStateBaller]

Class 4A

1. Benedictine (13-2)

The defending champions are out for their fourth state title in 10 seasons. QB Holden Geriner is off to Auburn but replaced by QB Luke Kromenhoek, who is committed to Florida. WR/CB Za’Quan Bryan and LB Cole Semien are preseason all-state. Opener: Friday vs. Jenkins (at Savannah Memorial)

2. North Oconee (10-4)

ATH Khalil Barnes, the 2021 Region 8 player of the year, joins DB Jack Fabris as preseason Georgia Power 100 players returning from the team that lost to Benedictine 42-32 in the 2021 semifinals. TE/HB K.J. Moon and DL Cole Davidson are also returning all-region players. Opener: Friday at Oconee County

3. Cedartown (11-2)

The Bulldogs return 1,000-yard rusher Harlem Diamond, region co-defensive player of the year Eli Barrow, a linebacker, and preseason all-state OL Peyton Nikopoulus. Cedartown lost to Carver of Columbus 22-21 in the 2021 quarterfinals. Opener: Friday at Rockmart

4. Perry (11-2)

QB Armar Gordon, who passed for 2,990 yards and 32 touchdowns in 2021, is a preseason all-state choice along with DB Cam Marshall. Four of the seven leading tacklers in 2021 were sophomores. So was WR Dakarai Anderson, who has a Texas A&M offer. Opener: Aug. 26 at Houston County

5. Trinity Christian (14-0)

The Lions won Class A Private last season and will play three classes higher this season without star QB David Dallas and several other key parts. Top players this season include DB/WR Aaron Gates (committed to Florida), DE Ethan McDowell (Miami of Ohio) and LB Ryan Earl (Furman). Opener: Friday vs. Woodward Academy

6. Whitewater (11-2)

LB Raul “Popo” Aguirre (committed to Miami) and DL Stephen Johnson (Arkansas) might be the best pair of defenders in the classification. The Wildcats are down from 5A, where they lost to Creekside 20-13 in the quarterfinals. Opener: Saturday at Northgate

7. Bainbridge (9-4)

JahMarion “Bo” Smith passed for 2,087 yards last season. WR/DB Antavious Murphy is an outstanding two-way player. DB Dontae Broadnax made GACA all-state last season. The Bearcats lost to North Oconee 29-24 in the 2021 quarterfinals. Opener: Friday vs. Cedar Grove

8. Troup (8-3)

LB Qua Birdsong and DB Noah Dixon are top-200 national prospects, and QB Taeo Todd (1,794 yards rushing, 1,127 passing in 15 career games) is a class player-of-the-year candidate if he can stay healthy. All are juniors. Opener: Friday at Harris County

9. Holy Innocents' (11-2)

DL Jacobi Murray and WR Zach Jackson, both juniors, are preseason all-state picks from a team moving up from Class A Private. QB William Wright is another of seven first-team all-region players who return. Opener: Saturday vs. Pace Academy

10. Starr’s Mill (8-4)

The Panthers are down in classification from 5A, where they won five region titles over the past six seasons. Players to watch are RB Greigh Joseph (committed to Army) and TE Josh Phifer (Liberty). Opener: Saturday vs. East Coweta

[Columbiafan]

5 hours ago, Nolebull813 said:

Yeah I remember a coach from Hernando County saying they can only use the school buses 50 miles away. 
 

i’m not sure if it’s 50 miles from the school or the border. but that’s pretty strict. 

Hernando high did go to Disney a few years back and play a Colorado team. i’m not sure if they had to pay extra for the cheese wagons or rent a charter

Yeah some counties are more strict than others 

 

North Miami Beach used charter busses and stayed overnight when coming up to Columbia 2 years ago so I'm guessing Dade County teams going up to GA would stay the night and rent charter busses 

 

Just like AHP will when they go to play lowndes and they probably will stay in a 5* hotel so they won't be "bruised up" from the ride nolebullshit

[GardenStateBaller]

Three schools replace lost games

Cedar Grove will play at Bainbridge on Friday, and Marist will play Alabama Class 5A champion Pike Road on the road Aug. 26 in the wake of four Miami schools pulling out of games with Georgia teams last week.   Stephenson, the other Georgia team that lost a game, hasn’t found a replacement for its canceled game.   The Aug. 27 “Georgia vs. Florida Battle of the Borders,” scheduled for DeKalb County’s Hallford Stadium, was called off Thursday. Scheduled to play were Norland vs. Marist, Edison vs. Cedar Grove and Hialeah vs. Stephenson.   Bainbridge’s Aug. 19 home game and season opener against Miami Dade Christian was canceled, but the Bearcats have accepted the challenge of playing Cedar Grove, the defending Class 3A champion, on that date. Bainbridge is ranked No. 7 in Class 4A.   Cedar Grove still has only nine scheduled games and just one at home, its November season finale against Carver of Atlanta at Godfrey Stadium. Bainbridge is near the Florida border 225 miles from Cedar Grove's Ellenwood campus.   Marist is traveling a distance, also. The War Eagles will go 175 miles to Pike Road, a school just east of Montgomery. Pike Road was 14-0 last season.   In other scheduling news, the Lovejoy-Mundy's Mill game has been moved from Friday to Saturday at 1 p.m. at Twelve Oaks Stadium.

[Nolebull813]

17 minutes ago, GardenStateBaller said:

Three schools replace lost games

Cedar Grove will play at Bainbridge on Friday, and Marist will play Alabama Class 5A champion Pike Road on the road Aug. 26 in the wake of four Miami schools pulling out of games with Georgia teams last week.   Stephenson, the other Georgia team that lost a game, hasn’t found a replacement for its canceled game.   The Aug. 27 “Georgia vs. Florida Battle of the Borders,” scheduled for DeKalb County’s Hallford Stadium, was called off Thursday. Scheduled to play were Norland vs. Marist, Edison vs. Cedar Grove and Hialeah vs. Stephenson.   Bainbridge’s Aug. 19 home game and season opener against Miami Dade Christian was canceled, but the Bearcats have accepted the challenge of playing Cedar Grove, the defending Class 3A champion, on that date. Bainbridge is ranked No. 7 in Class 4A.   Cedar Grove still has only nine scheduled games and just one at home, its November season finale against Carver of Atlanta at Godfrey Stadium. Bainbridge is near the Florida border 225 miles from Cedar Grove's Ellenwood campus.   Marist is traveling a distance, also. The War Eagles will go 175 miles to Pike Road, a school just east of Montgomery. Pike Road was 14-0 last season.   In other scheduling news, the Lovejoy-Mundy's Mill game has been moved from Friday to Saturday at 1 p.m. at Twelve Oaks Stadium.

Send CAI to play Stephenson 

[GardenStateBaller]

20 minutes ago, Nolebull813 said:

Send CAI to play Stephenson 

Working on it. 

[ECHS05]

3 days left, right on time.

[GardenStateBaller]

Cedar Grove salvages game vs. Florida team

Cedar Grove’s Aug. 27 game against Edison of Miami is back on.

 

The two teams had been scheduled to be part of the “Georgia vs. Florida Battle of the Borders,” a tripleheader at DeKalb County’s Hallford Stadium. The three games were canceled last week when Edison, Norland and Hialeah backed out, but Cedar Grove and DeKalb County officials have persuaded Edison to make the trip after all. The other games remain canceled.

 

Cedar Grove opens Friday night at Bainbridge in another game just added after Bainbridge’s original opponent, Miami Dade Christian, canceled. Cedar Grove, the No. 1-ranked team in Class 3A, now has 10 games, though only two in its home county of DeKalb – against Edison and against Carver of Atlanta in November.

 

In other scheduling news, Screven County’s home game against GSIC has been moved up to Thursday because of an officials shortage. It was announced last week that Liberty County would play at Southeast Bulloch on Thursday for the same reason.

[GardenStateBaller]

10 stories to follow in 2022

Georgia high school football returns tonight with the first two of nearly 200 season openers.   Games this week between top-10 teams include Lee County at Warner Robins, Mill Creek vs. Walton, North Oconee at Oconee County, Irwin County at Fitzgerald, Woodward Academy at Trinity Christian and Thomasville at Brooks County.   The largest event is the Corky Kell Classic, a slate of 11 metro Atlanta games culminating in a full day of football Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.   Here are 10 storylines to follow this year as the 2022 season dawns.   1. The Big Bad Wolves: Buford has won 13 state titles this century, at least one in each classification from A to 6A. Now, the Wolves are in the highest class, 7A, for the first time and ranked No. 1 out of the gate, aiming for their fourth consecutive championship. Running back Justice Haynes, a transfer from Blessed Trinity, is the state’s highest-rated running back. The Alabama pledge is one of many Wolves headed to major Division I football. Others are quarterback Dylan Wittke (Virginia Tech), tackle Paul Mubenga and defensive back/wide receiver K.J. Bolden, the state’s No. 1 junior prospect.   2. What are you doing here? That question is for Eagle’s Landing Christian and Prince Avenue Christian, among others. Last summer, Class 2A public schools started a movement ahead of reclassification to free themselves of private schools after Lovett and Westminster dominated the class in all sports in 2021-22. They thought they’d done it with the GHSA’s new 3.0 enrollment multiplier, which kicked the Buckhead boys into Class 4A, but the plan backfired in the final chapter of reclassification when about 15 small private schools left the GHSA, forcing the association to abolish the Class A private-public split and re-integrate. So six-time former Class A Private champ ELCA is now in 2A and ranked No. 1 this week. Prince Avenue, another Class A Private power, is still in A but is mixed in with Class A public powers Brooks County and Irwin County. Of course, Brooks County, Irwin County and Fitzgerald aren’t afraid of anybody, but if they had their choice? Well, there’s a reason that the GHSA considered segregating private schools from public schools in all classes last year.   3. Welcome to the neighborhood: New classes and new regions, which come about every two years, bring on fun, new rivalries. Here are some enticing 2022 region games that weren’t happening in 2021: Lowndes vs. Valdosta in Region 1-7A, Carrollton vs. Westlake in 2-7A, Buford vs. Collins Hill and Mill Creek in 8-7A, Marist vs. St. Pius in 4-6A, Blessed Trinity vs. Roswell in 7-6A, Warner Robins vs. Jones County in 2-5A, Trinity Christian vs. Whitewater in 4-4A and Carver-Columbus vs. Crisp County and Thomasville in 1-3A.   4. Private enterprise: The GHSA in the offseason increased its reclassification multiplier on out-of-zone students to 3.0 in a move designed to move private schools and some city schools into higher classifications for competitive-balance reasons. That put Blessed Trinity, Marist, Woodward Academy and St. Pius into Class 6A for the first time. Woodward Academy, Blessed Trinity and St. Pius went up one class; Marist went up two. All have preseason top-10 rankings in at least one poll. Also in the spotlight will be 2021 Class A Private champion Trinity Christian, which volunteered to move up to 4A, where the Lions will find more upward-bound private schools such as Westminster, Lovett and Holy Innocents’. As previously noted, ELCA is in 2A. City schools moved up were Buford and Carrollton to 7A, Jefferson to 5A and Thomasville to 3A.   5. Coaching them up: Josh Niblett and Jonathan Gess have won six state championships as coaches since 2009, Niblett at Hoover in Alabama and Gess at Eagle’s Landing Christian. Each is now coaching at a school that didn’t win six games last season, Niblett at Gainesville (5-5 in 2021) and Gess at Hebron Christian (4-7). Another winning coach open to challenge is Jaybo Shaw, going from Rabun County (35-5 in Shaw’s three seasons) to Wayne County (0-10 in 2021).   6. Written in the stars: There will be a state player of the year named in December. For the past seven seasons, a five-star recruit has been the consensus choice, players such as Cartersville’s Trevor Lawrence and Collins Hill’s Travis Hunter, even though the award is based on high school performance only. If the trend holds, that’s good news for Mill Creek safety Caleb Downs, the only consensus five-star recruit from Georgia in the senior class, although Buford running back Justice Haynes and Warner Robins defensive lineman Vic Burley are within striking distance of the honor, which becomes official after the February signing day. There are six five-stars in the junior class, led by Buford athlete K.J. Bolden. The last consensus state player of the year who wasn’t a five-star was Washington County quarterback/defensive back A.J. Gray, a 2014 three-star player who signed with Georgia Tech.   7. Going to make history: There were two first-time state champions in 2021 (Collins Hill, Trinity Christian). It has been 18 years since a season didn’t produce a first-time winner. So it’s just a question of who, right? Hughes, the Class 6A runner-up to Buford, is one to watch. The Panthers possess as much high-end talent as anyone, with Bo Hughley (committed to Georgia) and Jelani Thurman (Ohio State) leading the pack. Another to watch is Schley County, ranked No. 1 in Class A Division II. Other contenders include North Cobb, Mill Creek, Jones County, North Oconee, Appling County and Perry.   8. A matter of record: Some of the state’s more prestigious offensive records could be challenged this season. Prince Avenue Christian’s Aaron Philo passed for 4,540 yards as a sophomore, 201 short of Tylan Morton’s single-season record. Rabun County’s Jaden Gibson had 1,860 yards receiving as a sophomore, 196 short of Marcayll Jones’ record. Gibson is 1,303 yards short of Stan Rome’s career record of 4,477 set in 1973. Buford’s Justice Haynes is 2,965 yards short of Monte Williams’ career rushing record of 8,884 set in 2000.   9. Looking up down south: Colquitt County and Lowndes, the Class 7A powers of South Georgia, have new coaches. They are Sean Calhoun at Colquitt County and Zach Grage at Lowndes. They are former Colquitt County offensive coordinators. In fact, they essentially teamed up in that capacity on Colquitt County’s 2014 Class 6A championship team, and Calhoun remained for the 2015 championship team. Grage led Thomasville to the Class 2A finals in 2021 while Calhoun was in Alabama a year removed from a five-year run at Carrollton. Lowndes and Colquitt County open the season Friday with a doubleheader at Lowndes’ Martin Stadium, with the Packers playing Deerfield Beach and the Vikings playing American Heritage in the Georgia-Florida Challenge.   10. A class divided: Class A will have two champions again, but instead of public and private divisions, the GHSA has introduced Division I for bigger Class A schools and Division II for smaller ones. As noted earlier, that means the reintegration of public and private schools, but it also means renewed hope for schools with less than 400 students. That’s exciting news for Schley County, Washington-Wilkes, Turner County, Bowdon and many more that were outnumbered in the old setup.

[Bmore410]

 

[Bmore410]

 

[GardenStateBaller]

Collins Hill 20  LCA 0 Q3

CQ 14   DFB 0  Q2

[GardenStateBaller]

#17 Hughes 47

Spartanburg SC 17

[Bmore410]

 

[Bmore410]

 

[GardenStateBaller]

Cedar Grove 30

Bainbridge 14

[Bmore410]

 

[GardenStateBaller]

 

[Bmore410]

 

[GardenStateBaller]

WTF! 

 

[GardenStateBaller]

Here's a look at Georgia's teams ranked on a consensus of six polls (AJC – Atlanta Journal-Constitution/GHSF Daily; GPB – Georgia Public Broadcasting; SC – Score Atlanta; 680 – 680 The Fan; Max – Maxwell Ratings; and MP – MaxPreps).

[GardenStateBaller]

Hardly a speed bump for GA private schools

Private-school football teams are better than most people realize. That’s surprising since almost everybody realizes they’re really good in Georgia. But how good? According to the Maxwell Ratings, the average 6A private school is 19 points better than the average 6A public school. In 4A, they’re about 12 points better than average. In Class A Division I, where there are six private schools, the difference is only about seven points, and it would be less except that private schools are simply less likely to be terrible (none ranked outside the top 25). It’s hard not to conclude that the 3.0 multiplier didn’t do much to sand-bag the larger private schools, but from Class 3A down, there is relatively good parity between public and private schools. Of the 19 private schools in 3A below, only two have top-five rankings.

 

Private schools ranked by class:

 

7A - None

6A - No. 2 Blessed Trinity, No. 5 Woodward, No. 8 Marist, No. 13 St. Pius

5A - No. 23 Greater Atlanta Christian

4A - No. 1 Benedictine, No. 7 Trinity Christian, No. 11 Westminster, No. 20 Holy Innocents’, No. 22 Pace Academy, No. 25 Lovett

3A - No. 9 Calvary Day, No. 21 Savannah Christian, No. 24 Savannah Country Day, No. 27 Hebron Christian

2A - No. 2 ELCA, No. 8 Fellowship Christian, No. 12 Athens Academy, No. 23 North Cobb Christian, No. 28 Mount Paran Christian, No. 38 Landmark Christian, No. 52 Providence Christian

A D-I - No. 3 Prince Avenue Christian, No. 10 Whitefield Academy, No. 16 Mount Vernon, No. 17 Mount Pisgah Christian, No. 22 Athens Christian, No. 23 St. Francis

A D-II - No. 9 Aquinas, No. 19 Christian Heritage

[GardenStateBaller]

GHSA schools play numerous games against out-of-state competition. GHSF Daily will track the scores of those games each week to see how Georgia fares against the rest of the nation.

 

Vs. Alabama**********5-2

Vs. Florida**********3-2

Vs. Missouri*********0-0

Vs. North Carolina***0-1

Vs. Pennsylvania*****1-0

Vs. South Carolina***9-1

Vs. Tennessee********1-1

Vs. Virginia*********1-0

Total***************20-7

[Nolebull813]

16 minutes ago, GardenStateBaller said:

GHSA schools play numerous games against out-of-state competition. GHSF Daily will track the scores of those games each week to see how Georgia fares against the rest of the nation.

 

Vs. Alabama**********5-2

Vs. Florida**********3-2

Vs. Missouri*********0-0

Vs. North Carolina***0-1

Vs. Pennsylvania*****1-0

Vs. South Carolina***9-1

Vs. Tennessee********1-1

Vs. Virginia*********1-0

Total***************20-7

Who did they play from Pa? 

[JCGIII]

5 hours ago, Nolebull813 said:

Who did they play from Pa? 

Schuylkill Haven. A small, public, Central Pa school and community. It is in Pennsylvania Deutsch country. Just South, off I-78, is Schartlesville where the famous Haag's Hotel operated for decades. Known for great food, better hospitality, cold beer, Yuengling on tap, and served around 33 Fahrenheit. Unfortunately closed but there are similar places in the area.