Mays football coach Corey Jarvis is a graduate of old Harper High School in Atlanta and grew up only a few miles from the Atlanta school that now employs him. So his players didn’t have to be reminded Friday about what they had accomplished.
Mays’ 21-18 road victory over No. 1-ranked Ware County put Mays in the state quarterfinals for the first time since the school opened in 1981, when Mays essentially took the place of Southwest High.
‘’Our kids know the history; I can tell you that,’’ Mays coach Corey Jarvis said. ‘’We talk about it all the time. They know last Atlanta public school to win a state champion was Southwest [in 1973], which is now considered as Mays. They know that Brown was the last city team to make a championship game in 1991. That was my senior season. We want to bring a state title back to Atlanta.’’
Mays also became the first Atlanta city school to beat a No. 1-ranked team since Douglass defeated Southwest DeKalb in 1995. That has been accomplished by a city school only eight times dating to the 1950s.
Mays was ranked No. 10 in preseason, so it’s not a shock that the Raiders have made it this far, even if it is a first. Defensive end Natrez Patrick (committed to Georgia) and tackle Dallas Warmack (Alabama) are four-star recruits, and several others are Division I prospects.
In Friday’s game, quarterback Asania Aderhold was 11-of-14 passing for 178 yards and touchdown passes to Tyshawn Brown and Randrecous Davis.
With the victory, Mays earned a home game Friday at Lakewood Stadium against Jones County, another school that had never advanced two rounds in the playoffs until this year. (Jones County did make a semifinal in 1961 when only four teams qualified for the playoffs.)
Other teams in the quarters for the first time are Etowah (AAAAAA), North Oconee (AAAA), Pace Academy (AA), Calhoun County (A) and Mount Zion (A).
The third round of the playoffs reveal several paths for schools such as Mays to make more history.
The Mays-Jones County winner will play the winner of the Stockbridge-Houston County game. The survivor of that will be playing in its first-ever state final.
The same scenario exists in AAAAAA, where the top half of the draw comprises teams that have never made a state final - Etowah, Milton, Hillgrove and Archer.
Woodward Academy, which faces quarterfinal newcomer North Oconee, can make the semifinals for the first time since its state-championship season of 1980.
In AA, Westminster can make the semifinals for the first time since 1966. Westminster’s opponent is Hart County, which hasn’t made a semifinal since 1999.
Even Class AA’s showdown between No. 1 Greater Atlanta Christian and No. 2 Vidalia may open a door to history. GAC has never won a state title. Vidalia hasn’t won one since 1969.
But that would mean winning three more games.
‘’Our kids know that it was a big ball game last week, but they also know it’s not over and there are a lot of good football teams still out there,’’ Jarvis said. “Football is a game of matchups. Some teams match up better with some teams than others. You just have to go play every Friday night and see what happens.’’
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