and we've got an early start to our aaa final as greater atlanta christian meets cedar grove i'm matt stewart along with sam crenshaw and greater atlanta christian will start on offense led by their quarterback the number one ranked quarterback in the nation by many davis mills he is committed to stanford spartans at 13-1 on the season and the first play of the game is a handoff to kyler mcmichael very little doing for mcmichael on the play as he got jammed up at the line of scrimmage by justin shafer the commitment to the university of georgia so second down and nine for the spartans davis mills on the season a 6-4 200-pound senior has thrown for 2730 yards 34 touchdowns and amazing just one interception first pass of the game goes to sloan actually that goes to jake floyd and floyd picks up a couple of yards on the play and it's going to be third down as we take a look at the spartans on offense christopher hinton is the son of chris hinton the former nfl all-pro with the atlanta falcons he has seven offers including georgia michigan and virginia tech and in the backfield tyler mcmichael with 1400 yards rushing he has 10 offers florida gators reportedly his early leader for the junior running back got a whistle [Music] prior to the snap we have false start against the offense so five yards randy watkins our referee for this afternoon ball game [Music] greater atlanta christian in the finals for the third time in program history they were here in 2014 when they lost to benedictine 45-21 the only remaining starter from that 2014 season the quarterback davis mills who was a sophomore that year third down and 12 ball at the 19 yard line lots of time for mills fires it nearly intercepted at the 31 yard line great break on the ball right there by the linebacker isaiah ratcliffe and it's going to be fourth down and the spartans have to punt matt we talked from the outset earlier the tailgate show about tightening up the coverage and giving him a tighter window they have to throw through that is for davis mills cedar grove defense getting him off the field right there brooks buce is the kicker he averages 36.5 yards per punt and buce goes off the side of his right foot there and bounces backwards that's a cedar grove bounce and the saints will have great field position just an 18-yard kick for the senior abuse who's been very good this year but not a good punt on his first attempt and there's the two big offensive linemen for the cedar grove saints you're going to want to watch them especially if you're a georgia bulldog fan i know that because kirby smart is here to watch him today justin schaefer number 77 espn three star committed to george over seven other offers 72 natori johnson espn 4 star number 10 rated offensive guard in the country committed to the bulldogs over 18 other offers and grant walker gets the first carry of the ball game he's a commitment to the georgia southern eagles he rushed for over 1600 yards this season and jelani woods is committed to oklahoma state over 11 other offers espn 3 star and the number 24 rated senior pocket passer in the country he's got 24 touchdowns and just five interceptions [Music] handoff goes to walker again and walker down to the 32 and a half yard line you talk about woods a guy that's hard to miss i guess it's 6'7 and there's a line that protects him yeah shaffer and johnson the two commitments to the georgia bulldogs anchor that offensive line for the saints [Music] and jayden hazelwood keep an eye on him just a sophomore nine offers including georgia michigan and louisville already he's got 42 catches on the season third down and four for the saints a delay and the handoff goes to walker not going to pick up the first down [Applause] tackle made by jonathan rose the outside linebacker now it's going to be fourth down let's see if cedar grove goes for it here early rose probably a part of a very very active linebacking core for a greater atlanta christian and making that solo stop he had 27 solo stops this season made a big one right there jimmy smith the head coach of the saints in his fourth season as the head coach replacing the legendary ray bonner he was on bonner staff for six years before becoming the head coach fourth down saints go for it they swing it outside that's a completion and a first down and there's more down the sideline that's a touchdown trey shaw took the fourth down swing pass takes it 32 yards and cedar grove has an early 6-0 lead yards after the catch they're incredible and watch for shaw a senior in the technical college system of georgia free play got a nice block right there and just takes off all the way a little high step on the way to the end zone got the saints on the board first trey shaw with his second touchdown catch of the season and the p-a-t by solei fufana makes it seven nothing wow so cedar grove cashes in after the short punt takes advantage of the short field on top as trey shaw gives him a seven nothing lead [Music] nothing prepares you better for a great career than the technical college system of georgia tcsg colleges produce graduates with the knowledge and training today's top employers are looking for but campuses across georgia state of the art facilities and outstanding instructors with real world experience it's the kind of affordable college education that will fast-track you into a rewarding career we're building a better future for you contact the tcsg college in your area today or go to tcsg.edu at the heart of our community are the businesses that don't skip a beat george's electric membership cooperatives stand behind local commerce whether keeping farms running or shining a light on new ventures we bring business large and small to our communities creating jobs driving development supporting dreams georgia's emc's so much more than electricity when you're in control of your finances i just feel like you're in control of your future when we were getting ready to open the business we shopped around a couple different banks but when we went to regions they treated us the best the customer service is i mean amazing our region's banker stacy has great advice for the business and our personal finances you walk in they treat you right you makes you just want to keep going back we're ready to take our next step huh gac back on offense tyler mcneal the handoff desmond harris making the tackle for cedar grove and now it's gonna be third down saints on top early with the seven nothing lead a four-play 39-yard drive capped by the pass from jelani woods to trey shaw just a little swing pass he took the distance 32 yards for the score third down now and eight heavy rush mill steps up gonna run to the sticks and get there first down for davis mills and more and took a big shot to the head at the 32-yard line hopefully he's okay 28-yard run but a big hit and he's not open is that okay he is not okay that was a shot to the head take another look at that one who's that they hit them was that with that hazelwood yeah that was hazelwood he should be ejected for that he threw he threw a forearm at him wow he should be ejected for that wow look for that jaden hazelwood threw a forearm into the face of davis mills and unbelievably no flag on the play he's down and he's definitely woozy no flag on this one i'm sure the officials would get them they're seeing the replay we were seeing there and mills got up immediately afterwards and then he laid right back down on the field that is absolutely amazing that no flag was thrown on that play i mean that was blatant here it is again he's on the field and hazel will come out watch the left arm bam right there that's right up under the chin that's blatant wow first and ten wow the g.a.c crowd is booing as well they should rose in there at quarterback they throw complete to jake floyd and floyd out of bounds at the 24-yard line i mean that's just inexcusable inexcusable i mean you're talking about a kid's future here i mean much less the sportsmanship in the game a cheap shot early in the game you got a quarterback that's out running okay he's by the sideline you can take him out of bounds and he might have hurt his knee you see they're working on his left knee that was the knee that he injured the first week before the regular season started in costing the first two games of the season rose on the keeper and rose down to the 22-yard line he'll be about a yard short of the first down they're looking at davis mills and some looks of concern on the face with the training staff obviously that was a wicked shot that he took so third down and less than a yard they're still working on davis mills i'm still astounded there was no flag on that play or no way that one could be done i know you're going to say it's retro or whatever but when something like that happens in a game like this you thought you might see it yeah third down in the yard now we got a whistle and a timeout called by gac well in college football he would have been ejected because that would have been reviewed in the booth even if they missed it on the field that would have been reviewed on the booth and jaden hazelwood would have been ejected yeah there's no doubt about that [Applause] i know the officials do the best they can they just flat out missed that one i think davis is going to go to the locker room here you see davis mills now here's the shot watch hazel would just load up and blast him with his forearm right into his neck and under his chin right up under his chin right up under his chin and we're right uh davis is headed back to the locker room here and that's not what you want to see that i mean that the a player like this player of his caliber the game he's worked so hard to get to third down in one and mcmichael will be close to the first down at the 21-yard line mills being helped to the locker room [Music] and let's see if he picked up the first down he did [Music] [Applause] that's just terrible well it's certainly cast a paul over the state championship game here in the opening five minutes not that he was hurt but the way he was hurt rose gonna be sacked at the 22-yard line by will smith part of that defensive front for cedar grove will smith is a six foot 300 pounder here's a look at the cedar grove defense deangelo malone with 11 and a half sacks on the season 31 tackles for loss desmond harris the middle linebacker their leading tackler with 95 stops trey shaw headed to north carolina corey hernandez committed to arkansas got a false start look like now prior to the snap we have false start i guess so a five-yard penalty ford roberts the right tackle moved and a five-yard mark off against g-a-c it's coach tim hardy tim hardy looking to hold his team together and keep their composure fifth season 59 antennas record after starting his career mountain view screen pass goes to mcmichael and mcmichael could be tackled from behind at the 21-yard line big hit roderick forts with a stop the defensive end he had a great season for cedar grove so third down and 12 ball at the 23-yard line spartans having to work without their star quarterback davis mills the number one ranked pocket passer in the nation in the 24 7 composite recruiting rankings that they take all the recruiting rankings and pile them up together and davis mills came out number one pass thrown from rose and dropped by harrison sloane inside the 10-yard line wow that's big sloan is one of the top targets all season long and give rose credit he comes off threads the needle just can't hang on and sloane who has 17 touchdown catches on the season and has been tremendously reliable for the spartans this year will now hold for the 40-yard field goal attempt by buce [Music] abuse kick on its way and the spartans get three abuse with his 12th field goal of the season cuts the cedar grove lead to 7-3 [Music] let's welcome in the third member of our team nicki nodo hello nikki hey there matt well i'm doing great on the sidelines someone who isn't well it's gac's quarterback davis mills as you guys just watched he was escorted back to the locker room now he did have trainers on each side of him they took his brace off as you mentioned that was previously an acl injury i will keep an eye on him to see if he comes back out into locker room obviously we're not allowed back there but it looked like he was appearing to walk on his own even though being held up by two people on the end matt all right thank you nikki for keeping us updated on that situation the spartans despite losing mills to the injury able to get three points out of that drive sam just keep the composure i'm sure that's something that coach hardy had to do remember from the outset of the season they thought that they would not have davis mills the injury that happened just but right at the start of the season they will have to prepare themselves to not have him at all he was able to come back and join the team and play and help get them to this point and so now we see him talking right now with jonathan rose he's the guy right now well what this does is it it'll be interesting to see how they do this because rose is one of their starting outside linebackers so if rose has to play quarterback then that means you've knocked out two positions you got to change a quarterback and you have a change at the outside linebacker spot on defense so it'll be interesting to see what the domino effect will be it was a 10 play 39 yard drive and ironically 28 of the 39 yards on the drive came from davis mills on the play in which he got injured after you talk about rose on defense he's already been on a stop in the last possession proceeded to grove he made he made a an excellent solo tackle and so you're going to take that guy off the field talk about the guys with cedar grove the guys who make the yards after the catch you need your best defenders out there when they're on when they're on offense so cedar grove with a 7-3 lead as the saints get ready to go back on offense for the second time here today saints 12-2 on the season the number two seed out of region five triple-a they can kind of roll through the playoffs man in the first round they beat union county 63-17 in the second round 28-3 wins at jenkins quarterfinals 47-21 at calhoun that's impressive that doesn't happen very well that's impressive and then in the semi-finals they set a record a 55-00 win at crist county it was the largest road playoff win in georgia high school history and look at the schedule i go back to week five the loss to westminster the same westminster team that ended their season last year on their way to winning the state championship is after that things got got clicking and brought him all the way here to the dome and buce will kick it into the end zone and it will not be returned obviously since you can't by georgia high school rule bring it out of the end zone and the saints will start their second possession at the 20-yard line johanni woods number 17 he is hard to miss at 6-7 225 pounds a three-year starter committed to oklahoma state over 11 other offers thrown for 2172 yards this season completed 70 percent of his passes and he can see uh he can see everybody [Music] saints averaging 40 plus points per game 238 on the ground 168 in the air 405 total per game handoff goes to grant walker and grant walker is the part of the equation that nobody hardly ever talks about picks up a first down or close to it right there on that run about a yard short should take a look at the spartans on defense and there's christopher hinton again as we mentioned on the offensive line he's a two-way starter devin thomas the inside linebacker leading tackler 98 stops he is the son of adelias thomas the former baltimore ravens star and reid smith at free safety has four picks on the season first down carry right there 10 yard pickup corey hernandez first run of the ball game for him just his third of the season here he is taking the short pass turning it up field getting a block nice pickup there for the saints move the chains first down hernandez committed to arkansas to play cornerback a 5-11-175 senior it's first and 10 from the 38. walker big hole and grant walker up to the 50-yard line 1664 yards rushing for walker this season averages 8.9 yards per clip look at the size of the hole he has to run through look at that line good heavens plenty of room to run well tim hardy told us that the theme of their defense 11 guys to the ball no star power but no holes in their defense but they're going to have a physical mismatch at the line of scrimmage all day today pass complete weaving through the defense and down to the 42-yard line pickup of nine on the play second consecutive pass to corey hernandez on this drive he's showing you a lot when he ever gets a chance to get his hands on the football what makes a difference he makes a miss look at that two tackles three before they can bring him down second down and one walker again that's a first down carry for walker as he leans his body across the 40 and down to the 39. picking up another first down once again capitalizing on the excellence of that line when you got that kind of size up front size and talent you just follow the big fellas walker averaging 128 yards per game there's big number 77 natori johnson committed to georgia 10th rated offensive guard in the country number 77 justin shafer first carry the ball game for demetrius tharp and tharp finally gonna take a loss back at the 46 yard line as davis markham the strong safety made the tackle well finally he had to hold on though he wasn't going down easy and starved still on his feet finally taken down by markham one of the top tackles on this team 75 solo stops this season yeah 91 total tackles that leads the secondary under three minutes to play in the opening quarter cedar grove on top here in the aaa state championship game they swing the ball out there to trey shaw he scored the touchdown early on the exact same play will not be able to get around the edge this time as he's driven out of bounds by trey morris in the cornerback morrison came up to make the stop and and get him out of bounds right shaw's the man that carried the touchdown earlier pretty elusive they give didn't give much room to work that time [Applause] so third down and 11 with the ball at the 40. movement up front looks like robbie fowler the inside linebacker who was coming on a blitz got across that line against the offense it's a five-yard penalty well it was a false start before that so the mark off is against [Applause] but the markov was against gac yeah well they called the penalty on the offense they called it a false start and they marked it off against gac okay okay and we're playing jelani woods going up top and gonna be broken up by trey morrison they were going for jaden hazelwood their top wide receiver and it's gonna be fourth down woods took a shot as he let that one go too get the hit right there from fowler [Music] and through just too long for hazelwood no foul call and those two were going for the for the ball fourth and six they'll be going for it here remember they scored their touchdown on a fourth down play in about the same spot on the field and the timeout's gonna be called timeout that's your first time so cedar grove burns their first timeout of the first half so sam what are you expecting here they were fourth down at their 32 on their first possession threw a little swing pass to trey shaw and he got to the sideline and scored that worked well we've already seen that play once in this possession what are you thinking on this fourth down i think we go back with something kind of similar i mean we see what woods can do we know he's got a great arm but the way they move the ball down the field best seems to be to get it in the hands of the play makers and let them make people miss and get the yards for the first down they got to get six yards here i think that's the play you call at this place on the field we'll see what they call when they come out cedar grove you might say is one of the surprise teams here in the finals they were ranked seventh in our final gpb triple a top ten they've won nine straight games though since the the loss that you pointed out the 42-21 loss at westminster that at the time dropped them to three and two on the season because on week two they lost to southwest dekalb which was something people were not expecting at all from the cedar grove team they know the kind of talent they had on the offensive line we expecting this team to be one of the better teams from dekalb county yep loaded with talent it's fourth down and six from the 35 they are going for it jelani woods on the keeper not going to get there woods gets stopped by markham a submarine tackle at the 32 yard line and the ball is going to go over on downs to the spartans great start by the defensive unit of the spartans you get the big fella here though that's the guy would call on the thing to play in that situation in that pursuit able to make the stop ball goes over let's check in with nikki hey there matt well i actually have a special story for you from the gac sideline on their helmet today they're wearing a sticker that says pc and that stands for pat carruthers now pat he has been a friend of the gac program for many years he had three sons that came through this program and played football his latest his name was paul he played in the 2014 state championship game where they ultimately lost but the real story behind it is that he is a true american hero you see pat was killed in the line of duty he was a u.s marshal that is why they have the sticker on the back of his head now for his son here is a really cool tidbit for you he plays football at navy right now now he hasn't dressed out all year but he got the call this week and he's actually going to be playing for the very first time starting with special teams for the army navy game the pinnacle of all games he could ever play for and they they ended up just having to grab a number whatever was left it was number 50 which was pat's number coach hardy told me that ultimately these guys are out here just wanting to pay tribute to an american hero that's part of the gac family matt amazing story thank you for sharing that nikki pass thrown complete to mcmichael he got stuck hard by hernandez that's consecutive losses on tackles by jenkins and hernandez spartans moving in reverse it's third and 16. just trying to swing something out there and see if they can make something happen and now we're seeing uh davis mills is coming back helmets not on knees are wrapped like some ice pack around that knee that's not a good sign with the ice pack mcmichael gonna be thrown for a loss against this swarming defense that was trey shaw who dropped him for a loss three consecutive losses as the spartans having a hard time finding their bearings on offense with their star quarterback sidelined [Music] couldn't get anything going in the positive direction there and to see the grove the defensive unit just tightening up on advanced davis um or just not blocking not liking the way we're seeing this young man of course with a tremendous future ahead of him but obviously you want to finish up that high school career the right way going out playing williams state championship game and he's been forced to watch from the sideline fourth down buce on the punt from the 22-yard line low snap he goes down to get it and this is much more like him delivering it downfield at the 43-yard line and tackled right away on a 35-yard kick no running room right there as hazelwood was dropped at the 44-yard line and that's where the saints will start their third possession of the ball game 22 reed smith leading the way on the special teams and on the stop there for a greater atlanta christian as the saints get set to come back to work on offense for a second time now and like you said earlier this great orlando christian defensive unit now has had to shift one of his top performers he's now has to play at quarterback someone who has to step in there fill in that void and try to make things complicated for these wide receivers who like to make things happen with these short catches so first and ten final play of the quarter in all likelihood as we're down to five seconds woods back to pass that's complete to the 42-yard line and down to the 38 another big gain to trey shaw on the final play of the first quarter 18-yard pickup and that is the end of the first 12 minutes from the georgia dome final time they'll play the triple a state championship game in this building off to a great start here today as the saints lead it 7-3 when you're in control of your finances i just feel like you're in control of your future when we were getting ready to open the business we shopped around a couple different banks but when we went to regions they treated us the best the customer service is i mean amazing our region's banker stacy has great advice for the business and our personal finances they walk in they treat you right it makes you just want to keep going back we're ready to take our next step [Music] every tv doctor knows when preparing for surgery use an over-pronounced washing technique for dramatic effect they also know you need to get your annual checkup [Music] now prepare for your checkup with one touch using the mysigna app where you can find a doctor in your plan's network to save money manage your health and more need to be thorough cigna together all the way [Music] every year across the united states teen drivers get into car accidents because they are texting and driving by taking their eyes off of the road they are putting everyone in danger life is a precious thing that could change in a matter of seconds [Applause] safe driving saves lives start of the second quarter in the aaa state championship game cedar grove on top of greater atlanta christian 7-3 i'm matt stewart joined by sam crenshaw nikki noto and the gpb team here at the georgia dome today and here the big story in the in the first quarter no doubt about it is davis mills you see him right there the starting quarterback for gac number one rated quarterback in the country headed to stanford injured on this play and it appeared to be a play that uh the officials just missed this this should have been targeting jaden hazelwood should have been ejected from the ball game he hurt his knee on the play there was no flag on the play they ended up getting a field goal out of that drive but that is just a shame because davis mills he hurt his knee the first week of of the season before they played their first game it was thought initially he was going to be done for the year he only missed two weeks he came back here's a kid he's the number one rated quarterback in the country he's going to stanford you know he could just say look i'm shutting it down i'm taking care of myself i'm going to protect myself he came back to play his senior year gets to the state championship game and gets knocked out on a shot like that in the in the in the first quarter is just a shade and we'll talk more about him as we go along there's a lot of great stories about this young man we're still going to let people know about him pass is thrown complete to trey shaw and trey shaw down to the 30-yard line picks up close to six or seven on that first play and david shaw who's the head coach of the stanford cardinal in attendance here today at the georgia dome of course the the open period for recruiting and contact has is underway started last week before the semifinals so a lot of coaches in the building today we already mentioned kirby smart is here david shaw plenty of coaches here watching their prospects over the next two days here at the georgia dome and of course a lot of them were in town for the college football awards show last night at the college football hall of fame right next door handoff goes to grant walker and walker picks up a first down at the 24-yard line grant walker's one is going to be staying closer to home committed to georgia southern he has some other offers statesboro bound senior yeah chose the eagles over eight other offers head coach jimmy smith says probably one of the most underrated players he's ever been involved with and you look at his numbers and you'd have to agree with them 15 touchdowns on the season over 1600 yards rushing they throw it to shaw again they love that play today shaw still on his feet and shaw all the way down to the 13 yard what an effort you know shaw is recruited as a corner but jimmy smith says you know he can play corner nickel back he can play safety running back wide receiver whatever they want him to do at the next level he's one of those guys you just want to have around he can do so many things to help your program whichever way talented talented player 11-yard pickup for shaw who's already got five catches for 71 yards and a touchdown here early in this ball game on the delay carson costas the nose tackle got the penetration dropped him for a loss nice move by costas the nose guy right there in the middle sheds that block makes the stop 6-1-285 and wearing a extra small jersey or maybe he's just extra big gets which one second down and 11 ball at the 14 yard line off the hands of hazelwood [Music] woods knew where he wanted to go with that one and he had his guy just couldn't make the connection through a little too high and wide now it's going to be third down and 11.

[Applause] ball at the 14. two minutes into the second quarter jelani woods looks one way throws on the run and nearly intercepted glanced off the hands of hazelwood at the five yard line pinball the round ends up falling on the dirt or the turf we should say and it's gonna be fourth down in eleven let's see if they go forward or try a field goal they're 0 for 2 on field goal attempts this season wow they're going to try one here jimmy smith 39 wins in his four seasons of the head coach only 12 losses played for chris rump at darlington high school course rump now the defensive line coach for the florida gators one of his mentors 31-yard kick from the right hash ball on its way and the kick is going to be good solely fufana puts it through and cedar grove has a 10-3 lead it's a good-looking kick knocks it through here in the state championship game extends the lead to 10 points into seven points there it is brings it right through good job seven point lead now for the saints as folfana and jimmy smith told us he was good from 45 yards he had no problem with that 31-yard kick right there so we checked back in with nikki hey there matt so that last defensive series for gac coach hardy well he was back here with his new quarterback jonathan rose he was coaching him up the entire time and you know who is standing right on the other side of coach hardy davis mills that's right the starting quarterback who is not in the game he's still an integral part of this game as he's making sure that jonathan feels confident in going in there and that's just a testament i think to really who coach hardy is just making sure his guys are ready to go matt thank you nikki well jonathan rose did start their first two games they beat lubbon and westminster and tim hardy ironically told us this week in the end game losing davis phil's the first two games of the season was better for his team of course i'm sure he wants him out there today but i don't know if that's gonna happen here's morrison on the return he's got two kick returns for touchdowns this season but not that time as he gets run down in the open field by israel spidey so shy of the 20 is where the spartans go back on offense jonathan rose you know his numbers for the season coming from the first two games 18 of 32 for 222 no touchdowns and interception but i mean it just dramatically changes what you're going to do on offense and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out because if it did i wouldn't be able to figure it out i mean you're taking a guy that's who plays outside linebacker for you and now he's going to be quarterback you're replacing the guy who's rated the number one quarterback in the country and going to stanford there's just going to be a drop off you're not going to be able to do the same kind of things on offense that you're accustomed to doing absolutely the playbook is going to shrink just a bit well may shrink a lot in this game could be a lot of kyler mcneal michael pardon me and that's the run by rose who gets stopped at the 24 yard line tackle made by desmond harris smart decision by rose rolls out and tucks it in and makes some yards here big third down here though [Music] so third down and five pass thrown nice catch out on the edge and that's gonna be a first down trent fowler with his 21st catch of the season picks up the first man give fowler some credit for adjusting and making that catch strong a little high here he is comes out ways to reach up there twist around a bit but he hauls it in let me tell you what really gets deleted in all likelihood from the gac playbook is the vertical game you'll probably be able to do a lot of that kind of stuff right there but the verticality that davis mills brought you with his strong arm you're gonna lose that that's mcmichael on the run right there mcmichael up to the 37.5 yard line like you said you're going to lean more on this guy [Music] tailgate show we talked about the diversity davis and diversity with towards this offense they don't just throw the football they can run the football too the problem is they lose a lot of that diversity with mills out of the ball game that's true they got to overcome that though mcmichael trying to get to the edge not going to be able to get there corey hernandez making the tackle out there and it's going to be third down great pursuit there by cedar grove but those dark jerseys moving quickly to the football stopping on that play number five corey hernandez 43 tackles on the season five tackles for laws three picks espn three star senior corner committed to arkansas over 21 other offers rose rolling and throwing and complete sloan for the first down at the 48-yard line shaw making the tackle but that's a 10-yard pickup and a first down for the spartans rose showing he could move the pocket a little bit he didn't have to stay stationary rolls out and finds a guy been the reliable seat receiver all season harrison he's one of those guys that meals it before the season started he wanted to get 600 yards remember coach told us that yesterday and he's one of those guys team leading 57 catches 9 40 for the season 17 touchdowns for sloan rose going to run be tackled for a loss at the 46 yard line and we had a helmet rolling around in midfield now see who we belong to i wasn't sure will smith number 75 just a helmet just kind of rolling around that blue hair is that blue nice touch for the state championship game that's that's blue hair okay you got to coordinate everything jersey's got to match the socks socks got to match the shoes hair got to match the shoes too well i can't do that well no you can't you could paint your head though like mr bulldog up in athens oh yeah man he does a great job every saturday on the run across the 50 down to the 46 yard line rodder forced the defensive end making the tackle mcmichael you know this is maybe kind of like a little bit of a preview of what gac is next year with mills going on to stanford mcmichael in his 1400 yards likely going to be the next star on offense for this team goes to the sideline on third down and four rows going gonna keep it and pick up the first down jonathan rose to the 41-yard line and a first down for the spartans this may not be what we thought we were going to see but it's working but it still might be really good it's right it's effective we're grounding some clock we're keeping those cedar grove playmakers off the field you're right i mean this if it works i mean who could lose the number one quarterback in the country and still win gac having done it the first two games of the season believes they can do it here today at the georgia dog [Applause] catch by max burke burke picks up close to nine on the play first down play wanna pick up some good yards on the first down work with a nice catch now let's see if you take a shot here if mills is on the field i swear you take a shot on second and one right here and i don't know if they do it with rose no they swing it out there instead and the pass is going to go behind burke and out of bounds incomplete another helmet on the field that one belonging to d'angelo malone well that's one way to get their top defenders off the field is the helmets come off you got to go out for a play you gotta take a play off and malone has 31 tackles for loss on the season he's a guy that you won off the field third down and one [Music] first down nice open field tackle made by trey shaw but mcmichael picks up the first down mcmichael looked like he was ready to take off and have a long run here but like you said shaw nice looking field stop right there committed to north carolina number one trey shaw over 33 other offers [Music] larry fedor rose fires that's complete that's perk again and broke down to the 11 yard line touchdown saving tackle right there by deangelo below 17-yard pickup it's affecting it i mean it's effective it works here he is shaking the tackles and now he's getting great yards after the catch we got a whistle here's another look and a timeout has been called by cedar grove that's the second here in the first half well the spartans have not lost to a team in the state of georgia all year long 13-1 on the year they're champions in region 7 aaa for the third straight year and they beat lovett in westminster without davis mills then they played a nationally televised game out in colorado against balor christian and lost that one and then they rattled off 11 straight victories heading into today man they had a tough playoff road to sam they had to beat defending state champion pace academy in the first round had to go on the road and win a triple overtime game at liberty county and then had to go back on the road again last week for the semifinals and win a slobber knocker defensive battle against peach county always a tough place always a tough place to go down the fort valley and play against beach county but they survived it they made it through and they're here so first and ten for the spartans at the 11 yard line saints had to burn a time out here just to catch their breath keeper rose rose down to the nine eight and a half yard line justin shafer making that tackle right there and he's down and shafer is hurt whoa schaefer one of the two big linemen looks like this is a cramp though yeah schaefer one of the two big linemen for the saints that's committed to the university of georgia here's another look at rose [Music] cuts it up and [Music] shaffer all over him down on the field maybe not a cramp i thought initially how he was reaching for the lower portion of his right leg it was a cramp but maybe it's an ankle yeah can't really tell i just know i felt the earth moved when he hit the ground he needed to come down for a minute when he hit the ground reaching for yeah richard seismologist in georgia tech registered like a four point three on the right it's the big dude between you know their and georgia fans i'm not telling them anything they don't know man they had so much angst about the offensive line this year well george has been working on it in the recruiting ranks to try to fix that problem and and schaefer and natori johnson are two of the guys they're hoping to be an answer for them in athens schaefer and natori johnson between them 667 pounds whoa yeah yeah coach smart can't wait so second down here this is the 15th play of the drive you hit the nail on the head here they they've changed things a lot here this is a plate drive sucking the time right out of the clock look at this they run in a round end to max burr gonna be tackled at the three yard line again that was a tackle up around over the shoulder pads the high tackle take another look at it nice call this playlist on the field and that's burt he's moving but coming real fast tackle kind of high tackled him around the neck yeah trey shaw and then the crowd reacts to it the boo i mean did i miss something i thought i thought above the shoulders was off off limits i perhaps i've missed something third down and two mcmichael and you see what happens here uh unlike most high school football stadiums you got a replay on the big screen that everybody can see so you hear the fans booing when they watch the replay so now it's fourth down and let's see what gac does here it's been an impressive drive as i said earlier not the kind of drive we expected to see today but it's been very very effective i mean this is if if you don't realize that their game plan here with mills out is to burn clock i mean they're just standing there running the play clock all the way down to four before they call a timeout and probably try a field goal here gac that's the second time out of the half so we'll take a timeout as well as the spartans burn their second time out of the half we'll see if they try a field goal when we get back the ghsa football championship is made possible in part by regions it's time to expect more georgia's electrical membership cooperative the official energy provider of the ghsa the technical college system of georgia learn more earn more cigna go you heads up georgia and the governor's office of highway safety dot com and viewers like you thank you [Music] fourth down and two for gac ball at the three yard line let's see if they're going to bring views on to try a field goal here he's already got a 40 yarder in this game looks like they're going to go for it kind of surprised here fourth and two rolling to the left and throwing and nearly picked ball's [Applause] yeah flag out apparently we have pass interference 14 dennis bell came down and deflected that pass and we got a flag on the field we have defensive pass interference against the defense [Applause] so that'll be a first down for the spartans see if we can pick it up flooded the left side of the field and i think he got the thing he got there before the ball did yeah that must have been the content the intended target was trent fowler pass interference against the defense before that they don't give numbers of course well it's not a first down it's a half the distance so now it's gonna be fourth down from the one yard line and you see tim hardy saying first down first down that was interference in the end zone right that's interference at the goal line we'll try to get an explanation on that in just a moment here after this play fourth down they're going for drunk loss at the five yard line by desmond harris and now the ball goes over on downs larry hobgood is up here from the georgia high school association officials and we're going to see why that was not a first down on that play i thought that would have been automatic first down on that pass interference so sam's going to check with mr hobgood and get as a clarification on that rule [Applause] so the ball goes over on downs and the saints take over at the five yard line i've been told that is not an automatic first down on that play it's it's been been the rule for two for the last two years yeah well the question that i would ask would be what about if it's in the end zone because that was right there on the goal line so first and ten for the saints 17 plays 17 plays for the spartans as they come up empty i'm out see the grove and a timeout called by cedar grove and that is the last timeout that they have [Music] that was tough looking back on it now i guess you get that close you want the six but you hate to come away empty-handed if you're great atlanta christian to put together a drive the way they did to really suck all the time out of the clock and come away empty-handed to me it's got to be really defeating for them in that situation they have right now considering that playing without the quarterback let's check back in with nikki she's got an update on justin schaefer yeah matt i do so i watched him on the sideline you know it's his right ankle that's been nagging him and coming into this game it was already tweaked a little bit so on that play where he got kind of tangled up and and coach smith came out there when he went back to the bench they didn't add more tape or anything but what he did do was he grabbed another offensive lineman and kept doing like releves if you will ups and up and down and he had a look of pain on his face so right now i'm pretty confident he is playing through the pain right now in that right ankle so that's definitely something we need to keep an eye on all right thank you for keeping an eye on that for us nikki it's gonna be first and ten after the time out here by the saints you see schaefer lining up at the left tackle position that he mans he's an offensive guard likely at the next level standing six five three forty big run to the edge out across the 30 might go the difference and fowler finally gets him at the 41 yard line that was daryl neal with his first carry of the ball game goes for 55. watch neal shakes it off a defender right there gets a great block one more block and trent fowler comes all the way across the field to stop him and get him out of bounds great pickup so neil with a 55-yard break off to the 40-yard line gets the ball across the 50. tharp on the carry and tharp muscles his way down to the 33-yard line picks up seven on the play following the big fella right there behind shafer getting an extra push there at the end yep two extra pushes second down and four [Applause] and you got some movement yeah i think that carson costas jumped across the line of scrimmage against the defense it's a five-yard penalty repeat first so the ball at the 29-yard line first and ten for the saints they started this drive at the five after stopping the spartans on fourth down at the two so first and ten for cedar grove down to two 42 to play in the half grant walker back in there walker down to the 25 yard line tackle made by devin thomas devin thomas 6-1 200-pound senior a little bit smaller than his dad at alias thomas started for the baltimore ravens now of course makes his home in atlanta 98 tackles on the season though for thomas and coach hardy told us you know they they the senior fathers served dinner to the team this year and there's a dalias out there with the rest of them serving up tacos this week doesn't matter that you played in the league when it's senior senior dad day and it's your job to serve up tacos you serve up taco that's what you do grant walker with the first down carry for cedar grove here's another look at walker and watch all of the blocks and outside shakes the defender here and stays on his feet to get the extra yards so first and ten ball at the 11 yard line neither one of these teams has ever won the state championship they've been there but never won it one of them will get their first today and a big heavy run by grant walker again and he can show you he can go up and get some tough yards when he has to last time we saw him go to the outside here he is taking up inside and getting some tough yardage here balls on the three grant walker 62 yards on 10 carries here in the first half he'll get the rock again he'll get in grant walker takes it in from three yards out and that's how you capitalize on stopping the other team on downs you go 95 yards basically right down their throat and the saints have a 16-3 lead man you practically go to length of the field here after stopping that long drive that great atlanta christian had put together none of the saints add six more and officials time out and that that's the flip side of when you get into that game where you're draining the clock you're kind of playing ball control you got to get the points because if you don't get the points all you've done is now you've lessened your chances because you've drained so much time off the clock yep so you got to get the points when you go on one of these ball control drives and you start playing that way fufana with the p-a-t to cap a six-play 95-yard drive giving the saints a 17-3 lead as a technical college system of georgia replay of course things got going with this big run daryl neal broke off a 55-yard run on his only run so far of the day he was fresh real fresh and then they finish things off with the hammer with walker three tough runs for him there to finish off the drive i like grant walker a lot uh you know jimmy smith told us he's been one of the most underrated guys he's ever been around a lot of guys get a lot of publicity got a lot of guys get three and four stars walker's an impressive running back no doubt about it there's a good look at him teammates coming around congratulations on the work got a minute 24 to go cedar grove played for the state championship in 1991 that's the only time they ever got there they lost to cartersville that year 28-19 finished 14-1 on the season and up until jimmy smith got there they had only two playoff wins in the 21 years after that since jimmy smith got there they've had nine playoff wins the last four years done a remarkable job look at this kick yep squid kick that's going to hop up high and be taken at the 20 yard line by burke and burke gonna be tackled at the 28 and that's where the spartans going offense it's been a build here for jimmy smith and cedar grove you see their last five playoff appearances finally cracked through last year lost in the semifinals to westminster 24 setting the stage for this season and the run to the state championship game jimmy played at tennessee state for the legendary ray bonner [Applause] [Applause] the tailgate show one of the things we talked about is tightening up the coverage tighten up the coverage figuring they'll be facing davis mills and try to shut down some of the passing lanes for him that tight coverage pays off with a pick six this time for the saints 23-3 this is just a tough story for gac today the p-a-t will not be any good that time so 23-3 following the pick six by trey shaw 34-yard take-back here it is again for you technical college system of georgia replay he just takes it away just the second interception of the season for trey shaw the north carolina commitment gonna play for the tar heels that's his second touchdown of the day scored on a 32-yard pass which was mostly just a little pass in him doing all the running and then he did a lot of running right there too 34 yards on the pick six and the saints with a 23-3 lead and there's david mills just watching that pass was taken away from max burke he's just taken right away and taken back for the touchdown there's rose well davis mills had thrown only one interception the entire season and he has to watch from the sideline here in the state championship game after re-injuring his knee to what extent we don't know but the same knee that he injured the first week of the season high bounder going to be taken at the 23-yard line and up to the 31 by devin thomas and that is where the spartans going offense was 65 seconds i think at this point there's no timeouts left for cedar grove so you don't have to worry about them getting the ball back i think you just take a knee and get you know get to the locker room and try to regroup and figure something else out i don't know what you can do when you have the number one quarterback in the nation on the sideline with a knee injury well they did something good they had a long sustained drive they just came away empty-handed and so they know they can move the football and they finish you get points they do know that but now you're starting to get into a numbers game you're down three scores now heading into the locker room and you've got to come up with stops which hasn't necessarily been that easy to do against this explosive cedar grove offense and you got to find out what you got to find a way to score and you know your score it looks like you're it's going to be incrementally here with this offense i don't know how much big play they got in them right now [Applause] michael up to the 43-yard line but that's what halftime's all about to figure all that stuff out right yep you go in and work some things out see what you can get reworked and come out and i mean they were able to make some adjustments with meals going out they went to a game picture to run games some but like you said second half the clock becomes a factor now the number of possessions that you get to have well they're going to throw it here they set up the screen pass to mcmichael and michael across the 45 down to the 42 you do have one timeout left if you're the spartan so you've still gotta you get about i'd say you get another 17 yards you can run buce out there and try a field goal he has hit a 54 yarder this year and he has hit 450 plus so i'm guessing that's what they're thinking right now nice catch nice throw to thread the needle fowler makes the grab didn't get out of bounds though the clock is running they're gonna have to move the clock is at three and they use a timeout right here with three and i think they'll try a long field goal so the clock stops with three seconds let's see if uh i'm out g8 coach hardy tries for a long field goal here to get the first down but the main thing is now you only got three seconds on the clock this would be a 49 yard field goal for buce so it's within range look at 78 that is miles hinton that is the the youngest the youngest of the hitmen yeah make sure that you call him chris's younger brother not his little brother he's 6 6 300 and he's a freshman good heavens of course his his dad chris three-time all-pro eight or nine-time pro bowler in the nfl is mom a 6-2 post player at northwestern who got a law degree you know that's amazing just amazing family some people get it all don't they that's something here's buce for 49 yards and the kick is blocked this might be return you better watch out for a kick six here and shaw finally shoved out of bounds and that will be the end of the first half i think views had a footing issue i think his left foot kind of slipped as he would almost never really got off the ground well there's the unfortunate story right there mills with the ice pack on his knee as we throw it down to nikki noto standing by with jimmy smith coach is still coaching right now coach we saw grant walker touchdown we saw it pick six by trey shaw they gave you 14 within about 30 seconds before the half how big were those plays for your team it's very important man we had uh jason points the weight down on a couple drives um they're doing a good job of picking us apart on some short stuff so we gotta do a better job in the second half how do you think your defense has handled the adjustment with david mill davis mills out for gac i know that that was your main concern with slowing him down well now he's out of the game uh the other guy's doing a great job too so we got to kind of doing a lot of the same concepts doing a lot of the same stuff so we gotta continue to play ball and try to slow him down all right coach good luck in the second half thank you all right let's send it over to mark for the tailgate party show mark thanks very much nikki well what do you think first half i mean thankfully gac they're not rookies to this situation they've been in this situation before so they'll go in halftime make some adjustments and um you know they're they're battle tested but it's a tall task that lies ahead here in the second half all right coming up on the gpb halftime show this championship weekend we will check in with both marching bands plus head to the principal's office and see what's going on at both of these high schools and we'll check in online to see what people are saying about this great game and more it's all ahead on the gpb halftime show don't go anywhere this program on gpb is made possible in part by supporters of the georgia high school association including the following support for gpb comes from georgia farm bureau mutual insurance from front porches to back roads down the street or around the block georgia farm bureau is there with the protection families need whether it's home auto or life insurance or something more georgia farm bureau is dedicated to providing the right coverage to all the friends families and neighbors who make this state home more at gfbinsurance.com georgia farm bureau always the home team all right this is adam take two mark i guess i go like this [Music] the best part about playing football in texas has to be the reaction from the community i want to encourage others to play volleyball or choir because you get to experience new things and do stuff that you've never done before my reason why is passion my reason why is pride it should be one way of a football game tonight whether you plan to attend a two-year college four-year university or go straight into the world of work the georgia career technical and agricultural education programs teach students essential career skills through real-world experiences and on-the-job training cotton contributes 2.5 billion dollars to the state's economy annually it takes more than 60 cotton gins and manufacturers to bring cotton into our everyday lives [Music] kids always like to stay in the pool a little too long and when they do get out covered in goosebumps you feel the urge to wrap them up the cozy embrace of cotton does the job cotton the natural choice for georgia welcome back we're at halftime the class aaa school championship the second of four big games this weekend right now cedar grove leading gac 23-3 as we welcome you back to the georgia dome and the gpb on championship weekend well it's certainly there's been no shortage of story lines as we've started the day off a great game to begin this morning with the chargers taking the victory there and then a great one already making out but gac's got got a lot to look forward to here in the second half as they get ready for a big game all right there's a lot going on in social media right now so we want to keep you updated and we're having a little bit of a technical glitch so bear with us and we understand that for those of you who are watching on the tv screens there are some issues there we're working on those but if you are having an issue trying to watch on tv don't forget that you can also go online gpb.org sports or download our app for free in the app store and watch it that way now if you find out if you hang out with us on twitter you'll see that we have a poll and right now so far 53 of the votes saying they're looking forward to the rome versus beaufort matchup so make sure that you try and then cast your vote and show your school spirit let's get to a few tweets from some fans we have james watching all the way from fort hood texas either online or through our app so the furthest viewer will take home some gpb swag we have others to get to later but so far the furthest is in texas don't forget you can send us your photos here as you can see here's a great example of couch gating with our friend here tyron davis is watching on his tv screen how cute is this this is these are some young fans here obviously cheering on for gac watching in class that's awesome we love to see that kind of stuff we have another fan doing the same thing didn't make it to the dome but i'm tuned in at school today well i hope that it's a break period or something like that you shouldn't be doing homework or anything like that so keep the conversation going with us at gpb sports on facebook twitter snapchat and everything else now there's been a lot of excitement in the first half but now it's time for our favorite part of the show are you smarter holiday edition it's all about the classic tv shows movies and songs from this time of year and speaking of old chestnuts all the old chestnuts mark carmen not to call you old mark but you're hanging out with the principal of greater atlanta christian academy scott harsh well i know she didn't call you an old chestnut i think she called me an old chestnut but welcome to the program it's good to have you here good to be here talk a little bit what's going on at gac how excited you guys are to be here at the dome oh boy we're really excited to be here at the dome we've brought a lot of fans down with us as you can see behind me are marching bands on the field right now just got back from hollywood out there for a christmas parade just been a really fun season this team is a total team total team effort the first half hasn't gone quite like we'd like but i'm confident in our coaches and and the players and i think they'll come out and have a great second half what else has been going on at greater atlanta christian well next year is our 50th anniversary so we're getting ready for that really exciting time in our school's history as we think about 50 years and all of that's meant to us we've just finished a total redesign of our academic buildings in grades 6 through 12 we're about to launch into a major stem initiative with a revamp of our science building and we're building a performance hall so a lot of exciting things and new additions and programs for our students at gac all right well as you enter your 50th year let's talk about something that happened a long time ago what is the name of the angel who visits george bailey and it's a wonderful life is it a gabriel blue b ichabod crane or c clarence oddbody i'm gonna go with c clarence oddbody and you are absolutely correct it was an angel second class clarence odd body who convinces george bailey his life is indeed worth living actor henry travers played the parts right there and zuzu's pedals in his pocket thanks for coming on it's good to have you here thank you mark good to be here thank you all right well there's much more to come here in the gpb championships halftime show we'll hear from the cedar grove marching band we'll also play another round of are you smarter and then john nelson will drop by to educate us on his johns georgia journey all season long it's all coming up next on the gpb championship weekend halftime show we're back right after this break here we believe when you study hard you need to play even harder bring your a game rock the weekend climb your way to the top and find your inner champion world-class faculty and coaches plus access to over 100 majors continue our winning traditions at vsu you get off the bench and in the game to succeed discover valdosta state university a hidden gem in higher education [Applause] [Music] it should be one way of a football game tonight this program on gpb is made possible in part by supporters of the georgia high school association including the following support for gpb comes from georgia farm bureau mutual insurance from front porches to back roads down the street or around the block georgia farm bureau is there with the protection families need whether it's home auto or life insurance or something more georgia farm bureau is dedicated to providing the right coverage to all the friends families and neighbors who make this state home more at gfbinsurance.com georgia farm bureau always the home team all right this is adam take two mark i guess [Music] i go like this [Music] the best part about playing football in texas has to be the reaction from the community i want to encourage others to play volleyball or choir because you get to experience new things and do stuff that you've never done before my reason why is passion my reason why is pride [Music] welcome back under the big top welcome back to the georgia dome welcome back to the 2016 ghsa football championships halftime show here live on gpb at the break it's 23-3 right now cedar grove leading gac in the 3a state championship game welcome back to all the craziness that's sure to happen in the second half and throughout the rest of the day a lot of excitement is in the air but first it's time for another holiday edition of are you smarter with the principal of cedar grove high school pamela benford pamela thank you so much for joining us i know you've got to be happy right now with uh with the big lead i am ecstatic we have been excited all week looking forward and i am so proud of the science what are some of the things that are going on at cedar grove high school these days well the most exciting thing was that the superintendent granted us an early release so all of our students are here oh nice you're on the site oh awesome it was been a busy week because it was also the week for standardized testing okay so my students my football team has a lot on their mind so i'm very happy to see them the fact that they have come out of testing which we didn't even talk about football the entire chance of time to keep them focused on academics but they've done that and now they're here performing well today well they're focused on that game that's for sure all right let's get to the question in a christmas story the movie what's the name of the kid who gets his tongue stuck to the frozen flagpole after ending up on the wrong side of a triple dog dare is it a schwartz b flick or is it c farkas yeah i'm like you i would i mean but take your best guess here's the funny thing i thought his name was tommy so tommy okay well it's not tommy it's a little bit of a trick question for uh serious fans it is actually flick um you know it wasn't schwartz it was flick but flick was played by an actor named scott schwartz so it's a little tricky there it's such an iconic scene it was immoralized and a bronze statue in hammond indiana hometown of christmas story creator and narrator gene shepherd so that was a tough one that was a tough all right i'll let you have that one all right well you were talking about the great things at cedar grove high school now we're going to listen into the band that is behind us on the field right now let's listen to the sounds of cedar grove [Music] [Music] [Music] great job by the cedar grove high school marching saints brought to you by regions bank time now to check out the georgia's emc scoreboard right now and see what's going on and what's going to happen in the future one game in the books right now is a terrific game to kick off the day elka knocks off fellowship christian 34-27 in a double overtime spectacular right now we're at the half it is 23-3 cedar grove over greater atlanta christian coming up at 4 30. it's a 5a it's a battle of wolves the rome moles taking on the beaufort wolves and in prime time the 6a championship game tucker's tigers going for their third state championship of the valdosta wildcats going for their 24th and then tomorrow it's a big day as well we are kicking off at 10 a.m with the single a public game between meghan county the bulldogs and the mcintosh county academy buccaneers our double-a game starts around 1 p.m with the undefeated then addicted cadets and the 13-1 purple hurricane fitzgerald and their outstanding running back in jd king at 4 30. it's 4a action between cartersville and thompson then tomorrow at 8 p.m the big primetime matchup the seven is showdown between the undefeated roswell hornets last year's runner-up and then the top ranked 13-1 grayson rams so much football we just had to do it in two days we now welcome in the author of five books two on high school football in the great state of georgia john nelson segment week called johns georgia brought to you by georgia's emc's and this time you've got a story about a team that won its first nine game season it's first region championship and its first playoff game triple check dekalb county is going to have a lot of representation here at the dome you're seeing it right now with cedar grove you'll see it later tonight with tucker there was another side that mark introduced us to as we spend some time in snapping shoals emc and let you know about the season that arabia mountain had this year first eight win season first region title first playoff appearance and the rams of arabia mountain trace the firsts to a meeting at the first of the year january we started off about 16 people in the weight room about 12 of them being seniors and we set the goal we wanted to win the region to make the playoffs for the first time and we stuck to that as we added more pieces to the puzzle and adding more players to the team ever since last year when the last game of the season hit we came together as a class and we said we're not going to be like the last guys we going we're gonna make this happen and we got into the summer we went to fca we went to uga we just came together and bonded as a team and that's what happened so it started with a meeting and grew to a squad of close to 50 and with a high powered offense and stingy defense the success led to something the team hadn't seen before just let's win no more you know we just didn't we didn't want to settle for what happened last year and we didn't want everybody thinking that we were going to do the same thing last year so we want to prove them wrong it was like like he said we didn't want to be like the last class and we know that we want to do a big thing so like we know that we want to make history and we want to be the first class go to the playoffs and to win the region you know to be in a trophy case and be memorable so we come back years later we uh have our name in history it's been a long journey a lot of hard work but we knew he was going to be here and we've been working since january this just this is just beginning it's been a process during the process you know early morning workouts a lot a lot of time put in a lot of blood sweat and tears put in by these young men um a lot of just preparation and effort you know i'm just proud of them and stanley pritchett has a lot to be proud of from 16 mark it'll be interesting to see what 2017 brings for arabia mountain in dekalb county football you know i wouldn't be surprised if we see the rams maybe across the street here at the new georgia dome at the mercedes-benz stadium what he said i think he's going to hold you to it stanley so we'll see what happens in 2017. all right thanks very much john you're calling the next game you know it's going to be fun okay then jackie let me ask you this question what time is it it is almost game time which means we're gonna send things back up to the booth but first we'll see you guys at the championship trophy time but first we're gonna do the ts tcsg career play of the game but the 3a championship game is brought to you by the atlanta braves and suntrust bank with affordable ticket plans available watching your braves with the ones you love at the suntrust park will be time well spent learn more about that at braves.com [Music] george is now number three in the country for film and tv production i'm getting hands-on experience and training with film professionals on real sets through the georgia film academy and by enrolling in film production classes through the technical college system of georgia my tuition is free working with professionals has helped me start my career in the entertainment industry the technical college system of georgia creating a better future for you and for georgia i have no idea what i'm doing i'm just a tv doctor i never went to college i don't do blood but now thanks to cigna i can do more than just look the part is that a foot we are the tv doctors of america and we're partnering with cigna to help save lives by getting you to a real doctor for an annual checkup so go no and take control of your health doctor poses cigna together all the way today companies in the aerospace advanced manufacturing and film industries need skilled workers and the earning potential is high go build georgia can show you where the jobs are and what skills you need to get them and the technical college system of georgia has fast affordable training for these great paying careers build your blueprint for success at gobildga.com and look to the technical college system of georgia to put your plan into action folks mitch miller from milton martin honda in gainesville we want to wish all the teams in the state playoffs the very best of luck and if you think milton martin honda is a proud sponsor of georgia high school athletics at the heart of our community are the businesses that don't skip a beat george's electric membership cooperatives stand behind local commerce whether keeping farms running or shining a light on new ventures we bring business large and small to our communities creating jobs driving development supporting dreams georgia's emc's so much more than electricity it should be one way of a football game tonight welcome back start of the third quarter the georgia dome cedar grove leading greater atlanta christian 23-3 here in the aaa state championship game matt stewart and sam crenshaw and sam let's take a look back at the first half and how this game unfolded the big story of the game of course was after the touchdown by trey shaw great atlanta christian star quarterback davis mills got hurt yup he decides to run he had a lot of green grass out there but toward the end takes that left forearm right there right to the right below the chin looks like amazingly enough there was no flag thrown on that play mills injured his left knee the same knee that he had injured earlier in the season this was the first touchdown this actually came before that injury the touchdown catching run by trey shaw to make it seven nothing and then after the injury by davis mills they got the field goal right here by views by abuse it was a good one a 40-yard field goal and then see the grove tax on one yeah profana put it through the uprights to make it a 10-3 ball game then things kind of got off the tracks there for gac late in the half a big 95-yard drive after they've stopped gac on down right on fourth and goal and then the pick six by trey saw his second touchdown of the half to make it 23-3 214 yards for the saints in the first half and uh the big story there was the turnover i thought that was one of that was one of the big things that gac's gonna have to overcome gac with a large advantage in the time of possession but the problem with that was they had a 17-played drive and got no points out that was and there's davis mills and no helmet we we won't see him in the second half of this football game and that's a thing that's uh that's so very unfortunate so the spartans will have to try to win their first ever state championship without davis mills injured just six plays into the game a 28-yard run we showed you the injury and how it occurred and jonathan rose their backup senior quarterback who's also their starting outside linebacker number 18 finds himself in a place he didn't think he would be today and that's running the offense nine for 12 passing for rose in the first half 77 yards and the one pick six after subbing in for the injured mills and now cedar grove will receive the opening kickoff to start the third quarter wow go back to that long long drive that great atlanta christian had and came away empty handed that hurt didn't have cedar grove go the length of the field that was one thing but the pick six uh that's the thing that's hard to bounce back from your third quarter kickoff is brought to you by heads up georgia don't text and drive distracted driving takes lives views puts it into the back of the end zone so the saints will start their first possession of the third quarter from their own 20-yard line [Music] jelani mills or jelani woods pardon me back out there seven of ten passing in the first half for 89 yards and a touchdown it was a 32-yard pass to trey shaw in their opening possession committed to oklahoma state the espn 3 star is also rushed for 274 yards out of the shotgun they go pass complete to spivey and israel spivey down the sideline and spivey finally shoved out of bounds by jeffrey blake the outside linebacker that's a first down also watch these receivers how well they catch but how well they block for each other there you see hazelwood putting up a big block right there 15 and that helps bring him 24-yard pickup to the 44-yard line spivey with his 16th catch of the year he's got four touchdowns first and ten from the 44. trey shaw on the carry up to the 47. blaken on that tackle and it's gonna be second down and seven pick up a three for trey shaw what a day trey shaw has had today great play about the defense right here to figure this play out and put the stop on him limit the yards we got a whistle still got to play it down yup that's trey shaw i think this is a cramp shaw five catches for 71 yards two touchdowns today pick six and a 32-yard catch and run on their opening possession he's been a busy man both sides of the football trey shaw is an espn 4 star number 31 ranked senior cornerback in the country committed to north carolina over 33 other offers and let's check in with nikki and find out what coach hardy told you well when i talked to coach hardy at the half my immediate question is the obvious that everyone's wanting to know davis mills the number one quarterback in the nation is currently out jonathan rose i asked him how he's playing he said look he's playing awesome he's a winner and he's out there playing like a warrior right now i'm very proud of him defensively we saw they gave up two explosive plays to cedar grove he said obviously that's not our game we've got to get back to our game generating some offense and then we can get in this thing he said we're not shaken we're not stirred but we can hang in there all right thank you nikki as mills continues as a spectator here in the state championship game since the first quarter in their opening drive shaw hobbled off the field with that cramp and it's second down and seven as they get him off the field woods throws complete to bell gets dropped by trey morrison nice open field tackle great solo effort there by trey morrison to step up and put the stop on the defender take a little look at it here sheds that blocker makes that solo stop [Music] great defense trey morrison with 45 tackles on the season and three interceptions [Music] [Applause] walker nice open field tackle by the free safety reed smith the dropping back of the 39-yard line so two big tackles for loss by this gac defense watch number 22 5 1155 pound senior come in and make the great solo stop on grant walker brings up fourth down back to back four yard losses and cedar grove having a punt for the first time today courtney cox standing at the 26 yard line and harrison sloane deep for the spartans they put eight men on the line now back two of them off heavy rush comes and they run into the kicker flag out fair catch called by sloane at the 34 26 yard kick but courtney cox ended up on the ground personal foul 15 yards and that should be a first down for cedar grove here's a look at it he's there there is contact they were going for the block didn't get it yeah that's the fullback alan galloway on the punt block team just ran into personal foul roughly kicker it's a 15-yard penalty first down so first down for the saints if he gets there in time and gets a block sets it up for a short field if not of scooping six yeah that's great rolled the dice a little bit there that's unfortunate for the spartans because they just come up with two of their biggest defensive plays of the day and now the saints get to keep the drive alive and they're in the section of the field now where they can do some different things playbook wise too first and ten ball on the gac side of the 50 the 46. walker can't get loose that's devin thomas who chases him down at the sideline and drops you these linebackers have been very impressive today for gac watch for number six nice solo stop on walker second down and nine ball at the 45. play action going for the home run looking for hazelwood out there jump back oh my goodness is that something of what well it was what because he didn't hold on to it it was about to be something but it was a what because he couldn't hold on to him wow woods just hangs it out there he knows he's going to a guy that can make a play if he gets it anywhere in the zip code and he doesn't hang on to it look at that yeah just a 10th grader still got to catch it sam third down and nine but he does have great leaking ability that's for sure a timeout called by the saints timeout see the grove that'll be the first time out used by the saints here in the third quarter second trip ever to the finals for the saints they did it in 1991 as we told you they lost at cartersville that year they pitched six shutouts same as this year they were semifinalists last year going 11-2-1 got knocked out by westminster at home in the round of four they are in the midst of the three best years in school history going 34-7-1 they've won four region championships and four nfl players currently linebacker gerald rivers who went to ole miss and now a defensive end with the houston texans i remember one that was a real good one from cedar grove marcus mcneill played for many years with the san diego chargers out of cedar grove so third down and nine from the 45 following the timeout let's see if they go back up top again swinging out here for walker oh stuck a nice open field tackle by morrison again that's the second time of this half he has made a tremendous open field tackle and it's fourth down welcome to the trey morrison hit parade folks he's just out there making solo stops hello i'm here i'll be here the rest of the game nice solo stop there by number four hazelwood having a hard time blocking him [Applause] they come after the punt again [Applause] high kick sloan calls fair catch weaves through the traffic makes it at the 22 23 yard kick by cox and that's where the spartans go back on offense it to the g.a.c defense they've made some great stops before and then the the running to the the punter they go right back out there and go back to work again and get the ball back for their offensive unit here so first and ten for the spartans from the 22 they're down 20. six and a half minutes into this third quarter [Applause] mcmichael stuck right at the line of scrimmage no running room for michael right there that was isaiah ratcliff who was the first guy to hit him do you see it no running room there brings up second down and ten again the spartans playing without davis mills who was hurt on the opening possession pass complete out on the edge and that is burke who gets wrestled to the ground at the 31 about a yard shy of the first down tim hardy says burke's kind of their wes welker danny amendola type really come on in the playoffs 38 catches on the season three touchdowns averaging just under 56 yards receiving per game third down and one blitz coming michael first down michael out of bounds at the 46-yard line as he moves the sticks 15-yard pickup here's mcmichael and they use a little bit of balance in this offense they go from throwing to the run and michael with a big run here we've seen this before earlier in the game matt the thing of it can they get down this time and get some points out of it yeah the the one thing that remains to be seen that we haven't seen since mills went out as any verticality can they get the ball downfield they're going to try it right here right on cue [Applause] fowler well rose shows he's got the arm to get it out there and actually burke was a guy that was open goes closer to the middle of the field he does have he does have the arm you asked for it matt they try to deliver for you and try to stretch the feel a bit well ultimately you got to do this to loosen up that defense you got to be able to try to at least attempt to get something over the top give them something to think about that's the first time they've tried to do that second down and 10. rose heavy rush and gonna take a sack back at the 41-yard line quarterback sack for deangelo malone it's his 12th of the season and the 37th for this saints team this year rose is watching big 75 is coming right up better than there will smith let's get to him and malone ends up recording the sack i'd be watching him too sam third down and 14. blitz coming off the edge and rose another sack they didn't pick up bradford who came unblocked off the edge back-to-back sacks you've got to pick up a guy like number 10 you got to know where he is on the field because you know what he does and here he is just a clear shot to the quarterback and he makes that solo stop nobody there in fourth down and the spartans have to punt abuse comes on hazelwood is deep for the saints long kick hazel wood will let it fall in front of him then he picks it up on the hop and he takes a loss back at the 21-yard line 48-yard kick that was risky yep that you know you see great things from this kid you see his great athleticism but you also see him you know making some sophomore mistakes out there and jimmy smith pointing that out yes he is dude's got dude's got lots of talent though he's really going to be good he's already good he's going to be really good [Music] just needs some seasoning and a little wisdom i mean uh we talked about him earlier in the game in the play with with uh with meals to me that wasn't what was uncalled for and wasn't very wise so a time out on the field with 5 46 to play in the quarter saints back on offense when we get back [Music] at 60 miles per hour you go the length of a football field in five seconds [Music] but would you do it blindfolded when you text and drive that's what happens heads up georgia texting and driving is against the law [Music] hey can you button this can you button this up for me uh yeah sure hey man i don't think that's such a good idea you know no trust me it's okay it's okay i went to school for this but it just i'm a professional it's okay don't worry about it to the dome right now we are in the state championship between greater atlanta christian and cedar grove cedar grove's coach smith he told me that look ever since he's been at cedar grove the past four years it's all been about what he calls the process he said we were a football team yeah sure with about seven wins but then we became a playoff football team and now we're competing for a state championship he said the one thing that he's been preaching to this guy these guys is sacrifice he said a lot of people want to be where you are and as an athlete it's not going to come easy you're going to miss thanksgivings you're going to miss cookouts you're going to miss family reunions but a lot of those people want to be do what you're doing and you're playing in a state championship so you got to focus on that matt thank you nikki there's no doubt that jimmy smith has done a tremendous job 39 wins in his four seasons as a head coach and if he gets number 40 today it'll be the biggest one of his career 10 seasons overall there at cedar grove high school he came there as a wide receiver coach and then was the offensive coordinator for coach ray bonner who he played for at tennessee state and he counts chris rump who's the defensive line coach at florida now and been all over the southeastern conference and ray bonner is his mentors says those two guys taught him that you win by playing defense inside out now they're back on offense and grant walker with a five-yard pickup to the 25. indeed some well-known mentors for coach smith and he learned quite a bit from them and he's added it to his formula for success 15 carries 66 yards for grant walker today 20 point lead for cedar grove and time running out here on the spartans as we have only 17 minutes of regulation left second down and six zone re they give it to walker he gets swamped under by weish the outside linebacker tony weiss is the guy who's had to step in and take over that outside linebacker spot with jonathan rose becoming the quarterback here today had to step in there six foot 180 pound junior number 85 is stepping in there and that boy it's a big third down play like we pointed out when you lost david davis mills you really lost two players you lost him and you lost rose at the starting outside linebacker spot [Applause] so you lost one starter you lost two starters really because mills was the starting quarterback and rose was the starting outside linebacker so it had a domino effect you know by and large they've done a a pretty good job defensively here today they've surrendered 17 points defensively cedar grove got a pick six for one of the touchdowns cox on the punt again a quick three and out for the saints heavy rush again they've been sending guys the entire second half sloane calls fair catch the 40. so much more manageable field position for the spartans here after a 35-yard kick great play by defense getting that cedar grove offense off the field and getting the ball back for another opportunity now let's see if they can because they have this makings of a of a pretty good drive starting before they turn it over the last time let's see if they can do this time when they come back on the field on offense this is the aaa state championship game neither one of these teams has ever won a state title one of them is now 16 minutes away from doing that cedar grove saints of ellenwood georgia there in the atlanta area with the 23-3 lead and a new quarterback in the ball game for the saints they're going to run it back to rose who stayed on the field and throws it down field complete at the 16-yard line jackson hardy the freshman quarterback third teamer tossed it back to rose who lined up at wide receiver and delivered a 44-yard strike down the field you save a play like this one for a special time when you have to have it and you have to execute it when you do it because you probably won't get a second chance here you see it and it works to perfection rose back in there at quarterback and rose picks up two on the play you keep certain cards in your back pocket there matt you have to know when you're going to pull him out and play them you get to the stage of the game in this type of situation you want to go out and play and throw a big play on there something to get your team some momentum something to tip things back in your favor and now we got a wilson we got a timeout in officials time out here so how about the trick play as they bring in the coaches freshman son the third team quarterback to toss it back to rose who had snuck in their wide receiver puts them down there close at the 14-yard line the keeper by rose and he's down to the nine yard line about two yards shy of the first down bringing up third down and short third and three it brings up it's a short three though because they're on the nine and they gotta get just inside the seven maybe closer to six mcmichael first down mcmichael touchdown so the trick play pays off they cash in with a nine yard touchdown run by mcmichael to make it 23-9 nice way to finish this time the drive not just having to settle for three but you get six and that's really important right now for this greater atlanta christian team busan for the p-a-t actually that's sean henderson for the p.a.t and it's no good henderson who has missed only two the entire season comes up empty there and it stays a 14-point game here's your tcsg touchdown replay of course we got michael cuts it up here nice block yeah galloway the fullback threw a great clearing block on the edge key block on the play right there pam held up the linebacker just long enough and mcmichael takes it in for the touchdown his 16th touchdown run of the season his 18th overall touchdown and the junior gets the first six of the day for the spartans and now it's a 14-point game with 255 to play here in the third four plays and 60 yards the key play the 44 yard trick play double pass hardy to rose to slow on side kick and cedar grove on top of it at the 45-yard line well there was a collision just past midfield we got a player down boys of a wicked collision going for that football so gac rolling the dice here in the third quarter and here's the collision you're talking about whoa my goodness wow that was buce who collided oh well it didn't collide 33 took him out it seemed like he got the worst of it because 33 is still out on the field so buce is shaken up too now watch this we've had a number of questionable shots to the head now is that not targeting wow is that not targeting my friends that's targeted watch this he goes right at his head that's targeting yeah that is that is at least the second time we've had what clearly looks like targeting in this aaa state championship game and no flag thrown claire is up making his way off the field it's good to see him up and and walking abuse their kicker is over there and they're checking on him i'm sure that's they're checking they're going through concussion protocol because he got targeted the whole purpose of those rules are to try to protect the players from things just like that so the saints back on offense at the 46-yard line got another whistle every legal substitution against the office of 12 men on the field five yacht penalty repeat first down and they're going through the concussion protocol over there for him too i think man that was a wicked hit not to mention illegal first and 15 from the 41 yard line high snap and woods and gac on top of it at the 31. what a break they have it's take over the 31 snap goes through woods hands he tried to scoop it could not get to it and the spartans come up with it i know see that was too high i think devin thomas number six the linebacker was the guy who got on top of it and a huge turnover for the spartans [Applause] [Music] [Applause] rosette quarterback rolling to his left and his that ball came out they're going to rule him down though and then a disc was a tackle up above the shoulders right there and you know if they had kicked down by shafer and if they had a replay they probably if they had replay in high school football they'd go back and look at that because i don't know that rose's knee was on the ground he was laying on top of the guys when the ball came out that's a break for the spartans right there second down and 10.

[Applause] michael to the 24-yard line desmond harris making the tackle for the saints there's michael again taking the handoff and getting nice surge of the blockers nice from there by kim osley 72 third down and three saints show blitz mcmichael trying to clear the edge and second effort going to get him the first down at the 21. smart running smart running by calibric michael here he as he starts out the left side just a little bit of room there let me come back and cut back this way and lean over moving those sticks first down first and ten ball of the 20 and a half rows heavy rush eludes it at least for the moment now he's going to go down at the 27 yard line here he is gets away from those two defenders but they're more blue jerseys second down and 16 with a minute to play here in the third quarter spartans trying to capitalize on a fumble by the saints [Applause] thump it off mcmichael fumbled the ball and i think the spartans got back on top of it ford roberts the right tackle was trailing on the play and got on top of the loose ball this time gotta hold on to it gotta wrap it up tight mcmichael and it comes out and thankfully roberts was right there for the third down that was third and long spartans really need to get six out of this gift that they got at the 31 yard line so far they've been able to move it a net of just one yard although they did pick up a first down they've lost yardage now and movement all over the place prior to the snap we have false start against the offense it's a five yard field repeat third down so now they're back at the 35 and they've got to get to the 11 for the first down so third and 24.

[Applause] they'll have to do it in the fourth quarter matt and time has run out after three periods jonathan rose the backup quarterback has had to play pretty much the entire game at that position for the spartans after davis mills was hurt just six plays into the game we head to the fourth it's 23-9 cedar grove this program on gpb is made possible in part by supporters of the georgia high school association including the following support for gpb comes from georgia farm bureau mutual insurance from front porches to back roads down the street or around the block georgia farm bureau is there with the protection families need whether it's home auto or life insurance or something more georgia farm bureau is dedicated to providing the right coverage to all the friends families and neighbors who make this state home more at gfbinsurance.com georgia farm bureau always the home team all right this is adam take two mark i guess i go like this [Music] the best part about playing football in texas has to be the reaction from the community i want to encourage others to play volleyball or choir because you get to experience new things and do stuff that you've never done before my reason why is passion my reason why is pride it should be one way of a football game tonight nothing prepared you better for a great career than the technical college system of georgia tcsg colleges produce graduates with the knowledge and training today's top employers are looking for with campuses across georgia state of the art facilities and outstanding instructors with real world experience it's the kind of affordable college education that will fast track you into a rewarding career we're building a better future for you contact the tcsg college in your area today or go to tcsg.edu whether you plan to attend a two-year college four-year university or go straight into the world of work the georgia career technical and agricultural education programs teach students essential career skills through real-world experiences and on-the-job training start of the fourth quarter in the triple-a state championship game here at the georgia dome cedar grove saints leading the greater atlanta christian spartans 23-9 and for the spartans it's their third ever trip to the state championships trying to win it for the first time ever finalists in 2012 and 2014 when they lost to benedictine and we'll see benedictine in the double a final tomorrow third straight region title this year and fifth overall they've been quarterfinals or better in the playoffs nine of the last 18 years 59 and 10 for the spartans over the last five seasons when tim hardy has been the head coach and they've made the playoffs 18 of the last 20 years matt stewart sam crenshaw nikki noto and the gpb team here second of four state championship games today if you didn't get up early and turn us on early man you missed a great one in the single a private championship game as eagles landing christian beat fellowship 34-27 in double overtime but rose not waiting on it goes back to scoop it up and takes a big loss back at the 49-yard line and that's just a crusher right there because that takes them out of field goal range last thing you want to see is this happen right here look at that ball comes ceiling right over his shoulder and that takes them out of field goal range right there at least at the 35 they had a chance at a 52-yard kick if they decided to go that route ratcliffe down on the field and it looks like this is a cramping issue for him rose rose was not even the snap came and he wasn't looking for it yeah see he was yeah he was looking to the outside and the ball went whizzing by his head see christopher hinton encouraging him there on the sideline christopher hinton if we can take a look at him real quick number 74 son of chris hinton the three-time all-pro offensive lineman you know one of the things that tim hardy told us about chris hinton is that it's a great thing on your team when your best player is also your hardest worker and he says that is the story with chris locked in in the meetings you know he says a lot of time with sophomores they're looking up at the ceiling counting the the ceiling tiles christopher is locked in the consummate team player and hard worker and they're going to be okay for three years that guy and trust me a lot of schools could be looking at him already seven offers even though he's just a sophomore georgia michigan virginia tech bulldogs reportedly as leaders he is a leader and he's got baby brother number 78 waiting in the wings of course being the oldest of the boys he got his father's number uh miles has to wear 78. so fourth down and that is henderson on the punt and that's going to roll dead at the one-yard line so how about that sean henderson had to come on and punt first time he's punted all season because bruce got hit in the head on that onside kick and henderson steps up and nails a beauty pinning the saints at the one-yard line you love it when you get that roll after the bounce and it goes your way and you have people down there to cover it well you know what and that's the something else i mean we were talking about it took him out of field goal range but i don't even know whether abuse would be able to kick you know because he took that shot to the head and obviously they didn't have him come out there and punt even if they had not taken a loss on that bad snap i don't know whether they would have kicked there because i don't know if bruce is available sitting there that hasn't had his helmet on since that hit on that onside kick i mean that was old buddy ryan kind of stuff go get the kicker [Music] [Applause] trey shaw in the carry right there picked up one on the play he is getting the snap and leaning ahead he's trying to get some working room for this offense yep wildcat formation first time we've seen the saints run that today and they got uh jelani woods back out there second down and nine [Applause] [Music] [Applause] woods going up top and intercepted by morrison at the 21-yard line great play by number four trey morrison just climbs the ladder and take this one takes this one away huge play by trey morrison on the jump ball taking it away from hazelwood earlier in the ball game we saw hazy wood go up over him and nearly make a spectacular crab and morrison who's only 5 10 and hazelwood 6-3 morrison beat him to the ball fantastic defensive play now the spartans have a short field to work with bald 19-yard line keeper and his own lead and rose down to the 13-yard line picked up six on the play it is again fakes the handoff trey morrison with his fourth pick of the season might be the biggest right there gives him the short field a touchdown here puts the spartans right back in the game this is the second turnover for the saints in their own inn in this second half michael first down to the five he might be shaking up on that board he got a whistle yeah he's got a crane like a cramp there so another look at mcmichael starts out right and cuts it right up and loses his footing right there goes down around the five yard line so they're working a cramp out of the right calf muscle of tyler mcmichael 18 carries 64 yards and a touchdown for mcmichael today scored the nine yard touchdown just four minutes ago on the game clock he's back up and folks here's one of the things about playing indoors that the kids are not accustomed to is you know number one we're in december and it's 30-something degrees outside number two when you get down there on the floor of the georgia dome it's very hot down there yeah it gets hot in this building especially down there on the floor of the building i remember talking to a lot of the falcons players and them telling me saying yeah you would not believe how unbelievably hot it gets during the football game down on the field and so that's something that the kids are having to deal with today that maybe they're not that accustomed to certainly this time of the year in december because we've seen at least four or five guys leave the field with cramps today that's true the roof over top here that'll change next year first and ten from the six rose keeper not much running room right there natori johnson making the tackle here's big old number 72 natori johnson committed to the georgia bulldogs playing on the defensive line here in the fourth quarter he's committed to the bulldogs as an offensive guard he's only six five three twenty seven that's all second down and goal running option and foglin out of bounds by ratcliffe at the one yard line so boatland getting his first carry the ball game he's hurting right now with mcmichael out of the ball game what a shot he took there he is he took a rip shot right there from red cliff big hit from ratcliffe and boglin their number two running back now shaken up number three on the list is markham the safety whoa so they're still working on him over on the side and it's gonna be a third down and goal coming up from the spartans so we'll see if marcum comes in at running back here we had mcmichael go out on the previous play with a cramp and now boglin on his first carry the ball game was shaken up took a big shot from ratcliffe clean it knocking him out of bounds at the two yard line here's what happened at the end of that play that's a hit right there helmet right in the ribs so third down here and michael back in there and he's going to take a loss at the six yard line radcliffe again consecutive plays by isaiah ratcliffe so fourth down here remember their kicker abuse got hurt in this half on an onside kick and i don't even know if you would even try a field goal here anyway you see blues hasn't moved so the field goal if if they're kicking the field goal he's not doing it no it'd be henderson and i don't even know if you'll be doing a field goal here anyway because you're down 14 points with 8.55 to play and time running out on you so we'll take a timeout decision time for the spartans when we get back [Applause] every tv doctor knows when preparing for surgery use an over-pronounced washing technique for dramatic effect you also know you need to get your annual checkup [Music] now prepare for your checkup with one touch using the mysigna app where you can find a doctor in your plan's network to save money manage your health and more need to be thorough cigna together all the way huh [Music] 8 55 to play cedar grove just 8 55 away from their first ever state championship in leading greater atlanta christian 23-9 matt stewart sam crenshaw nikki noto and the gpb team as the spartans are facing fourth down and goal from the six yard line look at that cedar grove defensive unit coming back out here davis mills sidelined just six plays into this game jonathan rolls the back up quarterback has been running the show the entire day and they are going for it here [Applause] touchdown catch max burke [Applause] how about that all fourth and goal rose fires a laser to max burke spartans had to have it rose finds it the bird and now the score is 23-15 you're going to kick it yeah you kick it here to make it a seven-point game and henderson has been normally very reliable this season he's missed just three but one of those three was today and that one is going to be good he just barely got it through that was a line drive kick they cleared the crossbar by inches he's got to be smiling about that was it like he didn't hit a good technical college system of georgia replay and there's rose once again rifles it in there nice completion and max burke hangs on to it nice block right there protection from galloway you know who knows gonna who's gonna win the state championship game but the fact that greater atlanta christian is even in the game at this point i mean how many teams in this state even teams even among the 16 that they're playing here this weekend could lose their number one player a kid who's ranked number one in the nation at quarterback and still be in the game i know got to give a lot of credit to jonathan rose coach tim hardy the great job they have done to kind of manage this thing even without davis mills and now without their top kicker and being it down only seven points with 8 49 to play look at coach and i agree wholeheartedly could have gone in a really bad direction early in the game without losing the game and sam they looked like they were about to late in the second quarter when the saints scored two touchdowns within 15 seconds of each other but here they are 8 49 to go henderson going to kick it away and he boots it into the end zone let's check in with nikki noto on the sideline mickey look i've lost count of how many guys have come off the field cramping but this is what i can tell you i've talked to harris patel who works actually with the usa track and field team and he told me that the dome's humidity factor plays a big part in this he said also nerves these kids are nervous he also told me that in november and december your bodies are naturally cold so you're not necessarily thinking about drinking enough fluids and eating the right food he said these guys should have been focusing on that last week yep no doubt about it when it ties back into what falcons players have always told me incredibly hot and humid down on the floor of this georgia dome you might be comfortable in your seat it's a little bit different temperature down there on the 20-yard line got a whistle here i'm out see the grove that's the second time out of the map the timeout used by the saints so wow the kind of momentum and complexion of this ball game has changed and you know really to me it has been the gac defense that has turned this game they forced two turnovers here in the own inn by the uh by the saints here in the second half and they finally able to cash in went 19 yards after trey morrison came up with that huge interception that was so big that was so big in the time that they got it was really big and the fact they were to go down and this time get points not just three but six as we said before they scored three points really wouldn't do much for them they had to have the touchdown they got it now and now let's see what the defense does last two possessions by the saints by the way have both ended in turnovers so now we try first down again following the timeout saints have only one left that's devin smith number 33 in motion in there to block for grant walker and walker flag out and walker with great second effort and vision tackled downfield by fowler and hinton with a nine-yard pickup but it might be erased here by a hole of holding against the offense it's a 10-yard penalty compete first down coach looked in like that at all outside hazel is it right there hazelwood number 15. like we said hazelwood has shown some really flashes of brilliance but he's also made some pretty big mistakes here today and that was one right there backing them up [Applause] first and 20 now from the 10-yard line [Applause] and walker all the way up to the 26 got most of it back right there nice play call by the saints and offensive coordinator lawrence smith and head coach jimmy smith here's another look at it all this out there nice blocks and gets up there and picks up some great yards second and four really good downhill blocking by corey hernandez they've kind of gotten away from giving the ball to shaw and hernandez they did that much better in the second half [Music] neal [Applause] and trey morrison scoops it fighting off the defender now comes the football there's number four and sam i think it was number 85 tony walsh who's playing linebacker because rose is playing quarterback who stripped him it was how about that tony reich who's in there because jonathan rose is in for davis mills on offense comes up with the strip first and ten for the spartans from the 26. rose can't connect with fowler second down how about weish here's another look at it running and look at wise there it makes the hit yeah and there the ball comes right out just larson's right there just like you're supposed to do [Applause] michael at the 20-yard line picked up about six on that run saints have imploded here in the second half they turned the ball over on each of their last three possessions here he comes a nice little collision right there with dennis bell and the ball comes out but it goes out of bounds third down and four from the 20.

[Music] steps out of bounds at the 10 yard line [Applause] how about jonathan rose here he is taking a snap he's just rolling right when he does that to get some time he could pick out one of his favorite receivers and there he is max burke burgers had a great game too five catches for 51 yards and a touchdown on a fourth down catch by burke first and goal nobody there and i think he was looking for burke once again but burke cut off the route yeah he broke off the route at the goal line for some reason and now it's second down so it'll be second and ten got time but you want to get six stephanie again instead of settling for three this time you've been given a gift you want to cash it in dives down to the six [Music] third down and goal yeah i don't think if this i mean and the other thing that you that comes into play is just the field goal kicker situation with again use on the bench hurt although it looks like he's moved i don't see 13 anywhere right now he was sitting there at the end of the bench [Applause] third and goal there he is rose rushed got to get rid of it cam goes down at the 15-yard line quarterback sack d'angelo malone number nine the first guy to get there justin schaefer big fellow was there too second sack of the day for malone that was sports forza malone but i think malone got most of it and now they will try a field goal and it is shawn henderson who's 0-4-1 on field goal attempts this season 32-yard attempt remember he hasn't been very clean on his last two pats but this one's perfect how about that what a story we got going on here today gac having to go to backups and reserves and kicker and linebacker and quarterback now down only four with six to play [Music] the ghsa football championship is made possible in part by regions it's time to expect more georgia's electrical membership cooperative the official energy provider of the ghsa the technical college system of georgia learn more earn more cigna go you heads up georgia and the governor's office of highway safety dot com and viewers like you thank you when you're in control of your finances i just feel like you're in control of your future when we were getting ready to open the business we shopped around a couple different banks but when we went to regions they treated us the best the customer service is i mean amazing our regents banker stacy has great advice for the business and our personal finances they walk in they treat you right it makes you just want to keep going back we're ready to take our next step [Music] i think it's important to never forget where you're from my journey started here this was kindergarten through fifth grade i was here i was in this exact library you know for me to come back here and share that and and show these kids now i'm no different you know i walk the same hallways use the same bathrooms i think if you dream big and you know this this there's no barrier to what you can do at 60 miles per hour you go the length of a football field in five seconds but would you do it blindfolded when you text and drive that's what happens heads up georgia texting and driving is against the law [Music] tim hardy on the left for gac jimmy smith on the right for cedar grove each one of those men trying to lead their programs to their first ever state championships and the saints have contributed to the cause here in the second half sam with three costly turnovers spartans have gotten 10 points out of those turns turnovers especially the high snap we started the interception right here and then and the spartans are back in business and that's how they made it back into this football game we got six on three to go man 23-19 lead [Music] for cedar grove they bled by as much as 23-3 late in the second half 16 unanswered points from the spartans trey morrison's had himself a second half fumble recovery and an interception his fumble recovery led to the seven-play 26-yard drive last score possessions for the saints of fumble interception fumble three and out and that'll be returnable from the one-yard line bro that ball was caught now his foot was back into the end zone but the ball was caught [Music] on the plus side of the goal line [Music] once the foot crosses the line so they'll bring it out to the 20. so we'll see if the saints offense can get untracked here they have been their own worst enemy as you saw just a few moments ago here in the second half handoff walker [Applause] [Music] [Music] um [Applause] hey [Applause] so let's get it man we didn't come [Applause] i have illegal substitution against the offense it's a five-yard penalty repeat first down [Music] correction there was actually 11 players on the field still first down actually level players on the field [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] another big run for grant walker down to the 10 yard line that's a first down rules out there paving the freeway for him out there big 72 the tory johnson with a block that opened it opened it up here's another look at walker you know if the saints end up winning this game after all it could be grant walker the guy that saved their bacon here with this big big effort on this one drive they've driven from their 20 and walker has done most of the heavy lifting first and goal to go ball fumbled again and woods again trying to scoop it and run with it instead of just falling on it takes a four or five yard loss my goodness what has happened to this team i don't know we're just getting the jitters or what well they did well miscommunication he was going to hand off and walker wasn't expecting a handoff it didn't look like they ran into each other now it's second down and goal from the 13 the clock is down to 240. spartans got to hold him to a field goal and ford roberts drops walker for the loss and a timeout called by the spartans what a stop like he was shot out of a cannon 77 robbers is in there quickly to make the solo stop yeah i think that might be the first time they dropped walker for a loss the entire game now it's going to be third down and gold no not sure what that means maybe steve makes what know about so now it's gonna be third down and goal way back at the 17-yard line they need to get one more stop here [Music] and at the very least try to hold the saints to a field goal which would make it a seven point game the spartans would get the ball back with about two or probably less than two to play that was only the second time the entire game that walker he had 72 yards at the start of this drive or 66 yards at the start of this drive he's got 68 on this drive five carries for 68 yards woods going to the air running a fade down here dennis bell went up and got it and that might be enough to get the saints their first ever state championship what a catch woods just hung it up there really he really got an under throw but he waited for it at time it's just right stepped inside the defender and dennis bell hauled him the touchdown and you're right matt that made this thing may have just sealed the deal here with 216 to go what an effort by dennis bell his eighth touchdown catch of the season sofana puts it through and it is 30 to 19. here's your tcsg touchdown replay it isn't watching woods is the only guy he was looking at throws it out there and he's able to step inside the defender and make the catch watch for 14 bale steps inside mcmichael he's able to make that make the catch excellent positioning and that's how you do it you go up and you get it at its highest point dennis bell the 6-2 2-10 senior been offered by louisville tennessee georgia state and miami of ohio and jelani woods the big 6-7 quarterback who's headed to stillwater oklahoma to play for the cowboys next year in okay stay with the big touchdown pass his second of the game 20 years has been for cedar grove of course this summer they uh they were the host of a guest from up north that you know there's some people in this part of the country didn't want to see come to town of mr harbaugh i came down to cedar grove um but but just the talent on this team the season they've had where a number of these young players are are ticketed to go to play collegiately and here they are with a chance to do something that's never happened in school history pounding kick fielded at the 26th by thomas and devin thomas up to the 31-yard line and now gac what has been a great comeback by them in the second half facing all kinds of injury odds here today well midnight might have struck for cinderella here and that by no means were there cinderella in this game but the odds that they faced in this game kind of made them a cinderella and it's 209 to play and rose goes back there on offense 11 lead for the saints [Music] off the delay but michael that's going to burn a lot of clock right there spartans have just one timeout remaining i mean under two minutes to go you got to get down field if you want to give yourself a chance rose gonna load up and dump it deep the jump ball and fowler can't get to it broken up by courtney cox the corner no friend of fowlers no no get it courtney cox no friend all right third down and eight i'm just laughing to myself got a flag here davis mills 24-7 sports composite rankings number one quarterback in the country committed to stanford played only six plays today was injured on a very questionable hit in the first quarter reinjured his left knee the same need that he injured the week of the regular season opener they didn't think he would play this season when he first hurt his knee leave the penalties on gac by the way it's been declined so fourth down coming up they didn't think he would play he came back after missing just two games played the nationally televised game their only loss of the season up until today at valor christian and i give the kid a lot of credit because a lot of kids in his in his place a lot of players in this place would have shut it down and said you know what i'm going to i'm going to protect myself i got a scholarship to stanford already this is the play you got hurt on in the first quarter and here is the questionable hit no flag thrown on that play you see his head go back yeah well the forearm was thrown right into his face and no flag was thrown on that play and that was unfortunate unfortunately he got hurt unfortunate that the officials didn't throw the flag on that play either but it is what it is and he has been a spectator the rest of the day you just hate when things like that happen in a state championship setting that detract from the you know the overall game but cedar grove now just a minute and 39 seconds away from their first ever state championship program absolutely that's going to say to great atlanta christians credit they kept their they have maintained their composure uh they had a really long methodical drive in the first half but didn't yield in points [Applause] rose gonna be crushed back into 21 by will smith the ball out at the end of the play and they're going to rule no fumble they're going to rule him down at the point of contact and the ball goes over on downs and rose leaves the field and never looking much for big 75. here it comes folks will smith with the takedown ball did come out yeah but they even if they recovered it their knees were on the ground and it is fourth down so the ball goes over on downs either way you slice it the saints have the ball and just 92 seconds away from hoisting the state championship program state championship trophy for the first time in program history [Applause] woods takes a knee that's all they have to do spartans have only one timeout remaining [Applause] with the will smith the blue hair [Music] timeout [Applause] that's what it is [Applause] it had been a long time cedar grove played for the state championship back in 1991. they were 14-0 when they lost at cartersville that night and then they went 21 years winning only two playoff games in those 21 years until jimmy smith took over and tonight this afternoon he will record his 40th career victory and it'll be the biggest of his career no doubt there will be some celebrating in ellen rube tonight [Music] spartans can no longer stop the clock well you heard nikki noto tell you about the process jimmy smith learning from his mentors ray bonner and coach rump and all that hard work all those sacrifices when nikki was telling you the story that you know coach jimmy smith got his kids to buy in and said look man that means you're not going to be able to go out on some dates you're not gonna be able to have thanksgiving dinners you're not gonna be able to just go out and do whatever you want to when you commit to the team and you sacrifice for the team and it all pays off for jimmy smith and the cedar grove saints today what must be going through his mind right now the things he's thinking about as you mentioned his mentors the people who have taught him along the way you think about those things when you get to this point you you climb the mountain for so long when you finally get to the top you know you said man i'm here i made it that will do it ball will go over on downs that was fourth down so gac gets one more stab and dory johnson just did a cartwheel we didn't get a shot of that on camera but 6'5 327 natori johnson who's going to georgia as an offensive lineman watching number 72. right there watch this holy smokes whoa that's what's winning state that's what you know what that's what playing in this game and getting part of championship weekend is all about matt that's what makes this weekend so special and the spartans will kneel down and concede the moment to the saints the cedar grove saints of elohim georgia are the 2016 georgia high school association aaa state champions nikki coach we saw the dennis bell touchdown we saw the will smith sack the big fella to seal the deal and i think all of cedar grove is here to witness your first state title how proud are you of your team right now i'm very proud of the guys man it's a process they put the work in from the beginning it started four or five years ago it started with coach barnum man it's this cold community and you put a lot of work in man all right coach go enjoy it with your team congrats thank you so much wow sam 30 to 19 victory for cedar grove here today [Music] [Applause] they played in it in 1991 didn't get the win that year they get the win here this year beating greater atlanta christian 30 to 19 and a big celebration for dekalb county schools in general and cedar grove with a state title obviously cedar grove like i said one of the teams we watched from the outset of this season in the second week they lose the southwestern cap and say well maybe they're not going to be this team that people thought they were going to be because we knew about all the talent the offensive line it was that loss to westminster after the loss to westminster something really caught fire and ignited with this football team and it rolled them all the way in some impressive wins on the road when they went to calhoun two weeks ago and went another way they did very impressive last week another big impressive win at crisp and then to come here and win the state championship here in the georgia dome today a historic day for the school and for the football program at sea to grow well no doubt about it they were able to flip the switch after that loss to westminster finished the season on a 10-game winning streak the biggest win coming here in the georgia dome the final triple-a state championship game ever to be played in this building yep that's that's it the one in this building of course you talked about the heat and everything i'll be a little different next year there'd be a hole in the roof you know but the hope you're here for a few more games especially at night and tomorrow well no hole in the resume and state championship of the cedar grove saints as they celebrate and pose for the camera down there at the 50-yard line grant walker to me was just a huge story jimmy smith told us that grant walker one of the most underrated players that he's ever been around had a huge day today and really at the end of the game as all the momentum was in the spartans favor grant walker took this team on his back and ran them down the field and got that clinching touchdown he really did he didn't score the clinching touchdown but he put him in position touchdown with some very good running and holding on to the football you know they had some problems there in the second half there's some bad snaps you had fumbles you had interceptions everything was there to really allow great atlanta christian to come back and take this game he was one of the reasons walk was one of the guys who restored some order for the cedar grove team and they get the win you know in a disappointing day for greater atlanta christian their star quarterback davis mills ranked number one in the nation among many of the recruiting services headed to stanford got injured on the sixth play of the game a very unfortunate play it probably shouldn't have happened there should have been something done about that wasn't we'll leave that story right there but the disappointment is he didn't get to finish this thing off and play a full state championship and that's the disappointing thing a guy like him you know you know where he's headed next season in stanford he's having a great opportunity to come in here and finish a career the way you'd like to see guys like that get a chance get a chance to play for the state championship and so he got his team here despite an injury back in the first week of the season he was able to regroup with his team he got them into the game and to leave the way it did it leaves us it leaves all the with a bit of it with an empty feeling because we wanted to see how the cedar grove defensive unit was going to pair up against a guy like davis mills how about cedar grove though they finished the year at uh 13-2 on the year and i think you hit the money right on the head when after five weeks of the season if anybody would have guessed the saints would be the guys holding up the trophy here on december 9th i don't think you'd find many people probably not even some of those guys wearing the blue that would have thought that they'd be able to do that you know they really had to probably do a little soul-searching after losing on that second week to southwest dekalb and then losing week five to westminster wait a minute folks are we going to be able to pull this together i'm sure there probably was some team meetings uh and things of that nature that really got them all on the same page and got things rolling but this is the end result this is what you wanted before state championship and great luck you say for dekalb county because the cap county goes for another one later on tonight well cedar grove the state champions in aaa with a 30 to 19 victory over greater atlanta christian the 5a state championship game is coming up in about 30 minutes plus we're about half an hour away from roman buford playing for the 5a state title and then i'll be back later on tonight for tucker and valdosta in the 6a state championship game that's scheduled to start at 8 o'clock tonight i made it down to the sideline for the for the 4 30 against will be great congratulations to cedar grove let's send it down to mark harmon at the championship trophy presentation now to make the presentation of the class 3a state championships for 2016 first ever state championship trophy for this particular team and for that we turn the microphone over to gary phillips the executive director of the ghsa coach you had a great season that's a good great game you got your top assistant with you i know you're proud congratulations young man congratulations to you and here's our representatives from georgia farm bureau to present the award congratulations on behalf of georgia farm bureau and rock del decap county on your 2016 champs thanks a lot thank you coach congratulations coach or miles of smiles here from you your son the team here talk about what this means to you and your program first i'd like to say uh gsc is a very good team and thank you for competing so hard it's a big thing for the community it feels good for these communities guys how hard they work lonnie woods the quarterback of this football team is senior talk about winning this with this group of seniors it's just amazing we we had did bad last year we came out we didn't have dedication last year so we had a theme det dedication effort and toughness we played through it the whole year justin shafer you're sitting here with the trophy right beside you what does that mean to you as you graduate from cedar grove high school it means a lot to me and my family and my community the torrey johnson we saw you do a cartwheel out there as you won the state title talk about how you feel right now as state champion i feel very good i feel great and it's good for the community again it's great for my school i know the principles always happen i am ecstatic and i love my saints go saints all right coach it's just a great community thing i know the folks in ellenwood are very very proud tonight yeah they should be proud of us kids did great i'd like to give a shout out to my coaches man they did a great job this year sacrificed so much time for the guys the parents everybody did a great job all right the saints came marching into the georgia dome they go marching out the 3a state champions congratulations to cedar grove and now it's time for the gbb tailgate party with jackie britton