It doesn’t happen very often, but the two top-ranked teams in Class 5A will play for the state championship.
No. 1 Coffee took care of previously unbeaten and No. 4-ranked Cartersville 31-18, while No. 2 Creekside eliminated No. 3 Jefferson28-17. Coffee and Creekside will play for the championship on Dec. 13 at 5 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Coffee (14-0) moved a step closer to bringing home the school’s first state title. The Trojans jumped out to a 24-0 lead and coasted to victory.
Running back Fred Brown ran 40 times for 190 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Maurice Hansley completed 10 of 12 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown and ran for a touchdown. Patrick McCall caught six passes for 92 yards and one touchdown. Jonah Saylor kicked a 27-yard field goal and the Trojans added a safety.
Cartersville (13-1) scored on a 48-yard pass from Nate Russell to Jacob Brasfield, and runs by Andrew Purdy and Richard Houston.
Creekside (13-1) spotted Jefferson two touchdowns before storming back to score the convincing victory.
The Seminoles were led by quarterback Vinson Berry, who completed 14 of 25 passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns, and running back Roderick McCrary, who ran 23 times for 123 yards and a 32-yard touchdown. Travis Terrell Jr. carried 13 times for 63 yards and a 32-yard touchdown that came after Jefferson fumbled a kickoff. Shane Kelley caught eight passes for 90 yards and one touchdown and Dylan Vickerson caught an 18-yard touchdown pass.
Dylan Blakey led the Creekside defense with nine tackles and Kevon Gray, Ricky McCrary and Michai Boireau each had six stops. Gray and Terrell each had an interception.
“Creekside is a great football team,” Jefferson coach Travis Noland told AcessWDN’s Jeff Hart. “They made plays and we didn’t. It’s as simple as they. We had opportunities that we left out there and you can’t do that in these kinds of games.”
Jefferson scored on a 19-yard pass from Gavin Markey to Christopher Law and a 58-yard run by Sammy Brown. Taylor McCall kicked a 39-yard field goal. Brown rushed 17 times for 114 yards and finished the season with 2.254 yards and 36 touchdowns.
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