The Georgia high school football playoffs are down to the semifinals, with 14 games scheduled around the state tonight. The survivors will advance to the finals Dec. 11-12 at the Georgia Dome.
Here are some things to know about the penultimate weekend of the season:
*Regulars: Thirteen of the 28 semifinal teams made the final four last season. Buford has arrived nine consecutive times, Colquitt County seven straight, and Eagle's Landing Christian five in a row.
*Newcomers: Five are in the semifinals for the first time. They are Pace Academy (first varsity season 2008) Mill Creek (2004), Northgate (1998), Jefferson County (1995) and Stratford Academy (joined GHSA in 2014). Stratford won eight state titles in the Georgia Independent School Association.
*Wait is over: Bainbridge is in the semifinals for the first time since 1993, when the Bearcats were led by an all-state safety named Kirby Smart. (SOWEGALive had a nice story and vintage photo Thursday on Smart while at Bainbridge.) Cedar Grove is back for the first time since its 1991 state runner-up season. But the longest wait belongs to Glynn Academy, which under second-year coach Rocky Hidalgo (former longtime defensive coordinator at Walton) is having its best season since 1968.
*Underdogs: Pace Academy is the first No. 4 seed to make the semifinals since Colquitt County in 2012. The last to win a semifinal was Landmark Christian in 2011. The last (and only) to win a state championship was Peachtree Ridge in 2006. Westminster and Ware County are the only No. 3 seeds. Westminster won three road games to advance to the semifinals for the second year in a row.
*Best matchups: In a Class AAA semifinal, No. 1 Calhoun takes on No. 2 Blessed Trinity. In a Class A private-school semifinal, No. 1 Prince Avenue Christian plays No. 2 Eagle's Landing Christian. No. 1-vs.-No. 2 matchups have happened only 10 times in the previous 30 years of semifinals, most recently in 2011, when No. 1 Tucker beat No. 2 Northside-Warner Robins 17-16 on the way to a 15-0 finish.
*Rematches: Three semifinal games are rematches of regular-season games. They are Pace at Greater Atlanta Christian, Ware County at Glynn Academy and Stratford Academy at Aquinas. The home teams this week were the original winners. It has happened 40 times since the GHSA began doing statewide playoffs in all classes in 1948. The original winner is 26-13. (One of the 40 original meetings was a tie.) But, the original loser is on a four-game winning streak, with a pair of victories each in 2013 and 2014.
*Wide open: The Class AAAAA semifinals have no team ranked in the top eight, and No. 9 Northgate and No. 10 Allatoona have never won state titles.
*Predictable: Class AAAA has four teams in the top-five - No. 1 Cartersville, No. 2 Buford, No. 3 Woodward Academy and No. 5 Bainbridge. That is unusual because, besides upsets, many highly ranked teams knock each other out in the quarterfinals or earlier. In fact, only eight semifinal foursomes since 1986 have garnered all top-five teams, and two of those are this season. The other is AAAAAA.
*Best final four: In Class AAAAAA, all four semifinal teams are 13-0. It has happened only four times since the start of statewide playoffs in 1948 that all four semifinal teams were unbeaten and untied. This group features No. 1 Colquitt County, No. 2 Grayson, No. 3 Roswell and No. 5 Mill Creek.
*Notable coaches: Head coaches Franklin Stephens of Ware County and Jeff Herron of Prince Avenue Christian have reached the semifinals with their third schools. Stephens also went with Lamar County and Tucker, while Herron went with Oconee County and Camden County. Only three other coaches in history have done that, led by T. McFerrin, who took five, most recently Jefferson in 2012.
*More coaching trivia: Two semifinal coaches played in the NFL. They are Pace Academy's Chris Slade and Woodward Academy's John Hunt. Four semifinal coaches work at their alma maters. They are Michael Brown of Commerce, James Leonard of Aquinas, Jim Dickerson of Clinch County and Mark Farriba of Stratford Academy. Fitzgerald coach Jason Strickland began his coaching career under J.B. Arnold at Jefferson County in 2001, Arnold's first season as a head coach. Their teams meet tonight.
*Notable players: Three AJC Super 11 players are still playing. They are Roswell linebacker Tre Lamar, Cedar Grove defensive tackle Antwuan Jackson and Woodward Academy running back Elijah Holyfield. Two blue-chip underclassman quarterbacks are prominent. Cartersville's Trevor Lawrence, the consensus No. 1 sophomore at his position, has thrown for 3,313 yards. Greater Atlanta Christian's Davis Mills, a junior with more than 25 offers, has thrown for 2,537. There is one 2,000-yard rusher, Fitzgerald's J.D. King with 2,260.
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