List: Each remaining team’s most-recent semifinal appearance

Lanier and Pierce County are in the semifinals for the first time. Lanier, a Gwinnett County school, opened in 2010 in Sugar Hill. Pierce County opened in 1981 when Blackshear and Patterson high schools were consolidated. But most remarkable is the drought-breaking season of Milton, which is in the semifinals for the first time since 1952, when under a coach named Gus Letchas, who had started the football program just two years prior. The 1952 Eagles wore leather helmets and no facemasks and, according to Letchas' 2006 obituary that appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, had only 13 members of the team. They rolled through the regular season unbeaten with victories over Roswell, Buford and Tucker. They met their end against eventual state champion Hogansville, whose coach was former University of Georgia All-American Mike Castronis. Here are the remaining 32 teams, with each team's most recent semifinal appearance.

First - Lanier

First - Pierce County

1952 - Milton

1965 - Pelham

1988 - Rockmart

2001 - Troup

2005 - Dacula

2007 - Lowndes

2011 - Savannah Christian

2014 - Archer

2014 - Marion County

2015 - Bainbridge

2016 - Callaway

2016 - Cartersville

2016 - Fitzgerald

2016 - Northside (Warner Robins)

2016 - Stockbridge

2017 - Athens Academy

2017 - Blessed Trinity

2017 - Calhoun

2017 - Cedar Grove

2017 - Clinch County

2017 - Colquitt County

2017 - ELCA

2017 - Heard County

2017 - Irwin County

2017 - Lee County

2017 - Marist

2017 - Peach County

2017 - Prince Avenue Christian

2017 - Rome

2017 - Warner Robins

Hot at the right time

Bainbridge and Northside of Warner Robins are in the semifinals after finishing just 5-5 in the regular season. They are the 16th and 17th teams in history to make the semifinals despite regular-season records of .500 or below. Two of those - 1965 West Rome and 1992 Thomas County Central - won state titles.

1949 Marist (3-7)

1953 Commercial-Savannah (4-5-1)

1958 Decatur (4-6)

1960 Ware County (5-5)

1965 Chamblee (5-5)

1965 West Rome (4-5-1)

1968 Carver-Atlanta (4-6)

1982 Buford (5-5)

1989 Greene County (4-6)

1992 Thomas County Central (5-5)

1997 Colquitt County (5-5)

2002 Dooly County (4-6)