Collins Hill and M.L. King suffer first losses of season
Chat live on Fridays with the AJC's Michael Carvell
Peachtree Ridge knocked Collins Hill from the ranks of Gwinnett’s undefeated Class AAAAA teams with a 21-7 win on Friday, but the Lions were not really in the mood to celebrate afterwards.
As the final buzzer sounded, there were no Peachtree Ridge players jumping up and down in jubilation, and coach Bill Ballard barely cracked a post-game smile.
When asked why he wasn’t happier, Ballard shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know what to say. We’ve just got to play better. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Peachtree Ridge’s Brandon Stanley scored a pair of first-quarter touchdowns as the No. 9-ranked Lions improved to 6-1. Unranked Collins Hill dropped it first game after kicking off the year with six wins in a row.
“There’s some learning moments we need to look at,” Collins Hill coach Billy Wells said. “In big games, you can’t make crucial mistakes … like turning it the ball over, and taking sacks when you don’t need to. We’ve got a lot of learning to do.”
It was a devastating loss for Collins Hill. All the Eagles had to do was find a way to get past Peachtree Ridge and they had inside track on the Region 7-AAAAA championship and an undefeated regular season. Due to a wacky conference schedule, Collins Hill does not play against still-undefeated North Gwinnett this season. North Gwinnett is ranked No. 3.
No. 1 Grayson, which is in a different region, improved to 8-0 on Friday.
So which Class AAAAA team do you think is the state’s best after the Friday games? Is it Grayson or North Gwinnett? Stephenson — which shut out MLK on ESPNU? Newnan or Northside-Warner Robins?
YOU make the call.
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204 comments Add your comment
NG Fan
October 17th, 2009
3:50 pm
I have to admit, our defense held strong in the second half (North Gwinnett) but I’m not sure if we can still hold strong enough to stay no. 3. Depends. But I’d still rank Lowndes no. 1, NS-WR no. 2, NG -3 .
I pick Lowndes no. 1 because they are still that good. I’m going to try to be optimistic about NG, and also Grayson… but if you struggle against Brookwood, then there are some issues. NG started off strong and finished strong in a big 43-13 win over Brookwood. There’s our proof. Grayson is sort of overrated.
funny
October 17th, 2009
4:34 pm
Union Grove , You are Union Grove Please do you think we are to debate this game with you. You know what it is.
highschool football fan
October 17th, 2009
5:29 pm
Before anyone puts Lowndes on the road for the entire playoffs, remember NSWR still has to play Warner Robbins (5-2) and Colquitt (6-1) before they win 1-AAAAA. A loss to Colquitt creates a 3 way tie, Lowndes win the tie with more AAAAA victories. Of course, Lowndes must win out. Colquitt may be the sleeper in the region.
BulldawgBite
October 17th, 2009
5:41 pm
pridge your in fantasyland, all we gotta do is guard roby and your completly shut down on offense. the Stanley/Sawdey combo is gonna probably get negative yardage
BulldawgBite
October 17th, 2009
5:43 pm
grayson is good but they are overrated. everyone is ranking them high because they beat lowndes LAST year. this year they are barely beating mediocre brookwood and parkview teams. if your the best in the state they should be dominant at least on defense
grayson
October 17th, 2009
5:50 pm
grayson is the best in the state now, i sure we will win state
K-MAN
October 17th, 2009
5:55 pm
funny—decatur where its greater—1)I dont have to play football to KNOW GOOD football when I see it! 2) Im not hating on STEPHENSON…but I just dont think they will be able to compete with the more serious contenders! If MLK played LOWDNES or NORTHSIDE last night…how many points would have been scored against them…5o or 60? GET MY POINT!
Stephenson FAN
October 17th, 2009
6:06 pm
MAN STEPHENSON GOIN ALL THE WAY!!! Yall can continue ta hate all yu like! MLK was talkin al dat n got SHUT OUT on DEY homecomin… Union Grove next.. We not OVERRATED we jus OVERHATED by ALL yu lames!!!
K-MAN
October 17th, 2009
6:26 pm
STEPHENSON FAN—Yall going to the dome…to see “who”?
swd panther
October 17th, 2009
6:49 pm
Stephenson is good but MLK is not as good as the AJC and the media outlets hype them up to be. When we faced off against MLK the score was 9-13 and that was with our 10th grade quarterback and a somewhat one dimensional offensive scheme we held Mack Brown to I think It was like 70 yards. The point is that SWD even without our offense was able to contain MLK so if MLK is phenomenal we are a serious contender. And I say this because all of you South Georgia posters and Gwinett posters will start to knock the fact that we are good. Which if you’re right proves that MLK is not far behind us the people they beat in their region had a combined record of 10-25 all weak non-contenders. So Mlk will have a first round exit. As for Stephenson they are the only school in Dekalb with a serious chance to win the AAAAA state championship. Mlk will adavance to like the second round, and make an exit.
Bodog
October 17th, 2009
7:24 pm
NEWNAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO UG!
October 17th, 2009
7:25 pm
The Grove, I could not agree with you more. The play calling is not the best. I heard people in the stands last night complaining about the play calling and not playing kids that should get played and not playing the best kids where they should be played. You are right the Luella game should not have even been close. I don’t know that we can be all that we can be if some changes are not made.
funny
October 17th, 2009
7:30 pm
swd panther ask yo coach whenour schedule y yall aint play us, or brynes, or miami nw, or hoover, or valdosta and many more teams did not want to play us the only team that said they would play was ware county .. so let s win our games and yll win yalls
funny
October 17th, 2009
7:31 pm
newnan yall havent played anyone.. trust that running back will last the whole game
BulldawgBite
October 17th, 2009
7:37 pm
mark newnan you are hilarious! creekside over colquitt
rofl. and east coweta over the #2 team in the state. good pick. 
im holding you to these picks.
pridge
October 17th, 2009
8:21 pm
BulldawgBite- Too bad we dont rely on one player to make all the plays. We have Sawdey,ROby, Stanley, Dixon and Lombardo ( who made alot of big plays vs collins hill last night) and our defense has only allowed 14 points since our loss and lowndes. Im sorry but Pridge will win region again. NG may be undefeated but your not all that. SInce yall seem to always make a lot of mistakes. We will capitalize on them
swd panther
October 17th, 2009
8:24 pm
I cant say why we dont play stephenson anymore maybe because we have a region schedule to satisfy and region 6 is more competitive so we dont have to go out of our region to find games the only reason we played MLK because it was a rivalry and they are right down the street when we played stephenson I believe we were classified AAAAA at the time. But I wish we would have scrimmaged you all before the season. We shut out Peachtree Ridge’s varsity 7-0 so we are tough to beat.
Fred
October 17th, 2009
8:36 pm
It is really funny reading what everyone says about Grayson not blowing out games. You really don’t understand the Grayson game plan. Grayson plays strong defense and ball control offense. Go back and look at time of possession and you might get a better idea of the strength of the Grayson offense. The other big issue, perhaps the biggest, is that Coach Conn does not run up scores. He is about winning the game, period. Good example – Grayson is up by 10 against Brookwood with the ball on the Brookwood 10 yard line with 40 seconds to go. It would be a very easy almost guaranteed 3 points and quite possibly 7 points given the momentum at that point but Grayson takes a knee to end the game. On the other hand, Brookwood is ahead of Meadowcreek by like 40 and takes a timeout with only a few seconds remaining so they can get another play off to score. Would everyone look more favorably on Grayson if the score had been 29-12 instead of 22-12?
Is Grayson the best in the state? I don’t know. I do think that if you just look at the scores and base your judgment on that you are underrating the team. Based on their results so far this year, until they lose, I think they stay number 1.
Fred
October 17th, 2009
9:05 pm
I know this blog is about the best team but I want to bring up something I saw last night at the Grayson-Berkmar game. The Berkmar guys were playing their hearts out. The cheerleaders were cheering their lungs out. The band, while small, was really good and doing everything they could to support the team. Why am I bringing this up? We counted 41 people in the visitor stands. That is awful. That says that every player, cheerleader and band member did not have a parent or other family member there! I know Berkmar is struggling this year but what is with not supporting your child, brother or sister? I don’t get it at all. I am guessing that some of the Berkmar fans were on the Grayson side due to the layout of the stands and access but still, what is the deal? We were walking out when Berkmar came out of the dressing room heading to the buses and I congratulated the player walking next to us for playing hard. He responded back “Thank you sir.” It is sad that it is the opposing team’s fans that are the only ones telling you that you played hard.
Come on people, support your team! These boys are doing their best even if the end result is not what they are hoping for.
By the way – GO TECH!!!!
blu eagle
October 17th, 2009
9:45 pm
What a joke, some of these lame predictions! NSWR all the way, put it in your pie in the sky lame predictions and smoke it! PLEASE!
roswellfan
October 17th, 2009
9:48 pm
Looking forward to this weeks game against milton as roswell continues under the radar its pursuit of the region title. I expect a tough game agaainst Milton this friday and a win on the road against Walton; then an absolute dog fight in the last game against lassiter. Sounds like lassiter offense is putting up scary numbers….no match for a physical defense like roswell though. Go hornets !
down south fan
October 17th, 2009
10:02 pm
its nice that everyone already knows the future , but any team could win state so i,m saying watch out for the valdosta wildcats
footballer
October 17th, 2009
10:02 pm
NSWR is not gonna go all the way!! Chillllllllll
yo
October 17th, 2009
10:13 pm
Punisher if ya’ll can get by Grayson to the 4th round then the test will have come out positive and I and Lowndes will be ya’lls daddy.
The Grove
October 17th, 2009
10:25 pm
decatur where it is greater – All I will say is when the boys play on Saturday, we will see who is the best prepared that night. All of these boys on either side have worked hard to get to this point and I am not going to trash talk with you this week leading up to this game. I thought you were going to beat MLK all year long because I have seen them play twice and I was not impressed. I only seen you play this past weekend and all I can say is I know we have our work cut out for us. We have not played yet but after we do we will continue our conversation. I will not talk about who is the best until after the game, history from a year ago means nothing.
Vince
October 17th, 2009
10:26 pm
You have to put Lassiter in the top 10.
JAB
October 17th, 2009
10:27 pm
THE BOYS WITH THE “S” ON THEIR CHEST! Who else but the mighty JAG……….UARS 2009 AAAAA State Champion Final Stephenson 21 Lowdnes 7.
Da Lake
October 17th, 2009
10:36 pm
Westlake lost to Newnan but to be completely honest Westlake’s offense is horrible and they moved the ball steady on Newnan and threw several interceptions which led to scores. They just beat a sorry offense because the defense shut them down accept for 1 long pass at the beginning of the game. They beat us but they are not that good and wont go far in the playoff. The two brothers make that team.. Oh westlake wont go far either with that sorry offense..and I go to Westlake..
Spencer
October 17th, 2009
10:51 pm
Just In Case Yall Forgot but Northside – WR beat Lowndes fair, so obviously Northside – WR is the better team, Lowndes WAS first when they beat them so Northside – WR should take their place respectively. My Rankings Are
1 – Northside – WR
2- Grayson
3- Lowndes
4- North Gwinnet
5- McEachern
observer
October 18th, 2009
12:00 am
Stephenson is overhyped too. just cause yall beat MLK it doesnt mean your gonna make it to the finals. My top 5 are
1.NSWR
2.Grayson,
3.Lowndes
4.North Gwinnett
5.Peachtree Ridge
B-eagle
October 18th, 2009
1:17 am
Hey highschool football fan, you’ve made an assumptions and a mistake. First, your 3-way tie only occurs assuming Colquitt beats Warner Robins also. I see that one as a 50-50 chance, you have to account for that. Second, you’re mistaken about the tiebreaker…Region 1’s tiebreaker is least points given up defensively in region play. Currently overall, that’s WR with only 17 given, Northside with 30, Lowndes 31, Colquitt 69. WR still has to play three top offenses, that’s why they’re so far ahead right now. Northside and Lowndes is a wash. Colquitt’s OUT of this race already, they won’t win a three-way tie although of course it’s technically possible. So in your three-way scenario, it’ll be either Northside or Lowndes, have to see who plays better defense for the last three games.
Newnan Five-O
October 18th, 2009
1:25 am
Gwinnett County get all the Hype and is always set up to play each other during the first two rounds in the playoffs. This year mark it Newnan and Northside-Warner Robins.
Finals: Georgia Dome
NHS 20 & NSWR 14
NHS Five-O
fan
October 18th, 2009
2:06 am
mceachern high is taking it all with the top oline and rb in the state
Wolverine2Blazer
October 18th, 2009
3:18 am
Down South Fan. Your kidding me right? I dont think the Wildcats are going to be able to pull it together to make state. First off, they prob aren’t compleatly motiveated about their coach leaving like a movie would have it, plus you have so many great teams this year. After seeing them play a high quality team and them only scoring 7 on the first string D….just wont happen.
ColquittCountyUnderdog
October 18th, 2009
3:42 am
Why do Stephenson fans suddenly think their team is going to go deep in the playoffs? they have great talent every year and manage to exit the playoffs in the 1st or 2nd round…that Stephenson-MLK on ESPNU was absolutely HORRIBLE and very sloppy if you consider the number of turnovers in that game. both teams lack decent play on special teams and both teams severely lacked discipline. if Stephenson had a decent coaching staff that focused on the fundamentals…they could be scary…but knowing their playoff history, i dont think anyone is taking them seriously as a state title contender. i can think of about 8 or 9 teams that would beat Stephenson. heck i can think of 4 teams right here in Region 1AAAAA.
bob
October 18th, 2009
5:55 am
im a newnan alum, we may not play the hardest schedule in the regular season but we obviously can play with the tougher regions when it comes playoff time… we beat coffee county in 2007 24 to 21 and then rocked tift county 42 0, both teams which come from region 1 which is a power house region, then following tift county we beat north gwinnet 20 3.. so i dont think our regular season schedule should decide on how good of a team newnan really has.. and look at camden they have the weakest regioin in georgia and theyre the defending champs
bob
October 18th, 2009
5:59 am
im not sayin newnan will when it this year but they def will compete for it.. but there is no doubt we had the best team in georgia last year despite our loss to camden which was our worse played game in 3 years and we still hung tight\
DeeDawg
October 18th, 2009
8:18 am
Congratulations to Stephenson as a team and running back Raymond Sanders in particular. I just saw on ESPN’s SportsCenter that Raymond’s spectacular first TD run was the #3 “play of the day”. Great national exposure for Stephenson football…way to go Jags!!
wardawg
October 18th, 2009
8:27 am
Debate all you want, who is the best, the bottom line is the reigning Ga State Champs are the Camden Wildcats. Until someone beats them in the playoffs, they are still your State Champs. The road to the Dome goes through Camden County, not Grayson, Lowdnes, NSWR, PTR,Newnan, Woodstock, Mceachern, Stephenson, MLK or any of the other various schools. The playoffs start a new season for all teams. The regular season has 3 games left and some teams still have to play one another. No disrespect to any on these schools, but Camden has to be eliminated from the playoffs before a new team can be crowned. Most schools do not want to travel to southeast Ga for the fear of a long travel home empty handed. I have been to a lot of high school games, but Camden has got to be the loudest place to play a football game. I look at all of the schools this year and it is hard to say or see who will be the eventual 5A champion for Ga. There are between 10-12 teams that could win it all, whoever it is will have earned it. The playoffs will be a treachous gauntlett.
Wolverine Fan
October 18th, 2009
9:02 am
Wardog…..yes Camden County has a great venue for high school football, having traveled there last year with Woodstock I know this first hand. However, football up here in region 5 AAAAA is just as loud, The Wolverine Den,Eagles Nest,Boneyard,& Harrison just to name a few are right up there with you.
Graysonfan (the original)
October 18th, 2009
9:23 am
Fred
Its like that anytime Meadow Creek, Shiloh, Berkmar, come over to our stadium. We always feel Sorry for the players. You can not have a successful team anywere without parent and fan support! How anyone can know their son or daughter is out there on a Friday night playing or cheering their hearts out and not be there, I do not know. Not to mention this is a very physical game and I would not want to be called and told my son is in the hospital, I would want to follow right behind. Crazy!
On the other hand, it must not take parent support for a great band because Meadow Creek rocks our socks off every year!!!!
Graysonfan (the original)
October 18th, 2009
9:27 am
Wardawg
Didnt Grayson already beat Camden in the Dome this year? Keep in mind Camden was the champs in 2008. You do not have all the same players on your team this year and neither does Grayson, therefor this presents two different teams and you have already been beat by Grayson!! Get over it!!!
Pops
October 18th, 2009
9:27 am
Wolverine Fan – Actually I am calling out Etowah’s fans this year. I believe the student fan base has not been very good at all. There also semms to be too much room on the fence up top.
You brought more student support to our game at our Nest. Regardless of our record, I can guarantee our last two road games at North Cobb and way out at Harrison, will be pathetic, except for the parents you always see. And if the band doesn’t come…crickets!
EagleNationRising
October 18th, 2009
9:30 am
I had a wonderful opportunity to see Peachtree Ridge and Collins Hill play on Friday before leaving for Nashville to see the Dawgs play Vanderbilt and attend a wedding. If Todd Holcomb, Michael Carvell, and the AJC staff attempt to make Peachtree Ridge legitimate state championship contenders, we all have to question the integrity of the AJC staff.
Forget the questions about what P-Ridge would do in Region 1-AAAAA. I doubt P-Ridge would finish top 3 or 4 in Region 8-AAAAA or even Region 2-AAAAA. They do not hit. Collins Hill players were afraid of the moment…nervous. They lost the game in the first quarter. However, P-Ridge’s offense is questionable and their defense can not stop any strong high school offensive unit. Missed tackles, very few gang tackles, and just no push on either side on the line (interior box). If you are a defensive player for Peachtree Ridge, you better make the open field tackle because you are usually out on an island all alone. Words like lazy and soft have to come to mind.
If P-Ridge wins their region, that means that North Gwinnett is horrible! The winner of Region 7-AAAAA opens with the playoffs against the fourth seed from Region 6-AAAAA. Winning that game will be a stretch. Let’s say the Lions win that game. In the next round they face either the second seed from Region 5-AAAAA or the third seed from Region 8-AAAAA. I saw them live. I doubt that P-Ridge can beat the third seed from Region 8-AAAAA on any Friday night. I don’t see this team as the program Todd Holcomb has hyped them up to be.
Now, if P-Ridge finishes second, they can look forward to seeing McEachern in the 2nd Round. Forget about it. McEachern “Peachtree Ridges” the Lions and keeps it moving towards the Dome. Chatter about these guys from P-Ridge making a state championship run is borderline ridiculous. Either Todd Holcomb is connected to this program or there are higher ups in the AJC pushing this Kool-Aid on all of us. P-Ridge is lucky that Lowndes County did not hang 70+ on them. Randy McPherson obviously called off the dogs. There is no way, the Lions tackle well enough to stop an option type team.
EagleNationRising
October 18th, 2009
9:35 am
Graysonfan: Yes, Grayson beat Camden County. As I have said repeatedly, Grayson deserves the top ranking and should garner more respect on this board. However, beating Camden County in the Georgia Dome means nothing in means of Region seeding. When Camden wins their region, they are going to be on equal footing as Grayson…believe it or not. There will be a coin toss. If Camden wins the toss and teams have to travel all the way down to Kingsland, GA, you can go ahead and give Camden County an extra 7-10 points.
I would hold off on the Camden County bashing. Seriously. It will be extremely challenging for any team to load onto a bus and travel to the southeast tip of the state and beat Camden County. Camden County is young. It can be done. However, you are asking a great deal from a high school player to beat Camden County down in Kingsland.
By the way, Peachtree Ridge would not make the state playoffs in Region 1-AAAAA, Region 8-AAAAA, and probably be a third or fourth seed out of Region 2-AAAAA.
Wolverine Fan
October 18th, 2009
9:49 am
Etowah Fan…To bad Cherokee County will not let the band travel to 2 away games. The band plays a very important role in motivating the fans and players. This year we elected not to send the band to Marietta, the announcer said “Cherokee county football fans need to tell our school board change this rule” Our game this year at South Cobb will be funded by the booster club.
Etowah Fan
October 18th, 2009
9:55 am
Pops & Wolverine crew – let’s give the Etowah faithful the benefit of the doubt. For the Woodstock game, it was the Friday of the Fall Break and the end of the Flood 2009. Not excuses… just sayin. A decent crowd (not max for sure) for Friday’s homecoming on a rainy, very cold night.
Quinn of the Ridge
October 18th, 2009
9:57 am
ENR, you do not know that, so let’s not throw around propaganda and speculative arguments.
Wolverine Fan
October 18th, 2009
10:00 am
The weather this last Friday was crappy (our homecoming as well) by the end of the 3rd quarter it looked like the crowds we had 7-8 years ago.
EagleNationRising
October 18th, 2009
10:02 am
Quinn: I saw the Peachtree Ridge and Collins Hill game live on Friday night. P-Ridge lost to Lowndes County 51-17 and Lowndes County is not even the going to win their own region. It is propaganda for the AJC and Todd Holcomb to crown this team as a great team going into the season. At best, the team is solid.
Defense is the problem for Peachtree Ridge. They can not stop teams of equal or greater talent. They rarely gang tackle. Most of the plays on defense are one on one stops. The interior (on both sides) is not dominant. Would you disagree with that assessment, Quinn?