YOU make the call — Predict the biggest upset in football’s state semifinals
Make your prediction and post it: What will be the biggest upset in high school football’s state semifinals? And why do you say so?
As you know, this year’s state playoffs have been nothing short of remarkable, with traditional powerhouses such as North Gwinnett, Camden County, Lowndes, Northside-Warner Robins, Wilcox County being eliminated in the earlier rounds.
What will be this weekend’s biggest upset? You know at least one will happen, maybe more. Will Sandy Creek be able to hold off Peach County? Do you think Collins Hill has a chance of upsetting Brookwood? Will playing on the road hurt Carver-Columbus? Will Grayson dispose South Georgia’s last hope (Colquitt County) in the Georgia’s largest classification?
Class AAAAA
Colquitt County (8-5) at Grayson (10-3)
Collins Hill (10-3) at Brookwood (12-1)
Class AAAA
Chattahoochee (13-0) at Statesboro (11-2)
Starr’s Mill (13-0) at Tucker (13-0), Hallford Stadium
Class AAA
Peach County (13-0) at Sandy Creek (13-0)
Burke County (11-2) at Carrollton (13-0))
Class AA
Carver, Columbus (13-0) at Calhoun (13-0)
Lovett (10-3) at Buford (12-1)
Class A
Clinch County (13-0) at Wilkinson County (11-2)
Savannah Christian (12-1) at Wesleyan (12-1)
Pick your No. 1 upset prediction and post it below. Note: The AJC’s Michael Carvell is out while recovering from surgery, but you can follow the AJC’s coverage of the high school playoffs by clicking here …. and here.
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185 comments Add your comment
Friday Night Lights Fan
December 1st, 2010
12:02 am
Wishing Starr’s Mill good luck this weekend.
Also on a side note. Hoping Burke Co gets knocked out so BURKE CO. NO.1 FAN will quit posting in all caps. LOL Just kidding but please stop.
bgn46lewis
December 1st, 2010
12:09 am
AAAAA
Grayson – 17 Colquitt Co. – 14
Brookwood – 38 Collins Hill – 27
AAAA
Statesboro – 27 Chattahoochee – 21
Starr’s Mill – 20 Tucker – 17
AAA
Sandy Creek – 34 Peach Co. – 20
Carrollton – 24 Burke Co. – 7
AA
Calhoun – 23 Carver, Columbus – 14
Buford – 42 Lovett – 14
A
Clinch Co. – 35 Wilkinson Co. – 20
Wesleyan – 41 Savannah Christian – 17
Dawgtards ruin this state
December 1st, 2010
12:21 am
Why would talented kids want to lose to Florida EVERY year by 15 points and also lose to Auburn, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tenn, Bama and LSU. Go to any other school in the nation and don’t collect garbage for a living, like most 4-5 star recruits that regress at thUGA. Play for a real coach and fans that understand football, not just shop at wal-mart in Bogart, GA and buy groceries at piggly wiggly.
wolfbait 67
December 1st, 2010
1:05 am
Sportfan31313: Are things that bad in Hinesville. they are plenty good football games left in this state
bodog
December 1st, 2010
2:50 am
First the game is played on a field not on a web site, I believe all the games this week are very important, and a lot of quality highschool players will ne ready to go on Friday Note. The games that interest me most are …. Carrollton vs Burke co, Sandy Creek Vs Peach Co, and Calhoun Vs Carver….Neither of these games are a sure lock for any team involved……..too much Talent…….If i had to pick winners of these 3 games it would be……Carrollton, Sandy Creek, and Carver…….?
Josh
December 1st, 2010
3:25 am
Calhoun over Carver….. Calhoun has one of the best defenses in the state, LB’s are head hunters…. plus, they have Home field advantage…. They in 31-21, this game will be close until the 2nd half…. Then Calhoun BEATS BUFORD this time, 3rd time is a charm.
maddball
December 1st, 2010
3:50 am
everybody seems 2 be talking about how tough grayson defense is…we’ve played against some pretty good defenses & still average 35pts a game & over 420yds of offense.so what makes grayson defense any different from e/b else we’ve played?believe me our no huddle offense will have your entire defense sucking wind.we have the 2 fastest backs in the state…nobody has ever ran tevin king down from behind..do your research…#22 WILL PICK YOUR ENTIRE DEFENSE APART
Sowega Sam
December 1st, 2010
7:05 am
Grayson vs Colquitt County ——— good game coming up.
I think you folks are too low on the score.
No doubt, Grayson has a great “D”, however, CC’s “D” is learning to bow it’s back up too.
I’m looking for a clean, hard fight on both sides of the ball, and by both teams.
We do not under estimate your “D”, but you best keep your eye on some tiny guys,
with speed and power, that do not know “quit” is a real word.
Tucker rules
December 1st, 2010
7:13 am
Sandy creek and Peach county is the game of the year winner will be state champs, probably face BC in dome, Carrollton schedule was weak and the only good team they have played is a reloading cairo team, The out of region schedule for BC will pay off now.
First Down CREEK!!!!!
December 1st, 2010
7:36 am
LOL!!!!! Monroe Area ran the wildcat as well. I’ve seen enough of Peach to know what they run and last week I saw their weak secondary which will be exploited. It’s going to be a long night for them.
28inAROWLET'SGO
December 1st, 2010
8:13 am
I just love reading these posts about how Sandy Creek is going to destroy Peach County. If you are judging us on how Grady played us, that is fine. Grady was a very good matchup for us. Plus they were fired up to play us!! I could easily judge Sandy Creek by how they let stockbridge score 26 or 28 points on them. And the way Fayette gave them a ball game. But if I did go there, does it really matter this FRIDAY NIGHT WHEN SANDY AND PEACH HOOKUP? If you know football, you would know that it’s a game of matchups. They were a very good matchup for us. But guess what? WE ARE STILL HERE! I THINK THAT GAME DID US ALOT OF GOOD. WE MAY HAVE BEEN LOOKING PAST THEM AT FIRST. BUT I’M SURE WE ARE FOCUSED NOW. I AM WONDERING WHAT THE EXCUSES WILL BE WHEN THE BLACK HATS COME TO THE BATTLEFIELD AND CAUSE A BLACKOUT? LET’S GO P.C….
pmuckle
December 1st, 2010
8:22 am
colquitt sucks lets go Grayson for the upset of the year!!!
B-TownWolves4Peat
December 1st, 2010
8:26 am
Gridiron……. Is just a hater! When have Buford cheated? What game? Most of them dint even be close! And when you win Championships & send kids to good school you don’t have to recruit parent just want there kids to come here
KD
December 1st, 2010
8:29 am
Too bad the Sandy Creek & Peach County game is played at “The Battlefield”, the field is in pretty bad shape, and what’s up with the black dirt ? Was it brought up from Florida. And finally, Sandy Creek, by the ADA,might a AAA school, but the football team is stil a AAAA school.
hcfollower
December 1st, 2010
8:32 am
Carver will beat Calhoun hands down. Calhoun might have a strong offence but carvers defense is unreal just ask Buford an Lagrange an thomasville. The d hasn’t given up double digit score all year. Not to mention coach dell has let Mr. Crowell loose an not holding him back as his 305 yrd last Fri showed. An finally if they Carver can win at memorial stadium they can win anywhere because that field is terrible to play on
First Down CREEK!!!!!
December 1st, 2010
9:15 am
Judge us by what we did to Perry…Our Qb didn’t play in the games you mentioned. A freshman ran the offense.
Jacket Speed
December 1st, 2010
9:48 am
hcfollower, It’s not Calhouns offense you have to worry about. I see Crowell having 200 yards in the field, just not across the goal line. Bend don’t break… look at there points against this year on 1st string guys. I think it stands at 8 per game now. Scoring is 42 points per game.
MHC Tiger
December 1st, 2010
9:50 am
@28inAROWLET’SGO…hey hey hey, watch that Stockbridge comment, we had 5 starters out against you all. one of which was our top Rb. not saying the outcome would have been diff, just sayin. We didnt play with the same fire as we did the previous week against SC. after our all everything RB got hurt that wed at prac. SC game showed what The Bridge was capable of all year. Couple bounces our way and we are a two seed and maybe still playing!
Now like i said before. SC is bigger than you all and will power the ball like grady did, in addition they have a better passing game than grady and they will exploit your secondary. Now Richmond is a freaking beast. he is gonna give SC fits all night, but I think in the end they(SC)will win a high scoring game! The key for PC is if the Qb and Demarco can get on track. Grady shut down your passing game and deep threat! I’ll be there…good luck to both.
tunk06
December 1st, 2010
10:28 am
@ Buford Dad. Carver did not play all of their games at home, so therefore the refs didn’t make them 13-0.
Nathan
December 1st, 2010
10:32 am
Ok, I am not from South Georgia, but I have to replay in their defense with the message from JENN up at the top of this forum. Jenn: You said, that an 8-5 team like Colquitt County has no business being in the playoffs. Are you kidding me?? How can you say a comment like that. To me when I see a team in the semi-finals that has lost 5 games, it tells me, that team means business. It shows that they are a team that has grown and improved. And I have kept up with Colquitt County and they are the real deal. I said at the start of the season when they lost the first 3 games and everyone was writing them off, I said, “Mark my words, they will still be a contender for a state championship” and now here they are for the second year in a row in the semi-finals, the only South Georgia team left from AAAAA. As for your other comment, you must not know much about football if you think Colquitt County had a “weak” schedule as you mentioned. Colquitt County had one of, if not the hardest schedule in the entire state of Georgia. In fact most polls, State and National, ranked Colquitt County as having the #1 hardest schedule in the state of Georgia. It included the current #1 team in the country South Panola which Colquitt put up about 35 points against. Teams don’t put that many points up against South Panola, but Colquitt did.
Colquitt could do like a lot of teams and play easy teams and then have a nice record going in the the playoffs, but Colquitt plays hard teams, which they may lose but in the end they win because they are gaining experience. Like I said I am from North Georgia and will hope North Georgia teams win, but if you discount Colquitt as a quality football team that is fully capable of wining the whole thing, you are walking a dangerous road.
PC Fanatic
December 1st, 2010
10:32 am
First Down CREEK!!!!!
Judge us by what we did to Perry…Our Qb didn’t play in the games you mentioned. A freshman ran the offense..
Judge us by what we did to Perry, when the score was 46-6 at halftime!
First Down CREEK!!!!!
December 1st, 2010
10:36 am
@PC Fanatic HAhahahahaha!!! hilarious. Friday is going to be awesome!!!
zack
December 1st, 2010
10:45 am
can anyone explain to me how Grayson over colquitt county would be considered an upset?
First Down CREEK!!!!!
December 1st, 2010
10:49 am
@PC Fanatic….The point was that Perry runs a lot of the same stuff on offense that Peach county runs. Shotgun, misdirection, wildcat….None of which works against Sandy Creek.
SportsFan31313
December 1st, 2010
10:58 am
Fred
You 2003-2009 is in the past right… Well so is Gwinette County Schools……
SportsFan31313
December 1st, 2010
11:00 am
wolfbait 67
Sportfan31313: Are things that bad in Hinesville. they are plenty good football games left in this state.
Yes they are………………………… Trying to replace one of the head Football Coaches……
SportsFan31313
December 1st, 2010
11:03 am
Fred,
You are correct about no one from my zipcode being in the playoffs this year. But there are at least one team from one of the Regions that is still wreaking havoc here in the playoffs. Region 2-AAAA Statesboro. Region 3-AAAAA are done.
AVikingFan
December 1st, 2010
11:11 am
Nice to see you still posting, SPORTSFAN31313. Good luck with what you are trying to accomplish with Bradwell. Get someone with defense experience and knowledge of stopping all these high powered spread offenses. (Or at least let the new guy hire a good DC.) They seem to be the coming thing. Wish your plans would change and you could go up to the dome games. Have a Merry Christmas!
Snoopy
December 1st, 2010
11:21 am
Gwinnett County – The BEST High School playing county in the NATION!!
Brookwood
Buford
Wesleyan
State Champs!!
GHS#22
December 1st, 2010
11:56 am
Snoopy
Grayson
Buford
Wesleyan
Trojan Man
December 1st, 2010
12:07 pm
Carrollton will destroy Burke Co. as they have everyone else on their schedule this year. If Cairo can’t score against the Trojan powerful defense how is Burke Co. going to score? They won’t. The Trojans powerful and speedy offense will run all over Burke County. Look for a 31 – 7 Trojan win.
hcfollower
December 1st, 2010
12:09 pm
@jacket speed
Calhoun will b lucky to get to half their season average Fri night. Carvers d isn’t ur typical 2A defense its a defense made up of not just d-1 talent but sec talent. An for crowell getting 200 is a average night there are still hollaway an Hawkins to deal with on the ground an Samuel an Hawkins in the air an unless y’all can brings rogers back from Knoxville I just don’t see it
WowFactor
December 1st, 2010
12:20 pm
I was just reading some of these and something pops out at me. People saying that 1-AAAAA is a weak region. Really??? I think it comes down to a simple philosophy in here. If you are from North Georgia/Atlanta area you believe that South Georgia football is overrated and perhaps it is. If you are from South Georgia you look at North Georgia Football like most SEC fans look at the PAC10. For example, Stanford is a great team but they could never beat UGA. Truth of the matter is let the boys play on Friday night. Colquitt County maybe the only southern Georgia team left. One commenter actually said they didn’t deserve to be in at 5-5. Again, if they didn’t deserve to make the playoffs then they certainly wouldn’t have advanced all the way to the semifinals for a 2nd straight year. I looked at their schedule which may have been the most brutal I have ever seen. They were only out of one game and that was against #1 in the Nation South Panola, Mississippi (which I’ve seen those boys play and I have never seen a better high school team). They lost in overtime to Thomas Co Central on the road on the last play. They got behind early to Lowndes and Valdosta and made great combacks that fell short and their only other lost was to Cook, which Colquitt dominated besides penalties and turnovers in the Red Zone, opening weekend. Plus, Rush Probst is 6-1 in playoff games since arriving in Moultrie and we all know what he did at Hoover in Alabama. So, for you all that don’t think a Colquitt Co. 5-5 team doesn’t deserve to make the playoffs, you maybe in for a shock if they win it all. That’s my prediction anyway!
SportsFan31313
December 1st, 2010
12:35 pm
Greetings AVikingFan,
Happy Holidays To You…. Yes we are trying to accomplish correcting this existing problem at Bradwell Institute. It is very heated right now and the BOE knows about the displeasure and the changes that are being requested. This a very heated political thing. But the heat is continuing and sooner or later, it is going to be corrected. That or lose revenue. Lots of it….
BURKE CO. NO.1 FAN
December 1st, 2010
12:36 pm
@ trojan man -burke co. will WIN….
what are u smoking on.., yall run the wing-t offense – in which half of the schools we play run that crap…,the powerful rushing attack of Statesboro, couldnt run on us nor the powerful rushing attack Washington co., no.22 will get shut down.., we are gonna score quick and fast , looking at your secondary.., because we can throw and when no.#7 and #5 catch it, they gonna outrun our offense and your defense for touchdowns… believe that, wint-t on us hahahahaha,
SportsFan31313
December 1st, 2010
12:37 pm
AVikingFan,
Bradwell Institute is in need of everything to get the program back into the positive spotlight.
Blitz81
December 1st, 2010
12:37 pm
Unbiased about either team
I’ve seen Carrolton and Burke county play. Burke is a good team but Carrollton is very good.
Carrollton will have no trouble defeating Burke.
TroganTrue
December 1st, 2010
1:02 pm
@BURKE CO. NO.1 FAN, #22 is not the only one you need to worry about. We also have #1 who is also a track star and we also use two QB’s as well. AGAIN, Cairo was not able to run more than 8 PLAYS on our BIG D the first HALF.
Jefferson
December 1st, 2010
1:13 pm
Games are played, that’s what decides who win — Ask Northside. Buford appears to look ahead as if Lovett won’t beat them(like they did last year). Any team playing this week can win, if they are ready and the other team ain’t. Being said, Go Jackets !!!
wolfbait 67
December 1st, 2010
1:16 pm
Sportsfan31313: hate to hear what is going on down your way, sometimes the BOE do not know their A_ _ from a hole in the ground…….I too hope that those Blue Devils make the dance….best running buddy is a Statesboro product and a dame good one…get ready to head North to the Dome
SportsFan31313
December 1st, 2010
1:51 pm
Wolfbait67,
I miss the great days of the Statesboro Blue Devils and the Bradwell Institute Tigers playing against each other. But you do have Liberty County Panthers you all play against. Region 2-AAAA is a tough region to play in. As you know, any team in that Region could be beaten on any given Friday Night. It will be pay back next year when the two of you meet.
(Speaking Of The Liberty County Panthers) And yes, it’s a good-ole boy network that is presently going on dealing with this.
JIMB
December 1st, 2010
2:39 pm
Colquitt county played the best defense last week that it had all year. Millcreek still was inside the 25 five times in the first half. Millcreek beat themselves and should have scored 20 in that half. Colquitt does have a better offense than Brookwood remember 7-3 .Grayson should win yes, but they need to find an offense,Colquitt can score. New defensive coordinator makes a difference. Go Rams, Millcreek backer, also a realist.
Jacket Speed
December 1st, 2010
3:30 pm
hcfollower, Christian has 150-200 yards in the first half. Seldom have the starters played past early 3rd quarter. If Lamb wanted to pad players #’s he would let them play whole games or at least into the early 4th. All of the stats and points you see from Calhoun is half games only. Darick broke the recieving record last year doing the same thing.
I have watched some of the defense’ Carver has played against and if those boys were at Calhoun they’d be 3rd string. Region 5AA is the next to the weakest region in AA next to Region 8.
What’s funny, if you cruise these blogs, you’ll find I had these same conversations with those mighty 1AA Hurricanes last week. Good luck to both teams. I hope all of these boys come through healty and get to play strong for our Ga Bulldogs next year.
BURKE CO. NO.1 FAN
December 1st, 2010
3:33 pm
@ all burke co. haters
there will be NO SCHOOL FRIDAY FOR THEM BURKE COUNTY BEARS., it seems that the ENTIRE COUNTY is coming…, hhhmmm … all 8 smaller cities will be in carrollton friday nite…, what an amazing scene for high school football….they are leaving at 12 i think thats a 4-hour ride maybe 5 , well we are use to traveling long distances , with all the higher ranked teams we play over here, we are excited ,with this young team making it this far…, with all starters mostly jr’s and only 5-starting seniors, ,all our skilled players from qb’s/rb’s/wr’s/ will be back with the entire offensive line , and all our lb’s, but guess what they are saying- WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOOSE, but if when we beat Carrollton , their entire town will be in shock……they have everything to loose, expect over 5000 people friday from the county….see u at carrollton friday nite
GT VET
December 1st, 2010
3:46 pm
@dawgturds ruin this state…Shut up you idiot…Its people like you that give Ga Tech a bad name.Im a GT man and cant stand for idiots like you to whine and call UGA fans and grads foul names like that..I have 2 brothers that are UGA grads and I assure you they are NOT redneck white trash.UGA beat us again this year ,get over it.If all you can do is cry and spew foul words at other people ESPECIALLY on a High School blog you are either a child or need professional help.ITS A GAME!!!!GT will gettum next year…….ok got that off my chest…To all the folks that think Calhouns Defense is just another avg D,I really hope you come to Calhoun and watch the Calhoun vs Carver game.Its going to be a good one.To the guy that said we need to get Rogers back to have a chance..Calhoun is Better without him…..Carver gives up 7 points a game…Calhoun 8…Carver avgs 38 pts a game..Calhoun avgs 42…and just like Carver Calhoun hasnt played the starters the whole game but twice this year.If I knew who would win Id be a rich man,but dont think for a minute Carver will walk onto the field at Calhoun and pound them.Not gonna happen…but still taking Calhoun in a close one
AA Jackets Fan
December 1st, 2010
4:17 pm
@GT VET, I agree Calhoun is better this year on both sides of the Ball. Especially without Rogers & Nance! The defense is one of the Hardest Hitting I have ever seen in high school. The offense is so well balanced this year unlike last year. If we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot we should win it all this year…..To be the Best you have to BEAT the BEST!!!
Football fan
December 1st, 2010
4:25 pm
SOOOOOO Burke county is bringing their whole town to carrolton Friday to get embarrassed and Shut-Out LOL im not going to waste my money on that game i’m going to see SC and Peach thats the REAL game
BravesFan
December 1st, 2010
4:54 pm
@SouthGARules: I can picture you now in your trailer with your laptop that your mommy gave you for christmas last year and she still pays the wireless bill so you can go online and research the crop of underclassmen coming into Lowndes next year. You and your buddies probably go to 8th grade games just so you can see how the team will look in 3-4 years. You say things like, “hey man, they got a boy down there on 8th grade that broke every rushing record they had, he gunna be the next big thing, i bet he starts for us as a somphmore, i hope coach pulls him up to varsity after the 9th grade season ends just to give em’ some exposure to the big time.” Man, I bet people that run into you in town duck and hide into shops and restaurants just so they don’t have to spend 45 minutes listening to you talk about the squad and how many returning starters and lettermen yall got down there yonder! Redneck! Just an FYI, you should re-evaluate your life if you spend an obscene amount of time talking about and watching 17 and 18 year old boys. Boo-Yah! Jen: I love ya
Mike
December 1st, 2010
5:09 pm
Jenn- it is not luck when CH goes to Lowndes and wins on their home field.
So. GA Rules- CH is 7AAAAA, Brookwood and Grayson are 8AAAAA. Please find Jenn a house in Valdosta.
My upset- Sav Christian over Wesleyan
Buford does recruit, it’s 2 best players ever lived in the Collins Hill district, Dallas Lee and Darius Walker, but they went to Buford because of the poor coaching at Collins Hill. Shout out to 1st year coach Kevin Reach at CH, great job, CH players won’t be going to Buford, or moving out of the region anymore.
TROJAN MAN
December 1st, 2010
5:14 pm
WE ABOUT TO SKEET SKEET SKEET ALL OVER SANDY CREEK! WE GUNNA BUST THAT TROJAN MAN CONDOM AND AWWWW SKEET SKEET SKEET ON YA’LL!