Our third set of 3-A playoff previews are listed below. This preview features matchups between Liberty County-Southeast Bulloch, Ringgold-Peach County, Westminster-Jefferson, and North Murray-Greater Atlanta Christian. Liberty County will bring their 1,500 yard running back Kris Coleman into Brooklet to face the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets. Southeast Bulloch’s defense has been tough this season. Can they contain Coleman and the Panthers…Ringgold earns the 3-A At-Large bid. Their opponent is traditional power Peach County. Peach is undefeated in games against 3-A opponents this season and scores points in bunches. Can Ringgold keep up this week…The Jefferson Dragons have been without their starting quarterback for the last 4 games. Will they be able to hold off a very good Westminster team…Finally, one of Northwest Georgia’s best passers, Preston Paog and the North Murray Mountaineers will travel to Norcross to face a tough Greater Atlanta Christian defense. Will the Mountaineers be able to get going offensively this week…
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Key:
TFR – Turd Ferguson Report
GSWA – Georgia Sports Writers Association
NR – Not Ranked
The Skinny
The Liberty County Panthers will travel to Brooklet Georgia to take on the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets on Friday night. The Panthers offense is powered by senior running back Kris Coleman, who has rushed for 1,507 yards and 17-TDs on the season. Liberty County is averaging 24.9 points per game. Their defense has been equally as good, surrendering only 15.5 points per game. Southeast Bulloch comes into the game with similar point production this season; the Jackets are averaging 27.9 points per game, while their defense is only surrendering 12.8 points per game. These two teams are evenly matched, but we think Liberty County has what it takes this week to win this game by a slim margin of 4 points.
The Skinny
The Ringgold Tigers earned the at-large bid for Class 3-A. They will be matched up with the Peach County Trojans. Ringgold is averaging 26 points per game on the season. The Tigers are giving up 20 points per game, but they have not defeated a playoff team this season. Peach County on the other hand is looking to get back to the Benz for some redemption. The Trojans are averaging 38.1 points per game on offense. They are missing some of the star-power form 2017,but they did more than enough to go undefeated in region play. Their only losses were to 6-A power Lee County and 4-A power Mary Persons. Jaydon Gibson leads the Peach County offense with 1,438 passing yards and 14-TDs. Peach County should win this game going away. We like the Trojans by 24 this week.
The Skinny
The Jefferson Dragons will host the Westminster Wildcats in what should be the best first round matchup in Class 3-A. The Wildcats come into the game averaging 28.9 points per game. They also have big wins this season over GAC, Woodward Academy and Pace. Their defense is giving up 20.5 points per game. Westminster did lose a close game to rival Lovett last week, will that loss be looming in the back of their minds?The Jefferson Dragons are averaging 35 points per game on the year. They have played without starting QB Colby Clark for most of the season. Clark is a dual threat QB. He still leads the team in rushing yards with only 6 games played this year. The Dragons have relied heavily on the run this season; as a team Jefferson has rushed for 2,694 yards. We don’t know if Clark will be available for the game this week either way this is a tough spot for the Dragons. We’ll take the visiting Wildcats by a field goal.
The Skinny
The North Murray Mountaineers will travel to Norcross to take on the Greater Atlanta Christian Spartans. North Murray is led by quarterback Preston Paog Jr.; he has led North Murray to 27.7 points per game on offense. Paog will need a big night this week if North Murray wants to extend their season. They face a GAC defense that is only giving up 13.1 points per game. The Spartans area also averaging 30.9 points per game. Josh Rose has passed for 1,366 yards and 12-TDs. This looks like an uphill battle for North Murray. Will we believe GAC is beatable, we don’t think the Mountaineers are deep enough to keep pace. We like the Spartans by 15.