The GHSA recently released football schedules for the 2016 season. This is the fourth in a series of articles on some of the schedule’s interesting features. Today, we look at Class AAAA in 10 blurbs.
-Blessed Trinity and Marist will be traveling to Dublin (ie, Ireland, not Georgia) for games Sept. 2 as part of the Global Ireland Football Tournament. Blessed Trinity will play St. Peter’s Prep of Jersey City, N.J. St. Peter’s was the No. 12 team in New Jersey last season, according to MaxPreps. Marist will play Belen Jesuit of Miami. Belen Jesuit was 8-4 last season in Florida’s Class 8A. Westminster of AAA also will be playing and participating in what is a four-day event. On Saturday, Sept. 3, Georgia Tech will play Boston College in the event’s culmination, the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.
-Blessed Trinity and Marist are in Region 7, which has only five teams, meaning six non-region opponents for each. Both Catholic schools are playing strong non-region schedules. Blessed Trinity has St. Pius, Marietta, Creekview, Hart County and McCallie of Chattanooga. Marist has Lovett, St. Pius, Woodward, Chamblee and Gainesville. The rest of the region has Chestatee, West Hall and White County, which are probably not thrilled at the travel nor the athletics challenges that await them in BT and Marist.
-St. Pius, the other Catholic school in AAAA, finds itself in Region 8, as if this DeKalb County school were in Northeast Georgia. The Lions will be playing the likes of Stephens County, which, as some know, borders South Carolina. St. Pius’ closest region opponent is North Oconee, some 50 miles away. St. Pius will get ready with perhaps the toughest non-region schedule in the classification. It includes Greater Atlanta Christian (12-2), Lanier (11-1), Blessed Trinity (13-1-1), Marist (10-3) and Benedictine (12-1).
-Jefferson probably will be St. Pius’ toughest Region 8 rival. Jefferson, which has averaged 11.5 victories the past four seasons, was forced to move up into AAAA for having more than 3 percent of its enrollment outside of its county of origin. That was part of the GHSA’s plan to address the perceived athletics advantages of city schools, which can attract non-district students if they pay a tuition. Jefferson will play Thomson, Flowery Branch and Gainesville ahead of its region schedule.
-Woodward Academy, a state semifinalist last season, gets a weaker Region 4 (ie, no Sandy Creek) and figures to win a third straight region title. Non-region foes include Westminster, Grady and Marist.
-Cartersville, the 2015 AAAA champion, has loaded up on reigning state champion Allatoona (Aug. 19 home), AAA power Calhoun (Sept. 2 road) and AAAAAA Westlake (Sept. 9 at home). Cartersville is in Region 5 with Sandy Creek and travels there on Oct. 14. The schools have played each other three times, with Cartersville winning each (2006, 2007, 2014). No other opponent has beaten Sandy Creek that many times over the past three seasons.
-Sandy Creek, coming off a 9-3 season, ending a streak of seven 10-win campaigns, also will play Allatoona in a pre-region game on Sept. 2. That’s not the only reigning state champion on the Patriots’ schedule. Sandy Creek will open its season Aug. 20 against Fort Dorchester, the South Carolina Class 4A champion that went 15-0 in 2015.
-LaGrange, also a member of Region 5 with Cartersville and Sandy Creek, is reviving its rivalry with Griffin. They’ve played 52 times dating to 1923, with Griffin leading the series 26-25-1. They have not played since 1999. Central-Carroll is another member of Region 5, which looks to be pretty strong.
-Carver-Columbus beat Cairo 16-13 in a Class AAA championship game in 2007. The next year, Cairo routed Carver 42-13 in the semifinals as Cairo won state. For the first time, these two schools will be in the same Region 1. Carver played up in AAAAA the past two seasons, and the results were 8-3 and 9-2 finishes after eight straight years of winning 11 or more. Carver coach Joe Kegler was forced out, replaced this season by Dre’Mail King. Cairo, meanwhile, suffered its first losing season last year (4-6) since 2003. Both should be factors in 2016.
-Some regions figure to be much stronger than others. You’ve got Region 5 (Cartersville, Sandy Creek), Region 7 (Blessed Trinity, Marist) and Region 8 (St. Pius, Stephens County, Oconee County). Region 6, led by Northwest Whitfield (7-4), doesn’t have a team that advanced in the playoffs last season, and only two that had winning records.
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