The GHSA State Football Championship playoffs continue this week with several North Georgia area teams heading into the second round. Here’s a preview of area teams set to play Friday, November 19.
Class 3A
Stephens County (8-3) at Burke County (8-2): Stephens County is bidding for its first quarterfinal since 2005. Burke County made the quarters most recently in 2017. Stephens County beat No. 9 Rockmart, the Region 6 champion, 27-13 in the first round. It was the Indians’ first victory over a top-10 team since 2008. T.J. Everett rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns. Cam Lacy had eight receptions for 152 yards, giving him 988 receiving yards. Bryson Turner intercepted two passes, returning one for a touchdown. Burke County beat Mary Persons 48-21 with 681 total yards. Eldrick “Tiger” Williams rushed for 166 yards, giving him 1,006 on the season. Charlie Dorsey rushed for 132. Marshall Flowers passed for 160. This is the first meeting between these teams.
Appling County (10-1) at Cherokee Bluff (11-0): These teams ordinarily rout their opponents, as they did in the first round – Appling County beating Johnson of Savannah 42-8 and Cherokee Bluff beating Greater Atlanta Christian 38-17. Appling lost to Pierce County 20-0 in the regular-season finale but won its other 10 games by 17 points or more. Cherokee Bluff, a Hall County school in its fourth season, has beaten every opponent by more than 20 points except Dawson County (21-14) and North Hall (21-14). Against GAC, Cherokee Bluff RB Jayquan Smith rushed for 305 yards and three touchdowns on 34 carries. He’s run for 1,673 yards on the season. Appling County also has a star running back, Jaylen Johnson, who has returned from injury to run for 350 yards over the past three games. He has 15 Division I offers. Appling’s most heavily recruited
Oconee County (10-1) at Crisp County (8-3): Oconee County was the 2020 Class 3A runner-up. Crisp County was the 2019 runner-up. Oconee County beat Adairsville 29-22 last week in a game in which it was favored by 26 points. Jacob Wright threw an 18-yard TD pass to Whit Weeks to break a 22-22 tie early in the fourth quarter. C.J. Jones rushed for 101 yards in the victory, passing 1,000 for the season. Star TE Jake Johnson, an LSU commit, did not play but is expected back Friday. Crisp County, under former Cedar Grove coach Miguel Patrick, has won eight consecutive games after an 0-3 start. Crisp walloped Harlem 41-0 in the first round. Marquise Palmer surpassed 1,000 yards rushing on the season in the game and has 4,128 for his career. This is the first meeting between these teams.
Dawson County (7-4) at Pierce County (9-2): Dawson County beat No. 7 Sandy Creek 36-27 in one of the bigger first-round upsets. It was Tigers’ fifth consecutive first-round win, but they have lost four straight second-rounders. Against Sandy Creek, Zach Holtzclaw threw three TD passes. A three-year starter, he has thrown for 6,857 yards and 67 touchdowns in his career. Pierce County, the defending Class 3A champion, beat Windsor Forest 42-0 last week. It was the Bears’ sixth shutout of the season, third in a row. D.J. Bell has rushed for 1,078 yards in only six games. Pierce passes fewer than five times per game. Dawson County is 7-0 when scoring 20 points or more, 0-4 when not. Pierce is 9-0 when holding teams to less than 20 points, 0-2 when not. This is the first meeting between these teams.
Class 2A
Jeff Davis (10-1) at Rabun County (10-1): This game matches the highest-scoring team in Class 2A (Rabun County, 50.18 per game) against the team allowing the fewest points in the state (Jeff Davis, 5.4). A win this week would put Rabun County in the quarterfinals for the seventh consecutive season. In a 63-14 victory over Pace Academy last week, QB Gunner Stockton passed for 302 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 154 yards and two TDs. He has 13,048 career passing yards, 854 behind Trevor Lawrence’s career record. Jeff Davis, which beat Jefferson County 40-0 in the first round, is seeking its first quarterfinal appearance since 1990. The Jackets run the ball about 90% of the time. They rushed for than 400 yards last week while holding Jefferson County to 67 total yards.
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