The Georgia High School Association recently published the 2018 football schedules that shows Marietta and Grayson lining up nationally powerful opponents, a new event called the Freedom Bowl at Milton, a rare meeting between Buford and one of Gwinnett County’s powerhouses and, of course, the annual Corky Kell Classic.
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Here are some observations of those schedules for Class AAAAAAA teams:
*Marietta, a rising state power, has beefed up its schedule to record levels. The Blue Devils open in the Corky Kell Classic against Class AAAAA champion Rome. They play at home Sept. 7 against Grayson. But most intriguing are a pair of mid-Atlantic teams added through the contacts of coach Richard Morgan, who coached for years in Virginia at nationally prominent Oscar Smith. Marietta will be host to Our Lady of Good Counsel on Aug. 24 and travel to St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 22. St. John’s was ranked No. 14 nationally in the final MaxPreps Xcellent 25 and won the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference. Good Counsel was in the WCAC semifinals and was ranked the No. 4 team overall in Maryland by MaxPreps. Marietta made the quarterfinals last season and possess a few major-college prospects that include quarterback Harrison Bailey, the nation’s No. 2 dual-threat QB prospect among rising juniors, according to 247Sports.
*Grayson boosters have complained in recent years that it’s hard to find opponents willing to take on the Rams. Be careful what you wish for. Grayson’s non-region slate includes Tucker (Aug. 24 home), Bergen Catholic of New Jersey (Aug. 31 home), Marietta (Sept. 7 away), Westlake (Sept. 14 away) and Colquitt County (Sept. 21 home). Bergen Catholic was New Jersey’s best team in 2017, according to MaxPreps, which ranked the Crusaders as its No. 21 team in the final Xcellent 25 national rankings. Three of New Jersey’s highest-rated seniors in 2019 play for Bergen, according to 247Sports.
*Milton will be a host site for a six-game event over Labor Day weekend (Aug. 31-Sept. 2) called the Atlanta Freedom Bowl. North Gwinnett will be the other Georgia team involved. The matchups a haven’t been announced, but the out-of-state teams will be Mainland of Daytona Beach, Fla.; Wekiva, Fla.; Cardinal Gibbons of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Chaminade-Madonna of Hollywood, Fla.; Stoneman Douglas of Parkland, Fla.; Saint Joseph Regional of New Jersey; Muscle Shoals, Ala.; Bob Jones of Madison, Ala.; and Saint Mathews Catholic of Canada. Milton coach Adam Clack is enthused about the potential of it. ‘’My prediction is that it will be the best high school football event in the nation within the next three years,’’ he said.
*Archer is playing Buford at home on Sept. 21. This marks the first time since 2005 that a top Gwinnett County football program has scheduled Buford, the city-school school powerhouse in the northern reaches of the county. Buford’s feeder teams play all of Gwinnett’s big boys, but once they hit high school, those high-classification Gwinnett schools are hesitant to take on the lower-class juggernaut. Buford in recent seasons has played Class AAAAAAA programs Hillgrove and Roswell, plus winless Berkmar of Gwinnett last year. But this will be the first prominent Gwinnett opponent for Buford since Central Gwinnett in 2005.
*Colquitt County, with seven non-region dates to fill, is traveling to Class AAAAA runner-up Warner Robins (Sept. 14) and perhaps Class AAAAAAA favorite Grayson (Sept. 21) on back-to-back weekends. Colquitt hasn’t played Warner Robins since 2011. Colquitt is 2-2 all-time against Grayson with three of those meetings in the playoffs, two in the state semifinals. The Packers also will play Thomasville, Valdosta, McEachern and Trinity Catholic, which went 12-1 in Missouri last year. Colquitt hasn’t played Thomasville since 2009.
*Tift County, coming off its best season (11-2) since 2006, is also playing at Warner Robins in the opener Aug. 17 at McConnell-Talbott Stadium in Warner Robins.
*Westlake will doing some traveling late summer with trips to Sidney Lanier of Birmingham (Aug. 25) and Deerfield Beach in south Florida (Sept. 8) to play playoff teams from their states’ highest classifications. Westlake also is playing Grayson on Sept. 14 at home.
*The Corky Kell Classic matchups, which have been announced for some time, will help usher in the new season with nine games Aug. 16-18 with 11 teams from the highest classification. Here’s that schedule, in case you missed it –
Thursday, Aug. 16 at Barron Stadium (Rome)
5:30 p.m. Ridgeland vs. Calhoun
8:30 p.m. Rome vs. Marietta
Friday, Aug. 17, at Georgia State Stadium
5:30 p.m. Buford vs. Tucker
8:30 p.m. Archer vs. Milton
Saturday, Aug. 18, at Mercedes- Benz Stadium.
9 a.m. Kell vs. East Coweta
11:45 a.m. Brookwood vs. North Gwinnett
2:45 p.m. McEachern vs. Colquitt County
5:45 p.m. Mill Creek vs. Walton
8:45 p.m. Norcross vs. Mays
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