Georgia High School football championship preview

starting tomorrow and continuing Saturday, ten Georgia high school football teams will travel to the Georgia Dome with a shot at a state championship. Wilcox Co, Savannah Christian, Buford, Calhoun, Gainesville, Peach County, Clarke-Central, Sandy Creek, Camden County and Northside all have visions of dancing on the GA Dome floor with a state title in hand and SPORTSBYFLETCH is going to give you a quick breakdown of the top four classification games. (No one cares about Class A. Sorry, but Wilcox wins.)

Class AAAAA. Northside v Camden Co. The Wildcats are the defending champs and they lost at the dome to open up the year against Grayson. We heard from Coach Hood who said they were just going to try and compete this year after losing so many players from the championship team one year ago. Compete? They are one win from back-to-back! I still think that Camden is going to be in for a rude shock when they are forced to pass the ball and find that they cannot. Northside has a fierce defense and throw in Briar Van Brunt (who also has a capable backup on the bench if need be) and the Eagles are my pick. Oh, and I didn't even mention Shaq O'Neal toting the ball. O'Neal was "shut down" last week by Newnan, but that just opened up EVERYTHING for Van Brunt. I think Camden will try and take out Briar (who WILLED his team to a win last week) and the onus will be on Shaq, and I think he delivers. Briar will eventually break free and provide a TD pass for the winning margin. PS, with all due respect to CJ Uzomah, who is just a freak athlete and will probably be the best returning QB in the state, Briar Van Brunt will likely be my preseason Class AAAA player of the year. This guy reminds me a bit of Tebow, BOTH times I've seen him. A real winner. (Hopefully though he doesn't cry if they lose.) PREDICTION: NS 22, Camden 16.

Class AAAA. Sandy Creek v Clarke-Central. Some of the high school football junkies I talk to are trying to talk me into Clarke-Central's defense, but I'm sorry. I've seen Sandy Creek in person and though I haven't seen C-CHS, I can just say, having read all about Clarke-Central, that Sandy Creek will use Rajion Neal to run all over C-CHS. With Ronnie Bell and Jarrett Davis and Lacey Coleman and ...(you get my point here) I think Sandy Creek has too many weapons. Maybe a state championship can get a bigger stadium for them so they can host a playoff game.... PREDICTION: SCHS 27 C-CHS 11.

Class AAA Gainesville v Peach County. This is BY FAR the best game of all of the games this weekend. For a preview, let's go to Fletcher Proctor of Score Atlanta.
Gainesville Red Elephants 14-0
The Gainesville Red Elephants entered the playoffs ranked the No.1 team in Class AAA and the first few rounds seemed to justify that ranking. In the semi-finals, the Red Elephants trailed early to Flowery Branch but thanks to QB Blake Sims, Gainesville rallied back to win late 29-21. Sims returned a kick 96 yards for a TD and threw the ten-yard game-winning pass, one of three fourth quarter touchdowns. Sims for the game was 6-17 for 167 yards with one TD and three INTs but did lead all rushers with 123 yards. Sims, the future Crimson Tider, will have a major weapon to throw to in Notre Dame-bound Tai-ler Jones. Tyson Smith was the running back that caught the game-winner and scored earlier in the game to help Gainesville come back. Coach Bruce Miller can also lean on Teryan Rucker to tote the rock as he did against the Falcons for 99 yards, 126 overall. Gainesville has not been to a state championship game since 1982. Gainesville has allowed just 47 points this postseason.

Peach County Trojans 14-0
The Trojans of Peach County won back-to-back state championships in 2005 and 2006 and now seek its third in five years. Senior QB Patrick Taylor is back after missing most of last season and Taylor made up for lost time. In the semi-finals, the QB was 7-10 for 137 yards and one TD, but the score was a 65-yard strike to Lamar Zanders. The Trojans running game was led last week by Travis Richmond's 62 yards, including a 12-yard game-winning TD with nine minutes to go against Eastside. Richmond was also a major factor on special teams as he leapt up to block a field goal attempt. The Trojans defense has a special player in Octavius Hall who also recovered a blocked punt for a score in the semi-finals. (124). The offense though starts with Taylor, who has been impressive this season. Against Baldwin earlier this season, Taylor was 17-28 for 155 yards, and Peach County averaged 29 points on its way to yet another Region 1-AAA title. Coach Chad Campbell's squad allows just 8 points per game but will be hard pressed to slow Gainesville, who average 44 points.
PREDICTION: Gainesville 38, Peach Co 24

CLASS AA Calhoun v Buford. The Wolves are trying for the school's seventh state title and sixth this decade and third straight and second three-peat of the decade. That is a mouthful. This is ALSO a rematch of last year when Buford crushed Calhoun. This is a MUCH different year though as the Yellow Jackets now have Nash Nance who is oh-so-dangerous with the ball in his hands. He can beat you with his legs and with his arm. And when he wants to do it with his arm, he can throw to the FREAK Da'Rick Rogers. Nash has been able to pick up the offense that Hal Lamb threw at him and he WILL put them over the top here. His ability to move the pocket and buy time for Da'Rick or to burn you with the legs will bring Lamb the title that eluded him last season. On the flip side, I believe Buford left it all on the field last week against Fitzgerald and Coach Jess Simpson was honest when he said that Fitz could move the ball and score pretty much at will and THAT is why he kept going for it on 4th down. He pulled out some magic last week, but the David Copperfield act is over. PREDICTION: Calhoun 24 Buford 17.

There it be. Enjoy the games and tune in to GPTV this week to see my play-by-play partner doing several of the games, only without me. The powers that be picked Jeff Van Note to do the games over me. I understand. The guy is in the Georgia Hall of Fame and has done UK, GT and Falcons radio. I've never made a Hall of Fame (not even Club 124!) and my play-by-play resume consists of Rabun County High School, Apalachee High School, North Springs High School, GPB's games of the week, 790 the Zone's High School High Five and the Corky Kell Classic. I can see a little difference there. Maybe next season.