From Eight to Four....

Thanksgiving weekend means Turkey, Mashed potatoes, Gravy, rolls, the Lions losing, the Cowboys playing a weak opponent, Georgia winning its 8th in 9 years over a bitter GaTech (hey CPJ, if it DIDN'T mean anything, why'd you put last year's score on a ring. PS, your 790 interview yesterday sounded like the first chapter of the book Things Losers Say.) and the Georgia High School football playoffs going from the Elite 8 down to the Final Four.

Quarterfinals baby! And boy did Class AAAAA lose ALL of its schools north of the airport. WOW. Let's get right to it.

Newnan knocked off Grayson because of ONE PERSON Alec Ogletree. His pledging to Georgia makes me absolutely giddy. Dude had a one-handed TD grab, 13 tackles (at least) and then he only blocked the potential game-winning field goal attempt with under :10 to play. WOW. This is what Reshad Jones wishes he was. A freak that goes all out and I cannot wait for this guy to team with Bacarri Rambo in the Georgia defensive secondary. WOW. I saw the highlights. WOW. Get on campus NOW Ogletree, and while you are at it, bring your brother Zander because he reminds me of a Tony Taylor-type, the undersized LB that hustles his butt off due to the chip on the shoulder that turns from a 3-star into a 5-star once on campus and in the system. He won't believe his press clippings and he'll want to prove to everyone that he is just as good as his brother.
As for Grayson, I tip my cap to you guys, Ean Pemberton, Kori Gaines, Shawne Green, Terry Williams, Joe Champaign, and Mickey Conn. This was one HECK of a team, completing one heck of a two-year run. I'm not sure Grayson can recover from the loss of all of this talent. But we'll see.

Newnan will now host Northside (in a game you can watch on GPB.org/football, with THIS GUY serving as analyst. For the record) after the Eagles rallied from down 10 to score in the final minutes to force OT. Then another OT. Then ANOTHER OT. Brison Williams, headed to South Carolina had a big Kick Return and outran Vandy-commit Brad Roby for a 65-yard TD reception. Devon Pike made a few FGs to cap the rally and win in the third OT. Williams PS also blocked a PTR FG attempt in the 3rd OT to enable NSWR to win.
That semi-final contest should be a classic with do-it-all Ogletree and do-it-all Williams going head to head likely all night long. Northside was held to -2 rushing yards and that was against the Lions. The Cougs have a better defense so watch out. I won't make a prediction, but if you really pressed me, I think Newnan wins at home.

On the flip side, Colquitt County and Rush Propst knocked off his former OC Chip Lindsey and Lassiter, ending Hutson Mason's high school career. We talked to Hutson on our show this past Monday (go to www.scoreatl.com for the clips of the show), and he said that the defense was strong for the Packers but Lassiter may have shot itself in the foot right before halftime when the Trojans went for it on 4th and goal from the 2. The second half was all Packers as they went on to win 46-17.
Now Colquitt faces....
defending champ Camden. Camden doesn't throw much, but that's OK. They absolutely dominated North Gwinnett. (My neighborhood team.) The champs won 35-0 IN Suwanee which just shocks me. I know in south GA the boys are grown big, but I thought the OLine for the Bulldogs would be able to have its way. CJ Uzomah (Also a guest on The Official Visit this past Monday) was able to throw for ~100 yards and run for 70+, but threw two picks. He'll be back next year as a senior and will have a Blake Sims run. PREDICTION! I'm calling it RIGHT NOW. But Camden was dominating and they are back in the final four, hosting the Packers. Traveling isn't anything for Colquitt though, traveling up to Westlake, then Stephenson and then again the next week to Lassiter. Heading south to Camden Co, shouldn't faze Rush and the boys. I think the second year of Propst ends in the GA DOME.

In Class AAAA, Rajion Neal and the rest of the Fighting Pats were able to go ON THE ROAD to TCC and walk out winners, not a shock there. The Patriots are VERY GOOD and should cruise to a win, except that they face Griffin and their home stadium is not big enough to host, so despite winning the coin toss to host, they must go ON THE ROAD to face Griffin. Griffin just wore out Apalachee and the running game was never able to do anything against the Bears. I am told by some people from the South Atlanta area that Griffin will easily advance to the championship, but ++++GET THIS SANDY CREEK FANS+++++ I'm not sure. In fact, IN AN UPSET, I'm going with Sandy Creek and Rajion Neal. Perhaps he runs through the Bears himself and then accepts the UGA offer. MAYBE! (Or maybe he and Hutson Mason both head to Starkvegas and help Dan Mullen's cause in two years when he visits Athens. Ya Never know)

On the other side of that bracket, Clarke-Central proved it was NO FLUKE when they knocked off SWD by just BLASTING North Clayton and Clarence Jackson 52-13. I must say that C-CHS might have the most impressive resume of all of the remaining teams in class AAAA's final four. They posted 52 points, knocked off SWD and hung a 40 spot in the opening round. Pretty impressive.
They'll face Rockdale in Athens and I think the magical ride of Rockdale County is donezo. Sorry. Nice win though over Westside Macon. I knew WSM would lose eventually. Perhaps Todd Holcomb won't put then in the top 5 preseason next year.... THEY ALWAYS DO THIS!

Moving down to AAA, let's turn to Score Atlanta's own Fletcher Proctor for a breakdown of the two final four games...The Class AAA semifinals feature a regular season rematch on one side of the bracket and a road warrior vs. a former champion on the other side. The Peach County Trojans won back-to-back state championships in 2005 and 2006 but the team is only now in a position to take home another after two down seasons. Patrick Taylor is back as quarterback after missing most of last season and the senior has made up for lost time. Taylor scored a TD in OT last week to help push the Trojans back to the semis, but he's had some help on the ground in the form of Travis Richmond. The running back had 127 yards last week in the 21-14 win over St. Pius.
Meanwhile the Eastside Eagles are on the road again just one week after traveling to Jackson to knock off the Region 4 champion Red Devils. The Eagles churned out a 14-0 victory on the legs of Git Aiken's 163 rushing yards. Greg Griffieth scored on a one-yard touchdown scamper but fumbled once. The Eagles will have to cut down on fumbles if they want to pull off yet another road victory to make it to the Georgia Dome. The defense though seems to be able to bail out any mistakes the offense makes. Against Jackson, the defense intercepted the Red Devils twice, including one for a score. Eastside also showed its steel against Carrollton and Towers, giving up just 13 points to each.
On the other side of the bracket, Gainesville and Flowery Branch will renew acquaintances in a rematch of the 49-17 Red Elephants win in the regular season's final week. Gainesville is led by QB Blake Sims and WR Tai-lor Jones on offense and Daunte Carr on defense. Carr won a state title last year with Buford so he brings big-game experience to Gainesville and has all season. This postseason, Gainesville has given up a playoff-low 26 points defensively. Teryan Rucker (181 yards vs. Cairo) and Tyson Smith (52 yards) provide all of the push the Red Elephants need on the ground, outside of the legs of the QB Sims.
Connor Shaw and the Falcons of Flowery Branch will be on the road for the fourth week in a row. The Falcons were a No.4 seed out of Region 7-AAA and knocked off Ridgeland and Grady before traveling south to take out Carver-Columbus, the Champions out of Region 2. Shaw finished with 307 yards of total offense (235 rushing and 72 passing) and five TDs, four on the ground. Imani Cross had 110 yards rushing in the Elite Eight round and if Shaw wants to put the ball up, Rodney Boudreau is likely to come down with it, as he did on several fourth down plays in the 35-33 win over the Tigers.
THANKS FLETCHER! (Wait, that's me!)

Moving down to Class AA, Calhoun hosts Lovett this weekend and I'm finally starting to pick up some members on the Nash Nance bandwagon. I've been saying all season that his transfer to Calhoun will bring them a title that they missed out on last season and I'm looking more and more like a genius. (Notice how I never mention the predictions that I miss out on?) Nance will outplay Jonathan Carkhuff mainly because of Da'Rick Rogers. Calhoun nearly put 50 on Jefferson Co, after going 39 and 42 the rounds before. Nance stirs the drink and the drink is a strong one right now. I still feel good about my pick of the Yellow Jackets, especially at home and NOT against Charlton Co.

On the other side, Buford travels to Fitzgerald and I think Buford is still trying to play the "NO ONE IS GIVING US A CHANCE!" Card despite being the two-time defending champions. Buford has won 42 of its last 43 games and I think they knock off Fitz but leave too much on the field for the GA Dome rematch of 2008 against Calhoun.

In Class A, Wesleyan LOST! WOW. I guess I'll take Wilcox now, the team that beat Wesleyan. WOW. I cannot believe that. Hmmm. So I've lost Grayson, SWD and now Wesleyan. COME ON RED ELEPHANTS! COME ON CALHOUN! DON'T LET ME LOOK 100% STOOPID.

Once again, log on this Friday as Newnan hosts Northside LIVE on gpb.org/football.