We continue our GHSA Quarterfinal previews with Class 5A. This preview features games between Ware County – Cartersville, Calhoun – Coffee, Blessed Trinity – Warner Robins and Jones County – Eastside.
Last week in our picks, we went 7-1 in Class 5A. Coffee was brewing last week, but we missed it. Way to go Trojans!
If we had to pick a 5A game to attend…wow…you couldn’t go wrong with any of them; but we’d attend Blessed trinity-Warner Robins. As it matches the No. 1 and No. 2 teams from our poll.
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 Ware County Gators advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2016 and has now won four consecutive games. Quarterback Tommy Castellanos threw for 326 yards and 3-TDs and also rushed for another 3-TDs in the victory. Castellanos has now thrown for 2,622 yards and 22-TDs and rushed for 824 yards and 21-TDs. The Gators are averaging 36 points per game while allowing 16.3 points per game and have outscored their two opponents in the playoffs 73-25.
The Cartersville Purple Hurricanes advanced to the quarterfinals for the third straight season and for the seventh time in nine years. Since losing their only game of the season back in early October, they have won six straight. Quante’ Jennings had a big night for the Canes with 157 yards rushing and 3-TDs. He has now rushed for 791 yards and 19-TDs on the season. The Canes are averaging 37.5 points per game and allowing 10.6. Both teams have a common opponent in Creekside. Cartersville beat them by 3 while Ware County won by 24 last week. We believe there will be fireworks by both teams this week, but like the Gators by five.
The Skinny
The Calhoun Yellow Jackets advanced to the quarterfinals for the twelfth time in thirteen years with their 19-point win over Clarke Central last Friday. Calhoun will be at home for the first time in three weeks. The Jackets are averaging 34.5 points per game on the season while the defense is allowing 17.9 points. In their two playoff games, they are outscoring their opponents 79-35.
Calhoun will host the No. 3 seed from Region 1, the Coffee Trojan. Coffee is in the quarterfinals for the fifth straight season. They have now won four straight games since losing to Ware County back in October. Last week, quarterback A.J. Wilkerson threw for 116 yards and a touchdown and also rushed for another score while Maurice Turner rushed for 142 yards to help lead the way on offense. The Trojans are averaging 33 points per game while allowing 12.1. In the playoffs, they’ve outscored their opponents 55-16. If they can keep this game low scoring, we like their chances with their defense. But something tells us that Calhoun may have other plans. We like the Jackets at home by 4.
The Skinny
The Blessed Trinity Titans are in the quarterfinals for the eight consecutive season. Blessed Trinity has not seriously been challenged on the scoreboard since their game against Calhoun back in October. The Titans recorded their fourth shutout of the season. Justice Haynes had another big game on offense for the Titans who are averaging 45.8 points per game while allowing 10.1. In two playoff games, Blessed Trinity has outscored their opponents 93-14.
The Warner Robins Demons will travel to Roswell this week to face Blessed Trinity. The Demons are making their fourth straight quarterfinals appearance. Prior to last week’s game, running backs Malcolm Brown and Jalen Rutherford had combined for 1,597 and 14-TDs. Warner Robins has reeled off six straight wins since dropping a game to Lee County back in October. On the season, Warner Robins is averaging 36.1 points per game and allowing 12.6 points. If we could have drawn things up, this would have been our state title match-up. It should be fun to watch the Warner Robins defensive line led by Vic Burley go up against a very sound Blessed Trinity line led by Ty Furnish. And the three running backs, Haynes for the Titans and Brown and Rutherford for the Demons. It should be a dandy. The only edge we can really find is that Blessed Trinity is playing at home. That’s enough for us to believe the Titans will win this one by 5.
The Skinny
The Jones County Greyhounds have been red hot since the start of October, reeling off nine straight wins and have found themselves in the quarterfinals for the fourth time in five years. Quarterback John Alan Richter has thrown for 1,780 yards and 16-TDs while Andrew Carner has been steady all season rushing for 1,378 yards and 25-TDs. Last week, he rushed for over 200-yards for the second time this season. Jones County is averaging 35.5 points per game while allowing 13.2. In their two playoff games, they have outscored their opponents 61-38.
The Eastside Eagles will make the trip down to Gray after knocking off Region-6 Champion, New Manchester last week. The Eagles advanced to the quarterfinals for the second time in three years. Eastside has won six straight games. During that stretch, the defense has only allowed 17 points total. On the season, Eastside is surrendering 11 points per game. Junior running back Dallas Johnson has been the bell-cow for the Eagles offense with 1,376 yards and 8-TDs, while Sincere Johnson has chipped in another 10-TDs on the ground. The Eagles are averaging 27.7 points per game. In their two playoff games, they have outscored their opponents 40-7. We believe this will be a tightly contested battle, but like the home team here. Greyhounds by 7.