Class AAAAAA
Gwinnett County will win its 10th state championship in the highest classification in 18 seasons Saturday at the Georgia Dome. What’s unusual this time is that the result is known in advance.
Gwinnett rivals Norcross and North Gwinnett won their semifinal games Friday and will play for the AAAAA championship. Norcross is the defending champion. North Gwinnett has never won a state title in football.
North Gwinnett beat Norcross 36-17 on Sept. 13 in a Region 7 game. Their rematch will mark the eighth time that county rivals have played for a state title, the first since Tucker beat Marist 15-3 in the 2008 AAAA final.
It has happened twice for Gwinnett teams, both in 2002, when Parkview beat Brookwood 28-7 in AAAAA, and Buford beat Greater Atlanta Christian 34-10 in AA.
What else we learned in the semifinals:
- North Gwinnett can run the ball. The Bulldogs were the most pass-oriented team in the AAAAAA semifinals, getting 64 percent of their yardage passing. But C.J. Leggett rushed for 292 yards on 36 carries in a 27-21 victory against McEachern.
- Norcross can play defense. The Blue Devils have won 11 consecutive games, with six victories against playoff teams. None of the playoff teams has scored more than 10 points. Colquitt County, which had averaged 45 points in its previous three playoff games, was held to 11 first downs and 183 yards of offense. Norcross won 14-9.
Class AAAAA
Top-ranked Tucker will play for its third state championship in six seasons after knocking off defending champion Gainesville 20-14 in the AAAAA semifinals. The Tigers’ opponent at 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Georgia Dome will be No. 4 Creekside, which reached the title game for the first time in school history with a 55-10 blowout of No. 2 Kell. Tucker got the game-winning score on a 6-yard run by Dominick Sanders with 2:22 remaining. Tucker won state titles in 2008 and 2011 and is 23-4 in the playoffs since last missing the postseason in 2006. Creekside is trying to become the first Fulton County team to win a state championship since Chattahoochee in 2010 and the first from south Fulton since Palmetto in 1983. Creekside opened in 1990 as a merger of Palmetto and Campbell-Fairburn.
- Gainesville's loss was the final game in the high school career of quarterback Deshaun Watson, the state's career leader in passing yardage. Watson threw for 185 yards (unofficially) against Tucker to finish with 3,775 yards this season and 13,077 in his career.
- The Seminoles had four one-play scoring drives against Kell. Dexter Knox, who rushed for 219 yards, had three of them on runs of 39, 12 and 51 yards. Elliott Berry had the other on an 80-yard run in the third quarter that was his only carry of the game.
- Kell's loss, combined with McEachern's loss to North Gwinnett in AAAAAA, means another year without a title for Cobb County. No team from the Cobb County School District has won a state championship. The only Cobb team to win a title was Marietta (part of the Marietta City Schools), which won AAA in 1967.
Class AAAA
Two dramatic semifinals victories set up a dream matchup in the AAAA championship game.
Griffin quarterback Jaquez Parks led a second-half comeback to help the unbeaten Bears hold off No. 7 Wayne County and advance to their first title game since 1980. Last week, Parks led two scoring drives in the final seven minutes during an upset of defending champion Sandy Creek. Against Wayne County, the senior quarterback rallied the Bears from a 14-6 halftime deficit. Griffin’s Anfornee Stroud changed the momentum with a 58-yard interception return for a touchdown on Wayne County’s first drive of the second half. Parks adding a passing and a rushing touchdown.
No. 2 Griffin will face No. 4 Carrollton, which won a four-overtime thriller against Marist. Carrollton’s Jarvis Terrell scored three touchdowns and the winning two-point conversion in the fourth overtime. The Trojans avenged a five-overtime playoff loss to Marist last season, thanks to a defensive stop on a potential tying two-point conversion.
The Bears and Trojans will kick off at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Georgia Dome.
Class AAA
It’s hard to believe, but two of the more iconic high school football programs in Georgia have never met. That will change at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Georgia Dome when Buford and Washington County play for the AAA championship.
The dream matchup — No. 1 Buford (14-0) vs. No. 3 Washington County (13-0) — came about after Buford was taken to the limit by No. 5 Callaway before coming away with a 24-14 victory, and Washington County ran over upstart Ringgold 37-0.
The teams have combined to win 12 state championships and have put nine players in the NFL.
Buford has won nine state championships and will make its seventh consecutive appearance in the title game. The Wolves have won 27 consecutive games on the field (tossing out two forfeits because a clerical error) and beat St. Pius in the championship game last year. Washington County has won three state titles, the last one in 1997.
- Buford trailed 14-7 at halftime against Callaway. It was the first time the Wolves had trailed at the half all season. Things changed after halftime, as Buford allowed Callaway only 32 yards and one first down in the second half. The Wolves were able to take advantage of their superior offensive line and rush for 352 yards. Joshua Thomas ran 20 times for 222 yards and three touchdowns, and Thomas Wilson carried 14 times for 95 yards.
- Washington County's Melvin Hill rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns scored on a 99-yard punt return against Ringgold. A.J. Gray threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Sanders, and Danyale Wicker scored on a 2-yard run. Washington County scored all its points in the first half. Ringgold managed only 95 rushing yards.
Class AA
- The Lamar County Trojans have reached the state finals for the first time in school history, beating the Benedictine Cadets 10-7. The Trojans (14-0) trailed 7-0, but completed their rally of the Cadets (13-1) with a 24-yard field goal as time expired. Trojans coach Franklin Stephens is on the verge of repeating history. If Lamar County wins the state title, Stephens again will bring a program its first state title in his second season coaching them. He coached the Tucker Tigers to a Class AAAA title in 2008, and the Tigers added another in 2011.
- The Lovett Lions will meet the Trojans in the AA title game, which will be played at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Georgia Dome. The Lions (13-1) defeated the Brooks County Trojans 35-12 in a game they controlled from start to finish. They're in the state title game for the first time since 2007 and seeking their first state title since 1970. They've played perhaps the toughest schedule of any team in AA, playing five ranked teams from higher classifications, losing only to Washington County 36-33 in overtime.
Class A
In a great indication of parity in Class A, three of the four semifinals games were decided by one point: Aquinas 17, Mt. Pisgah 16; Calvary Day 35, Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy 34; and Charlton County 34, Irwin County 33. Marion County blew out Hawkinsville 40-7 in the other public school semifinal.
Three of the four finalists will play in their first state title games: Aquinas, Calvary Day and Marion County.
- Calvary Day's effective use of the spread helped it pull the upset over defending private-school champion ELCA, as quarterback Michael Peterson was 18-of-30 passing for 256 yards and four touchdowns (and two interceptions), while running back Robert Heyward gained 122 yards on 24 carries, including the game-winning 1-yard touchdown in overtime. Calvary Day will play Aquinas at 2:30 p.m. Friday for the private-school state championship.
- The public-school final will be a matchup of "Old vs. New" powerhouses. Charlton County is one of the state's more successful programs. Since 1990, Charlton County has gone 251-60-2, with eight of the school's 21 region titles and all four of its state championships, the most recent being a "threepeat" in AA from 2004-06. Marion County started its football program in 2006. The Eagles went 21-20 in the first four seasons with one playoff appearance. Since Mike Swaney came from Florida to take over the program in 2010, Marion County is 42-7 with three region titles. The two will play for the public-school title at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
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