AAAAA blog: Colquitt-Valdosta, MLK-Stephenson, P’Ridge-North Gwinnett to decide final region titles in showdowns
Four teams clinched region titles Friday, and three more will be decided next week in games between teams tied for first in what will be the most intriguing Friday of the season in Class AAAAA.
First, let’s look ahead -
-Colquitt County (8-1) will play Valdosta (7-2) for the Region 1 title on Friday in Valdosta. It would be Colquitt’s first region title since 1999, Valdosta’s first since 2003.
-No. 4 Stephenson and No. 5 M.L. King, both 9-0, will play Friday at Hallford Stadium for the Region 2 title. It will be the seventh straight year that one of these DeKalb County schools has won 2-AAAAA. MLK won in 2010 and 2007. Stephenson won in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009. They’ve met when they were 5-0 and 6-0, but never 9-0.
-No. 8 North Gwinnett and No. 10 Peachtree Ridge, both 8-1, will play at North Gwinnett on Friday to decide Region 7. Both Gwinnett County schools are in Suwanee. North Gwinnett is the two-time defending champion. Peachtree Ridge won in 2008.
Clinching region titles Friday were Hillgrove Hillgrove (Region 4), Walton (Region 5), Alpharetta (Region 6) and Grayson (Region 8). For Hillgrove and Alpharetta, it was their first region titles ever.
Alpharetta trailed Centennial 20-0 but won 32-26 on a last-minute touchdown. Second-ranked Grayson had a close call, as well. Kasey Gaines intercepted a pass and returned it 15 yards for the winning touchdown with 27 seconds left.
No. 1-ranked Camden County (Region 3) clinched its region the week before.
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344 comments Add your comment
JAB
October 31st, 2011
4:57 pm
NGHS 09, (QUIETLY) WALK OFF FROM THE BLOG SCENE!!! Stephenson has beaten you twice and you have never won state championship & beaten Stephenson so can can quietly be dismissed; case closed. Colquitt County Underdog on anything. All I can say to you will have your chance in the playoff eventhough you might pull Newnan or East Coweta, Don’t under estimate them. Many underestimated MLK before they went down and beat them on in their territory; they used comments like “They didn’t beat us that bad”, “Valdosta didn’t play a good game”.. The AAAAA state championship will come from North Ga. region 2AAAAA, I support North Ga football (ALL) teams but NGHS 09 is giving me many reason Lol., to doubt NG., Lol., Naw!
@ Did I Say That? You are Da Man…..
JAB
October 31st, 2011
5:01 pm
@ NGHS 09 every year when Stephenson exit the playoffs I resume to support other North ga’s football mainly Gwinnett County. I am a true N Ga. Hs football fan! “NGHS 09 WHERE YOU AT” This should be the next youtube video…Lol.,
JAB
October 31st, 2011
5:03 pm
Back on Point! GO STEPHENSON JAGUARS…GO MLK LIONS… I WILL BE AT THE GAME EARLY WEARING MY MLK & STEPHENSON COLORS….r
AVikingFan
October 31st, 2011
5:08 pm
JAB and Did I Say That are in a tight race for the “coffeetrojan #44 mouth of the week” award! I doubt anyone can even come close to beating these two front runners, because they have such a huge lead, and it’s only Monday! Mannnnnn, where is eaglenationrising when you need him?
JAB
October 31st, 2011
5:08 pm
BACK ON POINT! I WILL BE AT THE GAME EARLY THIS FRIDAY WITH MY MLK & STEPHENSON COLORS….maroon & royal,blue! By the way guys Stephenson has some of the best tail gate parties, can’t deny or take nothing away from them bruthas on the grill (smile)
Sideline Observer
October 31st, 2011
5:13 pm
vikingfan, have patience, they’ll both be long gone after the first playoff game. Then we won’t hear’em until next year, when they’ll get together with the East Coweta people and start all this stuff all over again. It’s an annual thing with them even though their teams have never won anything outside of the region. Mouth mouth mouth till playoffs then one and done.
AVikingFan
October 31st, 2011
5:16 pm
I know observer, same old same old. It’s like the show that never ends. Till the playoffs get here.
Race does matter
October 31st, 2011
5:21 pm
Everyone is talking about MLK and Stephenson being coached by African Americans. They are held to a higher standard, thats why everyone highlights their not winning it all. They send kids to college and helping them become good citizens. Example, look at Newnan, mostly African American players and one African American coach on the team. If this school continues the way they are going, do you think a African American coach would still be there. Yes, race does matter and that’s reality.
AVikingFan
October 31st, 2011
5:24 pm
JAB — you might can forget about grilling those bruthas and get some good “crow” recipees. If you need some help, let me know. We’ve get several pretty good ones. But trust me, it’s been my experience that no matter how you doctor it up or cook it, it still ain’t fitting to eat! Kinda like road killed possum. Or wild hogs from Colquitt County that’s been run over by a log truck and left out in the sun for two days. Crow will just plain make you sick.
AVikingFan
October 31st, 2011
5:28 pm
Race does not matter —– scroll back up thru the pages and you will see who brought up that issue and who’s been continually mentioning it.
Just saying. It hasn’t been mentioned all year long by anybody and then these new guys to the blogs brought it up and harp on it over and over. I think Michael Carvell needs to ban the next person who brings it up, like he did some posters last year.
JAB
October 31st, 2011
5:31 pm
WE WILL SEE!!!! 2011 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP IN AAAAA, YOU GOT TO LUV THE HYPE IN GEORGIA….. GOOD LUCK TO EVERY SCHOOL IN GA…(SMILE)
NGHS 09
October 31st, 2011
5:53 pm
I think JAB and Did I Say that might be the same person after observing how they compliment eachother endlessly.
@ JAB… Maturing would be to much to ask of you at this point…I admire your passion for Stephenson, but you are a rambling machine and I can presume that you love the sound of your voice. I actually respect Stephenson unlike your disrespect for NG. I guess your recent emergence as an airhead on this blog is partly my fault and others who talk about Stephenson. You run your mouth and we give you exactly what you want…a retaliation. It’s gonna be awfully quiet on here in a few weeks.
JAB
October 31st, 2011
6:49 pm
@ You have never seen me write a statement down grading other teams, I just give cudos and shot outs to Stephenson, MLK and other teams in 2AAAAA, when you see me writing these things you retaliate (YOU AND OTHER SMALL MINDED PEOPLE ON HERE) I hope next year NG have many D1 signees, I actually like Gwinnett County teams but you are the only on here jabbling around, not Brookwood, not Parkview or Peachtree Ridge and they all have won a state championship. Go back and show where I’ve wrote anthing negative about any school except in defense of my comments about Stephenson and I will stop writing on this blog ; you had your chance to beat Stephenson but lose back to back..
DeeDawg
October 31st, 2011
6:54 pm
JAB – actually 3 Stephenson grads have played on D1 National Championship teams: Jermaine Cunningham (Florida two times, now playing for New England Patriots), Perry Riley & Kelvin Sheppard (LSU, playing for Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills repectively).
Former MLK Band Mom
October 31st, 2011
7:23 pm
Looking for forward to the match up between MLK and Stephenson on Friday night … one will win and the other will lose; however the outcome both programs can stand tall and be proud of their accomplishments, and start getting their minds prepared for the Playoffs!
With that said, “Go Lions! Here’s something to chew on: an MLK/Stephenson Championship game!
battleaxe kid
October 31st, 2011
8:24 pm
NGHS 09 You are sying Grayson is as billed or should i say ranked #1 was given a gift at the last of the game by Brookwood, AT HOME is the best team going into the playoffs???? don’t believe that… Didn’t see the game but heard enough to know that if Brookwood held them the entire game to 7 pts, and they couldn’t score until brookwood gave them the winning td… Come on man… again you got to be kiddin……
Grayson wins over Kell 7-0 I know it was at the first of the season but they arre 4AAAA. And your telling me they are the team that will win 5AAAAA state championship?????????? Just don’t see it… I’ve not predicted that well in the past but just don’t see the team to beat that can’t have a decisive win against a fairly good team as Brookwood…
When you get into the playoffs you have to score pts……. and grayson will not get too far, and hopefully We will win our first playoff game, and it looks like IF they do get by Region #7 4th seed they will meet our Vikings. We ain’t Kell nor Brookwood………
Camden74
October 31st, 2011
8:59 pm
I really don’t understand why Stephenson, MLK or North Gwinnette should be relevant in a conversation about championship football. What has any of them won, battle of the bands?
DeeDawg
October 31st, 2011
9:11 pm
Camden74 – Stephenson and MLK has won HUNDREDS of full football scholarships in their relatively short existences as schools. Ask the coaches – they would take that over fleeting state championships. And yes, their bands are world class.
DeeDawg
October 31st, 2011
9:13 pm
Camden74 – Stephenson and MLK has won HUNDREDS of full football scholarships in their relatively short existences as schools. Ask the coaches – they would take that over fleeting state championships anytime. And yes, their bands are world class.
battleaxe kid
October 31st, 2011
9:25 pm
Camden74 EXACTLY win 9 straight is a large accomplishment, but got to have the hardware and THEN region 2 or region #7 can even begin to even mention championship football….. come on man…..
Good regions this year both 2 and 7, but where’s the power???????
battleaxe kid
October 31st, 2011
9:30 pm
Camden74 No hardware no relevance, within championship conversation.. Sure 9-0 that is a great accomplisment for region #2 and NG has been in a few big games………….. But that’s as far as it goes. Until there is some hardware in the case irrelevant……
Camden74
October 31st, 2011
9:31 pm
Dee Dawg……..Yeah I know, championships don’t matter! Until you win one……….Keep fooling yourself with that weak line! Ask all of those D-1 players what they think? If you’re not interested in winning championships, you’re a loser! Simple as that!
AVikingFan
October 31st, 2011
9:32 pm
The winning head coaches in all previous AAAAA title games have been caucasion. I said it. Are you satisfied? In fact, the losing head coaches in all previous AAAAA title games were caucasion. But their skin color did not cause their team to lose. So why are you bringing it up?
JAB
October 31st, 2011
9:34 pm
STEPHENSON TO BEAT MLK THIS FRIDAY, IT’S SIMPLE, DEFEND THE PASS!!! LUV ALL OF MY MLK PEOPLE THOUGH…
JAB
October 31st, 2011
9:36 pm
@ AVikingFan , was that really necessary, this is the 21st century don’t discourage these kids…
Camden74
October 31st, 2011
9:38 pm
b axe kid…….We all know it’s just an excuse! And a bad one at that! Common sense would tell us that D-1 talent, plus championships, equals scholarships, plus more exposure, equals MORE scholarships and money for your program!
JAB
October 31st, 2011
9:39 pm
@ Camden74, THEY WIN WHEN THEY GO PLAY COLLEGE BALL + THEY GET AN EDUCATION SEVERAL ARE PLAYING FOR THE NFL $$$$$. THERE MUST BE LIFE AFTER HS FOOTBALL!
JAB
October 31st, 2011
9:41 pm
I didn’t want to say this but these comments is sounding like the city folk verses country folk! Uhm..
battleaxe kid
October 31st, 2011
9:46 pm
Colquitt-Valdosta, MLK-Stephenson, P’Ridge-North Gwinnett to decide final region titles in showdowns……………………………….
NOT Band vrs band , not black vrs white… Where are ya’ll getting all of it???? I must have missed something again………..
What gane is the largest rilvary in the state????????? easy ….. The game that YOUR TEAM IS PLAYING>>>>>>>>> Someone tell me I’m right for a change??????????
The blog title is game matchups !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This blog has become a forum for MSNBC or PBS or The World of Musical whatever… Can you explain to me why many are even blogging !!! Get it off your chest in your local paper RAnt & Rave or somewhere else that matters……..
Come on Ga. high school football sports fans……
Camden74
October 31st, 2011
9:47 pm
JAB………I don’t know about that, but I do know it’s bragging with no title versus bragging with one, two or three……….
NGHS 09
October 31st, 2011
9:54 pm
lol thanks for setting us straight
JAB
October 31st, 2011
9:56 pm
Okay! Let me address all of the hoopla of why Valdosta, Lowndes, and Camden Co. have won so many combine state championships & have so much fan support. 1st Congratulation, Yea! Amazing! Great Job! Great Fans! You are in the country, one two or three schools are in you r entire school district, those guys are born to play football, there’s nothing else to do & no where else to go, no professional teams close to you, no big time city life with so many options other than HS football! THERE I SAID IT!!! “BUT” Your reign is over, North Ga. football has caught up with you and you guys can’t take the fact that you don’t dominate anymore. Nor can you stand the fact that the city boyz are producing more D1 College bound athletes or do you care only about HS football and no education, there is a big world out there other than factory jobs…
NGHS 09
October 31st, 2011
9:56 pm
@ Camden74
battleaxe kid
October 31st, 2011
9:56 pm
My pleasure, as the blogging should be pleasurable, clean fun…..
battleaxe kid
October 31st, 2011
10:03 pm
JAB Wouldn’t trade it for all the $$$$$$$, traffic,, headaches,… in the world……….. But as the ol country song hits it…. A country boy can survive…… love hunting fishing and the laaid back life all the country life has to offer… Oh yea i forgot one main item championship high school football and the titles TOO….. Oh i for got ya’ll did get 2…………….. 06 co-champs and 2010…
JAB
October 31st, 2011
10:09 pm
And another thing, i’ve been to many HS football games in the country, you close down everything, all the mom & pop store closes, your lone radio station and local news papers get involved. I LOVE WHEN I GO TO YOUR TOWN AND SEE THIS FOOTBALL FEVER The big city can’t do that, there are so many parents have children at several schools, especially elementary schools and we have several magnets schools here in the big city, also many of the parents are working in the big city of Atlanta, eg. Georgia power, Major phone companies and water companies, government offices, etc. If we’d close down the big city here to get to the games, your city will not be able to operate! There you have it…
Brookwood Anti-Fan
October 31st, 2011
10:17 pm
Brookwood coaches need to try some of their more than 80 players on the sideline. Surely they have more than 15 or so players that can play football. Last week showed how tired their players were against a team that would not let up. They are so used to winning until they needed to hire extra counselors for the players and their parents. They’ll be jumping around this weekend like they won the Championship again against a no named team Berkmar. I hope they loose again.
NGHS 09
October 31st, 2011
10:17 pm
@ battle axe kid….No I am not kidding. Are you kidding with Lowndes’s 3 loss record? IF your Vikes are so great then why did they let McEachern, Colquitt (blowout), and Valdosta get the best of them? I know you don’t know much (if anything at all) about Gwinnett football, but Brookwood is a very good football team again this year, not just fairly good. Grayson got punched in the mouth and had the last laugh in the end. Grayson IS a serious contender this year and I would love to see you tell Robert Nemchemdiche that his Ram’s are a joke. I’m sure he would love to prove you wrong lol. Lowndes better pray Grayson doesn’t show up on their radar. As for Brookwood, they might be the under dog in every one of their playoff games but that’s one dog you want to leave alone trust me. They have upset alert written all over them. It’s ok that you don’t agree though; you can hide behind the walls of your concrete palace but Grayson will find you
. In a couple weeks I’ll be saying I told you so…that is of course if you even get past Stephenson or MLK…You love to bring up who beat who and use it as an argument for which team is better (no matter what point in the season) so MLK beat Valdosta which just so happens to be one of your 3 loses. You can wind up your mouth now…
NGHS 09
October 31st, 2011
10:23 pm
@ battle axe…We don’t always see eye to eye, but I know you will agree on this…R7,R2, and R1 are all playing for region titles in the final season game. That just let’s all of us know where the best football is played. (Camden being the exception of course, but it really is not their fault)
NGHS 09
October 31st, 2011
10:28 pm
@ Brookwood Anti-Fan….What do you mean by counselors for the players and parents? What does that have to do with them making the playoffs?
Explain…
“They are so used to winning until they needed to hire extra counselors for the players and their parents. They’ll be jumping around this weekend like they won the Championship again against a no named team Berkmar.”
Also…Didn’t Brookwood’s 22 starters go down to wire with Grayson? Did I see the wrong game? It looked like Brookwood’s players did everything possible to stop Grayson and accomplished that with the exception of one bad play. Does your son not play or something?
JAB
October 31st, 2011
10:41 pm
@ NGHS 09 , I have figure out your beef, you can’t stand the fact that 2 schools (Stephenson & MLK) from your next door county (Dekalb) have a dominating winning record over your Gwinnett County AAAAA schools and when you did meet Dekalb in a state championship before the state went to 5A; SWD defeated Parkview. You got one of our coaches at Duluth and he can’t quite get going with that winning tradition like he had in dekalb! You will not admit it, but you know that I’m telling the truth…
battleaxe kid
October 31st, 2011
10:41 pm
NGHS 09 So don’t bring up the past, but you can’t write a blog without doing so….. 3 loses are in the past, as well as us thrashing Ng, I feel sorry for you, that you don’t have favorite or ONE team you are for and haver ALL the Gwinnett teams to pick from and sounds like all the northern teams are your team.
So if ONE of the 20 schools in your domain wins, hey you can brag, “”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"We won the state championship”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”… It don’t work. Sure I want region #1 to have a good showing at the end, but MY ONE team out of ONE county is Lowndes not the entire Macon Co. Line to Fla. 5AAAAA teams.. So when Lowndes wins or loses My team will win or lose. So you can and will probably not wind your mouth down because with all those teams you think, wish, hope, or pray one out of the many may just luck up and win………
Which it don’t look as if it will happen anyway. You have a 20 out of 61 chances to win state, and I after I wind down will have 1 out of 61 chance at winning it all… I’ll take those odds anytime with the PAST records of ALL your championships to ALL of ours……….. now I;ll wind it down…
Now are you going to bring up the 3 loses in the past for us or continue to have a stable of 20 5AAAAA teams to call your teamssssssssssssssssssssss?????????? Say it ain’t so…
GwinnettDad
October 31st, 2011
10:45 pm
NGHS 09 – thanks for the comments about the sour puss Brookwood Anti-Fan. While at the same time, the grump doesn’t have a clue. Probably about 18 players played defense for Brookwood, as 2 Db’s replaced two linemen on various downs, as Brookwood changed defenses. Defensive tackles were kept fresh. Cole and Tompkins did not play CBs much, if at all, which they have in other games. So, a little over 30 players played lots of downs on both sides of the ball. Grumpy said 15. Doesn’t have a clue. Maybe he was watching the 8th grade in the GFL.
GwinnettDad
October 31st, 2011
10:51 pm
@NGHS 08 – oh, and one more thing, NG and Peachtree Ridge are playing for the privilege of playing Archer or Parkview in the first round. The loser of that 7-AAAAA game gets Brookwood to come and visit their stadium in the first round.
battleaxe kid
October 31st, 2011
11:02 pm
NGHS 09 And oh by the way I never stated that we were that great on any blog this year. If you go back and read them . I stated we should have NEVER been ranked #3, or #1. I was blogging that all the hype about Grayson was overshadowed with one game that was given to them…. That is my opinion that the entire blog stated, Should have NEVER been that close of a game with KELL a 4AAAA team… Grayson was and is still OVERRATED…….
Never once did I write that Lowndes was that good, but since you brought it up…………. the 3 loses are behind us now, and the real season starts in 2 weeks…… bring um on, MLK, Grayson………. whoever….. We will just have to do it the hard way (if we do it at all)))))…………
bksmith14
October 31st, 2011
11:05 pm
NGHS 09 and any other gwinnett fan………….brookwood is not the team they were last year…….grayson has not played anybody……..let me say it again…………..ANYBODY this year that is a serious threat. Let the get ahold of someone like colquitt or mceachern……..we will see what happens. Lowndes ………………well i think we have a shot…..but it will just depends on gameplan and matchups. I am telling everyone on this blog right now who wants to take notice and listen………..if colquitt county continues to play the way they are playing right now………NOBODY will beat them ………..not camden……….not valdosta by a long shot(they got beat by coffee) and not even lowndes on a night where lowndes is firing on all cylinders. They are the real deal. Last year 5-5 then went to state and lost but had over 600yds of offense against brookwood. This year……….they are 8-1 soon to be 9-1 and be region champs in the best region in the state of 5aaaaa year in and year out. Camden will get waxed if they play colquitt this year and so will anyone else as long as they keep playing the way they have been.
Grayson has done nothing impressive…….beat kell (4aaaa) 7-0 and beat Brookwood who isnt nowhere near what they were last year 14-7 all bc of a bad call passing ball with 15 sec to go deep in their own territory (brookwood) sure grayson has a defense but when they run into a team that is much better on offense than brookwood they will be SOL!!!!!!
Lowndes can beat mlk or stephenson……..not saying they will but they are capable of beating either team.
bksmith14
October 31st, 2011
11:10 pm
lowndes is a good solid team this year who cd easily be 9-1. Only game we got just outright beat was colquitt. Sure we have a 7-3 record but we gave game to valdosta by poor coaching and ealry in year we were trying to much crap and still trying to figure it out against mceachern……..they beat us though………but we are much better now in my opinion. No one needs to take lowndes lightly……..on a lil roll entering playoffs beating coffee 36-16 and tift 21-0
NGHS 09
October 31st, 2011
11:12 pm
@ GwinnettDad…lol NG definately wants Brookwood if you know what I mean.
battleaxe kid
October 31st, 2011
11:13 pm
No excuses made here for losing………….. Don’t like to lose… Lost too many times when played in the 70’s at Lowndes………. Won 8 games in 3 years at Lowndes and one was a forfiet, and at the Jr. high 7-9. we won 3 times. Now that FINALLY Lowndes is winning I get kind of proud maybe too boastful at times but it is never personal, promise.. No arrogance at all, if it sounds like it my apology…
We have a good sound football program, and good leaders on staff…. Would never insult another team or it supporters, and feel sorry for hapless Roswell, I think they are team that were co-champs with PTridge in 06, I think…..
I am a Viking win or lose but as I wrote earlier it is way harder to lose now that we have a few victories under our belt, talking 30 yrs of history
GA Fan
October 31st, 2011
11:13 pm
Ohhhhh boi………how soon we forget all the boasting we did when our team loses! Lol! I’d rather cheer for several teams in one county than make excuses every time my ONE team loses.