Our first set of week two GHSA-4-A Playoff previews are listed below. This preview features matchups between Woodward Academy-Mary Persons, Marist-St. Pius, Columbus-Baldwin and Ridgeland-Cartersville. Congratulations to all of these teams that won their first round game. Best of luck to you all as you play this Friday.
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 Skinny
The Mary Persons Bulldogs have been dominant this season. Their offense is averaging 47.8 points per game while their defense is only giving up 10.4 points per game. They are the only team remaining from Region-2. Last week quarterback J.T. Hartage passed for 300 yards and 5-TDs. On the season, Hartage has passed for almost 2,400 yards and 26-TDs. Quen Wilson leads the rushing attack on the season with 1,322 yards. Woodward Academy sports a pretty good running back of their own in Tahj Gary. Gary has rushed for 1,217 yards and 13-TDs on the season. Quarterback Mike Wright has passed for 1,226 yards and 15-TDs in only seven games this season. He has also rushed for 512 yards. Gary and Wright have been good this season, but we don’t think they can outscore the Bulldogs. We like Mary Persons by seventeen.
The Skinny
The Marist War Eagles and St. Pius Golden Lions will face off for the 55thtime overall and the second time this season. St. Pius shut out Marist earlier this season. Last week, Marist got 149 rushing yards and 3-TDs from quarterback Connor Cigelske. Cigelske leads an offense that is averaging 35.7 points per game on the year. Marist also sports two-way Notre Dame commit, Kyle Hamilton. The Golden Lions have reeled off ten straight victories since a week one loss to Blessed Trinity. Quarterback Connor Egan and running back Michael Benefield lead a St. Pius offense that’s scoring 35.1 points per game. St. Pius looks poised for another deep run. But we think Marist gets the best of the Golden Lions this week; Marist by a field goal.
The Skinny
The Baldwin Braves dropped their first five games before reeling off 6 straight games including last weeks first round win over Perry. During their six-game win streak the defense is only giving up 9.3 points per game. The offense is averaging 28.1 points per game during that same streak. The Braves will face a Columbus Blue Devil team that is averaging 28.1 points per game on the season. Last week, the Blue Devils rushed for 212 yards and 4-TDs as a team. Those are some impressive numbers, but we like Baldwin at home in this game by a touchdown.
The Skinny
The Cartersville Hurricanes will host the Ridgeland Panthers in second round action. The Canes come into the game averaging 39.4 points per game, while their defense is only giving up 6.1 points per game. The Canes have 4-shutouts on the season. The most points the Canes have given up on the season is 20. Tee Webb has passed for 2,263 yards and 28-TDs on the season. If Ridgeland is going to score an upset this week, Jordan Blackwell will need to get going on the ground. Blackwell rushed for 150 yards last week. We think Ridgeland is talented enough to hang around for a while in this game, but we think Cartersville is just too deep for the Panthers. We like the Canes by two touchdowns.