With semifinal action taking center stage on Friday, this week we will feature anonymous comments from Class A coaches, giving their honest thoughts on who they believe will eventually win the public and private state titles. Here are predictions from three coaches:
Private School Champion: Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy
“To be honest with you, the popular opinion is that it’s ELCA and everybody else is playing for second place. They are just so deep. In Class A everybody has a handful of good players, some schools have more than others. But with ELCA, they just have more top level players at almost every position on both sides of the ball. To have a chance to beat them you have to find a way to make big plays and score, and hope to get some turnovers and force them to play from behind.”
Public School Champion: Macon County
“They have a lot of weapons on offense and they’re very athletic on defense. They give you fits. They have a big receiver [Trey Brown] who is very hard to match up with, and their quarterback [K’hari Lane] causes you problems with his legs and his arm. I’m not saying they aren’t beatable. If you can disguise some coverages and confuse their quarterback, you can have some success. They don’t have a great running game. They’re not great defensively, but very big and athletic. But if you’re decent up front offensively and defensively, you can have a chance.”
Public School Champion: Clinch County
“I expect it to come down to Macon County and Clinch County. If I had to put money on it, I’d go with Clinch. I think they are a little more polished and precise with their special teams and in a close ballgame, special teams can make the difference. Macon County's place kicker is not as accurate on his field goals and extra points. Also, that single wing that Clinch runs is very hard to prepare for in just one week. Now, I don’t think Clinch has the secondary to cover Macon County consistently and pound for pound, Macon County’s great athletes are as good as anybody in the state. But that single wing [Clinch runs] is tough.”
Private School Semifinals
Left Bracket: No. 5 Tattnall Square at No. 1 ELCA
Right Bracket: No. 3 Fellowship Christian at No. 2 Prince Avenue Christian
Public School Semifinals
Left Bracket: No. 4 ECI at No. 1 Macon County
Right Bracket: No. 6 McIntosh County Academy at No. 2 Clinch County
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