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PLAYOFFS RESULTS: Click here for first round scores and second round matchups
GHSA BRACKETS: AAAAA | AAAA | AAA | AA | A
Here are the first round playoff games you can find stories and photos from later tonight on ajc.com…
Northwest Whitfield vs. Southwest DeKalb
Collins Hill vs. Roswell
Brookwood vs. McEachern
Pelham vs. Greenville
Don’t forget to check out these high school football gamers and stories…
Sprayberry vs. Marist (GHSA.tv game – 7 p.m. online)
Marietta vs. Grayson
Valdosta vs. Newnan (CSS TV game – Ch. 45 or 33 in Atlanta area)
Rick Tomberlin may be coaching his last Valdosta game
Don’t forget to check out our roundups from the first round of playoffs. Here’s what you’ll find…
Kell vs. Peachtree Ridge
Centennial vs. North Gwinnett
North Forsyth vs. Lassiter
Bradwell Institute vs. Stephenson
Colquitt County vs. Westlake
Franklin County vs. St. Pius
Pepperell vs. Buford
Social Circle vs. Holy Innocents’
GHSA BRACKETS: AAAAA | AAAA | AAA | AA | A
PLAYOFFS RESULTS: Click here for first round scores and second round matchups
First round topic: Best / worst bracket matchups – who had which?
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950 comments Add your comment
jcwfalcon
November 14th, 2009
12:40 am
Actually GF, I am from Warner Robins and work in Gwinnett. Gwinnett is quite posh. I had a wink to insinuate i was speaking tongue in cheek, but it to be honest is a very different environment. I grew up in Warner Robins. Its a scrappy town. A Kroger in Gwinnett has hard wood floors. The cars drastically change as you begin to go up 400. Its not uncommon to see 5 luxury vehicles for every 1 older car/clunker. In Warner Robins its the opposite ratio–at best. Sometimes you can drive quite a while without even seeing a luxury vehicle. Does this make Gwinnett players soft? Not necessarily, and thats why I winked to let you know I was poking fun. But, there is a degree of truth to it IMHO. Spending the last 3 years working mostly out of an office in Gwinnett and being over there for lunches, dinners, evening parties, and gatherings at peoples homes…I can just tell you it is VERY different. Everything is “nice.” What that has to do with football- not necessarily a lot…but as a whole…look around at the programs that typically win state and the areas they are from. The rich kids make the playoffs regularly…but I would wonder if maybe the less fortunate kids just want it more. For many of them, this is it. Its all they do. Plus its a release for them. Fortunate kids go home to their “average” $250K home (more than over 95% of the homes in WR value) and know they have their college fund waiting for them. Its simply a different life for many…but not all. Look at the top recruits around the nation. I would bet for every one kid from a silver spoon family, you have 3 who came from less fortunate homes.
None of this makes Northside better than North Gwinnett, but if you cant see the sociological relationship I am speaking of, you are probably blinded.
MM
November 14th, 2009
12:42 am
It just kills me how Grady gets ignored by the Atlanta media. It’s right here in the middle of the city with an exceptional team this year, yet its games rarely get any coverage. Teams that are five hours away from Atlanta get more press in the Atlanta paper than Grady, which is smack dab in the middle of the city. What’s up with that?
Fred
November 14th, 2009
12:43 am
TJ, everyone has been down on Grayson for that all year. I have defended them all year but I am afraid that one of these nights, that strategy is going to backfire. I guess knowing how strong your defense is gives you confidence that you can always score enough. Using tonight as an example, after the kickoff runback, we quit kicking the ball deep. Marietta got the ball on their 40 to 50 yard line several times but couldn’t do anything. Our punter actually punted for the first time in 3 or 4 games. We went for it on fourth down on our 30 something yard line convinced our defense could hold.
Anyway, style points don’t count at this point – just the wins.
nukieie
November 14th, 2009
12:43 am
Fred…it is a coin toss if the team is the same seed……no other pre- playoff records matter.
Gwinnett Fan
November 14th, 2009
12:44 am
Fred: Excellent point, and I agree wholeheartedly
Panther Pride
November 14th, 2009
12:45 am
SWD 40-3 moves on,NW had no chance after 1st ply of game from SWD.Next is clarke central.O yea as i must say we won with out ken malcome even taking a snap
Gwinnett Fan
November 14th, 2009
12:56 am
jwcfalcon: I respect your interpretation of the class difference between the two areas, and I agree that Gwinnett may definitely appear to be a nicer place. I worked in a Kroger in Gwinnett, too! (One without hardwood floors, though we did get a new baler while I worked there). I even went to college (though without the trust fund that everyone in Gwinnett is supposed to get, what the heck!
)
But I cannot agree with your logic. If players from lower-class areas have to work harder, shouldn’t that make them always more successful? The fact is, if two players are born with an equal talent level, their successes will only be reflected in the amount of work developing that talent. Simply because one drives to school and the other rides the bus amounts to nothing on the football field. You’re right, for every one rich-kid player there probably are three who came from less fortunate background. This is a middle-class country, and those are natural odds. But who is to say that the rich-kid didn’t work just as hard?
But I digress from my main point, which is that judgements should not be made based on stereotype. Gwinnett is a nice area, but I’m tired of the “silver spoon” label placed on all the kids who play football there. When you have met every one of them and review their parents’ finances, only then can you pull the class card.
cal509
November 14th, 2009
12:58 am
i am so tired of hearing about region 1 5a we are going to go thru everyone of those teams so get ready for your turn LET’S GO COUGAR’S
Gwinnett Fan
November 14th, 2009
12:59 am
Oh and on a side note, 400 goes up through North Fulton. 85 goes through Gwinnett, which I hope you don’t have the displeasure of driving on every morning.
Fred
November 14th, 2009
1:04 am
jcwfalcon, I understand what you are saying based on your perceptions but it might surprise you to learn that almost 46% of Gwinnett students receive free or reduced price lunches. See http://app.doe.k12.ga.us/ows-bin/owa/fte_pack_frl001_public.display_proc for the state’s figures. I don’t deny that it is probably true for the people that you have been with but please don’t paint the entire county with the same brush. Gwinnett County is the most diverse county in the state. I think it might be more that your comment “For many of them, this is it. Its all they do.” is very true. I have long said that there is so much to do in the metro area that football competes with other activities more than perhaps in the smaller population areas.
In any event, let’s talk football! See you in the dome!
89viking
November 14th, 2009
1:08 am
gwinnett fan,,,i know it may seem like lowndes has been around forever but in 33 years,,,we’ve won 5 titles,,,thats 1 every 6.6 years (that thar’s kuntry math ya’s know),,,not too shabby even if 3 of those was in the last 5 years (i no,,,evrewon sayz wi kuntry kidz lern slow but whens we lern,,we’s lern purty gud).
89viking
November 14th, 2009
1:09 am
i mean 43 years fer a avg of about every 8
89viking
November 14th, 2009
1:09 am
to 9
Fred
November 14th, 2009
1:11 am
89viking, I don’t if it is more surprising that Lowndes has been so successful in the past several years or that I was able read and understand the last sentence! Good lucj and see you in the dome!
Fred
November 14th, 2009
1:13 am
Oops, make that good luck! Clearly time to go to bed!
Gwinnett Fan
November 14th, 2009
1:14 am
89viking: Well in calculating my 7 year average, I assumed that you would consider Lowndes and the old Lowndes County (which was around before the 70s, I believe) as the same school. However, my point was not meant to be a jab at Lowndes or any south GA team, but to show that schools from all over the state have found success in football. And please don’t believe I would try to make a generalization about the intelligence level of folks in other parts of the state. I’m pretty sure “jeetyet” and “lost as a ball in tall grass” mean the same thing to me as they do to you
jcwfalcon
November 14th, 2009
1:14 am
GF- I actually work in Alpharetta…so I could be mistaken because that might be the next county over from Gwinnett. Maybe its Forsyth county?
Like most areas, Warner Robins has theirs that is a hotbed for talent, even though its spread out/staggered quite a bit. I can tell you that we have an area called “the states” because every street name in that area has the name of a state. Anytime they change the disbursement of the regions, which seems to be every year in Houston County, the football fans I know always ask about that area and a few others (like the AFB housing). In case you didnt guess- “the states” isnt exactly a gated community. Not knocking the area. Its not too different from the area I grew up in. Whats funny about Houston County is they really divide it up oddly. There are some places really close to Northside that have the kids going to HCHS. I think they had to do that because HCHS was known for having all the better things (facilities/teachers) and the less fortunate had begin to complain because the majority of the housing near HCHS was all newer home…and they werent exactly building new homes out that way that sold for less than 100K.
Its not so much a rule, but rather a guideline. When push comes to shove, you want those scrappy rural and urban kids in your district…not so much the rich kids…although there are exceptions. Maybe Gwinnett is the exception to the rule? As I drive around in Alpharetta, I dont see a whole lot of “states” places where I could have expected to see Pat Dye or Vince Dooley got to eat mom’s pig knuckles to get the kid who runs the 4.3 40. Hell, Warner Robins aint even quite that country/rural, but I think you can see what I mean.
jcwfalcon
November 14th, 2009
1:16 am
Fred- I think I made the mistake of confusing Alpharetta for Gwinnett. As you get closer to 85, it is very different and more diverse. Right there in the middle of 400 north though, it is a different world.
Gwinnett Fan
November 14th, 2009
1:23 am
jwcfalcon: Every place has its share of good and bad areas. While some regions, like North Fulton, may have more “rich-kids” than others, the class distribution of players in public schools remains generally the same. That’s what makes high school football among schools like that so great. 22 kids have to get over sterotypes and labels and work together to achieve a common goal.
Gwinnett Fan
November 14th, 2009
1:27 am
Enough talking about football for me tonight, I have to get up and play some
jcwfalcon
November 14th, 2009
1:30 am
Me too. Heading to Charlotte tomorrow AM for the Falcons game.
JayBo
November 14th, 2009
1:34 am
TCC wins tonight 15-8!! This was a sloppy offensive effort by TCC–we had 3 or 4 fumbles! Again, the defense was our strength. Can’t keep fumbling and expect to win in the playoffs—I thought we would blow these guys out!!! Well Yellow Jackets fans, lets hope we got this dropping the ball stuff out of our system. LET’S GO JACKETS!!!
G-Lion
November 14th, 2009
1:46 am
Good question, MM.
Grady has a good team.
1-aa
November 14th, 2009
1:54 am
the number one region in the state prove that the ajc was right in it’s ranking of the regions in the state. now if there was a overall ranking. will 1=aa be the number one or number two region. the result of the first round is four games===four wins. on to round two. if there was a reward for the best region; when or where will the reward be given?
NHS_2013_LB #26
November 14th, 2009
1:57 am
Final Score from Newnan, GA
Newnan 28; Valdosta 9
sorry wildcat fan try again next year but it just wasnt happenin against dem mighty cats; and no. Im talkin bout dem Newnan Cougars!!!!
Newnan 74
November 14th, 2009
2:21 am
2003 Newnan slaps Northside WR into AAAA
2009 Newnan slaps Valdosta into AAAA.
Both deserved it.
BLACK GOLD
November 14th, 2009
2:48 am
SWAINBORO , CONGRATS ,YOU GET ANOYHER CHANCE TO PLAY US SINCE 2000 , BUT IT WANT BE THE SAME , JUST BRING IT
GO UG!
November 14th, 2009
3:00 am
UG looked AWESOME tonight on offense. Too bad we did have that last weeke. Oh well we have it straightend out in time for (who we playig again WSRN) I think that we are going to the dome. They have some really good tickets on sale.
BLACK GOLD
November 14th, 2009
3:02 am
WEEK 13 PREDICTIONS TO MOVE ON ( A) CLINCH/ BREMAN/GREENVILLE/WESLYAN/LINCOLN/MILLER/DARLINGTON/TWIGGS (AA)FITZGERALD/WESTMINISTER/APPLING/BUFORD/CALHOUN/THOMASVILLE/LOVETT/CHARLSTON/ (AAA)PEACH/ST.OIUS X/CARROLTON/GAINSVILLE/CAIRO/FLOWEERY BRANCH/CARVER-COLUMBUS (AAAA)THOMAS CO. CENT/TUCKER/GRIFFIN/MARIST/HIRAM/WESTSIDEMACON /SW DEKALB N. CLAYTON (AAAAA)N.S WARNER ROBINS/PEACHTREE RIDGE/NEWNAN/GRAYSON/N. GWINNETT/LOWNDES/S. GWIINNETT/STEPHENSON/
1-aa
November 14th, 2009
3:26 am
black gold==you must included the other two teams in 1=aa. the region will come to the top again. question for the reader of this statement==the four teams in 1=aa should win will 1=aa be the region of the decade or the region of the future.
jagfan
November 14th, 2009
3:46 am
THE JAGS REALLY TOOK IT TO THOSE BOYS LAST NITE…AND THAT STILL WAS NOT EVEN THERE BEST…REALLY ONE OF THE FASTEST TEAMS I’VE SEEN AT STEPHENSON IN A FEW YEARS…COLQUITT LOOKS LIKE YOU HAD SOME PROBLEMS WITH WESTLAKE ONLY BEATING THEM 10-0…YOU BETTER HAVE YOUR A GAME WHEN YOU COME UP THIS WAY NEXT FRIDAY CUZ WE GONE GIVE YOU ALL YOU CAN TAKE…JAG TIME
#1 Eagle Fan NSWR
November 14th, 2009
3:52 am
GO!!!!! Eagles!!!!!
Marcus
November 14th, 2009
5:47 am
SWD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STRAP ON YA HELMETS CUZ DEM SWD PANTHERS BRINGIN PAIN TO ANY AND ALL WHO GET IN THE WAY. I HATE IT 4 PEOPLE WHEN MALCOME COMES BACK NEXT WEEK, HAHAHAHAHAH SWD LETS GO.GREAT JOB LAST NIGHT, WE HAD FUN.
Marcus
November 14th, 2009
5:48 am
O YEAH, WE HAD ABOUT 7 BIG PLAYS,NONE OF WHICH CAME FROM OUR BIG PLAY GUYS!!!! YALL IN TROUBLE, SEE YALL NEXT WEEK
blu eagle
November 14th, 2009
6:04 am
Wow, congrats to Brookwood on a great win! Sorry, Valdosta. Grayson better get their offense going they won’t make it past Newnan.Some great games up next.Go NSWR, it only gets tougher. GO BIG BLUE!
Suwanee 0wnz
November 14th, 2009
6:46 am
jcw, Alpharetta is in North Fulton County and they do not have a team in the playoffs. I can only speak for a few of the Gwinnett schools. The North Gwinnett district goes from McMansions to single wides. I don’t think Buford has any McMansions and plenty of single wides. P Ridge has some pretty posh digs, but plenty of plain “folks” also. Grayson is closer to Conyers than it is to Alpharetta.
I sure could have used one of those “college funds” when I put myself through college and graduate school, but instead I earned some scholarship money and worked night shift at a bank. It would have been nice to have a “college fund” for my 2 kids in college. Where can I get one of those? Instead my daughter earned 2 800’s on her SATs and finished 1st in fencing in the State of Georgia. She located a couple scholarships herself and I am paying less for her to go to the #1 rated liberal arts college in America than I would if she went to UGA. My other son works nights and will finish in 3 years in order to reduce costs.
But there may be a difference. Personally, we moved to Gwinnett because they appear to have the “best” school system in Georgia, and I wanted my kids to get a decent public education.
By all accounts Georgia is among the top 5 football states in the nation, but among the bottom 5 in education. I think that is primarily because we “care” more about football than education in Georgia – not because Georgians are stupid. In Gwinnett, we also care about education, in addition to football.
Frankly, I think this board should be about football. And I wish you would keep to yourself with your inaccurate ideas about silver spoons, luxury cars, and college funds. If you really want to get into differences in attitudes about education, it will NOT turn out well.
I am more than happy to discuss the awesome football being played all over the state. The rest of it should be discussed at some level, but not here.
phantatic
November 14th, 2009
7:05 am
Just a question; Why have I not heard any mention of the Red Elephants of Gainesville in the AJC? The are number one in the entire state and average 40+ points per game with the highest rated offense in the state. Gainesville/Hall County alone has three teams ( Gainesville, Flowery Branch, North Hall) that had impressive wins and were not even mentioned.
roswellfan
November 14th, 2009
7:11 am
Trmendous game lst night between roswell and collins hill. Hated to see either team lose; but roswell made just enough plays in overtime to win the game. Roswell controlled the 1st half but collins hill made 2nd half adjustments especially to thier passing game and dominated roswell in the 2nd half. Roswell run defense was very good against Charle s Perkins, but its pass defense was not very good again. Perkins is an outstanding running back and Georgia Tech should be glad to be getting him. Collins hill bigger wr’s bothered Roswell’s smaller defensive secondary the entire night. Roswell qb also played an outstanding game in that it was his 1st start and clearly showed that the offense is better with him at qb; #80 at wr for roswell was dominant all night and collins hill had no answer for him. I believe that he is committed to Vanderbilt. Great win for Roswell but I hated to see the faces of the collins hill players after such a hard fought game / loss.
SOUTH MOM
November 14th, 2009
7:36 am
Whew…South Gwinnett almost lost last night! They were cruising 31-14 with less than 5 minutes to go and two successful onside kicks by Etowah almost made us cough that game up! Lassiter scares me!
GO SOUTH!!
Mike L.
November 14th, 2009
7:43 am
The layout for the high school sections is all very confusing. Does this section get managed?
Anne
November 14th, 2009
8:36 am
Thomasville Bulldogs won 44 – 0 over the Henry County War Hawks, not 37 – 0 as reported on the AJC web site.
B4WOODSTOCK
November 14th, 2009
8:38 am
Good game last night Woodstock! Coach OB better open up his playbook book a bit and produce more than a 180 yards of offense if it stands a chance against NG.
#88 RAM pops
November 14th, 2009
9:00 am
Brookwood’s Alan King (47) comforts McEachern’s Trevor Nixon (55) as Nixon cries after his team lost the game. –A liitle compassion showed a lot of CLASS by our foe BROOKWOOD…BROOKWOOD MOM should be proud! GO RAMS!!!!!!!!!
VOL Fan
November 14th, 2009
9:01 am
I really hope Coach Ballard has more faith in his QB and receivers next game. GET OFF THE RUNNING GAME AND THROW THE BALL. The Lombardo kid has an arm on him, why has he been disallowed to use it for the last few games??? It was destined for Peachtree Ridge to advance because they screwed themselves over AGAIN otherwise. Newsflash coach: THE OTHER TEAM WATCHES FILM. Why isn’t this guy comprehending that??? Too many STUPID mistakes in the coaching vs. a very average Kell team. No way they will make the Dome again with dumb mistakes on behalf of the coaching staff. I really feel for those players, their coaches are determined to have them sit this one out.
VOL Fan
November 14th, 2009
9:08 am
Brookwood v Peachtree Ridge. Hmmm, should be interesting. These are the top 2 schools in the county with regard to academics. On the field is a diff story, the brackets are quite interesting this week. Some slobber knockers on hand.
GO UG!
November 14th, 2009
9:23 am
Big j, did you go to the game last night. I am sorry that our starting QB got hurt and is out but uh oh, our new one can run. As bad as we looked on offense last week we made up for it last night. Donovan Johnson and T.J. looked really good. Good job O-line. Some freshmen got playing time. Good job Coach on getting the guys ready for this week.
Windsor Forest, you have to get behind your team, make some noise and have a better turn-out for a PLAYOFF game. I guarantee you if you had played in the GROVE we would have showed you how to make some noise. GO GROVE!!!!!!!
Congrats Brookwood MOM, when I heard that Brookwood won on my way home for Savannah, I figured you would be swinging from the rafters.
Congrats, Mike McDonald and your Cougars….good job!
Congrats, Stephenson, sorry Sportsfan31313!
SGT CHRIS
November 14th, 2009
9:32 am
Wow, what happened to all the chest beating coming out of Powder Springs? Still looking for someone who can give me some info on Liberty County…like what kind of offense and defense they run? Any studs they may have??? Anything!!!
#88 RAM pops
November 14th, 2009
9:48 am
clarification on the injuries tonight. Pemberton was hurt but came back in and took some shots but got up fine, even had about a 70 yard run, didnt see champaign limping but i just have a feeling conn didnt wanna put any unneccesary plays on film for roswell. it seemed they played to not lose rather than to win– GS–VERY CONCISE AND ACCURATE OBSERVATION !
GO UG!
November 14th, 2009
9:54 am
Well the only undecided game is MLK/Jenkins. Jenkins won’t even be a good scrimmage for MLK. MLK 48 Jenkins 0!
AVikingFan
November 14th, 2009
9:59 am
AAAAA’s Regions 1,2, and 8 went 3 – 1 last night. Regions 6 and 7 went 2 – 2. Regions 3, 4, and 5 (did I say “5″ ?, Really?) went 1 – 3. Good thing Woodstock has a Region 1 “flavor” (head coach Mike O’Brien from Valdosta) or Region 5 may have been skunked.
Ouch Cannon Rules, Head East, Hoya Chuck.
Some observation tidbits:
EagleNationRising wrote some good posts last night on this blog.
In 5-A next week all the games in the right side of the bracket will be played with the “Upset Alert” warning.
Camden, defensding State Champions and Number 1 seed will host Lowndes, a number 2 seed. Should that not make Camden the favorite? Lowndes might just pull off an “Upset” here.
South Gwinnett finished number 2 Seed from Region 8 and has played really tough and good football. Can Lassiter with their high powered offense and give up 30 to 40 points a game defense win? I see an “Upset” here also.
Stephenson will be on “upset Alert” against Colquitt County. And North Gwinnett better not overlook a Region 1-AAAAA flavored Woodstock, or it too will taste the “Upset” koolaid.
Not much of a possiblity of an “Upset” this week on the left side of the bracket, but Peachtree Ridge vs Brookwood will be a good game for “Atlanta standards”, as will Roswell vs Grayson.
Union Grove, some of you are my friends. But take my advice that some of my Lowndes friends tried to give Peachtree Ridge when they came down here in September. DON’T GET OFF THE BUS. TAKE THE FORFEIT AND SAVE THE BUTT WHOOPING!
Newnan vs MLk ? Like two mules fighting through a barbed wire fence over a turnip. Who cares, neither get past the 1/4 finals.