The Skinny
The Collins Hill Eagles are back into the finals for the second consecutive season and are seeking their first state title in school history. On the road t the finals, the Eagles have defeated one no. 4 seed, two No. 2 seeds and one No. 1 seed. Last week, they were tested by a very stingy Grayson defense in the first half, but Collins Hill was able to pull away in the second, notching their sixth shutout of the season. Collins Hill is averaging 46 points per game in the playoffs while allowing 6.5 points in their four playoff games. Overall, the Eagles area averaging 41 points per game while allowing 5.7. By now if you haven’t heard of Travis Hunter and Sam Horn, we’d assume you are new to high school football in Georgia. Horn has now thrown for 3,447 yards and 33-TDs while Hunter has caught 64 passes for 975 yards and 9-TDs. Meanwhile Ryan Stephens and Spenser Anderson have now rushed for a combined 1,395 yards with 19-TDs. Coming into the semifinals, the Eagles defense has sacked opposing quarterbacks 55.5 times and has forced 30 turnovers. Their closest game this season was a 15 point win over Greenville Christian in Mississippi. No team from Georgia has been with 26 points of them, except for Brookwood in Week-1.
Th Milton Eagles are in the finals for the second time in school history and for the first time since 2018, (when they won the school’s only state title). On the road to the finals, the Eagles have defeated one No. 4 seed, One No. 3 seed and two No. 2 seeds. Milton enters the finals on an 11 game win streak. They fell behind early to Walton last week but battled back and left no doubt in the second half. In their four playoff games, the Eagles are averaging 42.7 points per game while allowing 19.7 points per game. Those numbers are right on par with the season overall as the Eagles are averaging 43.1 points per game and allowing 23.2 in fourteen games this season. Milton is averaging 157.6 yards per game through the air and 251.9 yards per game on the ground. Jordan McDonald has been the bell-cow for Milton with 1,537 yards rushing and 26-TDs. Dual threat quarterback Devin Farrell has thrown for 2,088 yards, rushed for 936 yards and accounted for 35 total TDs. Milton did not throw it much last week, but it’s been the trio of Jack Nickel, Debron Gatling and Adam Freas getting most of the receptions when they do go to the air. Defensively, Caleb Moran and Bryce Thornton lead the Eagles in total tackles while A.J Crawford has a team high 12 sacks for a defense that has sacked opposing QBs 32 times. Robert Billings leads the secondary with 5 interceptions while Thornton has 4.
These two teams have been at the top of the poll all season and Collins Hill has been our No. 1 ranked team since pre-season. We don’t expect Collins Hill to just run away with this. Milton is just as talented and perhaps might be a little deeper. Expect for Milton to feed Collins Hill a steady dose of Jordan McDonald. Even with that, Travis Hunter and Sam Horn, paired with the Collins Hill defense, will be the best Milton has seen all season. We like Collins Hill by 10.
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Special thanks to the Georgia Helmet Project for providing each team’s helmet. You can find all of their work here: http://gahelmetproject.com
Special thanks to the Georgia Helmet Project for providing each team’s helmet. You can find all of their work here: http://gahelmetproject.com
Historical records are provided by the Georgia High School Football Historians Association. (ghsfa.org)