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Sunday, October 21, 2007
Ranked or not, Broncos title contenders
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
More and more, it’s looking like Brookwood.
I’ve looked into the Poll Talk crystal ball, forecasting the Class AAAAA playoffs through to the state championship, and the most surprising thing — and I’m just as shocked as you will be — is that Brookwood is going to play for the title game.
I know, I know. The PT crystal ball is the most metro-biased, Gwinnett-loving, Brookwood-snuggling prognostication tool this side of AJC sportswriters. Brookwood isn’t even ranked in this week’s poll!
But here’s how it’s going down:
Brookwood wins at home Friday against Grayson, essentially locking up the No. 1 seed in Region 8. My colleagues from Gwinnett, David Purdum and Larry Hartstein, who watch their games and then study film on Sundays, each tell me that Grayson wins this one, but that’s not what I saw in the ball. Sorry.
Then, after getting the No. 1 seed in Region 8, Brookwood has a sweet draw:
Round One: Sprayberry. Easy win.
Round Two: North Gwinnett. It was 22-21 the first time the two met, but this time, it’s a BCS game. (Brookwood Community Stadium). This time, it’s Broncos by one. It’s just too hard to beat a good team twice.
Quarterfinals: Valdosta. The Wildcats will beat the spread this time but won’t beat Brookwood.
Semifinals: Harrison. Tough game. Real tough game. Especially now that I’ve awakened to realize this will be at the Georgia Dome and not at BCS. But the ball is still picking BW. When’s the last time a Cobb team beat a Gwinnett team in the playoffs? Probably when Harrison beat Brookwood a couple of years ago, but that was at Harrison. Brookwood gets revenge.
Final: Lowndes or Norcross. This is where the luck runs out, but you can bank on this much: It’s Brookwood to the title game.
Now, for the rest.
The state champion is going to be Lowndes. I really think the Poll Talk ball favors Norcross but is afraid that South Georgia would boycott Poll Talk if it was an all-Gwinnett final.
Oh, I forgot to mention: Norcross is going to beat North Gwinnett in Game 10 and get the No. 1 seed in Region 7. If that doesn't happen, the whole house of cards collapses and Brookwood is out in Round Two. (I've since been told that coin tosses will decide the No. 1 seed in R7, so apparently Norcross will be winning that lottery, as well.).Couple of other things:
Valdosta lost on purpose to Lowndes on Friday.
That’s right, the ‘Cats tanked it.
By losing, Valdosta remained in prime position to get the favorable No. 3 seed in Region 1-AAAAA, which puts the ‘Cats in line to face a soft No. 2 seed (Jenkins), then a soft No. 1 seed (East Coweta).
You’d rather not be the No. 1 out of Region 1 because that means a second-round game with Stephenson.
In fact, the recent MLK-Stephenson game was huge because the loser (Stephenson) is probably headed to Lowndes in round two, while the winner (MLK) stays home for the second round against probably Coffee.
OK, here’s how it goes:
FIRST ROUND:
Lowndes d. Windsor Forest 37-0
Stephenson d. Mundy’s Mill 21-7
North Cobb d. Mill Creek 38-21
Chattahoochee d. South Gwinnett 26-7
Camden d. Tift 21-6
Douglass at Newnan 7-6
Norcross d. Etowah 34-14
Grayson d. Roswell 13-10
Parkview d. Walton 23-21
Harrison d. Peachtree Ridge 17-16
MLK d. Hiram 7-0
Coffee d. Bradwell 42-14
Brookwood d. Sprayberry 35-3
North Gwinnett d. Marietta 28-17
East Coweta d. Redan 21-6
Valdosta d. Jenkins 24-20
SECOND ROUND
Lowndes d. Stephenson 14-0
North Cobb d. Chattahoochee 27-21
Camden d. Luella 34-6
Norcross d. Grayson 21-14
Harrison d. Parkview 17-10
MLK d. Coffee 19-14
Brookwood d. North Gwinnett 22-21
Valdosta d. East Coweta 21-0
QUARTERFINALS
Lowndes d. North Cobb 20-13
Norcross d. Camden 28-14
Harrison d. MLK 21-6
Brookwood d. Valdosta 27-7
SEMIFINALS
Lowndes d. Norcross 14-13
Brookwood d. Harrison 10-9
FINAL
Lowndes d. Brookwood 14-7
(Editor’s note: Join Todd Holcomb live Monday nights from 7-9 to discuss his poll rankings.)
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