Lanier and Pierce County are in the semifinals for the first time. Lanier, a Gwinnett County school, opened in 2010 in Sugar Hill. Pierce County opened in 1981 when Blackshear and Patterson high schools were consolidated. But most remarkable is the drought-breaking season of Milton, which is in the semifinals for the first time since 1952, when under a coach named Gus Letchas, who had started the football program just two years prior. The 1952 Eagles wore leather helmets and no facemasks and, according to Letchas' 2006 obituary that appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, had only 13 members of the team. They rolled through the regular season unbeaten with victories over Roswell, Buford and Tucker. They met their end against eventual state champion Hogansville, whose coach was former University of Georgia All-American Mike Castronis. Here are the remaining 32 teams, with each team's most recent semifinal appearance.
First - Lanier
First - Pierce County
1952 - Milton
1965 - Pelham
1988 - Rockmart
2001 - Troup
2005 - Dacula
2007 - Lowndes
2011 - Savannah Christian
2014 - Archer
2014 - Marion County
2015 - Bainbridge
2016 - Callaway
2016 - Cartersville
2016 - Fitzgerald
2016 - Northside (Warner Robins)
2016 - Stockbridge
2017 - Athens Academy
2017 - Blessed Trinity
2017 - Calhoun
2017 - Cedar Grove
2017 - Clinch County
2017 - Colquitt County
2017 - ELCA
2017 - Heard County
2017 - Irwin County
2017 - Lee County
2017 - Marist
2017 - Peach County
2017 - Prince Avenue Christian
2017 - Rome
2017 - Warner Robins
Hot at the right time
Bainbridge and Northside of Warner Robins are in the semifinals after finishing just 5-5 in the regular season. They are the 16th and 17th teams in history to make the semifinals despite regular-season records of .500 or below. Two of those - 1965 West Rome and 1992 Thomas County Central - won state titles.
1949 Marist (3-7)
1953 Commercial-Savannah (4-5-1)
1958 Decatur (4-6)
1960 Ware County (5-5)
1965 Chamblee (5-5)
1965 West Rome (4-5-1)
1968 Carver-Atlanta (4-6)
1982 Buford (5-5)
1989 Greene County (4-6)
1992 Thomas County Central (5-5)
1997 Colquitt County (5-5)
2002 Dooly County (4-6)
2010 Colquitt County (5-5)
2014 ELCA (4-6)
2017 St. Pius (5-5)
2018 Northside-Warner Robins (5-5)
2018 Bainbridge (5-5)
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