Two unranked teams are peaking at the right time, and when the best football comes out in late November, it’s a beautiful thing.
Wesleyan spent its second round upending No. 6 Stephens County 33-26 and earned a road trip to top-ranked Calvary Day for its troubles. Not the greatest prize in the world, but the Wolves are rolling. On the other side of the bracket, unranked Monroe Area now has a much-more realistic path to the semifinals from the bottom-right quadrant after beating Gilmer 42-21.
Early season and playoff injuries thwarted Monroe’s chance for a better record. The program finished the regular season 6-4 (3-2 in Region 8-3A), in arguably the most competitive league in the class. But Monroe seems to be settling in.
“We are playing just our best football right now,” said Monroe Area coach Kevin Reach. “We had some key injuries early in the season, but we’ve dealt through some injuries. And we had some guys which we weren’t sure about actually stepping up to play some key roles in key positions. But 3A is like playing in the SEC. Every week is a tough game.”
Monroe Area had regular season losses to top-ranked Class A Division I Prince Avenue Christian (45-17), Morgan County (35-17), No. 3 Stephens County (38-7) and Oconee County (14-7). But since the Oconee loss on Oct. 20, the Purple Hurricanes have been flawless.
The team secured the No. 3 seed and upended No. 8 and defending-champion Sandy Creek 24-21 in overtime in the first round, then moved past Gilmer to earn the quarterfinals berth.
“We scored every time we had the ball,” Reach said of the second-round victory. “We are playing much more disciplined football. We are not really giving up the big plays. We are not making a lot of penalties and having a lot of mistakes and stuff like that.”
Now, Monroe Area is in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2018 – Reach’s second season – and the fifth time in program history – 1969, 2010 and 2018. The Purple Hurricanes will face No. 9 Carver-Columbus for a chance at the program’s second-ever semifinals berth (2012). Reach knows the challenge ahead.
“Carver is athletic,” Reach said. “They are a lot like Sandy Creek. They won 8-7 last week and it was a pretty good game, a defensive battle.”
Otherwise, the ranked and higher-seeded teams played to form:
-- In the bottom-left quadrant, Calvary Day beat Thomasville 49-0 and will play host to Wesleyan.
-- In the top-right quadrant, No. 5 Lumpkin County continued its historic season and will play in the quarterfinals for the first time in program history after beating Oconee County 45-42 in two overtimes. A field goal by Will Staples was the difference. The Indians will play at home against No. 5 Savannah Chrisitan, which defeated Morgan County 33-10.
-- In the top-left quadrant, Mary Persons defeated Crisp County 42-20, and Cedar Grove beat Bremen 49-14. Cedar Grove will travel to Mary Persons for the quarterfinals in what could easily be a state championship matchup.
Class 3A quarterfinals schedule
R5 #1 Cedar Grove at R2 #1 Mary Persons
R7 #2 Wesleyan at R3 #1 Calvary Day
R3 #2 Savannah Christian at R7 #1 Lumpkin County
R8 #3 Monroe Area at R1 #1 Carver-Columbus
Class 3A second-round results
R2 #1 Mary Persons 42, R1 #2 Crisp County 20
R5 #1 Cedar Grove 49, R6 #2 Bremen 14
R3 #1 Calvary Day 49, R1 #3 Thomasville 0
R7 #2 Wesleyan 33, R8 #1 Stephens County 26
R7 #1 Lumpkin County 45, R8 #2 Oconee County 42
R3 #2 Savannah Christian 33, R4 #1 Morgan County 10
R8 #3 Monroe Area 42, R7 #4 Gilmer 24
R1 #1 Carver-Columbus 8, R2 #2 Upson-Lee 7
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