As the regular season winds to a close, there are a ton of significant games on the slate this weekend. But two of the most intriguing don’t look that way at first glance.
No. 1 (Private) Eagle's Landing Christian Academy will host Mt. Vernon Presbyterian, while No. 2 (Private) Landmark Christian will visit Holy Innocents'. On paper, it looks like the top two ranked teams should prevail easily. MVP has been outscored by ELCA in the team's four previous meetings by a combined score of 234-7, and Holy Innocents' was dominated by Wesleyan a month ago, 42-7, a team Landmark out-muscled last week, 21-17, on homecoming at Wesleyan.
But, MVP (5-3, 2-3 in Region 5) is having its best season ever and has its most talented team in the 11-year history of the program. Also, the Mustangs are fighting to make the Georgia High School Association state playoffs for the first time. They currently sit in the No. 22 spot in the Georgia High School Association/MaxPreps Class A Power Ratings, giving them a cushion of just two slots before they are out of the top 24. An upset win over the Chargers (8-0, 5-0) would make MVP a lock for the post season.
As for Holy Innocents (4-4, 3-2), the Bears have won three consecutive games and have risen to No. 20 in the private school power ratings. Also, history is on their side as they have defeated Landmark in four of the five games between the schools, including the last meeting, 27-17, in the first round of the 2013 state playoffs. Another win over Landmark (8-0, 5-0) would assure Holy Innocents’ of a playoff berth.
And with ELCA and Landmark eyeing their regular-season ending matchup next week -- a game that could be for a region championship and the No. 1 seed in the power ratings -- maybe one of them will get caught looking ahead. We’ll see.
Here are more games of note (power rating number is in parenthesis):
No. 9 (Public) Commerce (16) at No. 7 (Private) Athens Academy (6)
No. 8 (Private) Tattnall Square (8) at Stratford Academy (11)
No. 9 (Private) Mt. Paran Christian (9) at Mt. Pisgah Christian (18)
No. 7 (Public) McIntosh County Academy (6) at No. 5 Calvary Day (10)
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