Our third 7-A playoff previews feature matchups between East Coweta-Marietta, Tift County-Roswell, Forsyth Central-Archer and Collins Hill-Parkview. Some of the story lines include, East Coweta possibly facing a hobbled Marietta team. Will the Blue Devils get their star quarterback back this week…Tift County won the at-large bid. They earn a trip to Roswell. Tift might be the best at-large team since the system has been in place…Forsyth Central had the longest playoff drought of any of the 7-A football teams. The Archer Tigers will be no easy foe…Finally Collins Hill travels to Parkview. The Panthers are undefeated and seem primed for a deep playoff run…
As always, thanks for reading. Please feel free to contact me if there are any errors.
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
Marietta’s season has gone in fits and starts. Star quarterback Harrison Bailey has passed for over 2,800 yards and 29-TDs on the season. He was injured during the Hillgrove game and did not play last week against Kennesaw Mountain. If Bailey cannot go, the Blue Devils will turn to freshman Tyler Hughes. The Blue Devils hope to have Tennessee commit Ramel Keyton back for the game. Kimani Vidal has helped to pick up the slack rushing for 842 yards and 10-TDs on the season. Quarterback Nathan Cronic (1,447 yards passing) and running back Gerald Green (1,099 yards rushing) have led the East Coweta Indians this season. The Indians will need one of their best defensive efforts of the season if they are going to slow down the Marietta Express. But based on the numbers, we don’t know if that’s in the cards this week for East Coweta. Even without Bailey or Keyton, we think Marietta wins this one by two touchdowns.
The Skinny
The Tift County Blue Devils will make the trek to Metro-Atlanta to take on the Roswell Hornets. The Blue Devils are the at-large bid in Class 7A, but don’t take the Blue Devils lightly. They play in highly competitive Region-1. The played No. 2 Parkview to within 3 points earlier in the season as well. Mike Jones leads the ground game with 905 yards rushing and 10-TDs. The Blue Devils are averaging 29.7 points per game on the season. Roswell has rebounded from last season and were able to win the region after missing out on the playoffs last season. Ethan Roberts has passed for 1,852 yards and 19-TDs while Kamonty Jett has rushed for 1,033 yards and 12-TDs. Doneiko Slaughter leads the Roswell defense with 7 sacks. This game might be one of the best matchups in Class 7A. Roswell might be ripe for an upset, but we think that they edge the Tift County at home; Hornets by a field goal.
The Skinny
Coach Frank Hepler has the Forsyth Central Bulldogs back in the playoffs for the first time in 17 years. Most of the Bulldog’s offense has come on the ground, as the team has rushed for over 2,000 yards on the season. The Bulldogs defense has been respectable, only giving up 16.3 points per game. This includes two shutout victories earlier in the year. However, Archer presents a new set of challenges. Both Forsyth Central and Archer dropped games to Milton this season. But Archer is just as talented as Milton. Quarterback Carter Peavey has passed for well over 1,700 yards on the season. He leads an offense that is averaging 36.1 points per game. Although the Central defense has been good, we think that the Archer offense will be able to have success against them this week. We like Archer by 17.
The Skinny
The Parkview Panthers have run through the regular season undefeated. Their high-powered offense is averaging 41.6 points per game while the defense is only giving up 11.9 points per game. Quarterback Jordan Williams spearheads the attack with over 1,600 passing yards on the season, while Cody Brown has crossed the century mark, with 1,156 yards and 19-TDs. We can’t talk about Parkview without talking about Malik Washington, he has scored by passing, rushing, and receiving. Coach Godfree said Washington is one of the most athletic football players in the state. Collins Hill will look to keep their rushing attack hot this week. Isaiah Love and Deangelo Oliver have combined for 1,231 yards and 8-TDs on the season. Tomari Fox has recorded 8 sacks and Chris Quaites has picked off 4 passes. In spite of all of that, Parkview looks like they are primed to make a deep run. We like the Panthers by three touchdowns.