Here's a by-the-numbers look at the Class AAAAAA football semifinals, which will be played Friday and send two teams off to the state finals.
*0 – Teams remaining from Region 1-AAAAAA, after two-time defending champion Lee County, 2016 champion Valdosta, Coffee and Houston County were eliminated in the quarterfinals. The losses ended a streak of dominance that included four state titles in five years (Northside-Warner Robins won in 2014). Region 1 had supplied five of the six state finalists over the past three seasons.
*1 – Combined state championships won by the four remaining teams. That title was claimed in 2015 by Allatoona, which was playing just its eighth season of varsity football. Allatoona remains the only Cobb County Schools team to win a state championship, although Cobb-based teams Marietta (Marietta City Schools) and Mount Paran Christian (private school) also have won state titles.
*2 – Undefeated teams remaining in the field. No. 1 Dacula and No. 2 Harrison are both 13-0 and have set school records for wins in a season, but one will be out after Friday night because they meet each other in the semifinals. Allatoona is 10-2-1, and Richmond Hill is 9-3. Last year, Lee County became the first team in the second-highest classification to finish 15-0 since Creekside did it in 2013.
*7 – Days until the Class AAAAAA championship game, to be played at 8 p.m. on Dec. 13 at Georgia State Stadium. This will be the first time the finals have been scheduled for a site other than the Georgia Dome or Mercedes-Benz Stadium since the GHSA went to neutral sites in 2008. The lone exception was in 2017, when snow forced six of the eight finals to be moved to participating schools.
*33 – Years that Richmond Hill had played football before reaching the semifinals, a drought that ended last week when the Wildcats beat Valdosta. Richmond Hill, which began playing football in 1986, had been to the state playoffs only three times before coach Matt LeZotte arrived in 2015. After going 3-7 in his first season, LeZotte has taken the Wildcats to the playoffs four consecutive times.
*40.92 – Average points per game scored this season by Dacula, the best scoring average in Class AAAAAA. The Falcons’ 532 total points are just one more than the 531 recorded by Harrison, which is second at 40.85 points per game. Dacula averaged 26.7 points in the first three games but has since scored at least 34 in every game. The Falcons are averaging 49 points in their three playoff wins.
*1,039 – Receiving yards this season by Allatoona’s Asante Das, the leading remaining receiver. Das has 14 touchdowns on his 34 receptions and is averaging 30.6 yards per catch. His best game was a 294-yard, five-TD effort against Sprayberry on Oct. 4. Other leading receivers are Dacula’s Chris Scott (812 yards), Harrison’s Marques Owens (724) and Richmond Hill’s Jordan Clark (417).
*1,754 – Rushing yards this season for Richmond Hill’s Jalen House, who is the leading rusher among the remaining teams. House’s total has come in one fewer game because the Wildcats had a game canceled. Other 1,000-yard rushers that will play this week are David Roberts (1,391) of Harrison, Alex Wilson (1,227) of Allatoona and Dacula’s Trenton Jones (1,174) and Kaleb Edwards (1,032).
*2,327 – Passing yards this season by Dacula’s Jarrett Jenkins, the leader among the remaining quarterbacks. Jenkins threw for 203 yards and two TDs in a 56-21 victory over Lee County last week, even though his team rushed for 522 yards. The other quarterbacks in the semis are Harrison’s Gavin Hall (1,764 yards), Allatoona’s Dante Marshall (1,668) and Richmond Hill’s Tyler Coleman (986).
Schedule
Here are the semifinal matchups. Both games are at 7:30 p.m. Friday:
Allatoona at Richmond Hill
Harrison at Dacula
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