Here's a by-the-numbers look at the second round of the Class AAAAAA playoffs, which will be played Friday and cut the field to the final eight teams.
*12-0 – Combined records for the teams from Regions 1, 2 and 6 in the first round. Region 1’s Lee County, Valdosta, Northside-Warner Robins and Coffee had little trouble handling Region 4. Region 2’s Glynn Academy, Effingham County, Richmond Hill and Bradwell Institute beat their Region 3 opponents. Region 6’s Creekview, Sequoyah, Allatoona and Harrison swept Region 7.
*7-9 – Record of lower-seeded teams, which had to play on the road, in the first round. That’s a much higher first-round success rate than last year, when the road teams went 2-14. Northside is the only team to accomplish the feat both seasons, beating Brunswick 24-21 in 2017 and Tucker 43-21 last week. The Eagles were a No. 3 seed both years.
*1 – Teams still standing from Region 5. Creekside, the region champion, was the only team to win against Region 8 in the first round. The other Region 5 teams were eliminated – Douglas County lost to Habersham Central 35-0, Mays lost to Lanier 20-12, and Northgate lost to Dacula 28-0. Creekside was 0-10 last year and started this season 1-3 but has since won seven consecutive games.
*2 – Undefeated teams remaining in the field. Top-ranked Lee County, the defending state champion, and No. 2 Creekview were the only teams to make it through the regular season 10-0, and both won their first-round games. No team has gone 15-0 in the second-highest classification since Creekside did it in 2013.
*31 – Years since Effingham County had won a game in the state playoffs before the Rebels beat Lakeside-Evans 16-10 last week. Effingham’s last victory in the state playoffs came in 1987, when the Rebels beat Savannah and Wayne County in the region playoffs and then Evans (by forfeit) and Carver-Columbus to reach the state final, where they lost to Morrow and finished 14-1.
*27 – Years since Bradwell Institute has played in the state quarterfinals, a drought that would be broken if the Tigers beat Northside this week. Bradwell’s 1991 team beat Beach in a region playoff game and then Newnan in the state playoffs before losing to Colquitt County 26-14 and finishing 8-5.
*3 – Margin of victory by Harrison in its 23-20 win over Region 7 champion Johns Creek last week. That was the closest Class AAAAAA game in the first round. Ten of the 16 games were decided by 22 points or more. The other six were decided by eight points or less. Valdosta had the largest margin of victory (41 points), beating Lovejoy 70-29.
*13 – Points scored by Mundy’s Mill in its first-round loss (48-13) to Lee County. That’s the most points allowed in any game this season by the Trojans, who gave up just 37 points during the regular season, and no more than seven in any game. It’s worth noting, however, that Lee held Mundy’s Mill to minus-1 yard of total offense in the first half and led 35-0 at halftime.
*3,202 – Passing yards by Valdosta quarterback Tate Rodemaker, the second-most in the state (unofficially). According to the Valdosta Daily Times, he is 7 yards away from breaking Seth Shuman’s single-season school record for passing yards. Rodemaker was 17-of-26 for 288 yards and four touchdowns in the Wildcats’ 70-29 victory over Lovejoy last week.
*53 – Rushing attempts by Allatoona in its 38-7 victory against Centennial last week. The Buccaneers had five touchdowns and 353 yards rushing, its second-highest yardage total of the season. Daniel Parsons had 118 yards on 22 carries to surpass the 1,000-yard mark for the year (1,077). Earlier this season, the Buccaneers also had 53 carries in a 23-7 victory over Harrison.
Schedule
Here are the second-round matchups. All games are Friday:
Valdosta at Glynn Academy (Glynn County Stadium)
Allatoona at Dacula
Bradwell Institute at Northside-Warner Robins (Freedom Field)
Sequoyah at Creekside
Coffee at Richmond Hill
Harrison at Lanier
Effingham County at Lee County
Habersham Central at Creekview
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