Three months later, it’s striking how little has changed.
We opened the season with No. 1 Greater Atlanta Christian and No. 3 Benedictine, and we’ll finish with the basically the same. GAC has gone wire to wire at No. 1 and Lovett has never left the top five, ending the regular season at No. 4.
The rematch is 1 p.m. Saturday at the Georgia Dome. Neither team has ever won a football state championship.
The first time around was pretty much a dead heat. The Spartans won, 24-21, behind a huge performance from Darius Slayton. The senior wide receiver/defensive back who recently committed to UGA, kicked off the season with eight catches for 186 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning 63-yarder in the fourth quarter. The Cadets had a chance to tie, but their 23-yard field goal attempt late in the game was blocked.
The Cadets lost just once more since then – 35-28 to No. 2 Vidalia – and have won their last seven, all by wide margins. Their average score during that span is 50-10, and they defeated Brooks County, 49-7, last week in the semifinals.
The Cadets average 446 yards per game (225 rushing, 221 passing). Senior quarterback Stevie Powers has thrown for more than 3,000 yards, and Brad Stewart is one of the state’s leading receivers with 64 receptions, 1,244 yards and 17 touchdowns. But in the playoffs, running backs John Kennedy and Chance Jackson have led the offense.
Kennedy has 1,066 rushing yards on the season (10.4 per carry) and more than half of that total (540) has come during Benedictine’s four playoff games. Kennedy also has over 600 receiving yards and 19 total TDs on the year. Jackson has 912 rushing yards, 337 receiving yards and 17 total touchdowns.
For GAC, Micah Abernathy has been the driving force, rushing for more than 450 yards in the last two weeks, including 259 in last week’s 44-41 win over Fitzgerald that the Spartans won on a 21-yard field goal from Will Kenworthy as the clock expired.
Abernathy, a Tennessee commit, is now up to nearly 1,300 rushing yards on the season, despite missing three games due to an injury he sustained in the third quarter of the season opener against Benedictine. Quarterback Davis Mills has been impressive during his sophomore season
Defensively, GAC is led by linebackers Paul Carothers and Tyler Cooksey, both D-I recruits. Prior to last week, no team had scored more than 28 points on the Spartans this season.
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Benedictine vs. Greater Atlanta Christian
Record, seeds
Record vs. 2014 playoff teams
Playoff history
Series history
Stats
