Class AAAAAA blog: Round 2 goes mostly as expected

ajc.com

Colquitt County's streak of 10 state quarterfinal appearances is over, but the Class AAAAAAA playoff season remains largely unsurprising.

The computer Maxwell Ratings has picked 22 of the 24 playoff games correctly. Seven of the eight quarterfinalists were in the preseason top 10, and the one that wasn’t – Mill Creek – is accustomed to winning playoff games, too.

Seventh-ranked Parkview was the team that put an end to Colquitt’s playoff run. Parkview is a region champion that was ranked No. 3 in preseason, so Colquitt’s demise as much a bad draw as anything. What was remarkable was Parkview’s 30 unanswered points in the second half. Parkview finished with 502 yards of total offense and won 40-21.

Maxwell viewed Parkview-Colquitt as an upset (remember that Parkview lost Lowndes 39-7, and computer models don’t look kindly on that).

But the other games were won comfortably by the favored teams.

Here are those results.

Second-round:

R6 #2 Mill Creek 41, R4 #1 Roswell 17

R3 #2 Marietta 38, R5 #1 Milton 24

R8 #2 Archer 45, R4 #4 Cherokee 14

R7 #1 Parkview 40, R1 #2 Colquitt County 21

R8 #1 Grayson 42, R2 #2 East Coweta 21

R1 #1 Lowndes 44, R7 #2 Norcross 14

R6 #1 North Gwinnett 60, R4 #2 Walton 10

R3 #1 McEachern 42, R5 #2 North Forsyth 14

Quarterfinals schedule

R6 #2 Mill Creek at R3 #2 Marietta

R8 #2 Archer at R7 #1 Parkview

R8 #1 Grayson at R1 #1 Lowndes

R6 #1 North Gwinnett at R3 #1 McEachern

Maxwell’s projections

Marietta vs Mill Creek -5

Parkview vs Archer -11

Lowndes vs Grayson -20

McEachern vs North Gwinnett -2