All eight No. 1 seeds won their second-round contests and set the stage for a historic quarterfinals this upcoming week. Following the coin flip to determine home field advantage, the Elite 8 will be Riverdale at Benedictine, Carver-Columbus at Jefferson, Bainbridge at Cedartown and Marist at Perry. Here is how those teams performed in the second round.
Marist 24, Flowery Branch 0
The War Eagles shut out the Falcons in their second-round matchup to set up a quarterfinals showdown with Perry. Marist struck first with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Ian Otten to Charlie Fleming late in the first, and Lincoln Parker added a rushing score in the second. Dawson Jones extended Marist’s lead with a fourth-quarter field goal before a 17-yard touchdown run from George Parker brought the score to its final tally.
Jefferson 35, Hapeville 0
Jefferson will make its second-straight quarterfinals appearance following the Dragons’ second-round shutout of Hapeville Charter. Junior Malaki Starks provided the first points of the night with a 32-yard trip to the end zone, and a pair of second-quarter touchdowns from Spencer Neese and Max Aldridge — the latter of which came on a fumble recovery return off a Hapeville punt — put the Dragons ahead 21-0 at the half. Senior Paxton Corkery added another touchdown in the third, and Starks scored again on a quarterback sneak to claim the 35-0 victory.
Cedartown 56, North Oconee 0
Cedartown will face Bainbridge in the quarterfinals following its 56-0 win over North Oconee. The Bulldogs built a 42-0 lead by halftime with scoring contributions that included a pair of rushing touchdowns by Cedric Washington from 61 and 51 yards out and a 42-yard score from Harlem Diamond. Diamond and Jayden Johnson each added second-half touchdown runs for 67 and 71 yards, respectively.
Bainbridge 43, Islands 0
No. 6 ranked Bainbridge jumped out to a 29-0 halftime lead before closing out the visiting Sharks to advance to the quarterfinals, where the Bearcats will face Cedartown. Quarterback Quayde Hawkins finished with four touchdown passes in the 43-0 victory
Riverdale 42, Northwest Whitfield 17
No. 1 seed Riverdale picked up its fifth-straight victory and clinched its first quarterfinal appearance since 1998 with a home win over Northwest Whitfield.
Perry 34, LaGrange 4
Perry jumped to a 17-4 halftime lead as the Grangers got on the board with a pair of safeties. The Panthers broke the game open early in the fourth quarter when they successfully executed a fake field goal that resulted in a touchdown pass to Brantley Gibson and a 27-4 lead. Makeil Kendrick’s 45-yard touchdown run came with just two minutes left and put Perry up 34-4.
Benedictine 45, Cairo 23
Cairo took a 17-3 lead over Benedictine in the second quarter, but the Cadets shut out the Syrupmakers in the second half to get the home win at Memorial Stadium in Savannah. Benedictine quarterback Holden Geriner rushed for a 2-yard touchdown in the first half and threw for three second-half scores, two of which went to Trent Broadnax for 80 and 11 yards and the other to Justin Thomas for 26 yards. Thomas also had an interception on defense for the Cadets, and defensive lineman Bryce Paschke returned an interception 15 yards for a touchdown for Benedictine in the second quarter to tie the game at 17-17. LeShon Brooks rushed for a 3-yard touchdown and Nick Dillon made a 36-yard field goal for the Cadets in the first half.
Carver-Columbus 8, Baldwin 0
Carver-Columbus survived a defensive battle with Baldwin on Saturday. Baldwin had two drives end inside the Tigers’ five-yard line in the fourth quarter, but Carver forced a turnover on downs and got an interception to preserve the shutout.
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