PREP FOOTBALL ROUNDUP: Local teams all survive
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All three local teams moved on to the second round of the state playoffs on Friday night, with two of them not being that big of a surprise, while third-seeded Bremen pulled the upset.
The Blue Devils came back from a 14-10 deficit midway through the fourth quarter on senior running back Christian Prichard’s second touchdown of the night for the 17-14 victory over Wilkinson County in Irwinton. Bremen (7-4) will now face top-seeded Holy Innocents’ (10-1) next Friday in Atlanta.
The other two local teams, Bowdon and Carrollton, both got to stay at home being No. 2 seeds, with the Red Devils (10-1) winning a 49-35 shootout over Washington-Wilkes led by an air attack from senior quarterback Avery Cheeks, while the Trojans (10-1) had their way with Creekview in a 31-14 decision.
All three teams will hit the road next week, though, as Bowdon travels to Norcross to face top-ranked Wesleyan (11-0), while the Trojans head to Covington for a second-round rematch with top-seeded Eastside (9-2).
Trojans bounce back
After suffering their first loss of the season the week before to Ridgeland in the Region 6-AAA title game, Carrollton dominated Creekview on Friday night led by a strong defensive effort and a high-octane performance offensively, which helped overshadow several penalties and turnovers that could have proven devastating, otherwise.
Junior quarterback A.J. Barge, who completed 6-of-8 pass attempts for 172 yards with a touchdown and an interception, said the loss to the Panthers proved quite beneficial in getting the team refocused before the playoffs.
“It really showed us that we’re not all that and that we’ve still got stuff to work on,” Barge said. “This was a great team (Friday). They were just like Ridgeland. Real good. So we just had to come out and play with intensity.”
Still some things to iron out
While the victory over the Grizzlies didn’t really provide too many nail-biting moments, there were some issues that Carrollton coach Rayvan Teague will certainly address this week at practice.
The Trojans muffed three straight punts at one point in the second half — two by Telvin Brown and one by Josh Barge — that resulted in a pair of special teams turnovers.
And while it didn’t hurt Carrollton this week, it won’t be able to get away with such hiccups down the road.
“I mean, their kid really booms it up high and it comes over and turns down like a missile. We just didn’t get back there and field the punt. We’ve got to do a better job on that,” Teague said. “We’ve been dangerous on punt returns all year long, but we couldn’t field them (Friday night).”
A.J. Barge agreed that it has to stop if the Trojans want to keep playing past the first round.
“Coach told us that when you’re going through the playoffs, mismatches don’t beat you. Mistakes do,” Barge said. “If we keep turning it over, we won’t be able to win ball games. But we’ll get it right at practice.”
The other thing that raised some eyebrows were penalties, as the Trojans were whistled for eight of them for 60 yards, including five illegal procedures and a holding call that erased a Louis Hudson touchdown run.
“We’ve got to clean that up,” Teague said. “I think some of that was a credit to (Creekview). Their kids really come off the football. And so we would get on them, but we would hold them a little bit.”
Rematch with Eastside
The Trojans, the lone survivor from Region 6-AAA, will make the same second-round trip as they did last year when they went to Covington, the site of a 21-9 season-ending loss in 2008.
Junior strong tackle Sherrod Mitchell said it will be another tough one this year, but he’s hopeful of a different result.
“I know they’ve got some pretty good athletes out there. We’ve got to come and bring it,” Mitchell said. “Because I know they’re going to bring all they’ve got.
“It’s going to be tough, but we’ve got to keep our mindset and stay focused and go ahead and get the job done.”
Ridgeland upset
So the No. 2 seed didn’t prove to be that bad after all for the Trojans. Especially upon learning that fourth-seeded Flowery Branch upset No. 1 Ridgeland in a 17-14 contest. And while Flowery Branch isn’t a slouch, by any means, it was one of only two No. 4 seeds in all five classifications to get a win, as Cook beat Northeast, Macon in AA.
Flowery Branch and Grady, which beat Hart County, were the only lower seeds to win in Class AAA. And, quite fittingly, they will play each other next week.
Between all five classifications, the lower seed won 12 of the 78 games, which comes to 15 percent of the wins.
There were two Saturday games being played that didn’t factor into that: Liberty County at LaGrange in AAA and Jenkins at ML King in AAAAA.
High-flying Red Devils
Bowdon has always been known for its smash-mouth style of football, but on Friday night it opened things up with an air show led by Cheeks, who completed all six pass attempts for 214 yards and three touchdowns. As a whole, Bowdon completed all seven passes, as Nathan Montgomery got in on the action with a 59-yard strike to Maricio Askew on a little Red Devil trickery.
“It feels great, I’ll tell you. It’s been three years since we had a first-round win,” Red Devil coach Dwight Hochstetler said.
Not scared of top-ranked Wesleyan
With no disrespect to third-seeded Washington-Wilkes, the playoff path for Bowdon gets much tougher next week when it heads to Norcross to face the No. 1 team in the state and defending state champions in Wesleyan (11-0), winners of 23 straight.
And while it is a monumental task, Hochstetler said his team is showing up expecting to win.
“I feel like our team can compete with anybody,” Hochstetler said. “You know, if the bus can get us there, we’re going to show up and play. And, you know, I feel confident we’ll come out winners.”
Don’t count us out
Having won six consecutive first-round playoff games, Bremen didn’t see any reason to stop there on Friday night. The Blue Devils stunned quite a few folks across the state with their 17-14 come-from-behind road win over Wilkinson County.
Bremen was the only lower seed in Class A to come out on top Friday night, something it’ll look to continue next week at Holy Innocents’ in Atlanta.
Bremen coach Ricky Tolleson said he couldn’t be prouder of what the team accomplished on Friday night with its back against the wall and season on the line.
“That was just an awesome win ... it was something special,” Tolleson said.
Times-Georgian Sports Reporter Clark Leonard contributed to this story.
The Blue Devils came back from a 14-10 deficit midway through the fourth quarter on senior running back Christian Prichard’s second touchdown of the night for the 17-14 victory over Wilkinson County in Irwinton. Bremen (7-4) will now face top-seeded Holy Innocents’ (10-1) next Friday in Atlanta.
The other two local teams, Bowdon and Carrollton, both got to stay at home being No. 2 seeds, with the Red Devils (10-1) winning a 49-35 shootout over Washington-Wilkes led by an air attack from senior quarterback Avery Cheeks, while the Trojans (10-1) had their way with Creekview in a 31-14 decision.
All three teams will hit the road next week, though, as Bowdon travels to Norcross to face top-ranked Wesleyan (11-0), while the Trojans head to Covington for a second-round rematch with top-seeded Eastside (9-2).
Trojans bounce back
After suffering their first loss of the season the week before to Ridgeland in the Region 6-AAA title game, Carrollton dominated Creekview on Friday night led by a strong defensive effort and a high-octane performance offensively, which helped overshadow several penalties and turnovers that could have proven devastating, otherwise.
Junior quarterback A.J. Barge, who completed 6-of-8 pass attempts for 172 yards with a touchdown and an interception, said the loss to the Panthers proved quite beneficial in getting the team refocused before the playoffs.
“It really showed us that we’re not all that and that we’ve still got stuff to work on,” Barge said. “This was a great team (Friday). They were just like Ridgeland. Real good. So we just had to come out and play with intensity.”
Still some things to iron out
While the victory over the Grizzlies didn’t really provide too many nail-biting moments, there were some issues that Carrollton coach Rayvan Teague will certainly address this week at practice.
The Trojans muffed three straight punts at one point in the second half — two by Telvin Brown and one by Josh Barge — that resulted in a pair of special teams turnovers.
And while it didn’t hurt Carrollton this week, it won’t be able to get away with such hiccups down the road.
“I mean, their kid really booms it up high and it comes over and turns down like a missile. We just didn’t get back there and field the punt. We’ve got to do a better job on that,” Teague said. “We’ve been dangerous on punt returns all year long, but we couldn’t field them (Friday night).”
A.J. Barge agreed that it has to stop if the Trojans want to keep playing past the first round.
“Coach told us that when you’re going through the playoffs, mismatches don’t beat you. Mistakes do,” Barge said. “If we keep turning it over, we won’t be able to win ball games. But we’ll get it right at practice.”
The other thing that raised some eyebrows were penalties, as the Trojans were whistled for eight of them for 60 yards, including five illegal procedures and a holding call that erased a Louis Hudson touchdown run.
“We’ve got to clean that up,” Teague said. “I think some of that was a credit to (Creekview). Their kids really come off the football. And so we would get on them, but we would hold them a little bit.”
Rematch with Eastside
The Trojans, the lone survivor from Region 6-AAA, will make the same second-round trip as they did last year when they went to Covington, the site of a 21-9 season-ending loss in 2008.
Junior strong tackle Sherrod Mitchell said it will be another tough one this year, but he’s hopeful of a different result.
“I know they’ve got some pretty good athletes out there. We’ve got to come and bring it,” Mitchell said. “Because I know they’re going to bring all they’ve got.
“It’s going to be tough, but we’ve got to keep our mindset and stay focused and go ahead and get the job done.”
Ridgeland upset
So the No. 2 seed didn’t prove to be that bad after all for the Trojans. Especially upon learning that fourth-seeded Flowery Branch upset No. 1 Ridgeland in a 17-14 contest. And while Flowery Branch isn’t a slouch, by any means, it was one of only two No. 4 seeds in all five classifications to get a win, as Cook beat Northeast, Macon in AA.
Flowery Branch and Grady, which beat Hart County, were the only lower seeds to win in Class AAA. And, quite fittingly, they will play each other next week.
Between all five classifications, the lower seed won 12 of the 78 games, which comes to 15 percent of the wins.
There were two Saturday games being played that didn’t factor into that: Liberty County at LaGrange in AAA and Jenkins at ML King in AAAAA.
High-flying Red Devils
Bowdon has always been known for its smash-mouth style of football, but on Friday night it opened things up with an air show led by Cheeks, who completed all six pass attempts for 214 yards and three touchdowns. As a whole, Bowdon completed all seven passes, as Nathan Montgomery got in on the action with a 59-yard strike to Maricio Askew on a little Red Devil trickery.
“It feels great, I’ll tell you. It’s been three years since we had a first-round win,” Red Devil coach Dwight Hochstetler said.
Not scared of top-ranked Wesleyan
With no disrespect to third-seeded Washington-Wilkes, the playoff path for Bowdon gets much tougher next week when it heads to Norcross to face the No. 1 team in the state and defending state champions in Wesleyan (11-0), winners of 23 straight.
And while it is a monumental task, Hochstetler said his team is showing up expecting to win.
“I feel like our team can compete with anybody,” Hochstetler said. “You know, if the bus can get us there, we’re going to show up and play. And, you know, I feel confident we’ll come out winners.”
Don’t count us out
Having won six consecutive first-round playoff games, Bremen didn’t see any reason to stop there on Friday night. The Blue Devils stunned quite a few folks across the state with their 17-14 come-from-behind road win over Wilkinson County.
Bremen was the only lower seed in Class A to come out on top Friday night, something it’ll look to continue next week at Holy Innocents’ in Atlanta.
Bremen coach Ricky Tolleson said he couldn’t be prouder of what the team accomplished on Friday night with its back against the wall and season on the line.
“That was just an awesome win ... it was something special,” Tolleson said.
Times-Georgian Sports Reporter Clark Leonard contributed to this story.
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