TFR 2018 GHSA-A-Public Playoff Preview 1 of 2

The Commerce Tigers will travel down to Camilla Georgia to take on the host Mitchell County Eagles. Commerce is looking to advance to the quarterfinals for the fourth time in five years. The Tigers are averaging 34.9 points per game, while their defense is allowing 10.8 points per game in 2018. Commerce started off red-hot but dropped their final two regular season games. Last week, they were back to their winning ways against Seminole County. Mitchell County had won eight consecutive games prior to falling to Pelham back on 11/2 to end the regular season. The Eagles are averaging 37.5 points per game on offense. Junior quarterback James Thomas  leads the team on offense with 959 yards passing and 584 yards rushing. Mitchell defense has been pretty sound all season, save for the two losses. They are giving up 10.9 points per game. We think this is a tough matchup for the Eagles and we really like the Tigers on the road this week. We’ll take Commerce by 5.

Miller County picked up a first round win last week and will travel to Ocilla to take on the 2017 state runner-up Irwin County Indians. Irwin County is led by RB/LB DJ Lundy. He leads an Irwin County team that has put up some big numbers offensively. The team is averaging 43.8 points per game this season. Irwin County looks as if they’ve been on a mission after falling to Clinch in the title-game last season. Their defense is only giving up 8 points per game this season. If Miller County is going to pull the upset, the running game which has led to their success this season, will need to have one of their better performances. Chris Stovall and Janorris Byrd lead the team in rushing. Stovall has 1,086 yards and 14-TDs and Byrd has 795 yards and 8-TDs. . Even if Miller Count gets things going on the ground, we just don’t know if they are as talented as Irwin County. We think the Indians will win big this week. Give us Irwin County by 23.

The Greene County Tigers are in the playoffs for the 4^thtime in 5 years. The Tigers have gotten steady production from quarterback C’darius Kelley this season as he has passed for 1,449 yards and rushed for 930, combining for 28 total TDs.  Greene County is averaging 30.4 points per game and has scored wins over two playoff teams this season. That’s quite the turnaround from last season in which Greene County only won 3-games and missed out on the post season. Their opponent this week will be the Chattahoochee County Panthers, who have won 7 of their last 8 games. The Panthers are led by running back Brandon Thomas (615 yards, 11-TDs). A win for Chattahoochee County would send them to the quarterfinals for the first time in school history. We just don’t believe that’s in the cards this week. We like the Greene County Tigers by two touchdown in this game.

The Pelham Hornets and their youth movement have motored through the season undefeated. Pelham has been pretty good, but we don’t really know how good the young Hornets can be. They have dominated their competition this season. The offense is averaging 54.5 points per game while the defense has recorded five shutouts. As a team, the Hornets have rushed for over 2,400 yards on the season. Dual threat junior quarterback Kendrick Patterson leads the team in passing and rushing. The biggest question may be whether Pelham has been tested by their schedule. The Emmanuel County Institute Bulldogs (ECI) might provide a look into how real this Pelham team is. ECI has won 8 of their last 9 games. The Bulldogs offense is averaging 34 points per game while their defense is allowing 17.8 points. We think that this game will be closer than most might expect, but we do like Pelham to advance to the quarterfinals this week. We like Pelham by 8.