Poll talk: Can Lovejoy or North Cobb win it? History says go with Gwinnett, south Georgia instead
Teams from south Georgia and Gwinnett County have won state championships in Georgia’s highest classification each season since 1996.
Roswell of Fulton County shared the 2006 title with Peachtree Ridge of Gwinnett in the famous tie game. Otherwise, it’s been total domination for the schools currently housed in regions 1, 7 and 8.
Those still playing are Camden County and Colquitt County from Region 1/south Georgia and North Gwinnett, Norcross, Mill Creek and Parkview from Gwinnett.
Out of luck? That would be Lovejoy and North Cobb, if history holds. Lovejoy is trying to become the first Clayton County team to win a state title since 1987 (Morrow). North Cobb is trying to become the first Cobb team to win since 1967 (Marietta).
What’s significant about 1996? Brookwood became the first Gwinnett County Schools team to win a state title that year. Rapid population growth over the previous decade continued, and the migration of some of DeKalb County’s best coaches to Gwinnett also helped change the landscape of football in the highest classification.
Another thing happened that perhaps was equally as significant. It was the first season that the GHSA expanded the playoffs to 32 teams. This plays into the hands of the strongest regions and those teams that are battled tested in the regular season. With four qualifiers from each region, one door opens when another closes.
It happened in 1997, when defending champion Brookwood was 13-0 but lost in the quarterfinals to Tift County. Third-place Parkview, which would not have made the playoffs under the previous format, wound up with the championship.
In 1999, it happened again with Lowndes, a No. 3 seed. Region 1 champion Colquitt County lost in the quarters while Lowndes won four straight games away from home before beating Brunswick for the title. Peachtree Ridge’s title in 2006 came as a No. 4 seed.
Since 1996, there have been 12 teams seeded No. 3 or No. 4 that made it to the semifinals. Ten of those 12 came from Gwinnett or South Georgia. This year, three have made the quarterfinals – Colquitt County, Mill Creek and Parkview. That’s South Georgia, Gwinnett and Gwinnett.
It’s hard to bet against them.
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118 comments Add your comment
NGHS 09
November 27th, 2012
5:21 pm
@ AVikingFan…
“Is this North Gwinnett or Norcross’s year? They have both “been on the brink” for some time now.”
Norcross hasn’t ever been on the brink of anything LOL. HOWEVER, this year’s squad is the culmination of wasted years of talent. These Blue Devils are nothing like the normal Norcross Blue Devils…and they just keep getting faster and better LOL Win or lose I think Camden Fans will be amazed at what Norcross has to offer.
NGHS 09
November 27th, 2012
5:24 pm
@ grayram…I’ll second that about Conn…but did you hear about the ploy that him and his coaching staff created to motivate the players before the NG game? Now that is low and childish.
Dr. Peppa
November 27th, 2012
6:02 pm
North Cobb aint prove nothin yet. Mill Creek bout to run them out of their own stadium. Valdosta and Hughes were both weak teams. North Cobb play in a weak region. They bout to get a taste of real football. I will be there front and center to see it too. Mill Creek 42 – North Cobb 17
grayram
November 27th, 2012
6:21 pm
NGHS09
I’m not sure what you are talking about in regards to a ploy?
As for Norcross, i’m not sure what round they lost in but they had some really good teams around
2006,2007. They had some really good wide receivers.
New Kids on the Block
November 27th, 2012
6:29 pm
@NCHS – trust me your db’s can be beat and are not that fast. In the Langston Hughes game, there was a 5-10 minute stretch where Langston Hughes actually played the style of offense that they had been playing all year. They went 62 yards in 3 plays (all pass), and 73 yards in 4 plays (all pass). In each drive their receivers ran right past your db’s. After they tied the score, Langston Hughes went back to a 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense which actually played into your hands. Had they stayed with what was working, the outcome might have been a whole lot different. Again, congratulations for winning the game and I wish you nothing but the best on Friday night.
NORCROSS BLUE!
November 27th, 2012
7:16 pm
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/ /_/ / / /_/ / _ /| / / /_/ / / / /__ _ / / /_/ /(__ )_(__ )
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sportsnut
November 27th, 2012
10:08 pm
@ NGHS 09 == This is true. This is a team built around the principle of applying pressure on every down. Every down is 4th and inches. That ball is somewhere and they go find it. Our program is the step child of Metro Atlanta and get’s little recognition in football. Clayton County is a Basketball hotbed moreso than football. With that said, North will present a challenge as does every opponent that takes the field. I wish them well.
TItletown USA
November 28th, 2012
6:50 am
Raiderfan had it right at the beginning of this post…numbers do matter.
TItletown USA
November 28th, 2012
8:20 am
So far, it seems that N Cobb has the glass slippers on this year.
sportsnut
November 28th, 2012
9:08 am
Scoring will be paramount this friday. Norcross, who travels to unfriendly territory, has been outscored by it’s opponent in this game by only 29 points, 491-462. On the other hand, Camden has only allowed 96 points on the season, including the playoffs and has a 45 point difference, 141-96.
Colquit has scored 335 on the year and given up 216.
Parkview sits at 245-173 Colquit scores more but also gives up more.
North Gwinnett chimes in at 441-207
Lovejoy is at 527-88 This is best in both categories.
North Cobb has 490-191
Mill Creek is at 468-238 Offensively pretty even, not so on D.
Many people don’t think stats matter but look at what each school has done and decide for yourself if these simple numbers matter to you and your team.
phillip
November 28th, 2012
9:22 am
Max, I agree the North Gwinnett coach is the best. I would have loved to play for him.
coACHJ
November 28th, 2012
10:53 am
North Gwinnett may have a good coach but he is not playing and coach hughes a Lovejoy is legendary as well!!! North Gwinnett better focus on getting the ball off in 1.2 seconds (Bull Jones Voice). All i have to say north Gwinnett, welcome to clayco!!!!!
WildcatManiac
November 28th, 2012
4:14 pm
IMHO I think that the winner between Camden and Norcross will be the eventual 6A champ. I will also say that I looked at all of the numbers and Camden needs to do three things friday to win. Quick hit the offense (sometimess it looks like two completely different teams on the field within the same game), tackle Kamara, and pressure the QB. Kamara and the QB make up about 75-80% of the offense and even though they have not been passing a lot lately, they seem to get a couple of BIG plays in the pass game. And Kamara runs the ball 20-25 times a game (especially in the playoffs). There have been some articles talking about how he is better than JJ Green but you have to take into account that Camden does not have just JJ Green running the ball. He only touches it 5-10 times a game. Camden has 5-7 other legit running backs with 3 of them just as fast as JJ that touch the ball fairly equally. We do pass more and more but you need to dance with the girl you brought so I see the same heavy running offense out of Camden. I do not know if the Norcross D will be able to figure out the shell game of running plays that Camden does so well. All in all I have to pull for my Cats. But I can clearly see that Norcross is very good as well. The only real advantage I can pick on is that Camden is a little more balanced across the board with which players contribute whereas Norcross is a little more predictable with who we need to assign to which linebacker.
cat
November 28th, 2012
9:49 pm
sportsnut-those numbers mean nothing. if you play a weak non region schedule then your numbers should be better. but if you play a tough region schedule and your region is not filled with a bunch of panzy teams then it will be close so i take nothing from your research but if it makes you feel better about lovejoy then good for you.
sportsnut
November 29th, 2012
9:07 am
@ Cat == I invite you to come watch for yourself. If scoring and points allowed mean nothing to you, then you have no understanding of competition. The high score wins. No matter who you play, that is the objective. Speaking of feeling good, I do. Lovejoy is in the Elite Eight for the second year in a row and now in the highest class. Pretty much all things Lovejoy makes me feel better. Knowing what this team is made of makes me feel very good about them.
sportsnut
November 29th, 2012
10:36 am
@ Cat == Our non-region schedule was Colquit, Mundy’s Mill, Alpharetta and East Coweta. Consider Lowndes schedule. They played two teams from Lovejoy’s region and two teams from a lower class in Windsor Forest and Hardaway coupled with Tift and Brunswick, the bottom of their region and you have a soft schedule that rivals Lovejoy’s. The point is, regardless of who is on your schedule, you must play. The object is to win. Lovejoy continues to do so.
cinhin
November 29th, 2012
11:25 am
@57Cat…..Here is the link for the High School Games being streamed online this week. Right now they list 24 different games.
http://gahighschoolsports.net/viewforum.php?f=46
Go THOMSON BULLDOGS!
Clayco teams rep
November 30th, 2012
11:54 pm
Love joy final four Colquitt we looking for you but first north cobb