The playoffs in Class AAA held true to form, with none of the second-round results coming as a surprise. Of the eight ranked teams that entered play on Friday, only two were defeated – each by another ranked team.
Here’s how the quarterfinals shape up for this week: Pierce County at Washington County, Blessed Trinity at Jefferson, Elbert County at Calhoun, and Westminster at Hart County.
Jefferson won a coin flip with Blessed Trinity to determine that site since both are No 1 seeds from their region.
Highlights from Friday’s second round games:
Blessed Trinity 42, Adairsville 8: Garrett Dupuis ran for three touchdowns and recovered a fumble for a touchdown to lead No. 3 Blessed Trinity to a 42-8 win over No. 9 Adairsville. Conor Davis threw a touchdown pass to Logan Craighead and Davis ran for another score for the Titans (12-0).
Westminster 27, Central Carroll 10: Zay Malcome rushed for 77 yards and caught a touchdown pass to lead No. 6 Westminster to a 27-10 win over No. 7 Central Carroll (11-1). Westminster trailed 10-6 when Cortez Alston picked up a fumble and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown.
Washington County 36, Callaway 7: No. 1 Washington County led only 14-7 at halftime before pouring it on in the second half for a win over Callaway. Quarterback A.J. Gray was limited to 84 yards rushing and 98 yards passing and lost two fumbles, but running backs Darius Tucker (118 yards) and Justin Lawrence (88 yards) each ran for a touchdown. The underrated Washington County defense limited the athletic Cavaliers, who were playing without injured quarterback Terry Godwin, to 68 rushing yards and 79 passing yards.
Jefferson 27, Dodge County 7: Sammy Williams rushed 28 times for 141 yards and scored on runs of 8, 12 and 2 yards to lead No. 5 Jefferson to a 27-7 win over Dodge County. Quarterback Evan Shirreffs threw for 240 yards and Colby Wood added an 18-yard touchdown run.
Calhoun 38, Cedar Grove 18: Quarterback Kaelen Riley completed 18 of 23 passes for 267 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 53 yards and two touchdowns to lead No. 2 Calhoun to a 38-18 win over Cedar Grove. It was the 54th straight win at home for the Yellow Jackets (12-0), who also got a pair of rushing touchdowns from Cole Jackson and scored on Tristan Fuller's interception return.
Hart County 7, Cook 0: Quarterback Cameron Fouch threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Derek Anderson in the second period to account for the only score as No. 8 Hart County beat Region1-AAA champion Cook.
Pierce County 49, Oconee County 8: The Bears won their 10th game for the third straight year and advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1982.
Elbert County 54, Appling County 3: Elbert County gave up a field goal to open the game, then scored 34 straight points before halftime. Elbert is in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2011.
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