We continue to preview the 2020 GHSA football playoff games. Next up we take a look at the second round of Class 5A. This will be a four part series. This preview features games between Creekside – Ware County, St. Pius – Cartersville, Clarke-Central – Calhoun, and Starr’s Mill – Coffee.
Best of luck to all of the teams competing on Friday night. As always, thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment and share.
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The Skinny
The Creekside Seminoles have advanced to the second round for the third consecutive year. They have also won seven consecutive games. The Seminoles have not advanced past the second round since they won the state title in 2013. Their opponent will be the Ware County Gators. Ware County shut out Dutchtown last week and finds themselves in the 2nd round for the 14th straight season. A win by Ware County would push them to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2016. Not many people have been able to slow down Ware’s Thomas Castellanos. Creekside has the defense to slow them down, but we aren’t positive they can shut him down completely. We like the visiting Gators by 4.
The Skinny
The St. Pius Lions defeated Loganville handily last week to advance to the second round for the 13th time in 15 years. The Lions will need another big game from quarterback Dennis O’Shea if they are going to upend visiting Cartersville. The Purple Hurricanes advanced to the 2nd round for the ninth straight season. Since losing to Cherokee, Cartersville has won all of their games in convincing fashion. If St. Pius can control the clock, they could make things very interesting. Cartersville’s defense seems to be a little too stingy to allow that to happen. We like the Canes by 11 on the road.
The Skinny
The Clark Central Gladiators extended their win streak to seven and have now advanced to the second round for the fourth time in five years. During this stretch, the Gladiators have scored at least 28 points or more. They will host the Calhoun Yellow Jackets. Calhoun has advanced to the second round for the 20th consecutive season. The Jackets bounces back from a regular season ending loss to Cartersville. Calhoun has a potent offense behind Jerrian Hames and Christian Lewis. They will be tested by the Clarke Central secondary led by Tyreon Millsap and Jaavan Mack. We like Calhoun again this week, but by a much closer margin. Jackets by 7.
The Skinny
The Starr’s Mill Panthers had their largest point production of the season this past Friday running away Mundy’s Mill to appear in the second round for the fifth time in six years. Starr’s Mill has now won nine consecutive games and will host the Coffee Trojans. Coffee is making their seventh straight 2nd round appearance. The Trojans have won three straight games and going on the read last week did not seem to faze Coffee at all. This week however, Starr’s Mill presents a more difficult challenge. We believe the Starr’s Mill offense can really ground out enough yards on the ground to hold Coffee at Bay. We like the Panthers by 8.