Our second 7-A playoff previews feature matchups between Camden County and Walton, Pebblebrook-Hillgrove, Brookwood-Mill Creek and South Gwinnett-Milton. Some of the story lines include, the Camden County being back in the playoffs. Their game with Walton is could be one of the best in this classification… Over in Cobb County, Pebblebrook gets a second chance to knock off Hillgrove this season…Brookwood is looking to make another deep run but Mill Creek and the running of Chancellor Lee-Parker stands squarely in their way…Meanwhile, the Milton Eagles look like they are back on the right track. They’ll host South Gwinnett and their dual threat quarterback Trey Truitt for a chance to move on to round two…
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Key:
TFR – Turd Ferguson Report
GSWA – Georgia Sports Writers Association
NR – Not Ranked
**The GSWA ratings used were from the week of 10/29. The newest poll was not available at the time of publication.
The Skinny
Coach Bob Sphire has the Camden County Wildcats back into the post season after a two-year hiatus. Logan Watson has passed for 1,714 yards and 17-TDs. Logan Berryhill and Shawn Hardy have combined for over 1,250 yards receiving this season. The Wildcats are averaging 29.8 points per game. Meanwhile, the Walton Raiders also have a vaunted passing attack of their own. Quarterback Austin Kirksey has passed for 1,250 yards on the season. He’s missed a few games due to injury, but looked to be back in good form with 224 yards passing last week. DJ Soyoye gives the Raiders a legitimate rushing threat. At question will be whether Camden can slow down Kendall Alford and Dominick Blaylock. We think Camden is a year away from making a deep run in the playoffs. We like the Raiders by a touchdown at home.
The Skinny
Pebblebrook and Hillgrove will face off for the second time this season. Hillgrove won the first matchup back in August and have not looked back since. The Hillgrove Hawks have done most of their damage on the ground this season. As a team they’ve run for over 2,000 yards on the season. Issaiah McCray and Trevor Smith lead the way for the Hawks. The Hillgrove defense is giving up 15.1 points per game. Pebblebrook is back in the playoffs this year, but in order to get past the first round this season, the offense will probably need to score more than their 20.1 points per game they’ve been averaging on the season. We think Hillgrove is playing better football this season. We like the Hawks by two touchdowns this week.
The Skinny
Despite graduating a large senior class last season, Coach Philip Jones has the Brookwood Broncos back in the playoffs in 2018. Chris Carter and Eli Kohl have led the Broncos in rushing, combining for over 1,400 yards on the season. In their three losses, the Broncos are only averaging 6 points per game. The Mill Creek Hawks come into the game averaging 30.3 points per game. Chancellor Lee-Parker leads the ground game with over 1,100 yards on the ground. Mill Creek’s only losses were to 3 top-10 teams. We think this game will be closely contested, but like Mill Creek to win by 10 when the dust settles.
The Skinny
We thought that the Milton Eagles might be a little over-rated when they lost to Roswell earlier in the season, but Roswell has turned out to be a pleasant surprise in 7-A. Milton is led Georgia Tech commit Jordan Yates. Yates has passed for 1,2730 yards and rushed for 578. He’s accounted for 26 TDs. Joshua Edwards has rushed for 923 yards and 14-TDs. Allen Walker leads the defense with 9 sacks. It’s a defense that’s surrendering 17.6 points per game. The South Gwinnett offense has struggled a bit to score points this season, but a lot of that is due to the competition they’ve faced. The Comets will need a big night from Trey Truitt if they are going to pull the upset this week. We believe the Eagles will cruise this week; Milton by three touchdowns.