Six Gwinnett County teams remain in the Class AAAAAAA football playoffs, and three of them – Grayson, Parkview and defending state champion North Gwinnett – will be at home for the second round.
Region 1 still has top-ranked Colquitt County, Lowndes and Tift County still standing. That’s the most from any region in the AAAAAAA field.
Here’s a look ahead at this week’s matchups.
*Lowndes (8-3) at Westlake (9-2): This is the rematch of a 2016 quarterfinal game, also played at Westlake, won by Westlake 24-21. Lowndes was ranked No. 7 at the time. Westlake was unranked. This season, both teams have been better at scoring than defending. Lowndes averages 41.6 points per game, third-most in Class AAAAAAA. Westlake ranks fourth at 39.0. In the first round, Lowndes led 41-0 at halftime in its 55-14 victory over Cherokee. Travis Tisdale has rushed for 1,529 yards and 20 touchdowns. Westlake beat North Paulding 28-24. Westlake's Markcus Johnson rushed for 122 yards and three touchdowns. Sparingly used until injuries gave him a recent opportunity, Johnson has rushed for 450 yards and seven TDs the past three games.
*Norcross (7-4) at Grayson (9-2): This is a rematch of a 2017 first-round game won by Grayson 31-14. Otherwise, these Gwinnett County schools have not played each other since 2007. Grayson beat South Forsyth 38-6 after leading only 7-6 at halftime in the first round. Grayson, the preseason No. 1 team, is known for its wealth of Division I commits, as 11 seniors are now committed to Power Five conference schools. Norcross, led by 2,000-yard passer Louis Williams, won 30-23 over Mountain View in the first round. Kellen Grave de Peralta kicked a 42-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter for a 24-23 lead, and Randy Cochran ran an interception 25 yards for a touchdown for the final margin. Norcross allowed two 100-yard rushers in the game, so Grayson's talented offensive line and 1,000-yard rusher Jonathan Halyard will be a challenge.
*Walton (10-1) at Hillgrove (11-0): These are Cobb County teams that have played each other only once, with Hillgrove winning 47-35 in the 2013 regular season. Both teams made the second round last year, but Hillgrove hasn't made the quarterfinals since 2014, and Walton hasn't been there since 2011. Last week, Hillgrove held Pebblebrook to less than 175 yards of total offense in its 21-7 victory in the first round. Hillgrove is fifth in Class AAAAAAA scoring defense at 14.4 points allowed per game. Walton's D.J. Soyoye rushed for 184 yards, and K.D. Alford had 155 receiving yards on three catches, all for touchdowns, in a 40-20 victory over Camden County in the first round.
*Mill Creek (8-3) at Milton (9-2): Milton's Jordan Yates scored on a 70-yard run with 2:20 left to put away South Gwinnett in a 28-19 victory last week. Yates, a Georgia Tech commit, passed for 152 yards and rushed for 131. Joshua Edwards, who has 960 yards rushing on the season, was held to 37. Another victory would put Milton in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2014 and second time in history. Mill Creek beat Brookwood 13-10 in overtime in the first round. Sophomore RB Joshua Battle rushed for 85 yards and scored both Mill Creek touchdowns, the second one for the victory after Brookwood was held to a field goal on its OT possession. Mill Creek is in the second round for fourth consecutive season and seeking the quarters for the first time since the 2016 semifinal team.
*Tift County (7-4) at East Coweta (4-7): Two top-10 Class AAAAAAA teams lost in the first round, and East Coweta and Tift County are the unranked teams that beat them. East Coweta, which began the season 0-6, beat No. 10 Marietta 28-26. Gerald Green, a Georgia Southern commit, rushed for 276 yards and three touchdowns. Marietta played without injured star QB Harrison Bailey and WR Ramel Keyton. Tift County beat No. 6 Roswell 42-7. Mike Jones rushed for 100 yards, and Patrick Felton passed for 151 and two touchdowns. It was 21-0 at halftime. Roswell played without 1,000-yard rusher Kamonty Jett. East Coweta is trying to make the quarters for the first time since 2002. Tift made the quarters last year.
*Archer (9-2) at Parkview (11-0): Both teams made the quarters last season and were stopped there. These Gwinnett County teams were region rivals from 2010 to 2015, and Archer won the last two meetings 42-7 and 42-14. But this is a different Parkview team, the first since the 2002 state champions to start 11-0. Cody Brown rushed for 216 yards in Parkview's 42-19 victory over Collins Hill in the first round. Parkview's best player, WR/RB Malik Washington, was held out because of a lower-body injury. Archer was up 42-0 at halftime of its 56-0 win over Forsyth Central. Archer's Carter Peevy (1,840 regular-season passing yard) and Braylen Weems (753 receiving) are among the classification's best QB-WR duos. Archer's best player is five-star CB Andrew Booth.
*McEachern (8-3) at Colquitt County (11-0): Both teams made the semifinals last season. They were matched up in the Corky Kell Classic this season, and Colquitt County won 41-7 as Daijun Edwards rushed for 162 yards, and McEachern was held to 46 yards rushing. In the first round last week, McEachern beat Newnan 48-21 after trailing 21-14 early in the third quarter. Jordan Simmons rushed for 192 yards. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson has thrown for 2,043 yards, fifth-most in Class AAAAAAA, second-most among quarterbacks still playing. Colquitt beat Etowah 34-5 last week in what "wasn't a stellar performance by no stretch," according to the Moultrie Observer, quoting coach Rush Propst. But he probably liked the defense, which hasn't allowed more than 14 points in a game this season. Colquitt County has won 33 consecutive games when ranked No. 1.
*West Forsyth (6-5) at North Gwinnett (9-2): West Forsyth, the only Forsyth County school still playing, beat Newton 35-3 in the first round for the Wolverines' first playoff victory since 2012, when West Forsyth was a region champion. Saxby Waxer rushed for 141 yards. WR/DB Abraham Camara had 117 yards receiving and now has 1,245 all-purpose yards and a team-leading 63 solo tackles. North Gwinnett, the defending state champion, beat Central Gwinnett 49-0 last week. Backup RB Devin Crosby rushed for 241 yards and three touchdowns. Tyler Goodson, who has nearly 1,000 yards rushing on the season, was used sparingly but is expected to be fully utilized this week.
