The high school football playoffs start this weekend with 80 first-round games in classes AA to AAAAAA. The Class A playoffs get going next week. The journey ends with seven state championship games Dec. 11-12 at the Georgia Dome.
Here is an overview of the 185-game culmination to the 2015 season.
*The regulars:
Of the 192 playoff teams, 144 made it last season, a retention rate of exactly 75 percent. The longest state-playoff playoff streaks belong to Lincoln County (42 seasons), Marist (32), Peach County (24), Northside-Warner Robins (23) and Charlton County (21), Commerce (20) and East Coweta (20).
*Missing:
North Gwinnett’s streak of 11 seasons in the playoffs is over. Appling County’s streak of seven is done. Hawkinsville became the first defending champion (Class A public) not to make the playoffs since Lowndes in 2006. Milton and Alpharetta, region champions from 2014, didn’t make it back.
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Defending champions
: They are No. 1 Colquitt County (AAAAAA), No. 6 Northside-Warner Robins (AAAAA), No. 2 Buford (AAAA), No. 1 Calhoun (AAA), No. 1 Benedictine (AA) and No. 9 Mount Paran Christian (A private).
*National implications:
Colquitt County is ranked in the top five in four national polls. Grayson is in the top 10 of two. There is talk of a national championship game televised by ESPU on De. 18 between the highest-ranked teams in the final USA Today rankings. No Georgia team has been recognized as a national champion since Valdosta in 1992.
*Search for the Holy Grail:
Two No. 1-ranked teams have never won state titles in football. They are Stockbridge (AAAAA), which opened in 1964, and Prince Avenue Christian (Class A), which started football in 2005. Prince Avenue coach Jeff Herron could become the first coach in state history to win championships at three schools.
*Best player:
Lanier defensive tackle Derrick Brown is the No. 1 prospect in Georgia and a leading candidate for all-class player of the year, but it’s usually an award that is won or lost in the playoffs. The race is wide open.
*Other players to watch:
Cartersville’s Trevor Lawrence, Houston County’s Jake Fromm, Grayson’s Chase Brice and Colquitt County’s Chase Parrish are big-time players on contenders. So are AJC Super 11 picks Elijah Holyfield of Woodward Academy, Charles Wiley of Stockbridge and Tre Lamar of Roswell.
*Good draws:
Cedar Grove and Blessed Trinity tied for first in Region 6-AAA and flipped a coin to decide the No. 1 seed. Cedar Grove won the toss, and chose the No. 2 seed, a privilege that wasn’t without controversy. Cedar Grove is the only ranked team with no other ranked teams in its quarter of the draw.
*Bad draws:
*Best first-round matchup:
Northside-Warner Robins is 69-7 this decade, but two losses are to Ware County in the playoffs, including a 2012 semifinal decided in overtime. They meet Friday in Warner Robins.
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