Semis have North Georgia flavor

The high school football playoffs are in the semifinals, and teams from Metro Atlanta and North Georgia have arrived in record numbers.

Of the 20 teams remaining in Georgia’s five classifications, 12 are north of a line from LaGrange to Augusta.

That’s the most ever. The last time there were as many as 10 was 1995.

The seven metro teams in the semifinals ties a record set in 1980.

Credit Gwinnett County with four of them, including Grayson and Peachtree Ridge, which will play each other Friday night in Class AAAAA at Peachtree Ridge.

It’s the second time in history that teams from the same metro county have met in a semifinal. The other was Brookwood versus Dacula in 2005.

Also making the semis from Gwinnett are Buford (AA) and Wesleyan (A). At least one Gwinnett team has made the semifinals each year since 2000.

The other metro teams in the semis are Marist and Tucker in AAAA and Newnan in AAAAA.

Except for Grayson, every metro team will have home-field advantage this week.

Buford, ranked No. 1, plays No. 4 Fitzgerald. No. 10 Wesleyan faces No. 4 Lincoln County.

In AAAA, it’s No. 3 Marist vs. unranked Rome and No. 4 Tucker vs. unranked Griffin.

A North Georgia team is guaranteed to win the second-highest classification for only the third time in 15 years.

The rest of the North Georgia teams in the semis are Griffin (AAAA), Rome (AAAA), Flowery Branch (AAA), Calhoun (AA) and Lincoln County (A).

Rome, which opened in 1992 with the merger of East Rome and West Rome, has made its first final four after falling short five times in the quarterfinals.

But the highest-ranked contenders remain in South Georgia. They are No. 2 Camden County (AAAAA), No. 1 Cairo (AAA) and No. 1 Emanuel County Institute (A).

Marist and Buford are favored in the other classifications.

The winners of this week’s games will play in the state finals Dec. 12-13 in the Georgia Dome.