Football Fridays in Georgia presented by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, reminding you to park your phone while you're driving.

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As we welcome you to Tom Robinson Memorial Stadium in Suwanee for the second round of the state playoffs.

As the seventh ranked Lowndes Vikings have traveled north from South Georgia to take on the fourth ranked North Gwinnett Bulldogs and good evening, I'm Matt Stewart, joined by South Gwinnett coach Brian Lamar.

He's subbing in for Wayne Gandy.

Good to have you back in the booth, Brian.

It's good to be here.

I tell you what, both of these teams are 10-1 You are very familiar with both of them.

You're good friends with Adam Carter, the Lowndes head coach.

In fact, y'all both come from the Jeff Herron coaching tree.

Very familiar.

Eric Godfree the North Gwinnett coach.

They beat you last week in the first round of the state playoffs.

This should be a fantastic north south matchup here in the second round.

Yeah, should be a great game.

I know both coaches for a very long time.

They are going to prepare their players as good as anyone in the state.

Absolutely.

Let's talk about North Gwinnett.

They've won ten in a row since opening the season with a loss to Douglas County in the Corky Kell Dave Hunter classic.

They played a two quarterback system the entire season, sometimes even subbing out the quarterbacks between plays.

Banks Halcomb and Elam Rahman.

Elam Rahman has kind of taken over as the number 1 guy now.

Yeah, Elam Rahman has stepped up his accuracy over 1,100 yards passing, but 74% completion rate.

And he also has 16 touchdowns to one interception.

That screams efficiency.

12 for 17 last week against your team and threw for 184 yards.

And you hit the nail on the head.

They are just entirely, completely accurate.

They just don't throw incompletions.

They keep the offense on the field.

Over on the defensive side of the ball.

They're led by the coach's son, Jake Godfree, consensus three star in the class of 2027.

He already has 41 offers.

Yeah, you don't get 41 offers because of your dad.

You get it because of what you do on the field.

Over 101 tackles, 14 for loss, five sacks.

He's all over the field all night.

Super smart, super athletic.

Now the story with Lowndes.

This will be the fourth game out of the last five they played on the road.

They opened with seven straight games at home to begin the season.

They were 9-0 until they lost to their rival Valdosta in the Wintersville classic.

They bounced back from that emotional loss to beat Collins Hill in the first round, and they're led by a four star quarterback, Jace Johnson, who's rated as high as the number 2 quarterback in 2027 and already committed to Texas A&M.

Yeah, and Jason do it two ways with his legs almost 600 yards rushing 13 touchdowns and also through the air.

He's at over 1,000 yards passing and ten Futch ten more touchdowns in the air.

Absolutely.

And accounting for 164 yards of total offense per game and 23 total touchdowns.

And when they get short yardage and goal line situations, they don't sub in a big back because Jace Johnson is their big back.

Yeah, he's as athletic as you can get.

Tough guy.

When Adam first got there, he said he wanted to play defense.

He wanted to be a nickel.

Everybody wants a quarterback who has that defensive mindset.

Well, speaking of defense, let's look at Malik Reddick.

Their nose.

He's very concerning for the North Gwinnett offensive line.

He's already got five offers, including Presbyterian.

Yeah 15 tackles for loss, six sacks.

16 hurries.

He's in the middle of that defense wrecking habit.

So you got to account for him on every single defensive snap.

So Lowndes and North Gwinnett should be a fantastic matchup.

The third member of our team is Cody Chaffins down on the field.

The two head coaches tonight, Adam Carter and Eric Godfree know each other well.

They've faced off three times prior, but that was when Carter was the head coach at Grayson.

Of course, he's now at Lowndes and Godfree was at Parkview.

And to add another layer to this familiarity, the offensive coordinator for North Gwinnett Todd Faulkner, well, he was the OC for Carter back in 2018 when Carter was at Creekview.

And because these two know each other so well, Adam Carter told me he expects Faulkner to throw the kitchen sink at him in those first 12-15 scripted plays tonight.

It really turns chess into kind of 3-D chess.

Tonight, John Nelson and Nikki Nodo Palmer, they'll be keeping up with all the checkmates going on around the state in the second round of the playoffs.

They are back in our GPB studios.

John.

Nikki, are you hungry for some football?

Oh, Cody man, am I hungry.

This is amazing.

This is a special delivery from Adam Carter, straight from Valdosta.

Now.

John.

Yeah, I don't know if I'm going to give you half, but we'll talk about it at the half any.

I mean, come on now.

By the way, while Nikki will eat her helping and mine and maybe give us a food review of Adam Carter Stott chicken mac and cheese at the half one third of the matchup, around the state involved top ten teams.

And you know what?

We'll see if there are any Cinderellas.

We'll see if there's any food left.

Let's send it back to Tom Robinson with Matt and the coach for the first half.

Thanks, guys.

We are just moments away from the opening kickoff.

Please go to our QR code right there.

Pick the winner of tonight's game between the Lowndes Vikings and the North Gwinnett Bulldogs Brian North Gwinnett won the opening toss.

They deferred until the second half.

That means we will see Lowndes on offense to begin this game.

Yeah, we're going to see that Lowndes offense coming out with that balanced attack.

Keeping it in the air and on the ground.

We're going to see how it goes.

Yeah, I don't know that there's any team in 6-A football that likes to run the football more than Adam Carter and his Lowndes Vikings.

They averaged right at 261 yards rushing per game.

Yeah, absolutely.

They're going to do it with the quarterback.

They're going to do it with the running back.

And they might even motion a receiver every now and then to hand it to him.

You saw Adams record 24-9 in his third season at Lowndes.

But he is 20-3 his last two seasons after he got there, had to rebuild some things.

They went 4-6 that first year.

You're talking about a quick turnaround.

You're talking about a guy who's tough, has the mindset.

He's won the championship, has been a part of championship staffs.

He knows how to do it right.

And number 12 Gavin Yates-Lyons.

Tonight's opening kickoff is brought to you by Heads Up, Georgia.

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And we are underway as Brayden Clark lets it fly.

It's into the end zone, so nonreturnable, that means the Vikings will start at the 20 yard line.

And here's a good look at Jace Johnson.

Number 7.

Their junior quarterback 64210.

The things that strikes you coach when you're looking at him down on the field.

He is a tall dude.

Yeah very long very athletic.

That's what coaches want.

Guys that have length and speed.

And he's one of those guys.

Very athletic kid.

Excited to see what he does tonight.

Now a big piece to their story.

This year has been number 3.

The running back Mason Woods who's averaged 113 yards rushing per game 150 total for the season.

And he goes in motion.

They fake the handoff to him.

It's going to be a quarterback run.

And Jace Johnson is going to take about a yard loss.

Back in the 19.5 yard line.

Yeah try a little motion quarterback counter.

Trying to get it going early with the quarterback.

Great job by North Gwinnett.

Ethan Robinson the senior linebacker there to make the stop.

It's going to be second down and long.

Yeah really good job of North Gwinnett diagnosing that having their eyes in the right place.

Second year starter Jace Johnson.

He was a starting quarterback as a sophomore.

Clean pocket Johnson looks downfield fires in the middle and it's broken up.

Broken up by CJ Davis.

And let's take a look at the Breda Pest Management impact players coach.

When the Vikings had the ball.

Yeah Bubba Brown long athletic wide receiver.

Got a UGA offer last week.

Very explosive running back.

Mason Woods 1,200 yards rushing 15 touchdowns.

Super explosive for North Gwinnett.

You know Connor Coxwell the defensive end 65, 24023 tackles for loss.

And the big time corner Chauncey Davis.

He's committed to Southern Miss.

Yeah.

And we saw Chauncey CJ Davis just break up that last pass.

It's third down.

Johnson's going to run.

He's going to get stopped at the 19 yard line.

Great pursuit by that.

North Gwinnett defense.

Josh Jones who's a starting left tackle for them made that tackle on the defensive line.

Yeah.

Great job of getting him in the third and long situation.

Pressuring coming down and making the tackle.

He also saw number 75 Zach Lewis in there.

The Georgia the Georgia commit offensive lineman.

So they're they're throwing everything at him to start the game.

Evans Hawkins is standing deep for North Gwinnett to receive this punt.

And Jacob Madden who's averaging right at 30:08 yards per punt, boots it away.

Hawkins going to take it at the 44, and he's going to get run down at the 50 yard line.

Nice open field tackle by Simmons.

And that's where North Gwinnett is going to go on offense.

Good field position.

So they do a good job.

Coach with the three and out and they get great field position for the first time they touch the ball.

Yeah you can't you can't ask for a better script than that.

Three and out on defense.

Great energy in the stadium.

And then you start with the ball at the 50 yard line.

And there is the junior left handed quarterback Elam Rahman and coach.

You were right on the money 73.8% on his completion percentage.

That's just outstanding.

Yeah, he's well coached.

Todd Faulkner does as good as anybody in the state of Georgia preparing his quarterbacks.

Kalil Mazone is the running back next to him and a flag comes out.

Yeah.

One thing you're going to see from North Gwinnett, they do a great job of hard count.

Encroachment on the defense.

That penalty is 5 yards.

Still first down.

One of the best referees in the state Greg Norton working this game tonight with his wonderful crew.

That's a five yard Markoff against Lowndes.

It'll be first and five for North Gwinnett from the 45.

It's going to be a big story in the game.

Can they be disciplined on first down and third and third and short.

Do you go and take a shot here after you got a five yard penalty on first down.

Todd's going to stick to the opening script.

Wow.

Low snap and a quarterback sack on the other side of the 50 yard line.

It was a low snap for Rahman and he gets blown up right away.

Yeah, just a bad snap.

It was low.

Couldn't handle it.

And Lowndes Lowndes got some of that yardage back.

Actually gained a gain a negative 2 yards.

The cornerback Ty Jean Jennings made that stop.

And so now it's going to be second down and 11.

And encroachment again.

Yeah.

Coming across that line of scrimmage right there.

The pony Gavin Yates-Lyons.

On the defense.

That penalty is 5 yards.

Still.

Yeah that's going to be a subplot to this game.

I'm telling you he does as good a job as anybody in the state in terms of hard counting.

You on first down and long yardage to get that to to manageable down and distance.

See Adam Carter upset with that second encroachment penalty on the Vikings here on this series of downs.

So back to second and six.

Rahman out of the shotgun.

And that's the big tight end.

Max Patterson who was in motion behind the line.

They're going to hand off to Mazone.

Mazone hits the hole and gets down to the 43 yard line.

And coach, let's take a look at the Breda Pest Management impact players.

When North Gwinnett has the ball.

Yeah.

Number 75 Zach Lewis.

He's 64280 pound Georgia commit.

He's the one that gets everybody going.

Max Patterson 65 tight end six touchdowns.

And for Lowndes on defense Camen Upshaw the South Alabama commit and defensive end Garrick Harris 13 tackles for loss, eight sacks.

On third down.

Mazone gets the handoff.

He does not get the first down.

He gets stopped at the 42 yard line.

He's going to bring up fourth down and two.

Coach first big decision of the game.

Would you be going for it right here.

Yeah it's a tough situation I mean you really can't lose the way their defense is playing.

So they could go for it and then have an opportunity for a stop.

Or you can pin them back deep and continue to control that field position.

It's early in the game.

You know, I don't I don't like to make the decisions for those coaches.

I think either way, you know, one thing I know last week they went for it on us twice on fourth down and converted.

Well, they keep the offense out there on the field.

Fourth down and two.

North Gwinnett appears to be going for it.

Let's see if they try to pull him offsides.

That's Hawkins in motion.

And we have a flag come out.

And we did.

Prior to the snap encroachment on the defense, that penalty is 5 yards, resulting in a first down.

Adam Carter is going to blow a gasket.

That's the third encroachment penalty on Lowndes here in the opening minutes of the game, we'll step aside after North Gwinnett picks up the first down.

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Welcome back to North Gwinnett.

Taking on Lowndes.

It's time for the big check.

Our friends at Cigna making a $1,500 donation to North Gwinnett High School.

I'm here with Matthew Shapiro.

He is the ad here.

Excited!

What an atmosphere on a Friday night.

Yeah, no, this is awesome.

We really appreciate everything you guys do for high school athletics.

Thank you for coming out.

Love being at North Gwinnett.

Every time we get to come out here and appreciate our friends at Cigna, making the donation Matt.

All right.

Thank you Cody.

Time-out was called by Grayson after that third encroachment penalty.

Adam Carter called a time-out.

Just really wanted to get his guys settled down.

You're very accustomed to playing here.

You played here last week in the first round of the playoffs.

You scrimmaged against North Gwinnett back in the preseason.

In fact, coach Eric credited you for helping them evaluate and fix their running game after he said your team stuffed them.

Yeah, very, very familiar with him.

We scrimmaged him the last two years because we want to play against the best in North Gwinnett is definitely one of the best in the state, not only talent wise, but coaching wise.

Yeah, the time-out was called by Lowndes.

I think I might have said Grayson, but it was Lowndes.

Obviously pass is complete.

The Braylon Jackson and Jackson out of bounds at the 23 yard line.

A first down.

Yeah, you see the accuracy again.

We talk about he doesn't miss.

You got one on one coverage and the sprint out.

They love to sprint out.

And then just pinpoint accuracy.

Braylon with a great catch.

They're rolling now.

Yeah.

Braylon Jackson 37 catches for 606 yards.

Really a highly under-recruited wide receiver in my mind.

At six foot 197 he's been offered by UT Martin.

Yeah, just a strong kid, strong hands, great route runner.

And coach says he's a super physical blocker.

So first and ten for North Gwinnett.

Ball sitting at the 23.

Stephen Brown now in there at running back.

And so is Wilson Taylor.

They give it to Taylor and Taylor.

Not going anywhere.

Struggles out of the tackle and does get somewhere.

They had him behind the line of scrimmage and he got out of the tackle of Damarion Treadwell and got about four or 5 yards on the play.

Absolutely great individual effort.

Lowndes actually got guys there.

Three guys on the tackle.

He just refuses to go down.

That's championship effort and playoff games like this.

Those are the plays that make the difference in the game.

So Wilson Taylor Stephen Brown Kalil Mazone that's their three man running back by committee.

And all of them are really good.

It's going to be second down.

North Gwinnett on their first possession of the game has driven from around the 50 down to the 19.

Rahman runs up to the line.

And time-out's going to be called by North Gwinnett.

Time-out.

North Gwinnett, that's their first charge time-out.

So both teams have used time-outs here in the opening 4 minutes of the game.

Yeah.

Just trying to get in the best play possible I think you know you're in a tight game.

North Gwinnett you know tends to not make mistakes and shoot themselves in the foot.

You know Todd's going to try to get him in the best play possible so he can, you know, take advantage of this field position.

All right.

Let's take a look at the season summary for North Gwinnett.

As we mentioned off the top they are 10-1 They've won ten in a row since they lost their season opener at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The region 76.

A champs.

They went 7-0 In the region they ranked number 4 in the GPB top ten, number 7 in the GHSA, PSR for 6-A.

And they're 11-6 all time in the second round.

What do you think about the new playoff format?

That'll be instituted next year based on the PSR, the postseason rankings, rather than region standings?

Yeah, it's going to be different.

You know, just because something is new doesn't mean that it's bad.

It's going to be some a learning process with it.

But the good teams, they'll survive and advance and the teams that aren't so good, they'll probably get out early.

But it's going to be interesting.

I like some of the traditional stuff, but it is also a tradition that traditions must change.

So second down, coming out of the time-out by North Gwinnett Rahman low snap going to pump fake and fire into the line and got batted down.

Threw it low and it was knocked down by the Lowndes defensive line.

Let's take a look at the Johnny's New York style pizza starting lineup.

Your original neighborhood pizzeria.

And here's the Bulldogs up front.

Jones O'Dell, Bayer, Torres and Lewis.

The three star committed to Georgia.

The running back, starting running back Mazone and the wide receivers Hawkins, Jackson and Jackson, Braylon and Christian and Max Patterson is the huge target already.

NFL size tight end at 6:05 245.

So third down now following the incompletion.

Pass is thrown and it's going to be tossed to Zach Lewis on a hook and ladder.

How about that.

Yeah.

Great job of North Gwinnett breaking tendency.

They love to get into the empty set the quad set and then run the hitch into the boundary.

Huge tendency on tape.

And then they work off of that with the hook and ladder to the big fella.

That's amazing.

Pass completion to Walker Buice.

And then he tossed it to Zach Lewis who gets the first down first and goal at the six.

A jet sweep going to Hawkins.

He's going to cut back in the middle and Hawkins down to the two.

Hawkins with the Kirill.

Hawkins isn't very big, but he's a guy that you got to have an answer for.

Let's take a look at.

Johnny's New York style pizza starting lineup for the Vikings Harris Reddick and Vaughn up front.

You got Booker at corner, Harrison Martin and Treadwell at linebacker and Jennings at the other corner.

And on that back line, the ponies lion, Yates-Lyons and Upshaw and then Martin.

In the middle is the safety.

Handoff.

No fakes the handoff.

Touchdown!

North Gwinnett.

And there's a wrinkle.

Well he talked about at the beginning of the day that Todd Faulkner was going to have a plan.

You know he's going to stick to that plan.

So he saw a hook and ladder.

You saw a waggle right there on the goal line.

He's going to find advantage.

That goes to Ethan Robinson.

Who's their starting linebacker.

They put him in there on offense and throw a touchdown pass to him.

Yeah they're going to be as prepared as anybody in the state tonight.

I'm just going to tell you that.

But I expect the Lowndes County Vikings to fight back.

So we've already seen the right tackle take the ball on the hook and ladder.

We've seen the linebacker catch a touchdown pass.

So they've got some wrinkles in this game here for the second round matchup.

Yeah it just shows you what kind of athletes they got when you're tossing the ball to your right tackle.

That's unbelievable.

Brayden Clark with the P.a.t and a 7-0 lead for North Gwinnett in the first 5 minutes of the game.

So this is 44 Ethan Robinson.

He's their starting linebacker.

Yeah great job on the fake.

You got to be disciplined.

That's one thing you got to do.

You know North Gwinnett is not going to do things to shoot themselves in the foot.

But you have got to be disciplined.

They're going to be where they're supposed to be.

In terms of their their quarterback guys.

And if you're not where you're supposed to be, it's going to be six.

Coach, how big of an issue is that when you're preparing your kids and you're watching game film and the opposing team runs a player out there with a number that they weren't accustomed to seeing.

They haven't seen it on tape because they haven't done it on tape.

In that case, the number 44.

Yeah, I think at that point you're just trying to get lined up.

But you know, you got a heavy set that's a predominantly run set and guys are trying to stop the run.

Their adrenaline is pumping.

They're trying to get a stop.

And they just tend to not look in the right space.

Clark with the kickoff it's going to go into the end zone.

So once again, Lowndes is going to have to bring it out to the 20.

They've run only three offensive plays and they're down 7-0 Yeah North's doing a great job.

Here's the DBHDD and the new red ribbon 365 curriculum scoring drive nine plays 50 yards 3:39 Time of possession and a 7-0 lead for the Bulldogs here.

That's the first time these two teams have ever played here at this stadium.

The previous two meetings in the all time series state championship game and semifinals were both played at the Concrete Palace Down in Lowndes.

Handoff hits the hole quickly and Woods rumbles up to the 33 yard line.

He hit that hole really quick.

Yeah, a great job of getting into a big set.

And he changed it up a little bit.

Getting some bigger bodies in there and then hitting it downhill.

Just running old school power, trying to be physical.

Get something going.

After having a three and out.

Mason Woods is a guy that's waited his opportunity, waited his turn and getting it here in his senior year.

He has been really good for them.

180 carries, 1,250 yards and that was the backup tight end.

Elijah McCoy, who jumped.

Offsides.

False start on the offense.

That penalty is 5 yards still.

First down.

So that's the fourth time in this game they've had encroachment or procedure penalty.

They just got to calm down.

It's just nerves in a big game.

You're on the road.

They brought a great crowd out.

So he's got to calm down a little bit and play their game.

So first and 15 now as Jayce Johnson looks to the sideline.

For the crowd over here on the home side of the stadium, doing a good job of rattling things.

This stadium shaking over here on this side.

Handoff goes straight up the middle.

And not much doing for the Vikings on the run by Woods.

Let's take a look at the Johnny's New York style pizza starting lineup for the Vikings up front.

Eisenhower is a prospect young Hayes committed to USF Moore and Brown sophomore forced into action this year.

And he's really done well.

Woods is the running back.

Brown, Williams and Harris are the wide receivers and Weidinger is the tight end.

He's also been offered by South Florida, but Bubba Rounds, the guy that we've talked about prior to the game, a guy that could be a real difference maker, just picked up an offer from the Georgia Bulldogs when he was in Athens last weekend for the Texas game.

Woods goes in motion, Johnson retreating and throws it in the middle, incomplete, trying to throw it to woods in tight coverage, trying to go to Harris right there.

That was MaKameron Harris, who was the intended target.

And it's going to be fourth down.

Make that third down, third down.

Yeah, really good job of North.

You know putting the pressure but dropping back.

Everybody's matching routes.

Great job of picking up the crosser.

Tough tough yardage situation right here.

Third and long again.

Let's see what Lowndes can can draw.

They have not had a good third situation yet tonight right.

They've all been long.

Johnson steps up in the pocket now runs to his right directing traffic retreats and throws downfield and nearly intercepted at the 50 yard line.

Yeah.

Had an opportunity.

Looked like the ball.

The ball hit Bubba in the hands there.

We do have a flag down on the field.

Ethan Robinson with the pressure on the play.

The second play.

We have an receivers Neal by the offense.

That penalty is declined.

Fourth down.

Coach.

That's not uncommon when a play takes that long to develop, right.

Yeah.

They're just trying to you know right now they're kind of stumbling out of the gates.

You know North Gwinnett is doing a good job of rushing for dropping guys back into coverage, matching routes, keeping him in the pocket and not giving him a wide open throwing lane.

So they've got to just, you know, still early in the game, but North is super prepared right now.

Really impressed with their coaching and their kids execution of the game plan.

So Madden on the punt again.

He's standing at his 19 yard line and he booms it out of there.

That's a long kick going to chase Hawkins all the way back to the 20 yard line.

And a fair catch.

So Madden does a good job this time of flipping the field.

And we'll step aside as the Bulldogs get ready to go on offense for the second time tonight.

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Let's send it down to Cody.

Yeah, we saw one of those wrinkles we had heard about with Ethan Robinson.

The linebacker catching the first touchdown of the day for North Gwinnett.

Robinson only started playing football when he was in fifth grade.

He didn't play many sports when he was younger because his heart, he had a heart condition that kept him out of sports.

He said he picked football because his dad liked it and thought it might bring him closer.

Well, all of a sudden he's second on the team in tackles and just scored a touchdown in the second round playoff game.

Yeah, Ethan Robinson has really kind of been a lifeblood.

An infusion of energy on that defensive side of the ball as he lines up next to Jake Godfree.

He's been offered by Reinhardt.

Yeah, he's a tough kid.

Smart.

He's always where he's supposed to be, but he gets there with bad intentions.

But you can see he's pretty smart being able to put him in on offense and catch a touchdown.

So the Bulldogs on offense for the second time from the 20 and Rahman back to pass throws to his man streaking up, caught by Hawkins foot.

Race touchdown.

North Gwinnett.

I just talked about that on the last series.

On the jet sweep.

Hawkins is 55 but is as dangerous a receiver as there is in 6-A.

I'm telling you, he's explosive, can catch the ball.

It just seems like he's too small to be doing the things that he do.

He's like Superman, but the speed to get past guys.

But again, look at the accuracy.

He never breaks stride.

I mean, perfect position, precision passing.

You know for two quarterbacks to be able to throw as well as they throw.

You know you talk about you know Todd Faulkner I mean he is something that has to be being done there for those guys to be to be so good at that.

And North Gwinnett goes for two and converts and it's 15 to nothing.

Another wrinkle here by the Bulldogs who have spent some time working on the game plan tonight.

You know you know Adam was was concerned because we're similar on defense with a lot of things.

He was concerned that they almost had two weeks to prepare for their defense.

So you know what a shot I mean.

And again, the accuracy of that throw by Rahman, whether it's short, intermediate or deep, he's always on the money.

And Hawkins, as you said, when he gets in a foot race, very few people are going to catch him.

That's an 80 yard touchdown reception.

Yeah.

I mean, I mean, he's unbelievably fast.

And, you know, we did a pretty good job on him last week.

The scrimmage, he beat us and I was like, Holy smokes.

And after the season goes on he's a junior.

You don't have much info on him.

And all of a sudden you start seeing him catch stuff versus Norcross.

Him catch stuff versus Brookwood.

I mean, it's hard to get your kids to understand how 55 guy can be that dangerous, but he's showing you tonight.

Why?

So Lowndes got to wake up.

They're down 15 to nothing already.

Kick's going to be taken in the end zone.

Nonreturnable.

So they'll bring it out to the 20.

And so this will be the third consecutive possession that the Vikings have started at the 20 yard line.

Coach here's a look at the two point play.

Yeah.

So what they do they do the swinging gate a lot where they got some linemen to one side.

They got a snapper.

They got a quarterback and a kicker back there.

And because they didn't have the numbers, they just tossed it over.

That was Kalil Mazone who took it in for the two.

And a 15-0 lead.

So North Gwinnett very much awake.

Lowndes has got to wake up.

They haven't really gotten untracked yet.

They've had two three and outs on their two possessions.

Yeah, at Lowndes had the right idea on the last series.

Getting your big sets.

Let's run the ball.

Let's get some stuff going.

But the penalties just killed their drive.

So let's see what they do here.

They're going to fake a handoff to woods and throw.

It's incomplete.

Going to Weidinger the tight end.

It was broken up trying to throw it into tight coverage.

Mazone who's over there on the defensive side of the ball was in on that play along with Gist.

Yeah just the RPO slant over the middle.

They had had a tight window.

You got to make that catch.

Brings up second down and ten.

Quick pass out on the edge.

Is bobbled in the air.

That was nearly intercepted.

You cannot let that thing be popped up into the air with that many men in traffic over there.

Yeah they went with an empty set.

Four men into the boundary.

Tried to just toss it out there and get get some numbers and get some positive yards.

Right now they're kind of all over the place trying to find something that works.

This North defense is locked in and they're flying around getting after it.

So third down and long again I think all their third down conversion opportunities have been at least 10 yards so far tonight.

Handoff goes to Woods man.

He gets swallowed up and pushed back right away.

Coxwell was there to meet him along with Josh Jones.

Prior to the snap, encroachment on the defense, that penalty is 5 yards.

Still third down.

So that'll be the first penalty on the Bulldogs.

Yeah, and a big one at that.

So now it gives them a third and third and third and short third and medium.

So we'll see how Lowndes responds to that.

Third and better than they've had all night.

Yeah.

How about that.

Yeah.

They've been shooting themselves in the foot.

They've just got to calm down.

Let the game come to him.

There's plenty of time left.

Again.

Vikings showing empty backfield set on this third down and five.

Weidinger goes in motion.

So does Harris.

So does Taylor.

And now Woods sets back their Woods is going to go out Johnson clean pocket stumbles and falls down at the 22 yard line.

Lost his footing and it's going to be fourth down.

Yeah.

Great.

Another great job in coverage.

You know North is showing blitz but then they're dropping guys and they're matching routes.

And it's really frustrating the quarterback right now those guys are dropping out of there picking up guys.

There's no clear lanes and trying to run.

And he just loses his footing.

So fourth down and nine with the ball at the 21.

Third punt for Madden already tonight.

Heavy rush.

He does get it out of there.

Fair catch called for by Hawkins.

He makes it at the 40.

And so the Bulldogs will have good field position for their third possession of this first quarter.

Yeah they're there.

They got a masterpiece going right now in terms of defensive stops.

Field position and moving the ball methodically on offense outside of the huge play they got on the last possession.

There's a lot of pressure on the Lowndes defense right now because they cannot surrender another score right here.

Correct.

You don't want to get down three scores to these guys.

So first and ten for North Gwinnett.

Ball at the 40 yard line.

Rahman still in there at quarterback.

They have not flip flopped their quarterbacks yet so far in this game.

Handoff goes to Stephen Brown and Stephen Brown gets 3 yards on the play.

Stephen Brown.

That was Gavin Yates-Lyons the pony who comes up and make the tackle.

He's committed to Ball State.

You just got to keep fighting.

You know hopefully they can get a negative yardage play or stop to try to get get themselves a breather and get off the field.

North's rolling.

What's ironic is this North Gwinnett team really struggled offensively in their first three games of that Brookwood game.

They really kind of took off when they beat the Broncos by 23 points.

Handoff goes to Stephen Brown first down.

Brown and Moore Brown still on his feet.

Still moving.

Brown finally all the way down to the 32.

My goodness.

Yeah, great job up front.

Opening the hole and then the individual effort to burst through that hole and then break the tackles and keep the feet moving.

It's a simple counterplay.

Finding the guard, putting his foot in the ground had a few guys unblocked, but did a great job of sticking his outside foot in the ground and getting vertical.

We talked about getting vertical yards instead of running horizontal.

That was the second time tonight they either had Brown for a loss or short gain, and he turned it into a big gain.

Yeah, they got people in the right place, but you're seeing some tremendous individual efforts by these backs.

Run by Rahman right up the middle on the quarterback keeper.

And he gets eight on the play down to the 26.

Yeah North's doing a great job of mixing it up.

Faking outside plays and running inside.

You know it's a masterpiece going right now in terms of, you know lining it up and getting it going.

They gave him six on the play.

So second down and four for North Gwinnett already up 15 to nothing.

They've scored on each of their first two possessions in this game.

Yeah Lowndes got to figure out a way to get a stop.

He's got to keep fighting and hopefully the ball can bounce that way.

But right now, I mean North's doing a great job of protecting that football.

Handoff goes to Kalil Mazone and he's close to the first at the 24 about a yard short.

It's going to bring up third down and one.

For the Big Short.

Kalil Mazone seven offers including Toledo Army and Bowling Green.

He's rushed for 714 yards this season.

Yeah, very physical runner but has great speed.

You know he's physical because he goes over and plays some linebacker as well.

Yeah six foot 206.

That's a hard guy to bring down on third and one.

The push forward and close to the first down depending upon where they spot this.

And it looks like Lowndes comes up with the ball.

Lowndes comes out of there with the football and they've got the turnover.

So a big turnover right there.

Just what Lowndes needed as Damarion Treadwell ends up with the ball.

Yeah we talked about it.

He's got to keep fighting.

You know they needed something positive to happen.

You know it's the only thing about you know being in shotgun and then getting under center to do the quarterback sneak.

You know I always keep my fingers crossed whenever we go from being in the shotgun most of the time and then going under center because that exchange sometimes is just it's tough.

You got to practice that and get comfortable with it.

Didn't look like Rahman ever had control of the ball.

Yeah, it's tough when you do it every day under center.

It's routine, but when you're used to catching it in the gun and then going under center just for one play a game, it's tough.

Let's see if Lowndes can do something with it.

Now they're going to throw it out of the tight end.

And Weidinger took the handoff then threw it downfield.

They try their own little wrinkle that goes incomplete as the ball was intended for Thomas across the 50.

Yeah, Thomas was actually open a little bit, but the ball was just just not thrown.

North had a guy back there in the vicinity I mean, he's throwing the kitchen sink at him, just trying to find some way to get stuff going.

But they've got time.

He's got to find a way to get first downs, keep their defense off the field and keep North's defense on the field.

The key here is not to panic.

Don't abandon your game plan.

Right.

Yeah.

You can't do that.

And that's just stick to what you got going.

Second down and ten and the play gets blown dead.

Prior to the snap false start on the offense.

That penalty is 5 yards still second down coach.

That's going to be the fifth penalty on Lowndes here in this first quarter.

Three of them have been encroachment and two of them have been procedure penalties.

Yeah.

And I know Adam Carter is is just as frustrated as anybody in this stadium because it's just details that's killing him right now.

You know just discipline, just being locked in and being focused.

They got to find a way to get some of these yardage back.

You got to kind of settle down here.

This was, you know, this big trip for them.

They stayed overnight here in Atlanta.

Went and saw a movie, went out and ate, stayed in a nice hotel.

This is all new experiences for some of these players.

Handoff goes to Bubba Brown I think that's Bubba Brown on the carry.

So maybe it's going to be Harris trying to check the number that was Harris MaKameron Harris on the sweep, and he was able to get back to the original line of scrimmage, going to bring up third down and ten.

Yeah, just power Reed they kind of reading the end man on the line of scrimmage and they got the look.

They wanted to hand the ball off, but again North setting the edge.

Guys hustling to the football.

They're flying around having fun at home right now.

Really locked in on defense.

So another third and long for Lowndes.

Jayce Johnson looking firing.

Gets the ball to Bubba Brown.

And Bubba Brown's going to pick up the first down.

And more.

And that's what you got to do.

You got to get the ball into the hands of your playmakers.

Yeah made a play right there.

And they actually only rushed two players.

You know they dropped nine players on that deal and just ran a nice underneath route.

You can see the the big fella the Georgia commit tried to reroute him but it's actually a screen.

And so they had perimeter blocking on the outside.

Great job of executing.

So first and ten is the Vikings pick up the first.

And Jayce Johnson breaks out across midfield.

And all the way down to the 39 yard line.

First time we've seen a chance for Jayce Johnson to get out there and stretch his legs a little bit.

Yep.

Trying to play fast.

Just quarterback power.

No following that tight end.

Got lead blockers and just running downhill.

And if the Vikings can get to this part of their offense they'll be okay.

Johnson fires and it's going to be caught down to the 24 yard line.

Goes Zion Walker.

Well Adam talked about having to switch tempos and try to play a little bit fast at times, but you got to get a first down to do it and they haven't been able to get first downs, but now they're rolling.

So first and ten from the 24 yard line, Jayce Johnson looks for a hole and runs through it down to the 18 yard line.

He goes.

And that's what you got to do.

You got to keep that defense on the field.

And high school kids, college kids, NFL players, they all will make mistakes the longer they're on the field.

You know, the higher percentage you have of getting something positive to happen.

Second down and five ball sitting at the 19 yard line.

And that is going to be the end of the first quarter, one quarter in the books.

It's been all North Gwinnett, but Lowndes is coming back 15-0 As we head to the second quarter here in the second round of the state playoffs.

Let me know if I can help you with anything.

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Well, that shirt's not local.

You should be wearing cotton.

Georgia is a major supplier of cotton worldwide, so if you'd like to buy local to support Georgia, buying cotton is a great place to start.

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As we head to the second quarter, North Gwinnett leading Lowndes 15 to nothing but the Vikings driving for the first time tonight.

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With you here at Tom Robinson Stadium in Suwanee, Vikings have it at the 19 yard line to start this second quarter.

Handoff goes to number 21.

Braylon Neal first carry of the night for him, and he's close to the first down at the 15 yard line.

Yeah they're trying to pick up where they left off.

Running the football coming off in the big sets.

Just trying to keep that defense on the field.

Going to bring up third down and one with the ball.

Sitting at the 15.

They get Mason Woods back in the game.

Their center Benjamin Corey committed to USF.

He's rated as high as the number 5 center in the country 2026.

And the alpha red zone Woods trying to bounce it outside.

He's in trouble.

Going to take a big loss back at the 20 yard line.

And it's going to bring up fourth down.

Yeah you got greedy there.

Just should have you know took what the defense gave him.

Instead he tried to make a bigger play.

And what you don't want to do is run side to side against this North Gwinnett defense.

You know should have just went vertical right there.

Went sideline to sideline.

And that defense is flying around negative yardage play.

That was Ethan Robinson who caught the touchdown pass in the first quarter.

He was the first guy there on the tackle.

Here's Aiden Andrews.

This is going to be a 37 yard kick from the right hash.

Well within his range.

Kick is on its way.

Plenty of distance and the kick is good.

Aiden Andrews four or five on the season coming in kicks.

His fifth field goal of the year.

And it's 15-3 Yeah, it's good for Lowndes to get some points on the board.

They probably want it more.

But again that negative yardage play really put him in a position where he just had to go ahead and kick the field goal.

But a good drive finally had an opportunity to move the ball.

Found some success.

Some things they can talk to their kids about and kind of get them going.

Another look at it right there.

The holder Jacob Madden and the snapper Eli Edwards and Andrews is true.

He's one of the best kickers in the state.

He's true from 37 to get him on the board, make it 15-3 I thought on that third and one, if they got to a fourth and one, they'd be going for it right there.

Yeah, it's the negative yardage play that takes away your options.

You know, once he gets to a point where you got to get five 5 yards on a fourth down, let's go ahead and take the three points.

So North Gwinnett receiving for the first time tonight Mazone and Taylor standing deep for the Bulldogs.

Huge possession coming up right here from North Gwinnett.

And it's going to be a short kick.

It's going to be taken at the six yard line.

Great return by Taylor down the sideline.

Still on his feet.

And finally out of bounds near the 50 yard line.

He caught that thing in a hurry.

Line drive kick set up for a really good return.

And Wilson Taylor gives it to him.

Let's check in with Cody.

Yeah we saw Bubba Brown that third down conversion on the last series for Lowndes really sparked the Vikings offense after the game against Collins Hill.

It was Jayce Johnson who dropped a great line.

He said when in doubt, Bubba it out and that seemed to work for them right there.

Jayce Johnson and Bubba Brown, a junior and a sophomore, spent a lot of extra time on the field together, said sometime coaches have to tell him, hey guys, just rest a little bit.

Yeah, Bubba's already got 12 offers as a sophomore.

He's going to be way up there in the recruiting rankings and have a lot more offers.

By the time he gets the next year.

Yeah, it's good athlete as there is in the state.

He's also a great basketball player.

As Rahman gets down to the 43 yard line, Bubba has five basketball offers, including Auburn, Missouri and Florida State.

Yeah, you're talking about a sophomore.

So you know that list is going to grow.

Randolph Wilson Taylor gets driven back.

This time.

It's the pony Gavin Yates-Lyons who's there to stop him.

They're going to bring up third down and short.

Unless he picked up a first down right there.

Yeah he did pick up the first down.

Yeah he got plenty of yardage.

You know again running power getting downhill being physical.

You know the defensive line for Lowndes isn't very big.

And North Gwinnett is just using their size advantage right now.

Yeah Malik Reddick six foot 250 and that nose spot.

But then you got the defensive ends Garrick Harris and Marcus Vaughn.

They're really linebackers playing defensive end.

First and ten.

Stopped right there at the line of scrimmage.

And that's what Lowndes got to do.

They got to win first down.

You know get as little yardage as possible on first down.

Get him in second and long second and medium and then try to stack plays on top of that.

North North came out with the right kind of attitude trying to move the ball down the field quickly and and get something going.

That was the stacked linebacker.

Izzy Harrison making the stop right there.

Second down and ten.

They played the 33 stack.

Same defense that you play at South Gwinnett.

Lowndes does the same thing.

When we get a moment kind of explain what the thought process is behind this 33 stack second down and ten.

Pass whipped it in there and dropped Braylon Jackson it was thrown behind him that time.

So tell us about the 33 stack.

Yeah, it's a multiple defense.

We you know we come from that Jeff Herring 33 stack deal.

He was always wing-t and 33 stack.

And what happened was me and Adam both evolved to a three high safety deal.

So we got the three high safety deal with some of the three stack stuff.

You put athletes all over the field and it helps you when you don't have a lot of d-linemen.

They use that a lot.

Started doing that when you were at Tucker.

Third down and ten.

This is going to be a halfback pass downfield caught inside the ten and down to the two yard line.

Another wrinkle out of back in the playbook by Todd Faulkner as they get it to Mazone down inside the five to the two.

Yeah I mean talk about being a big time play caller.

It's not just a play.

It's when you call the play perfect timing, great execution.

What a ball.

I mean he put it up so he can just run underneath it.

You talk about accuracy from the quarterbacks I mean we got receivers out here with accuracy.

That was Christian Jackson the junior wide receiver who threw that pass on the double pass.

Obviously that was a backwards pass to him.

Rahman going to hand off to Mazone.

Mazone going to get down to the half yard line.

Yeah I don't know what kind of drills they're doing at North Gwinnett, but everybody's got pinpoint accuracy.

Unbelievable.

I thought you made an interesting point when you and I were talking about that before the game, and you gave a lot of credit to Todd Faulkner, the OC, for that.

Yeah, I mean, he's development is is making him have quick decisive reads.

But the accuracy comes from drill work footwork.

You know, those guys do it and the kid's got talent obviously.

But he's doing a good job.

And you've seen the receivers doing it now.

So it's unbelievable.

Second down and goal handoff goes to Mazone.

He gets in for the touchdown 21-3 Yeah you can't ask for a better response than that.

You know Lowndes goes down tries to get some momentum.

North gets the ball just gets the ball at the 50 yard line.

And then capitalizes.

And we talk about the size advantage.

Just leaning on those guys.

The Lowndes guys are fighting.

They're fighting their butts off.

But I mean you're talking about calling a trick play and then then just deflating your your defense.

Let's see if they try another trick play.

They did it once already on the Pat and got two after their second touchdown.

Now they'll kick it Banks Halcomb who is the number 2 quarterback is the holder right here.

The kick is up and the kick is good.

And it is 22-3 Wow what a start by North Gwinnett.

They put 22 points on the board in the first 16 minutes.

They lead by 19.

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North Gwinnett out to a stunning 22-3 lead just 4 minutes into this second quarter.

They are wearing out Lowndes right now.

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It's been a tough deal here for Lowndes.

Looks like they're moving a step slower than North Gwinnett right now.

I know they're not, but it just looks that way with the speed at which North Gwinnett is playing this game right now.

That's going to be another kick return nullified by the kick of Brayden Clark, who's had nothing but touchbacks so far tonight.

As we take a look at the Lowndes season summary 10-1 They were Co-champs and one 6-A going 4-1 lost out on the tiebreaker.

That's why they're the number 2 seed.

Number 7 in the GPB top ten.

They were number 2 in the PSR for 6-A.

And we'll explain what that would have meant.

And their one loss 23:14 at Valdosta and the Wintersville Classic on Halloween night.

So first and ten for Lowndes.

They've got to get some work done here.

Weidinger the tight end in motion behind the line, and the handoff goes to Mason Woods hits the hole hard and Woods gets about 7 yards up to the 27 yard line.

He's got to figure out a way just to brave this storm.

If they can get something positive going on this drive.

They need a touchdown because North Gwinnett hadn't slowed down yet.

So Lowndes being the two and the PCR.

Had this been next year, that would have meant they would have been in the playoffs at home for the entire playoffs all the way through the semifinals, provided they keep on winning.

Of course.

Yeah, the PSR is going to be interesting.

It's going to be some people that are going to get some good breaks, and it's going to be some people.

That.

Wow.

That play got blown up by Kalil Mazone.

He took out two Lowndes Vikings at the same time.

That's a huge play, a negative yardage play.

Looked like they had something going.

They tried to toss.

He got vertical beta blocker.

You got to love it when you're when your running back is over there.

You know it's just a sacrifice on the team.

Everybody's doing doing their part.

Third down and long.

That was Zion Walker the blocker wide receiver.

He took him out and the running back Mason Woods all at the same time.

Prior to the snap.

False start on the offense 5 yards.

Still third down.

Penalty number 6.

The third procedure type penalty for the Vikings.

Yeah, they got to get themselves going.

But the selflessness of North just the culture where your running back is playing linebacker.

Where your offensive tackle is playing defensive line, where you've got two quarterbacks who are who are working together in unison and other linebacker goes and catches a touchdown.

It's it's a it's a beautiful thing.

Guys working together.

Well coached great group.

Yeah they got four starters on offense playing on the defensive side of the ball too.

They got guys going both ways.

You don't often see that in 6-A football and Jayce Johnson that was Kalil Mazone again, what's gotten into him?

Two huge plays on this series as Mazone drops Jayce Johnson as the punting situation for Lowndes.

Yeah, again, they were just going to rush three and drop some guys and he dropped and then and found a quarterback.

So Lowndes goes in reverse on this series.

And now Madden is punting from his five yard line.

This first half has been a disaster for the Vikings.

Hawkins lets it go over his head.

It's going to bounce.

And finally be downed at the 27 yard line.

And that's where North Gwinnett will go on offense with 554 to play here in the first half, and it has been all Bulldogs to this point.

You look at the total yardage, 203 yards of offense for North Gwinnett on 22 plays.

Lowndes has run 21 plays.

They have only 79 yards.

Yeah, it's a dominant performance right now by North Gwinnett.

They had one drive that they gave up to Lowndes and Lowndes got a field goal out of it.

But besides that, I mean, it's been all North Gwinnett.

And coach, this will be the first time we've seen Banks Halcomb coming at quarterback.

Like we said, they play two quarterbacks.

They have not deviated from that plan the entire season.

They haven't stopped doing it even here in the playoffs.

Handoff right up the middle.

Let's check the flag.

That was just a keeper.

That was not a handoff.

That was Halcomb on the quarterback run right up the middle.

And there's a penalty flag on the play.

Halcomb is a big kid.

If you're down there on the field, that's the first thing that jumps out at you.

Here's a sophomore who's a big kid.

He's already been offered by Georgia State.

He's not even the starting quarterback yet.

Yeah, he's a big, strong kid.

But you know both quarterbacks do a great job running.

So they are dual threats.

You know they're kind of pro-style just from their their their athletic profile.

But they do a great job of running the ball.

You know you put him in the game instead of you know starting him off throwing the ball.

You get his blood pumping by running the quarterback counter.

They've got a plan for getting both of these guys rolling.

Yeah, 63180 sophomore.

Handoff out to the outside edge.

And that's going to be close to the first down.

As Mazone runs up there near the sticks.

Forced out of bounds.

And actually that was not Mazone on the carry that time.

It was going to be Stephen Brown.

Yeah.

Just the old school sprint draw right there mixing it up.

They have a tremendous luxury with these three backs.

I mean, and I think you hit the nail on the head just a few moments ago.

It's the unselfishness of this team that really makes them click.

Correct.

A lot of teams guys say, well, I'm just the offensive guy.

I'm just the defensive guy.

And guys say, I'm going to do whatever it takes for us to win.

You can tell that they they enjoy doing it.

You know.

We saw them a couple of weeks ago against Norcross.

I walked away from that game convinced that they could win a state championship with this team.

Halcomb faked the pitch and he picks up about three on the play.

You know, a lot of people in 6-A, they're talking about Grayson, and rightfully so.

Buford, as they always do.

Carrollton.

Not a lot of people talking about North Gwinnett, but I think they've got the mix.

I think they got a team that can compete well.

We talk about it's all about getting hot at the right time, you know.

Can your team play well on offense?

Defense, defense and special teams at the right time of year?

And North Gwinnett is really clicking right now.

Second down after that run by Halcomb.

Running a jet to Hawkins and the play gets blown up by the flag.

After the snap, false start on the offense.

That penalty is 5 yards.

Second down.

So one of the few times tonight, Brian, that the Bulldogs have been behind the sticks.

Yeah behind the sticks a little bit.

So we'll see what they got.

You know playing to try to get some of this yardage back.

But right now they're playing with house money.

Indeed 223 lead now under 5 minutes to play here in the first half.

It's a big possession Lowndes can find a way to get a stop here before the half and and not get down any more points.

It'd be great for them.

Halcomb being chased and Reddick got him back at the 20 1 yard line.

Look at the athleticism of Malik Reddick.

Well, we talked about at the beginning of the game.

You got that guys in the middle of the of the defense.

And he's vertical right now.

He's got 16 hurries and six sacks from a nose guard position where they have the opportunity to double team him.

You just saw his quickness and athleticism right there.

Big time defensive play by Malik Reddick 46 total tackles on the season 13 TfL six quarterback sacks.

They moved him from D in to inside to nose this season.

Dropped a little weight.

And you can see his athleticism is apparent.

Yeah and that's what you want to do is get these guys in long distance long down and distance where your speed and athleticism can come into play.

But when it's when it's medium distance, they can run or throw when you're in bad shape.

Whistle.

Tried to delay of game time out North Gwinnett.

That is their second charge.

Time-out of the half.

So the Bulldogs will have one remaining.

When we talked to Eric Godfree this week, he kept talking about Malik Reddick.

They were really concerned about his presence in the middle of that defensive line.

We'll step aside as the Bulldogs talk things over.

The Georgia Environmental Finance Authority presenting Georgia's Home energy rebates, the initiative assists eligible households seeking energy efficient home improvements.

Details are online at energy rebates.

Dot.

Football Fridays in Georgia on GPB is brought to you in part by DBHDD and the Governor's Red Ribbon Campaign.

Celebrate life live drug free.

Half of the nation's opioid overdoses happen right at home because people don't understand the dangers of taking an oxy or perc with a glass of alcohol for stress or to sleep.

Learn how to protect your family from opioid overdose at Opioid Response Info.

Welcome back to North Gwinnett, where the Bulldogs lead Lowndes 22-3 We've talked a lot about the two way stars for this North Gwinnett team.

One of those is number 75 big offensive lineman Zach Lewis.

He's a three star offensive lineman who's committed to Georgia.

And he's always going to go to the Dawgs.

Grew up a big dogs fan.

What held off his offer for a little while was his size.

Stacy Harris, the O line coach at Georgia, said.

You got to get bigger.

You got to see a bigger.

Since he's been at North Gwinnett, he's gone from 214 to now, 286, and he has that Georgia offer.

He said to gain some weight.

He went on a 5,000 calorie diet.

Wow.

The kind of diet I'll be doing this coming Thursday man.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Game 58 pounds.

He's a third year starter and there's a drop in the backfield.

Good pursuit by the Vikings defense right there as they come up with the third down stop.

Yeah good stop.

Great stop for Lowndes.

They didn't need to give up another score and really get this game get way away from him.

Now they got a chance to chase some points before the end of the half and get themselves some momentum, get their kids feeling good.

It's a tough trip coming up from South Georgia.

Yeah, it absolutely is.

They came up yesterday.

Most of the team came up yesterday.

The most important players.

What I mean by that they're all important players.

But the guys that are going to play tonight came up yesterday.

And then the rest of the team, kind of the JV players who kind of fill out the sideline, they came up today.

Yeah, it's so tough mentally to get off your routine.

And like you said, they started the year with so many games at home.

CJ Lewis or CJ Davis.

Chauncey Davis is the punter and he gets a huge bounce and it rolls dead.

Finally at the 12 yard line.

That's just an athlete kicking the ball.

Their punter Liam Hughey suffered a small fracture in his collarbone.

So he's out.

So CJ Davis takes over as the punter.

It's just the instructions are get the ball and kick it as far as you can.

And that's what he did.

Yeah.

And sometimes those guys are hard to hard.

It's hard to feel punts from guys that don't normally punt in a regular guy because you don't know where it's going to go.

It hits the ground and starts to roll, and now you've got a huge punt.

So Vikings go back on offense.

Way back.

They spotted it at the 15.5, so they got a long way to go.

And 255 to get their.

Play action Jayce Johnson being chased stumbles out of there still on his feet and steps out of bounds at the 23 yard line.

Yeah, he's got to take your time.

You know, you just don't.

You can't.

You know, you don't want to try to get it all at one time but got some positive yards you know had a shot play.

Didn't take the shot but was able to scramble and get a pretty good game.

Got nine on the play.

So second down and one.

Main thing is patience here.

You never know when you'll get a turnover a big play.

So just take your time.

You don't want to give the ball back to north quickly.

Johnson retreating throwing in the middle incomplete.

Trying to get the ball to Weidner across the 50 yard line.

They're tight end Waylon Whiting Jr., who threw a pass earlier in this game as Lowndes tried a little trickeration themselves.

It's going to be third down.

Yeah, second and short is a great time for a shot.

Play safe.

You know you still got a third and short you know thought he had a shot.

Took some time.

You know safe throw.

Now you got third and short.

Handoff goes to Mason Woods and he is going to get the first down as he crosses the 25 up to the 28.

That's it.

Just get the chains moving.

They're going to try to get set and snap it fast.

Under 2.5 to play in the half Vikings do have two time-outs remaining.

Heavy rush Johnson eludes it from Coxwell scrambling now.

And he's going to get to the line of scrimmage and gain a couple of yards on the play.

But he was running for his life almost immediately upon snapping the ball to him.

Yeah, but that's where the athleticism comes along.

Instead of being a negative yardage play, you know he's able to elude a rusher, sidestep and then make something out of nothing.

Yeah, that was Connor Coxwell who has 18 offers who got in there quickly on him.

And now it's going to be second down Johnson straight quarterback run right here and he gets a couple on the play to the 34.

Now the clock is at 1:34.

Yeah they're doing a good job of getting positive yardage positive plays trying to get the chains moving.

But eventually he's going to run out of time.

So they got to they got to get some chunk plays at some point here.

Johnson in trouble.

And they're going to sack him back at the 32 yard line.

Connor Coxwell was there to make that tackle.

And Jake Godfree got to him too.

Yeah they've been doing a good job of showing pressure and then dropping.

But this time they actually showed the pressure and sent the pressure on third down.

And again they're just doing a great job of mixing it up right now.

Great job of mixing it up.

So the Bulldogs now use their last time-out to keep Lowndes from just killing the clock.

So North Gwinnett is going to get the ball back with about a minute to play.

And especially the way they've been returning the ball and the things that they've been doing, they might, you know, have a chance here.

Connor Coxwell, 18, offers Middle Tennessee and at Austin Peay, 65, 240 senior Jake Godfree was in on that play as well.

Yeah, Connor's got 23 tackles for losses and he blocked the punt against us last week.

Just super athletic.

You know, doesn't have a ton of sacks.

But with 20-3 tackles for loss and obviously he's super disruptive.

And coach Godfree said they probably don't get to the quarterback as much as they would like to, and kind of attributed that to the fact that he doesn't feel like they're a very long team.

They got great athletes, but they're not exceptionally long on that defensive line.

Yeah, but sometimes you don't need to get sacks if you're pressuring.

And look how they're covering like tonight.

They're not they're not they're rushing three a lot of the times.

And then getting sticky in coverage.

So there's getting incomplete passes.

The point is to get off the field.

You know you can have a bunch of sacks and then guys hitting you for big plays all.

The time.

Right.

So Madden on the punt again.

Gets it out of there.

Hawkins won't make a play on it.

And it's going to be downed at about the 23.

And that's where the Bulldogs will go on offense.

61 seconds left in the half.

They don't have any time-outs remaining.

Yeah, Norfolk probably just you know, try something to get the ball going, see if they can get a chunk play and then really get it going.

But no, no reason to take any risks right here.

They don't have an exceptionally strong kicking game from a field goal standpoint.

They have in the past.

Brayden Clark is a decent field goal kicker, but not great range.

So probably got to get it real close.

If they were going to try something like that.

Yeah.

And they get the ball to start the second half.

So just don't shoot yourself in the foot.

Rahman back in there at quarterback.

He is going to go to the air retreating and throwing.

And nice catch.

And that is Christian Jackson with the catch.

And close to the first down.

He's got the first down at the 33 I believe.

But there's a flag down.

Roman Brock.

Number 1.

Looks like North Gwinnett in retreat.

Holding on the offense.

That penalty is 10 yards from the previous spot.

Still first down.

So that'll back him up even further.

I would expect it at this point for them to be very safe with the ball, as they've gone backwards inside their 20.

Yeah, and that was a good job man.

They they ran some vertical routes but really just wanted to hit the check down.

Hit the check down and almost got a first down.

But the holding call again when you got quick defensive linemen like Lowndes it's hard to maintain those blocks.

So they'll put it down at the 13 yard line.

Stephen Brown gets the handoff and Brown up to the 22 yard line.

That was Jennings the corner.

Who comes up to make the tackle gets a lot of it back.

So now it's going to be third down and ten.

Yeah second down.

And ten.

Yeah.

That's what you want to do.

Get a junkyard chunk yardage running the ball get play with a little tempo and see what you can get.

If you can get some explosives and you can get the ball snapped and get it rolling.

Down to 23 seconds left in the half.

Second down and long.

Rahman fires it.

It's going to be caught by Jackson up to the 40 1 yard line, but they don't have any time-outs left.

Clock stops long enough to set the ball and set the chains.

They'll get up there and let's see if they spike it right away here.

Clock running again.

And they do spike.

It stops the clock with 2 seconds.

Yeah.

Last week when we played them they got the ball at about the 40 yard line or so.

Had 20s left in the game.

Took a shot, made a one handed catch and tried a field goal.

Yeah.

And they didn't make the field goal.

But you know you're talking about a 21-10 game going into the half.

And they don't like to just concede.

You know they're going to try to find a way to get those points.

So they don't put a second back on the clock.

I thought he spiked with two.

But they're going to say he spiked with one.

So time to run one play here.

Time out Lowndes down.

So Lowndes calls the time-out.

They want to make sure they're all on the same page.

Playing a deep center field.

Don't give anything up big.

Yeah, that's the main thing.

You just don't want to.

As long as you tackle him in bounds, you can get back to the locker room, try to get everybody, you know, back on the same page and try to get a game plan to come out and attack the second half.

You just don't want to do something stupid and allow them to get a touchdown or, or something right here before the end of the half.

Exactly.

On this defensive play, it's pretty simple.

Just don't let him score.

Don't let him score.

You can let him.

You can let him get 40 yards 50 yards.

Just don't let him score.

Yeah.

Just tackle him in bounds.

Yeah.

And don't get a penalty.

Like don't get anything stupid.

Don't want to run into the quarterback because all of those things you want to go over with those guys because you don't want to get roughing the passer.

And now you get 15 yards.

You got to play an untimed down, and now you got to do it again.

And so just want to cover all your bases, make sure that the ball is caught in front.

And everybody rally to the ball.

And let's get him on the ground.

So 22-3 what's going to be the message for Adam Carter in the locker room with his guys.

We got a whole 'nother half man.

You go back and you try to tell him hey it's 0-0 Let's win the second half, you know, and then see how things go.

So here you go again.

1 second left in the half.

Rahman deep drop Vaughn sounds fires deep.

Got a man out there and it's going to be intercepted deep inside the 15 yard line.

And returning back the other way.

Ball is still alive.

And that will be the end of the half.

On the pick by Anthony Martin.

His fourth of the season.

So a positive end to the half for Lowndes as they get the pick to end the first half.

But it's been all North Gwinnett.

It's 22-3 Bulldogs as the teams go to the locker room.

Yeah great.

Job by North.

You know they started they started quickly with a three and out couple of scores.

You know Lowndes did get a drive together where they got three points out of it and North fired right back.

So now both teams got to get get in there at halftime.

Get some plans together.

But they both got a chance to to get something going.

Coach's interview is brought to you by Johnny's New York style pizza.

Your original neighborhood pizzeria.

Here with.

Head coach Eric Godfree.

Coach, I think we saw a hook and ladder to an offensive lineman.

We saw halfback pass.

We saw a linebacker catch a touchdown.

Everything's worked.

Why get so deep in your bag tonight?

Well, because coach Carter Lowndes do such a great job.

And we knew it was going to take a big effort to to find a way to win.

Of course, we got, you know, 24 more minutes to go finish this game.

Yeah.

You talked about it up 22-3 But how do you close this thing.

Out right.

Yeah.

It's just you know you've got to put on more steam.

You know it's not enough.

You know that that play.

If you do great it's not enough.

You got to put on more.

So we got to keep keep plugging.

We're doing a great job up front.

Moving the ball defense is doing, you know flying the ball like they normally do.

Appreciate it coach.

Good luck in the second half Eric Godfree the head coach of the North Gwinnett Bulldogs who are leading 22-3 over Lowndes trying to close this thing out.

What's going on across the rest of the state?

John and Nikki will have the update from the GPB studio.

DBHDD is launching Red ribbon 365 a year round alcohol and drug prevention curriculum for Georgia schools and families from kindergarten through high school.

Students learn to make healthy, drug free choices with fun, age appropriate lessons and monthly activities.

The curriculum can be downloaded for free at Red ribbon 365.

I said I never joined.

Never knew I was strong.

I was joining the Navy.

Sounds crazy.

Zain never actually is.

All right.

What do you think?

Jasper honestly, I think that polyester shirts affecting your game.

What?

I think cotton would have been a better choice.

Cotton.

And it's come a long way.

You know, nowadays, cotton breeze and wicks moisture.

Great.

Plus, buying cotton means supporting Georgia farmers.

I think that's wonderful.

Okay, sure.

But what do you think about the putt?

Oh, I it's really hadn't thought about it.

Football Fridays in Georgia on GPB is brought to you in part by Georgia's EMCs.

So much more than electricity.

Hey there.

Welcome into our football Friday in Georgia halftime show presented by Georgia Access.

We're bringing health insurance home.

Hey there everyone, I'm Nicki Noto Palmer.

This is John.

Mr.

Bracketology Nelson.

And we're live from midtown Atlanta at our GPB studios.

We're currently in round two of the playoffs, where we're showing Lowndes.

They travel to North Gwinnett.

And John, the halftime score right now the Bulldogs are on top 22-3 North Gwinnett is cooking right now.

I see what you did there.

Yeah you see what I did there because I have some lovely mac and cheese now.

The Vikings, they had a positive pick to close out the half that was Anthony Martin.

So there's a little positivity.

They still need to find the rhythm.

But here's the thing.

They can cook.

Yeah Adam Carter can cook.

Most certainly.

And this is what he makes guys.

This is mac and cheese right there.

This is a hot chicken mac and cheese special delivery straight from Valdosta.

Brought it up with him and got it at the team hotel last night.

And Nicky's the one eating enough for both of us.

Only because John can't.

Because of the dairy.

Yeah, I can't quite.

Do that.

So I'll take one for the team.

Yes you will.

Vikings.

They're still in this, though.

Yeah they are.

And you're seeing some some fits and starts, obviously.

I can't wait to see what Adam Carter tells Cody.

Chaffins coming out for the third quarter.

And as once again, Coach Godfree said, look, you have to treat the second half like it's 0-0 I think Adam Carter can sit there and go, okay, we got three scores in our hip pocket.

You're seeing some things that are working.

Defense is working a little bit, but right now you're seeing the dominance from North Gwinnett on both sides of the ball and going to the back of the playbook to do it.

All right.

Let's take a peek at some of the scores that we have in the spot.

Shadow tonight two pages worth right now.

And this one has gone to the half back and forth Houston County was down by 14.

It's now tied at 20:01 at the break.

Cartersville rolling.

It was 36-0 after 140 3-0 late second quarter Fitzgerald.

This one's now in the third at the Shamrock Bowl leading that one by 14.

Brookwood and Valdosta at Bazemore-hyder Valdosta with the lead by ten.

Thomasville and Toombs.

You figured this one was going to be tight.

107 at the break.

Raven and Barion were following the number 31.

They're down 20-1 at the half.

Jackson County won their first ever playoff game last week.

Can they make it two in a row?

They're up three at the intermission.

Langston Hughes they were tied at seven.

Got to 2110.

That one is in the second quarter.

Grayson and Colquitt that one's 107.

Second quarter Carrollton rolling.

It was tight early there by 31.

Second quarter a couple of things really quickly Nikki a couple of other scores.

We're keeping an eye on Walton up 42-7 against East Coweta Gainesville shutting out Brunswick on the coast 21-0 and Lagrange and North Hall Lagrange's defense and coach Napier keeping north Hall pinned in 14:13 at the break.

Wow.

Well, we'll definitely keep in check with those scores coming up in a little bit in our halftime show.

But right now, our signature moment is brought to us by our friends over at Cigna.

Opioids and overdoses are sadly on the rise in our Hannah Goodin has more on the growing crisis.

Opioid abuse is on the rise here in Georgia, and overdoses have spiked since 2020.

Kirk Erickson, Cigna Healthcare general manager for Georgia and Alabama, is here with tips for parents on how to protect their kids.

Kirk, this topic is so important.

How serious is this crisis?

It's very serious, Hannah, and it often starts very innocently.

You could have properly prescribed medications that come in a 30 day supply, but the reality is one in five are actually prone to addiction.

After just ten days of use.

So even though the opioids might have been prescribed properly, it's the access to them that can lead to improper utilization and then addiction exposure.

So how does this affect our kids?

What should parents do?

Well, if you think about it, it could be a child who accesses leftover pills again from a properly prescribed situation with a parent.

A child may have had wisdom teeth that were removed.

There could have been a car accident, so maybe they were prescribed directly to the child.

It's once they get on them and once they start them, it can be really difficult to get off of them.

So we want to make sure that we're watching for symptoms of maybe backing off of normal relationships that they're in, maybe not having the, the normal energy that they have, and maybe just feeling like they're hiding things from their parents.

How can viewers help opioid smugglers even more?

Well, so talk to your doctor.

There's a lot of help that's out there.

And I think a really great thing is that behavioral care has been destigmatized.

You can get access to care from the privacy of your own home.

So let's make sure that we're encouraging folks to get the care that they need.

And if you know that you're struggling with this, it's not a sign of weakness to ask for help.

Raise your hand and say, I need help.

I'm struggling, and there's going to be people who want to step up and help you.

This is life saving information.

Thank you so much for being here.

My pleasure.

Thank you.

If you would like more information on the opioid crisis, please visit cigna.com.

Thanks, as always to our friends from Cigna for the signature moment that we have here on GPB and Football Fridays every week.

Time to catch up now with our friends from the Heads up, Georgia campaign.

And next Friday is going to be a big holiday week.

The end of a holiday week for us when it comes to round number 3 of the playoffs.

But a lot of folks are going to be doing a lot of traveling.

You're going to see a familiar face discussing that very topic with our friends.

From the Heads Up Georgia campaign.

Welcome back.

Time to find out more information.

About child passenger safety.

Hanging out with us is our friend, Niki de la Concha from the Georgia Department of Public Health.

All right, look, we know Thanksgiving holiday time.

It's a crazy time to be on the roads.

Why is it so important that child safety seats, they're looked at and they're inspected on a regular basis?

Why?

That's right.

So the roads are going to be a little bit crazy, because there are so many people going to travel.

So it's very important to make sure that car seats are appropriate for that child's age, height and weight.

And because kids do tend to grow, we need to make sure that we're checking those occasionally to make sure that they're still fitted properly and that that car seat is still installed properly in the vehicle.

And you can also get free checks of the car seats.

Right?

Yes.

So we always have in different locations in different counties, places where families can go and get their car seat inspected and make sure that that child is in the proper car seat.

Now, what about.

Resources parents can use to make sure that they're making the right choices.

So they can go to nassar.gov slash seats for the state of Georgia specifically, we have GA highway safety.org, which is a website where you can get a lot of information on child passenger safety.

And that is the Intel that you need for child passenger safety.

Great to hang out with our friend Niki de la Concha Nazario from the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Enjoy the holidays.

The Heads Up Georgia student video contest has come to a close.

And now we need your help in picking our winner.

To vote, watch the playlist at gpb.org/sports and like the videos you want to win.

And that's always fun to see how the students around the state of Georgia really invest their time and want to take our jobs someday, and they're certainly going to do that with the Heads Up Georgia campaign.

And the PSA is always great to see them work their way through.

And thanks, as always, to our friends from Heads Up Georgia for everything they do here at Football Fridays.

Absolutely.

That was great information, especially as we go into the holiday week for families.

We're going to take a quick break, but keep it right here on GPB because when we come back, we'll have our youth save at pharmacy.

Georgia Player Spotlight.

She's got a great staff.

She's got a phenomenal forehand.

She has the talent, but she could sit on her talent and not grow it and she wouldn't be near where she is because she chose to put in the work.

She will reap the rewards at the end.

She's always wanted to win and she's always had that drive to do so.

And if she didn't, she wanted to know what she could do to get there.

But to be at the top of your game and still have room to grow and have college scholarships already on the table, and more interested, that's a big accomplishment.

Welcome back to the Football Friday in Georgia halftime show presented by Georgia Access.

We're bringing health insurance home John.

It's halftime between North Gwinnett and Lowndes.

The Bulldogs are leading right now 22-3 We have our first final of the night in and it's from the coast.

Calvary day over Kings Ridge 56 17.

So Calvary Day awaits.

The winner of Aquinas and Whitefield Academy low left in your bracket.

And the winner of that one is going to go to the coast to take on Calvary Day.

So Calvary Day is your for they're waiting to find out who their opponent is going to be in round number three, and it's time for us to catch up with our you save it folks.

And I think that there might be some golf involved here.

Absolutely.

And it's on our player.

Spotlight is on Mason Howell from Thomasville, Georgia.

Check this out.

He is the 2025 U.S.

Amateur champion John.

And he is a senior at Brookwood School.

Mason played in the U.S.

Open this past year, and he is poised for a decorated career.

Mason is an elite talent due to his work ethic and how he manages his time.

And wants to win.

He's not out there for a participation trophy, I can promise you that.

It was awesome playing in front of a crowd like that and playing against some of the best players in the world and players that I grew up watching, that was a crazy feeling.

It's something I never really thought I would be doing.

He doesn't get wrapped up in, you know, success.

He's always looking forward.

We've been super blessed as a family that we get to watch Mason live out his dream as playing golf, because it's all he's ever wanted to do.

For as long as I can remember.

Him winning the U.S.

Amateur now makes him the third youngest to ever do so.

Thanks as always to our friends at U-save at pharmacies for all of these great features.

You can watch the full length features on their YouTube channel.

And I'm not jealous or nothing.

With all of that golf going on in that last particular package, now it's time to catch up with our friends at Georgia EMC for one of the loudest, most participatory, cooperative Spirit sportsmanship awards you will ever see.

And for this visit, we go to Lowndes.

EMC and 35 other participating Georgia Electric membership cooperatives.

Congratulate Lowndes High School on winning the GHSA Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award.

This award honors schools that exhibit exemplary sportsmanship during competitive events.

Only one school in each region in each classification is chosen to receive this annual award.

The GHSA takes into consideration all aspects of sportsmanship, making the award a tribute to the entire community.

Colquitt, EMC and Georgia EMC are excited to sponsor the cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award.

We're excited to present this award to the Lowndes High School Vikings for their outstanding sportsmanship in all sports areas.

Congratulations!

Go Vikings!

Introduced in 2006, this award reinforces the GHSA philosophy that everyone associated with high school activities, from athletes to spectators, should adhere to the fundamental values it represents.

Our goal this year is to lead with heart and strength in order to build a legacy.

So to me, being awarded this just means that our kids are doing the right things on the field as well as in the classroom and in our community.

Winning this award.

We are honored because it is a testament to our one Lowndes mentality.

You know, we pride ourselves on not just being good at the major sports, but everything.

It's exciting to be able to show other people beyond our community what it means to be part of the one Lowndes family.

This community really has a lot of buy in.

The energy is always in the room when we have our students in, in the schools or on the field, and to be able to showcase that across the state of Georgia really is something we're very proud of.

Georgia EMC in the 36 participating Georgia Electric membership cooperatives are proud to sponsor the Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award.

Congratulations to the Lowndes Vikings community.

Told you there was a lot of folks and a lot of horns.

All of that in a lot of words that you said.

No doubt I am the polysyllabic king of pedantic ism this evening.

How about that?

Who texted you to get that word in anybody?

The boss.

She always does.

Oh, amazing.

John's getting going.

You know what, John?

Here, I've got some smelling salts for you because Bracketology is coming up.

Yeah, I'm not going to break them.

Out yet.

This is.

This is about to be the last block of the halftime show coming up.

So John's about to get ready.

Keep it right here on GPB.

We'll be right back.

Yes.

Sir.

You wouldn't take a call during the big game.

Oh hey what's up man.

You wouldn't be texting while cheering on your team.

Jacket.

And you definitely wouldn't want to watch a video while marching with the band.

So why would you drive a car while distracted?

Driving isn't a game when you lose on the road, it could lead to a crash.

So when you get behind the wheel, put the distractions aside, drive hands free, and save lives.

Heads up Georgia.

Georgia's 41 electric cooperatives are anything but static.

Since the flip of the first light switch, we continue to innovate as the demand for energy increases.

Emcees draw from a wide variety of resources to generate electricity, from natural gas to nuclear power and renewables, so that we can reliably power tomorrow.

We're harnessing the current to satisfy the future.

Georgia's EMCs so much more than electricity.

Welcome back to our football and Friday halftime show presented by our friends over at Georgia Access.

We're bringing health insurance home.

What you guys didn't see was John over here doing some lunges and burpees.

He's getting ready John.

Let's go ahead.

Let's get into it.

We're going to start at the 6-A bracket.

Let's go with the express.

Let you know what's going on.

We know the scores.

Upper left down low left.

Hillgrove is leading at the break over West Forsyth Walton blowing out East Coweta.

One of the big surprises on the night.

Also on the board North Cobb was shutting out Douglas County early.

And then Buford and Newton.

Let's go to 5-A Statesboro Woodward Academy figured that one was going to be tight Thomas County Central leading against Villarica.

We've got Roswell, Clark, central, Newnan, and Sequoia.

Sequoia was leading that one as the number 1 seed.

Shocked, obviously, with what's going on with Gainesville leading down on the coast, Houston County and Rome.

I think somebody just scored, even though they're still at the half.

That game is going to be going on all night.

Let's go to quad, where County was trailing Creekside early on, Lithonia blowing out Centennial.

That one at the half.

Cartersville has now 50 on the board at the break southwest of Cabin Kel.

That one is tight.

Keeping an eye on Cambridge and central of Carroll.

Central Carroll winds.

They make it out of region three as the champ, Benedictine and Cass, keeping an eye on that one.

BT and Marist MLK was tight early with North Oconee.

North Oconee now leading in quad, a AAA, Jefferson and Harlem, Troup and Caro Caro leading down on the swamp.

Peach County with a number right now on Jenkins, they are leading West Laurens.

They're up 25-7 That one is in the third quarter, late Sandy Creek beating Monroe area.

Calhoun the last time that they will have the Reeve as it is currently constructed.

The last player walk.

They invited a lot of players to come back and be a part of everything there.

That one's fun as well.

Keeping an eye on North Hall, and that one's a one point game.

AA Carver, Atlanta and Pierce Carver Atlanta was up 28 14 in the second.

Also on the board charter and Appling.

That one was a one score game.

Second quarter there you've got Carver, Columbus and Stevens County, Callaway and Thompson once again, that's a one score game as well.

Burke County leading Columbia, Laney and Rockmart keeping an eye on that one.

Let's get into class A Division one.

Heard County was winning Fitzgerald winning shutting out Dublin.

That's big as well.

Keeping an eye on northeast Macon and Swainsboro.

Northeast Macon was leading that one.

Toombs and Thomasville.

That one's tight.

Worth County Bleckley.

That one is tight.

Elbert and Gordon Lee once again, that one is tight.

Elbert County trying to win on the road.

Jasper County and Pepperell, Raven and Berrien.

That one was 21-0 Third quarter.

Come on out.

We'll save the other two.

Class A, Division two and private.

Once again, we have our first final score on the private side, Calvary day.

Your for advances and they wait low left to take on either Whitfield Academy or Aquinas.

Nobody else does it better.

We're going to have that and a whole lot more in our post game show.

So after the game, stick with us right here on GPB.

In the meantime, we've got a second half coming up.

GPB sports broadcast of this game is made possible by supporters of the GHSA, including the National Federation of High Schools.

Trouble.

What.

Are.

Come on.

Oh, what a bad call.

You have no business being out there.

Terrible.

You know, I'm a person to.

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The start of the third quarter at North Gwinnett and the Bulldogs leading Lowndes 22-3 here in the second round playoff game.

Time now for our halftime interview.

It's brought to you by Johnny's New York style pizza.

Cody.

Hey.

Here with Adam Carter, head coach of Lowndes.

Coach penalties seem to be a factor in the first half I think six and just procedural.

What do you attribute that to?

Yeah, you know we just talked about that.

You know what I mean.

That's just a focus thing.

You know I think that's a kids trying to trying to do.

Right.

You know what I mean.

Trying to make a play trying to do, you know, be the physical part, trying to get ready to go and just not the focus part.

So we've had some conversation about that and hopefully we got it fixed down.

19 heading to the second half.

What message did you want to get across in that locker.

Room that we will not quit?

You know what I mean?

We got to take the scoreboard out of it right now.

We've got to start a climb back.

And the only way to climb back is to go one play at a time.

If you're only focused on the result and you're only focused on the scoreboard, that process of making a comeback is not going to happen.

Right?

So we just got to take one play at a time.

Our kids got to go find a way to make some plays.

Hopefully I can put them in some good spots to help them out.

Appreciate it coach.

Good luck in the second half.

Adam Carter, the lounge head coach trying to bring his boys back from behind.

Yeah, it's tough task right now.

They're down 22-3 Coach.

As we take a look at those first half highlights.

First possession of the game.

Rahman two yard pass to his linebacker Ethan Robinson.

Yeah we talked about selflessness and making plays.

And then.

The second possession 80 yard touchdown.

Pass to Ethan Hawkins.

They got two.

It was 15-0 Lowndes got a field goal.

And then back to the trick book.

The double pass.

And Jackson downfield.

Dropped it right in the basket for Kalil Mazone who then just took it in for the touchdown.

And that's where we stand right now 22-3 getting ready to start the third quarter.

Yeah.

North Gwinnett couldn't ask for a better half.

You know they started the game started the game with a three and out and a good methodical drive for a score.

Came back, got another stop.

Got an explosive play and then dialed up a trick play right on time.

Is going really well for them.

But that's why you play the game.

You got to come out.

You got to maintain that.

Because just like that, you can turn it over or give up a quick strike and then be in a dogfight.

240 1-96 on the total yards and the penalties.

It's only been 30 yards of penalties against Lowndes, but it's been the timing of the penalties.

They've been like paper cuts.

They've been bleeding to death on paper cuts.

Correct.

And the penalties just stalled their drives, you know, and didn't let them get started.

You know, once they got their drive started they moved the ball every time they got a first down.

But you know, just just getting stopped before you get started is killing them.

So we'll see if they're able to do exactly what Adam Carter told them there at halftime.

They were late coming out of that locker room just right before we did the interview.

They were just now coming out of the locker room.

So apparently Adam had a lot to say to them there at halftime.

Yeah, well, I know Adam Carter and he's getting after guys in that locker room trying to motivate him.

Not just tearing them down, but telling them, hey, man, you know, we look who we are.

Look what we did to get here.

All right?

Believe in yourselves.

Let's get the second half going.

Second half kickoff is brought to you by heads up, Georgia.

Park your phone while you're driving.

It saves lives.

So here are the Vikings set to kick it off.

Aiden Andrews has it teed up at the 40.

And the third quarter is underway.

This is going to be nonreturnable.

So the Bulldogs going to start at the 20 yard line to begin the third quarter.

So if you're the North Gwinnett, we talked a lot about Lowndes.

If you're North Gwinnett you've got the 19 point lead.

What's your approach as you start this third quarter?

Coach 0-0 You know, the best way to start it is as if the game is is just knotted up and go about your business.

If you try to sit on the clock or protect the lead and it's not going to go well.

So they're going to come out and just play their game.

Rahman five of eight for 128 and a couple of touchdown passes in that first half.

And he has played all the series here tonight except for one.

Stephen Brown is going to start the third quarter at running back.

And he's going to take the handoff.

And Stephen Brown gets swallowed up at the line of scrimmage right away.

Yeah.

Good job allowance.

That's what you want to do right there.

Get a stop early.

You know get him in some long and manageable down and distances.

That was.

Caden Allen making the tackle for the Vikings.

Going to bring up second down and nine.

Brown splits out to the far side.

Rahman looking to that far side.

Scrambles and throws deep down field and incomplete.

Trying to get the ball to Hawkins at about the 35 yard line.

Step for step coverage right there by Gavin Yates-Lyons.

It's going to be third down.

Yeah.

Huge third down coming up right here.

This is what we're talking about.

Lowndes can get some momentum going right here.

Getting a stop and then getting into some good field position.

Bulldogs only two of five on third down.

Unfortunately for Lowndes, they just haven't had a lot of third downs.

Rahman heavy rush steps up in the pocket and fires behind his wide receiver.

Incomplete.

Threw it a little bit behind the intended target right there.

And that was Taran Ryan Taran, the senior wide receiver.

It's going to be fourth down.

Yeah.

Great job of coverage.

They got away with a late hit right here.

They could have got got a huge penalty right there.

Luckily not to get a personal foul.

But you know that's what we're talking about right.

That's what that's what Adam Carter was talking to his guys out about halftime.

Hey let's just fight and see what happens.

So that's a good job there.

Going to get some good field position and you know, we'll see see what happens.

We'll see if they can get a big play out of Bubba Brown, who's standing deep to return this punt.

And KJ Davis is set to punt.

It standing back at the six.

And just does get it out of there.

It's a short kick that's going to hit at the 43 yard line.

So great field position for the Vikings.

They sent a heavy rush.

And that forced Davis to kick the ball straight up into the air.

Yeah great job with the pressure.

Now they got the ball.

On the plus side of the 50.

And and have an opportunity again.

North Gwinnett can't get comfortable.

They can't be relaxed.

That's what we have time sometimes can be your biggest enemy.

You got great momentum.

And then you go in there and you can get two different teams come out in the second half.

Jayce Johnson just two of eight passing for 33 yards was sacked three times in the first half.

Going to run a reverse.

The ball goes to Williams.

Khalil Williams Johnson out there blocking for him and Khalil Williams is going to pick up the first down.

How about Jace Johnson, the quarterback blocking out on the edge?

Yeah, talk about that selflessness.

You know it looked like he was going to get blown up in the backfield from the penetration.

But way to stick with the play.

Being an athlete out athlete guys.

And then blocking on the perimeter quarterback putting his shoulder in there and trying to help out.

Now Jace Johnson's going to run it himself and he gets stopped at the 25.

Picks up four on the play.

He said you.

Got a man down on the field for the Vikings as a flag down on the field as well.

That's Jace Johnson, the quarterback laying face down on the ground.

Now he's up on his feet.

The play personal foul on defense.

That penalty half the distance to the goal.

First down.

Personal foul on the Bulldogs.

That's the first time in this game coach.

We've had anything other than a five yard penalty.

Yeah.

And that's a big one you know.

North Gwinnett got to figure out you know how to rally right here.

They don't want to get get the momentum going for Lowndes right here.

They need to really figure out how to get a stop.

They've got a great kicker.

So they might give up three points.

But they don't need to give up a touchdown here.

So Lowndes in good shape.

They've got it first and ten at the 18 yard line.

Direct snap goes to Woods.

And Woods going to battle his way down to about the 13 yard line.

So Jace Johnson after getting shaken up on that previous play, they run Wildcat to Mason Woods and he gets about four on the play.

Yeah, for.

So Cody says they're trying to flush his eyes.

Maybe some of those pellets.

Maybe from the artificial turf, maybe bounced up in his eyes or something.

Something happened over there.

Direct snap again to Woods and Mason Woods gets down to the 12.

Now they got Jace Johnson coming on the field after he missed two consecutive plays.

That's a that's a bad break right there to have him come off the field in this situation.

Yeah they had to revert to doing the Wildcat stuff was really they had some momentum going you know and that that was tough having him off the field here.

Now he comes back on.

You do have a third a third and manageable.

And you still got the field goal kick.

But you really need to get a touchdown and get the big points here.

Vikings and the Alpha Insurance red zone.

It's third down.

Handoff goes to Mason Woods again.

Mason gets inside the ten and down to the eight.

He's going to be close to the first down.

But he's a yard short.

What do you do here coach.

Oh they were going.

It was it was.

They were two downs right there.

They already when you see them run the ball right there you know they're not going for the field goal.

They were they were already thinking we're playing for two downs here.

Indeed they are.

It's fourth down and one a big fourth down here early in the third quarter as Lowndes tries to get back in this game.

Woods back in the wildcat formation.

Direct snap to him and he is going to get close to the first down.

Let's see where they spot it.

He might not have it depending upon the spot.

It looked like he got it on the second effort, but it was a great initial charge by North Gwinnett just just the physicalness.

We might have a measurement.

They're going to bring the chains out.

Looks like we're going to get.

Okay.

He's going to bring the chains out here on fourth and one.

Did he get enough to pick up the first down.

Our man Darrell is right down there on top of the play with his camera.

And you'll know here soon enough.

North Gwinnett gets a stop here.

That's a huge stop.

And like you said, with the quarterback being out for two plays at the beginning of that, of that that first down.

Looks like it's short.

Oh yeah, it is short.

Ball goes over on downs as Lowndes gets stopped on fourth and one inside the ten.

Bulldogs on offense.

When we get back.

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North Gwinnett leading 22-3 just got a big fourth down stop.

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Matt Stewart coach Brian Lamar in for Wayne Gandy this week, and Cody Chapin's down on the sideline or Emmy Award winning GPB team here with you.

And it started raining coming down pretty good.

Now after that fourth down stop coach.

Yeah and that that we're going to kind of see how that that rain affects both teams.

You know it'll keep you from throwing it.

So to keep lounge from able to get some explosives and get him back in but it also could keep North from expanding that lead.

So we'll see how they handle it.

So the Bulldogs take over after that stop.

They have it on inside their own ten yard line.

Handoff goes to Wilson.

Taylor shrugs off one tackle but not that one right there as he gets dropped right away by Malik Reddick.

Yeah it also can make the ball slippery.

So you know ball security is going to be super important for both teams.

And we'll see how that how this rain affects the passing game.

It's been an extraordinarily warm day here for November 21st in the city of Atlanta.

It was up to 78 degrees.

Today.

It's down in the 60s now as the rain is starting to come down pretty good.

It's not a downpour by any means, but it's coming down at a pretty good clip.

Second down.

Rahman throwing and low throw is caught by Braylon Jackson and Jackson struggles to get up to the 17 yard line.

And that's going to be close to a first down.

It is going to be a first down.

It is.

So first down for the Bulldogs as they throw it from their goal line.

Yeah, just a routine hitch route.

Strong hands.

And again he's such a strong player.

He's hard to tackle.

And he gets those extra tough yards.

So first and ten ball at the 17 yard line.

We go under 8 minutes to play here in the third quarter.

It has been all Bulldogs tonight since the opening two possessions.

Yeah Lowndes was threatening there but huge stop by North Gwinnett.

Handoff goes to Mazone and Mazone gets it across the 20.

Picks up a couple of yards on the play.

It is a simple counterplay.

Just getting behind those linemen and getting as many as they can.

And second and medium he's got to figure out a way to to get some stops.

They got to get the ball.

Yeah, time is not on their side.

So they got to figure out a way to to get a stop and get a turnover and get a negative yardage play.

Yeah.

What they really have to be careful with this here.

Coach is not letting North Gwinnett go on a long drive and eat up a lot of time.

Correct.

And then get a score at the end of it and shut the door on him.

And a time-out is going to be called by North.

Gwinnett their first charge.

Time out of the half.

So 657 to play in the third quarter.

And a third down second down coming up here for North Gwinnett.

Yep.

Good time-out.

North just didn't want to do anything to shoot themselves in the foot.

Let's get our guys over here on the sideline.

Let's talk to them.

Let's get our best play.

You know they got a you know that second and six second and seven.

You can go either way.

You can get a negative yardage play and get you in third and long.

Or you can get something positive going and get you into a third and short.

You have all kinds of things.

So just don't want to be in a situation where where you screwed this deal up.

Let's take a look at the top prospects for the North Gwinnett Bulldogs.

They have 33 stars, 14 players with college offers led by Zachary Lewis.

The three star interior offensive lineman committed to Georgia Chauncey CJ Davis dad, played at Florida State, played with the Atlanta Falcons.

He's a three star corner, committed to Southern Miss.

Jake Godfree, the coach's son, three star junior linebacker, 41, offers Connor Coxwell edge plays Dean 18 offers Max Patterson the junior tight end has 15 offers.

For a complete rundown of all the prospects, you can check out my blog at GPB dot.

Top prospects to watch in tonight's game.

Got a complete rundown of everybody with an offer?

Pass is thrown to the edge and out of bounds.

They get the stop.

Actually, it's going to be third down right there.

That doesn't quite have the stop.

They got to get one more.

Yeah.

It went to one of their favorite favorite pass concepts.

Just a regular smash concept short guy in the flats corner route behind it.

Sprint out.

But then you saw some inaccuracy here, which I'm thinking, hey, that might have to do with the rain.

You know, all of a sudden I'm not as sharp as they normally are on that deal.

Right?

Rain has subsided, maybe even stopped now, but the ball is no doubt still wet.

It's going to be third down and long.

Now for the Bulldogs.

Wilson Taylor now in there at running back.

Fake the hand off to him.

Rahman was hit as he throws.

And it's going to be incomplete as he tried to get the ball deep downfield to Patterson.

The tight end is going to be fourth down.

Yeah good pressure.

Had a twist game going from the boundary and then they matched it up with the middle safety.

The three high deal.

That's the positive about this defense.

You can match up to all of the patterns.

You can send pressure from different areas.

You know a great job of executing again twisting to the boundary and then being able to match that free safety up on that tight end coming down the middle of the field.

Good series for Lowndes.

Now can they get something going?

They had an opportunity that they wasted.

Let's see if they rush.

CJ Davis again, when you got a guy back there who's not, you know, typically a punter, just an athlete punting the ball, maybe you can take advantage of something right here.

They send him again and they got close to it.

And the ball is going to hit at the 43.

And bounce across midfield.

But again good field position right here for Lowndes.

I would be sending the house.

Nothing against CJ Davis but he's not a punter.

He's a cornerback.

I'd be sending the house at him every time I got a chance.

Yeah, absolutely.

And if you look at it, he's shorter.

He's closer than most punters are.

They want to be at that 14-15 He's in between that that 12-10 yard area.

And so he's got to catch it and get it off.

Yeah.

Don't know how Gavin Yates-Lyons did not get a piece of that.

He was right on top of that thing as Davis kicked the ball.

So another opportunity here for the Vikings.

Let's see if they can take advantage of it as they take over at their own 49 yard line.

Yeah they got to get something going here.

They don't have all night.

Woods goes in motion to the near side.

Jayce Johnson looking straight downfield.

Got a man open and Weininger could not hold on to it.

Incomplete.

Got a penalty down in the holding area.

Let's check the.

Weidinger was wide open.

They could not get him the ball.

Yeah, great.

Patience.

On the offense.

That penalty is 10 yards.

The previous spot.

Yeah.

Great job of finding them.

Having some patience, keeping my keeping his feet live.

Keeping his eyes downfield.

Had a guy open and just barely missed him there.

But again the holding.

Probably just as well.

It just would have been a ball of frustration if you hit that big play and then had to take it off the board.

Yeah, you know, this is what happens when a guy got that much time.

A lot of times somebody being tackled.

So first and 20 now following the holding penalty.

Jayce Johnson on a straight drop.

They're bringing pressure.

Going to set up a screen.

And the ball is going to be caught at the 41 flag comes out.

Probably got a hold here on Lowndes.

Is going.

To Bubba Brown.

Yeah, it's going to be a hold or Brown might not have gotten back behind the line of scrimmage to have the blocking downfield.

That's what you're looking for as an official on that kind of screen, where they're bringing the guy from one side as he crosses the field, he's got to go back behind the line of scrimmage while those blocks are being made downfield.

Here's Greg Norton.

He'll tell us.

Getting his steps in first.

On the option.

That penalty is 15 yards from the previous spot.

Still first down.

So they called offensive pass interference.

Yeah that's what it is.

He didn't get behind the line of scrimmage when he was crossing the field.

So the those receivers blocking downfield is considered pass interference I got you.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

The first time they ran it they probably got away with it.

And then they mentioned it to him.

And then you saw it.

So you can't block downfield.

On the forward pass.

So that guy's got to get back behind the line of scrimmage before he catches that ball.

So another big penalty.

And it's going to be first and forever.

Now first and 35.

666666.

Heavy rush Jackson steps out of the way throws it downfield.

Incomplete and a flag is going to come out.

We're going to have a DPI here on North Gwinnett.

I believe that was Jake Godfree.

The linebacker was trying to run with the wide receiver and committed the penalty.

Yeah.

Common route concept split post.

You run two corner routes to match up the safeties and then you go one on one with the linebacker down the middle of the field.

It really wasn't bad.

Coverage by Jake Gist should have kept the hands off.

Pass interference defense that penalty is 10 yards.

Still.

First down.

Hold on.

So we've had I believe three consecutive 15 yard penalties.

Two on Lowndes and now one on North Gwinnett.

So now it's going to be first and 15.

It's going to be more than first and 15 going to be first and 20 at the 39 yard line.

Correct.

Ball sitting on the 39 yard line.

Handoff goes to Woods straight up the middle and Woods moving the pile.

Gets it up close to the 50 yard line.

Number 3.

Good job of getting that.

Getting some of that yardage back.

Now you're at second and ten.

Mason Woods has run for 100 yards in six of their 11 games so far tonight, though he's been held to prior to that run ten carries for 28 yards.

Ball goes out on the edge and it's complete at the 45 yard line.

Trying to get Bubba Brown involved in this game plan.

Good job of just taking the grass to the field.

You know Chauncey Davis is out there.

You got to be super careful when taking shots at him.

Approaching the five minute mark of the third quarter.

And it's going to be third down and five a must convert right here for the Vikings.

Chase Johnson trying to get away from the tackles.

Flags come out.

Probably got holding here.

And he did not get much if anything.

And if it's holding I would expect North Gwinnett going to decline the penalty I would think to make it fourth down.

Yeah good job.

Again taking away the concepts that Lowndes was trying to run at him right there.

And you know, being where you're supposed to be.

That's the thing about North Gwinnett they're going to have people in the places that they're supposed to be.

The majority of the time.

Very sound football team on both sides of the ball.

You saw Jake Godfree shaking his head.

So maybe it's going against North Gwinnett.

On the defense.

Understand?

Well, another 15 yard penalty.

This one in favor of Lowndes.

That'll give them a first down.

Yeah a lot of face mask penalties you know are happening in these scrums.

You get these piles of bodies and guys are coming in instead of using the shoulder pads, reaching and grabbing, trying to get guys on the ground.

So first and ten for the Vikings to get back down close again.

They've got it at the 31.

Handoff goes to Thomas Kayvon Thomas first down run for Thomas as he gets to the sideline and out of bounds at the 20 1 yard line.

Yeah really good counter action right there.

They had play action going one way.

And then underneath handoff old school counter Wing-t style.

So first and ten.

Vikings starting to find some rhythm here on offense.

Neal gets the hand off and Braylon Neal gets 3 yards on the play down to the 18.

Again just trying to keep this North Gwinnett defense on the field as long as you can and hoping that a big play will pop up for you.

Coach.

Given the time situation right here, Vikings almost absolutely have to get a touchdown don't they?

Yeah, they're in four down territory I mean it's just four downs this tight this time of the game with the score the way it is.

They're going to play four downs.

Jayce Johnson clean pocket.

Now it's breaking down.

He steps up in the pocket and Johnson gets down to the 14 yard line.

Flag out.

I think someone might have lost a helmet.

And once you lose your helmet, you got to stop playing.

Let's see if that's the penalty.

Looks like it might be going against North Gwinnett again.

You see Ethan Robinson's reaction.

Hands to the face off defense.

That penalty is half the distance to the goal, resulting in a. That's why the helmet came off.

Hands to the face.

Knocked the helmet off.

And so that penalty is against North Gwinnett.

And it's going to be first and goal to go for the Vikings.

Yeah this has been a penalty field drive for both teams.

So see if Lowndes can capitalize here and make it a make it a game.

They're going to.

So the urgency here for the Vikings is they've got to get it in the end zone.

Whitingham is now back in the backfield.

And he's going to block for Jace Johnson.

He's going to follow Weidinger into the hole.

And Jace Johnson falls forward to the four yard line.

Line to the four yard line.

Yeah it's a plus run trying to get extra guys into the blocking scheme.

You know the difference between handing the ball off to a running back and allowing your quarterback to run.

You get an extra guy to block, and they're trying to get as many people as they can to block this stingy North Gwinnett defense.

Second down and goal Johnson again going to follow Weidinger into the hole.

And Johnson close to the goal line, gets down to the one.

Basically the same play all over again.

Correct.

And you can see it how it looks like they've got everybody there.

And then all of a sudden the extra guy gets on a on a guy and watch how they come across here.

And 22 is that extra hat.

So you get to pop through to the second level, just trying to get as many people as you can at the point of attack.

Now, less than 3:00 to go in the third quarter.

It's third and goal Johnson again going to run it.

And Johnson gets into the end zone for Lowndes first touchdown of the night.

Yeah we talked about it at the beginning of the game.

Almost 600 yards rushing 13 touchdowns.

And that's what you get with the with the big strong physical running quarterback.

The ability to be able to get the plus runs and get an extra hat in.

There.

And then watch we get multiple flags at the end of the play.

This could be significant.

On the ensuing kickoff.

22-9 I think you go for the single point right here.

There's no reason to go for the two.

I don't think correct.

Again, depending on the penalty, if it's against North Gwinnett, you get to a situation where you put yourself at risk of an onside kick.

Right?

Because if it's a penalty, if it's a personal foul on North Gwinnett, it's going to be assessed on the kickoff, which means the Vikings will be kicking from the other side of the 50.

Correct.

Which means if I'm Adam Carter, I'm onside kick or I'm doing a pooch kick or something like that.

Red ball personal foul on the offense.

We have a dead ball, foul offense.

Those penalties offset.

We have a touchdown one untimed down.

So the penalties are a wash.

As you heard.

They're going to offset each other.

So now the single patty attempt here by the Vikings is Andrews is on to try to convert.

Make it a 2210 game.

Andrews.

And he's players got to be smart with these personal fouls because you don't want to win a win a playoff game and get another personal foul and be ejected and have to miss.

Kick by Andrews, who already has set the record for the Lowndes Vikings all time history, makes it 22-10 and the Vikings are back in the game with 2-42 to play in the third, as Jace Johnson takes it in.

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2210 North Gwinnett as the Vikings finally get in the end zone.

The DB h DD and the new red ribbon 365.

Curriculum scoring drive nine plays, 51 yards, nearly 4 minutes off the clock.

But with all the penalties, they actually were backed up to the 20.

It was actually turned out to be about an 80 yard drive with all the penalties, but officially only 51.

Yeah, they found a way to get some points on the board and and chop away at this at this score.

You know, Adam Carter talked about just coming out and fighting hard and seeing what happens.

Andrews has it teed up?

I would not expect them to do anything funny here, but they do.

They pooch the ball into the air.

No man's land and it's going to kick out of bounds and a flag comes out.

That's going to be the out of bounds kick, is why the flag is going to be out.

And so North Gwinnett is going to get the ball.

Good idea.

Just a little bit late getting there.

Yeah that's the Adam Carter special.

He was at Grayson.

They used to pop it up every time, even with a good kicker and great athletes, they would just kick that ball as high as they could and just people would drop it and it and do all kinds of stuff.

But trying to find advantage.

Now, this could be.

A free kick out of bounds by the kicking team, by rule, that penalty will be 5 yards from the spot in which the ball went out of bounds.

So that means North Gwinnett is going to get the ball at the 39.

Correct.

But not a bad idea right there.

I was surprised, though, that they tried that right there.

But like you just said, that's kind of his history.

Yeah.

He's going to try to find a way to have some kind of advantage and get his guys going and you got to play.

So first and ten.

Rahman in there.

Quarterback.

He's going to quarterback.

Run it and he's going to be tackled after a 1 yard gain by Gavin Yates-Lyons.

Yeah.

Now we just got to keep playing hard.

Don't give up explosive plays.

Find a way to get off the field.

They can't have too long of drives, but as long as they keep North Gwinnett off the scoreboard, they're going to have a chance.

So second down and nine.

Handoff goes to Taylor Wilson Taylor going to get stopped after about a four yard gain.

Maybe five up to the 46.

Third down.

That was interesting.

Everybody kind of looked as if there was some kind of whistle blown.

And North snapped the ball and Lowndes was kind of caught off guard.

There.

So third down and three ball sitting at the 46.

They got to get to the 49.

Now we're right at 90s left in the third quarter.

Bulldogs taking their sweet time at the line of scrimmage as the play clock goes under.

10 seconds.

Jake Godfree in there.

Wildcat going to throw the ball downfield to Max Patterson.

And Patterson is going to have the first down out of bounds at the 36 yard line.

They'll do that with Jake every once in a while.

He's a great athlete and this time he throws the pass out of the Wildcat.

Yeah, really good play design.

Sprinting to the right and then just dumping it over the top to the tight end.

Not the most artistic pass, but effective.

Correct.

And we've seen all kinds of passes.

We've seen a receiver throw a pass.

We just saw linebacker throw a pass.

We see everybody throwing passes out here.

So first and ten for North Gwinnett.

They got Rahman back in there at quarterback.

He's going to hand off to Mazone and Mazone fighting for yards.

Gets five on the play down to the 31.

Up to the 31.

Yeah Lowndes is at the area where they got to figure out a way to get a stop here.

They don't want to give up any points.

Field goals, anything.

They got to figure out a way to get a stop here.

If not, if not it's going to be a that door is going to continue to close on them.

Yeah.

Now under a minute to go in the third quarter.

Pardon me.

You're right.

Once you get into the fourth quarter you start counting down the time.

And how many possessions you can get.

They're down two scores right now.

So second down.

Stop the run by Rahman again as he runs right into the teeth of the defense.

Right there.

That was Marcus Vaughn, the defensive end making the tackle.

Third down might have been the final play of the quarter.

Yeah really good job just being disciplined there with the misdirection.

Quarterback design run.

So they got to stop.

They got to get a stop on this third down.

And that is the end of the third quarter.

That third down that coach is talking about is going to come at the start of the fourth.

We are headed to the fourth quarter.

In the second round of the state playoffs.

North Gwinnett 12 minutes from advancing to the quarterfinals.

But Lowndes finally got into the end zone there in the third.

They're not done yet.

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We head to the fourth quarter, North Gwinnett leading Lowndes 22-10 Matt Stewart, along with coach Brian Lamar.

He's subbing in for Wayne Gandy this week.

Wayne will be back after Thanksgiving and Cody Chaffins down on the sideline.

Our Emmy Award winning GPB team here at Tom Robinson Memorial Stadium in Suwanee and Nicki Noto Palmer and John Nelson standing by in the GPB sports studios to bring you the postgame show.

They'll have scores from all around the state.

A look ahead to what's already materializing in the quarterfinal matchups, and talked to all the coaches around the state as well.

So stick around.

Following our game tonight, Nikki and John in studio fourth down, third down.

Coming up as we start the fourth quarter.

It's third down and four Rahman clean pocket throws and caught.

No broken up trying to get the ball to Patterson.

And now flags come out.

That was Camen Upshaw on the coverage.

I thought that was good.

Tight coverage.

He just got into him and competed.

He actually had a chance to catch it and just dropped the ball.

I don't know where the interference is at.

Did he have his hand?

Maybe he did have a hand.

Right there.

Yep.

Had his hands on him.

Interference penalty.

I mean what a tough matchup for Camen Upshaw who is a three star safety committed to South Alabama.

But you're trying to keep a 66, 245 pound tight end from catching the ball.

And he is a matchup nightmare.

I mean, 245 pounds, a long arms and he's a basketball player so he can track the ball really well.

Tough matchup.

So first and ten following the DPI for the Bulldogs here.

They've got it at about the 15 yard line.

Stephen Brown back in there at running back.

Rahman whips it out here.

It's complete to Hawkins.

And Hawkins picks up five on the play.

Down to the nine Jennings the corner among those in on the tackle.

We saw some evidence of the wet field though on that last play on the pass rush.

You saw the defensive end slip and fall down as he was trying to get to the quarterback.

Yeah, the weather is going to come into play here.

If he keeps drizzling like this again, trying to throw the ball, trying to catch the ball, trying to run the ball and try to run after the guys with the ball.

On a field like this, how slippery does it get on the artificial?

This field is slippery even without the rain.

You know, it's different types of field, you know?

And our guys were here last week.

It's a slippery field just because of the surface.

So second down handoff goes to Brown Brown inside the five touchdown North Gwinnett.

That's what we talk about with North I mean they're not running anything spectacular.

They just continue to do the little things well over and over and over again.

Just the counter did a great job.

You know just getting inside is just being out there on that defense for long periods of time.

His plays you fit correct over and over again and all of a sudden somebody's not where they need to be.

And boom, they're in the end zone.

28-10 Brayden Clark in for the p.a.t.

And he puts it up and in 29-10 Bulldogs are back to a 19 point lead and time running out on the Vikings.

We're down to 11 minutes to play Stephen Brown with the touchdown score.

North Gwinnett smelling the quarterfinals.

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Back fourth quarter and Tom Robinson Memorial Stadium, second round of the state playoffs.

North Gwinnett now leading Lowndes 29-10 As you take a look at the DBHDD and the new red ribbon 365 curriculum scoring drive seven plays, 61 yards and that scoring drive right there.

Coach is going to make things awfully difficult for Lowndes at this point.

Yeah Lowndes got to find a way to score quickly.

They're not going to be able to methodically move their way down the field and have enough time to score enough points.

So they got to find a way to strike quick.

I would look for, you know, vertical pass game, some trickeration, something to try to spark them.

And they've got to get get back going, get another stop on defense.

Kick will be Nonreturnable.

And so the Vikings will bring it out to the 20 yard line.

Now the winner of this ball game will advance to the quarterfinals.

And they'll play the winner of the West Forsyth Hillgrove game.

If it's West Forsyth.

Either way West Forsyth is going to be the host team next Friday night because of the coin toss.

If it's Hillgrove, then who wins?

This game is going to be the home team.

Lowndes will be back home.

If it's Hillgrove, North Gwinnett will be here at home.

If it's Hillgrove.

Yeah, that's the joys of being in the playoffs and getting some interesting matchups.

Some guys that you don't normally face even like this deal with Lowndes and North Gwinnett.

You get some people from different communities coming together.

It's awesome.

It's the first time they've played since 2019, and just the third time ever.

Jayce Johnson going to fake nothing doing.

Now.

He's scrambling around out there looking for someplace to go with the ball, now decides to run and ends up picking up 5 yards on the play to the 25.

Yeah, great job of making something out of nothing.

Just got to make sure he's protecting that football.

He's running loose with it in traffic.

They don't need a turnover right now.

They're going to have a chance to get back in this thing.

They're going to have to protect the ball and score quickly.

And the ground and the football are wet.

It's back to drizzling pretty good right now.

Woods in there at running back.

Quick pass comes out here to Khalil Williams and he's going to have the first down at the 32 yard line.

Tackle made by Bryson Ford.

The corner.

They're trying to get lined up and play quick and try to get moving.

You don't want this.

This North Gwinnett defense to play play slow.

They want to try to get them playing fast so they can't get set.

You can see the rain coming down at a pretty good clip now as Johnson's going to keep it.

Johnson keeps.

It.

He picks up about three on the play up to the 38 yard line.

Johnson has been the leading rusher for the Vikings tonight.

He's approaching 60 yards after that carry right there.

The overall leading rusher in the game has been Stephen Brown six carries 62 yards for the Bulldogs.

Trying to get into the right play here.

Pocket breaking down Johnson steps up to avoid it.

Dumps it to Khalil Williams for a first down.

Yeah, North Gwinnett just trying to do a good job of keeping everything in front and and not not risk not trying to give up a big play and just too much time right there.

So first and ten Vikings at the 40 1 yard line.

In trying to get lined up and play fast.

Mason Woods short gain on the play.

Good job of North Gwinnett there.

Winning first down.

Brings up second down and nine.

Approaching 9 minutes left in regulation.

Lowndes down three, scores.

It's 29-10 Ball is on the deck.

It's still on the deck.

And it's going to be scooped by the Bulldogs.

They've got it.

Ethan Robinson covers it at the 48 yard line and the wet ball comes into play right there.

Yeah we talked about it.

You know when this drizzle starts coming down you know at some point it's going to come into play.

The elements will come into play.

And he's just he never got back to the quarterback.

So the Bulldogs take over at their own 48 yard line.

And that might have been it.

That might have been the last best chance for Lowndes to get back in this game.

Yeah it's going to be tough.

Maybe the ball will bounce back that way again.

It is raining so both guys got to be able to get snaps.

No one's taking snaps under center.

They just got to keep playing hard and hope.

Hope the ball can bounce their way.

But right now it looks like it's all North Gwinnett.

Yeah.

They got to get a turnover right here.

That's really their only hope right now.

At this point, as the clock is against them, the scoreboard is against them.

Hawkins back in there at quarterback.

Banks Halcomb going to hand off to Mazone.

And Mazone running hard on the play.

Gets down to the 45.

He got seven.

Yeah.

And this Lowndes defense has just been on the field for so long.

Throughout this game they've had a couple of good drives on offense.

But just the time of possession has just been heavy in North Gwinnett favor.

Now those undersized guys are starting to wear down a little bit.

Brings up second down and short.

Three.

Coming up on 8 minutes left in this game.

Low snap.

Halcomb going to run it.

Get tackled.

Flags are going to come out.

Has some extracurriculars out there after the tackle was made by Martin.

Penalty's not going to be on him.

Let's check the penalty call right here.

Boy.

Personal foul on the defense.

That penalty is 15 yards, resulting in a first down.

So now you got the frustration setting in.

And that 15 yard penalty just buries them.

That gives North Gwinnett the first down you had.

Third and short coming up.

And you got to get that stop on third down.

Now you're not going to get the opportunity to because of the penalty correct.

You just got to keep your composure.

You know it's it's tough situations.

Things aren't going the way you want them to go.

But you keep doing things right.

You keep playing hard and the ball can bounce your way.

But it's not going to bounce your way.

If you're giving up 15 yards.

Handoff goes on the jet sweep.

That was Walker Bass on the carry.

Senior wide receiver I mean they've had so many different guys touch the ball.

They've had.

Let's see.

They've had seven different guys run the ball in the game tonight.

And then they've had seven different guys catch the ball.

Yeah that's what they do I mean Todd Faulkner is going to spread that ball around.

He's going to run inside run outside.

He's going to throw it vertical.

He's going to throw it horizontal.

He's going to throw screens.

He's going to have trick plays.

You know again North Gwinnett is a total team.

It's not a one guy deal.

It's two quarterbacks playing.

It's a bunch of receivers playing.

Ball goes to Halcomb and Halcomb still moving the pile and he gets down to the 24.

His linebackers playing running back.

He's running backs playing linebacker.

You know just really impressed with them as a team in the way they play.

And when I talked to Coach Godfree on my podcast during the regular season, I asked him, you know, can your team win the state championship?

And he he kind of feels like they can because of what you just said right there.

They don't have one or two guys you can stop.

They got a whole team.

So they're not relying on one or two guys to carry the load for them.

Halcomb oh what a catch.

By Patterson.

Snagged it out of the air with one of those big meat hooks of his.

Yeah, we talked about his athletic ability, that basketball background.

That's just the rebound.

That's boxing out a guy and reaching up and grabbing the rebound with the other hand.

Wow, look at.

That.

Oh yeah.

Just that football too.

Yeah.

Just a great job.

Great job of having the concentration in again.

They've got so many good players.

And again they're not all you know going to Georgia.

But it's a total team effort.

You know when I talked to Coach Godfree we talk all the time.

In the off season he said we have some some guys got to play both ways this year.

And you know, we scrimmaged them, you know, and they've gotten so much better.

Since then, it's almost unbelievable.

And Wilson Taylor on the run right there as Simmons comes up from his pony position to make the tackle.

And I think that's the thing that stands out.

They open the season with three straight games of 21-7 finals.

Yeah they lost to Douglas County 217.

Then they beat Colquitt.

They beat Mill Creek 217.

But since then and those were three great opponents.

Those were all three top ten opponents.

Since then, they've basically blown everybody out.

Yeah.

And I'm telling you that's a testament to these coaches and to these kids.

To the air and to the end zone and the Braylon Jackson is the target over there, and it's going to be incomplete.

Yeah, that's a testament to the coaches and the kids, you know.

You know, and I talked to Coach Godfree last week before we played him.

And I asked him how things were going.

And you know, we were still struggling with some things in terms of practice habits.

And he said, coach, you know, one of the things over here that we're doing a good job of is practicing.

The kids are responding to coaches and they're practicing.

And that's why you've seen the improvement throughout the year.

He also gave you credit.

He said he took a page from your playbook late in the season where you reduced your sessions each by a minute, right?

Yeah.

It's a concept we did, you know, last year where we started.

What we do is instead of five minute practice periods, we go 4 minutes and we still get our same segments, but practice is drastically shorter.

And so they, they've they've been doing that.

And you know, we talked we trade like in this business.

You know I talked to Adam Carter in the last year.

We sat there and talked and and I got guys all over the state and guys call me for information.

And coach Godfree asked me a couple of things, and I listened to his DC talk at a clinic, and I got a couple things.

And we all grow from each other, but it's a blessing to be in this coach's fraternity and have guys that you can call, you know.

So fourth down and seven play clock is still running here.

And looks like North Gwinnett is going to keep the offense on the field.

Play clock down to five.

I bet they call a time-out.

Yeah they're not running a play right now.

Now the time-out comes from North Gwinnett as the play clock gets to zero.

And the game clock gets to 429.

Time-out closing in on the finish here.

North Gwinnett in command 29-10.

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Welcome back to North Gwinnett, where the Bulldogs Lead Lowndes 29-10 It's really what's become a normal North Gwinnett game so far this season.

After their season opening loss to Douglas County.

Since then, they've won all their games by an average of about 37 points.

They haven't allowed anybody to score more than 16 points since that point.

And you think back tonight they've had four different players score touchdowns for them.

That's average for them as well.

Go back to the Duluth game earlier this year.

They had nine different Bulldogs score touchdowns in that game.

Yeah they have not had a game decided by less than 14 points the entire season.

So here you go.

Fourth down and they're going for it.

The sprint out the run and the pass into the end zone.

Out of the side of the end zone.

That's going to be incomplete.

And so the ball is going to go over on downs.

Braylon Jackson made a nice play on the ball but ran out of real estate.

Really no harm right there.

You get the points.

That'd be that'd be great.

But if you don't you still eating a lot of time off the clock.

And now Lowndes facing a nearly impossible task.

Coach down 19 with 4:22 to go.

Correct.

They're just trying to really put a nail in the coffin with that touchdown.

And you know, but you know like I said we played them last week.

They went for it twice on fourth down.

And one time from the from the ten yard line.

Just like they just did there.

And Cody made a great point too.

And it's the same feeling I have about this North Gwinnett team having now seen them twice here on GPB Football Fridays in Georgia.

This is the team that not a lot of people have talked about because they have that one loss.

They don't include them with the Grayson, the Carrollton, the Buford.

But I think they can win a state title.

Johnson scrambling, looking and throwing incomplete.

Yeah.

When you look at their margin of victories against the quality of opponent that they've played you know, it's something to that.

You know, when you turn it on, on film, you go, yeah, they don't really have a guy that's just unbelievably this or unbelievably that, and the plays they run aren't so complex, but they do a great job of executing.

They do a great job of variety and moving the ball around and playing defense when they get after it.

They haven't given up a ton of points.

Downfield by the offense.

That penalty is 5 yards from the previous.

Yeah.

I mean you look at tonight's ball game, case in point, it hasn't been spectacular by any means, but it's been a methodical, thorough, just keep beating down.

And that's the way they play.

They don't shoot themselves in the foot.

They capitalize on opportunities when they have them.

And you know, just just tip your hat to their coaching staff and their players because it takes a lot to make that happen.

Replay first down.

So first and 15 following the penalty.

Chase Johnson throwing out of the end zone airing it out.

And it's going to be caught by Kalil Williams.

But he is going to be out of bounds.

Or is he going to catch it.

They're going to rule that a catch at the 39 yard line.

They might have a disagreement.

Here.

They're going to rule incomplete.

Initially they had said catch, but now they say no catch.

Second down no.

Here's another angle.

Better look at the sideline right there to see.

Does he have it I don't know I think maybe the the left foot stepped out of bounds before he was able to keep the right foot in.

Yeah.

And he was off his feet when he caught it.

When he hit the ground he was out of bounds.

So.

So second down and 15.

Pass out of the end zone.

Incomplete third down.

So it looks like Lowndes season will come to an end here tonight.

They will finish up 10-2 for the second consecutive year.

Yeah the coach is doing a great job.

You know when he when he took over down there they had a long way to go.

His first year was rough.

And I remember texting him last year just congratulations on on doing a great job of turning that place around.

And you know, he's going to continue to grow that program just because of his mentality, his work ethic and his attention to detail.

Third down.

Johnson no place to go with it yet.

Still looking downfield.

He's sliding like he's on ice down there now.

Takes off and runs and gets up to the 20 1 yard line and gets the first down.

But there is a flag down.

We got a man down for North Gwinnett to.

Yeah.

What you don't want to see is, you know, senseless penalties or guys getting hurt.

Especially for North Gwinnett because they they've got an opportunity to advance and and and have a have another big win next week if they can put it all together.

West Forsyth has defeated Hillgrove tonight.

So that means West Forsyth will be hosting that quarterfinal.

Looks like against North Gwinnett next Friday night.

And we'll step aside as they tend to the injured player at the five yard line.

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Still tending to the injured North Gwinnett player down at the five yard line, and they're finally getting him up on his feet.

I have not been able to identify that player just yet.

So let's see.

It's number 17.

That's Jackson Hayes who is a backup defensive end walking gingerly off the field.

So hopefully he is better and able to be able to get back in and play next week against West Forsyth.

Yeah, you hate to see guys get injured, especially in the games.

And you know you want teams to be as healthy as as possible for the next round.

And that next round will be next Friday night.

The night after Thanksgiving.

So you got the Georgia Georgia Tech game in the middle of the day.

So after you watch that, just flip over to GPB and watch the state quarterfinals.

And we will announce that matchup if we can during the post game show.

So stay in stand by for that.

Stay online with Nikki and John as they're in our GPB sports studios.

And hopefully we'll be able to make that announcement waiting on some games to get final before we can do that.

But hopefully we'll be able to make that announcement for you in the post game show.

And if not, you can always just track us on social media, Facebook, Instagram x, Twitter and then of course on our website.

We will make that announcement tomorrow.

If we are unable to get it locked in tonight because of the lateness of some of these games, we will definitely take care of that first thing tomorrow.

So first and ten, but tune in to Nikki and John.

They're going to have all the scores and interviews as well.

Coming up in the postgame show immediately following the conclusion of this second round matchup, Johnson dancing.

Oh, Zach Lewis puts a hit on him.

He bounces off that hit.

Wow, that's a big hit there by Zach Lewis.

And Johnson showing some toughness.

Bounced out of it and still got positive yards on the.

Play.

Yeah he's been resilient all night.

Just being slippery.

You know finding ways to get out of get out of trouble.

He's been the highlight you know for this Lowndes team tonight.

You know making plays with his legs.

But just not enough to overtake this effort of the North Gwinnett.

Bulldogs.

Yeah.

He has been their offense 125 total yards for Johnson tonight.

Throws that's complete out here on the near side.

And that'll be up to the 25 yard line.

And close to a first down.

Not quite I don't think.

Let's see where they spot him out.

It's hard to see because he went out of bounds right there in front of that sideline where all the North Gwinnett players are gathered around.

It's going to be third down, third down and one.

So 125 of the 201 yards for the Vikings have come from Jace Johnson tonight.

Handoff goes to Mason Woods.

He's going to get the first down.

Tackle made by Jake Godfree.

That's tackle number 11 for the coach's son tonight.

Yeah he's always all over the place man.

He's super smart super sound kid.

And plays plays plays ball the right way.

And he's had a big night.

He's got 11 total tackles a quarterback sack and a half 1.5 sacks.

And he also threw an 18 yard completion.

Johnson out there dancing around, being chased by Godfree, who makes sure he runs out of bounds.

Johnson keeps it.

Yeah, you know, one of the biggest plays in the game was one of the biggest points in the game was when Jace couldn't play those two plays.

Yeah.

You know as big as he's been tonight in terms of his production.

Their stall their drive got stalled on fourth down.

You know because he couldn't be out there.

Exactly.

He's their big back.

Like I said in the open.

They don't have a power back when they need short yardage.

They just let him run the ball.

And they were missing him on that play.

Had they gotten a touchdown there?

I mean, things might have been a little bit different here in the second half.

Correct?

Correct.

Instead, they turned it over on downs inside the ten.

Got a touchdown later.

But by then it was a little bit too much.

Too little, too late for them.

And at the end of the day they started really slow.

Started really slow.

North Gwinnett jumped on him.

I was really sharp early in the game and Lowndes was just never able to get back on track.

To close that gap.

And North Gwinnett just did a great job all night.

Just being consistent and that's who they are as a team.

You know.

327 yards of total offense for the Bulldogs tonight, 214 for the Vikings.

208 through the air for North Gwinnett.

119 on the ground.

It's third down.

Going to go.

Wildcat here to Mason Woods.

And Mason Woods going to get stacked up and driven back.

And it's going to be fourth down.

Yeah this North Gwinnett team gets better every time I watch him.

I mean but again it goes back to my conversation with Coach Godfree last week.

They practiced well, you know the coaches do a great job.

Got really talented coaches.

Coaching is a talent.

People don't understand it.

You got to be really smart, really creative.

All of those things.

You got to be good at the preparation.

But then the kids work their butts off to bring that stuff to life.

And that's what you're seeing.

Fourth down and seven Jace Johnson back in there.

Heavy rush Johnson stands in the pocket, delivers downfield.

And it's going to be caught at the 36 yard line is Khalil Williams comes down with it.

That's been their biggest pass play of the night.

Yeah great job.

Just patience and putting it out there and giving them an opportunity a really good job of winning.

When he beat the guy, restacking him and giving himself an opportunity to catch that ball and just running.

What.

So first and ten ball at the 39 yard line.

Ball goes deep and incomplete as the receiver broke off his route early.

It's going to be second down and ten.

Guys still playing hard.

And Adam Carter talked about that.

And that's the sign of a of a great program.

And and kids doing things the right way.

You know it'll pay off for him in the long.

Run.

So second down and ten.

Handoff goes to Mason Woods bounces it outside Woods has the first down.

Gets down to the 26 yard line.

For.

About.

104 left in the season for Lowndes one 0-4 left in this game for North Gwinnett.

They will advance to the quarterfinals and play at West Forsyth next Friday night.

Mason Woods down to the 20.

Running the ball and just playing their game.

Kids still playing hard.

North Gwinnett trying not to give up anything explosive.

Johnson back there scrambling, trying to keep the play alive.

Shoves it up in the air and out of bounds.

It's going to be third down, down to 37 seconds left in the game.

I know he's exhausted from the amount of effort that he's given tonight.

You know.

The future is bright at Lowndes.

You know, they got some some really good young players that that still have some room to grow.

And I know Coach Carter have him back rolling next year.

Yeah, that combination of Jace Johnson and Bubba Brown back together next year.

Jace Johnson will be a senior.

Bubba Brown will be a junior.

And he talked about the process in the weight room.

Caught inside the.

Five.

And Weidinger gets into the end zone for the touchdown.

And that's what you want to see as a coach.

You want to see your players continue to play hard.

You know, all the way to the final whistle and there'll be something to build off of.

From the effort here.

Touchdown pass to Weidinger makes it 29:16 First touchdown pass of the night for Jace Johnson and the 11th of the season.

Weidinger another one of those guys.

He's just a sophomore a 63200 pound sophomore.

Already has an offer from South Florida.

And of course, he'll be back in the mix for him next year as a junior.

Yeah, they got some guys coming back.

You know it's just a process.

You know when you're starting you know I'm going through that process over at South Gwinnett.

When you take over a program that hasn't been doing great and you're trying to get them back on track, there's some growth that has to take place.

You definitely are seeing that in this program.

Great catch by Weidinger in traffic.

Great catch in traffic.

You know.

Jace done a great job all night of standing in that pocket and then using his legs to get out of tough situations.

There's things to, you know, when they go back and look at it, they'll say, look at these mistakes that we did that get us in a hole to begin with.

You know, from the offsides to the to the to giving up the one, the one play drive on the explosive route, you know.

Well, they just got off to such, and you pointed that out already.

Just an incredibly slow start at the beginning of the game and really shot themselves in the foot, fell behind 15-0 in that first quarter.

And they've been trying to play catch up ever since.

And they've been better in the second half.

The hole was just too deep for them.

Correct.

They just never closed that gap that was created at the beginning of the game.

And it's tough, man.

It's tough.

Tough to come up and get so far out of your routine.

It's different for college and NFL guys that's used to the travel and doing all that.

But high school used to sleeping in your own bed and waking up and playing ball.

Yeah.

Onside kick attempt.

It's covered by North Gwinnett, so they will kneel this one out with 0:29 to go.

As the Bulldogs offense comes on the field for the final time here in the second round matchup.

Yeah, I mean, Lowndes has outscored North Gwinnett.

14-7 here in the second half.

But again, the hole was just too deep.

And Lowndes season will come to an end tonight at 10-2 And North Gwinnett will improve to 11-1 and be on the road next week because of the coin toss.

They'll play at West Forsyth.

On that song.

So probably the final play of the game right here as the Bulldogs come out in victory formation.

Stick around.

We'll be naming our Georgia Cotton Commission player of the game coming up in just a few moments with Cody Chaffins.

He'll have the post game interview with that Cotton Commission player of the game, and also with head coach Eric Godfree, and then the postgame show is coming up after that with Nikki and John and our GPB sports studios, 29 17 the final coach as North Gwinnett moves a step closer to getting back to the state championship game.

Yeah, it's not about how you start, it's how you finish.

And right now they are really hot team.

So there's somebody you definitely got to keep an eye on.

You know?

But playoffs are playoffs.

You know it's not what you did this week.

It's what you do next week.

And all it takes is 11 slip.

And you could be it can be done.

So they just got to continue doing what they're doing.

Coaches working hard, players working hard.

And the ball has got to continue to bounce your way.

You know, as you start getting deeper in these playoffs, the teams get better, the coaches get better.

And everybody that you're playing is hot.

That's 11 straight wins now for the Bulldogs.

They have not lost since mid-August.

So it's been a while since they lost a game.

And they'll try to keep it going next week in* Georgia when they play the West Forsyth Wolverines in the quarterfinals.

They beat some really good teams.

When you go back and look at the teams that they beat you know, after the Douglas County loss, you know, they just they've really been rolling.

Yeah.

They beat Colquitt County, a team that has been given a big fight to Grayson tonight.

Let's send it down to Cody with our Johnny's Pizza post game interview.

With Eric Godfree, head coach of North Gwinnett.

You get the win.

I think the way you guys started, you were shot out of a cannon.

Was it the pregame meal?

Was it your locker room speech?

What was it?

Wright just all week.

The preparation all week has been really, really good.

Our kids have taken it serious and they know how good a team can up.

And from Lowndes coming up here.

And they wanted to, you know, help revenge, have vengeance tour.

They haven't beat them yet.

So we got a chance to beat them and move on to the quarters.

Offensively, the way you guys spread the ball around, is that what makes you so dangerous?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

You know last week 11 guys ran the ball.

You know just just so it really does it makes it really hard on defenses.

You can't just cover one guy.

You can't just there's two quarterbacks coming in and there's different styles of running backs.

So it definitely our defense coordinator saying how difficult that would be to to manage.

On defense.

I feel like that fourth down stop early in the second half kind of set the tone.

Do you agree.

Yeah.

No.

Absolutely.

Yes, yes.

Stop right down here.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Phenomenal.

Stop.

And then we get the momentum.

Continue to drive the ball right there.

So yeah that was a big big time play to keep you I believe in two scores right there.

So your team will hit the road for the first time in the playoffs next week.

How do you get ready for that mentally.

Right.

Yeah.

And it is you know different going on the road.

The good thing is we've this is my first year we played in the playoffs up there once already.

So got a little familiarity.

But like I said you know our guys are going to prepare the right way.

They're going to do it the right way.

And respond.

And so we'll have them, we'll have them ready and play hard again with another tough task ahead.

Appreciate it.

Coach Eric Godfree will go from one Godfree to another.

Jake Godfree our Georgia Cotton Commission player of the game.

The towel seems appropriate on a on a rainy night.

11 tackles, a sack and a half.

And also completed an 18 yard pass tonight.

What was the key to this victory for North Gwinnett?

Well, first, I just want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Without him, I couldn't be here and I wouldn't be the man I am today.

And, man, I just want to thank all my brothers, my family, this coaching staff man, the whole week, man, we prepared and prepared and prepared.

We got up, schemed up and we just played relentless.

Every single snap, man, every single snap.

We had a foot on the gas.

Even when we was up at halftime, we was in there saying, man, foot on the gas, foot on the neck.

And we just kept it going, man.

And this is a great brother, great family.

And I just thank them and they're the reason why we're making this deep run right now.

So many of you guys play both ways on this team.

So many of the big stars, you could say, hey, I'm worried about my college career.

I don't want to do that.

It seems kind of selfless.

Is that why you do it?

Yes.

And mentality again, just the the brotherly love.

We're willing to give up our bodies for each other.

You know, we love each other so much, man, that we're willing to fight for each other, even every single snap, whether that's we play on offense, defense or both.

It doesn't matter what it is from the scout team, from, again, the coaching staff to just day in and day out, man, we come to work and everybody's willing to put their body on the line.

Everybody's willing to play both sides and give all their effort.

And that's what we did tonight.

I appreciate it, Jake.

Congratulations on being our Georgia Cotton Commission player of the game.

Go celebrate with your team.

He definitely sounds like a coach's son, doesn't he, Matt?

He does.

And coach, what's amazing is he's playing with a torn patella tendon that's going to require some surgery at the end of the season.

Like we said at the top of the show, he's one tough dude and this North Gwinnett team is one tough team.

Yeah, he said it.

You know, everybody's working hard.

Everybody's sacrificing, everybody's playing both sides of the ball.

The scout team, the starters.

Everybody's putting the effort in.

And coach said it again.

They're practicing hard.

They're preparing hard.

They're taking it seriously.

And that's why you're getting the results.

Well coach thanks for being our next man up here tonight.

On this Friday night.

It's been fun working with.

You again in the booth.

Yeah, it's been awesome, man.

It's, you know, obviously, like any coach, you'd rather be out there on the grass.

But second best thing is to be up here talking ball and having a good time with you guys.

Had fun with you tonight.

Be sure to join us next Friday night at 730 as we bring you the quarterfinal round of the state playoffs.

Stay tuned for our post show with John Nelson and Nikki Palmer, as they will announce our game selection for next week.

If you missed portions of tonight's game or just want to see it again, you can catch a full replay later this evening or in the coming week at GPB.

Org Sports on Demand.

And now for coach Brian Lamar.

Cody Chaffins, our VP of sports, Kevin Gerkey, our game producer Glenn Diamond, our director Russ Aaron, I'm Matt Stewart.

Once again, the final North Gwinnett advances with a 29-17 victory over Lowndes.

This has been a presentation of GPB sports.

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Mason is an elite talent due to his work ethic and how he manages his time.

And wants to win.

He's not out there for a participation trophy, I can promise you that.

It was awesome playing in front of a crowd like that and playing against some of the best players in the world and players that I grew up watching, that was a crazy feeling.

It's something I never really thought I would be doing.

He doesn't get wrapped up in, you know, success.

He's always looking forward.

We've been super blessed as a family that we get to watch Mason live out his dream as playing golf, because it's all he's ever wanted to do.

For as long as I can remember.

Him winning the U.S.

Amateur now makes him the third youngest to ever do so.

Welcome into our Football Friday in Georgia post game show presented by Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

Parking your phone while driving.

John, who is on his phone.

Yeah, really saves lives.

Heads up Georgia.

It is now time for you guys to buckle up because boy do we have a show for you.

Round two showed out tonight and a special congratulations to the North Gwinnett Bulldogs who was featured.

That team is featured as our game of the night for beating Lowndes 29-17 Now North Gwinnett, they're going to travel John to West Forsyth next week.

You think Eric and company they can handle that.

No doubt about it.

Let's take a peek at the quadrant.

Let you know what's going on.

This is low lift as you fill things out in pen.

Once again the win tonight.

Just wrapping up here on GPB.

Dominant performance on both sides of the ball for North Gwinnett.

Traveling to West Forsyth.

West Forsyth scored 49 on West Lake in Round one.

Survived.

Hillgrove.

They were down early.

They get the win tonight 20-17 So West Forsyth gets to host once again.

Coin flip goes to the bottom for same seeds.

North Gwinnett goes on the road from Tom Robinson to West Forsyth next week.

All right well we have our first coach on the line coming out of AAA.

We've got Kip Burdette from West Laurens on the line.

Coach, can you hear us?

I can hear y'all.

There's a Kip Burdette sighting.

Everybody there's Kip.

All right.

So let me see if I can find where is the helmet?

Where is the where is the.

Oh.

Up high.

Up high is the West Laurens helmet.

Kip.

It has made the trip.

And Nikki cannot thank you enough for the gear that you that you sent the care package.

Because she is definitely working the bucket hat and the lid.

She's crushing it, man.

Yeah, the bucket hat is really good for sun damage.

You know, when you get to be in the upper upper 30s for me.

So thank you for that.

Yes.

You got one of the best rushers in the state.

What is this run been like for you guys getting the Duke tonight obviously big win at home defense came through as well.

But the offense and you know when you've got a guy like Ty * who scores off a kick and scores on the ground.

Well rounded performance and you advance to the next round.

What's it like.

Well he's a he's a special player.

You know returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and then just a tough kid, man.

He was battling some injury and all that kind of stuff.

And you know, just really, really showed out tonight.

Had a good night.

Some tough yardage against a good defense from Oconee.

And you know, that, you know, also hats off to our offensive line.

Our defense played really well tonight as well.

So just just played really physical all the way around.

Played played pretty good in all three phases of the game.

Coach.

Was there a turning point at all in the game where you knew that you had this one locked in?

I don't know about, you know, you never feel comfortable with a lead against a good football team, but especially one with the playmaker, like like they had and and Coach Hall son, the tight end but right before the half, we ran a pretty good little two minute drill.

We ran out of.

We ran out of time-outs, and we took a sack and we ran our what we call our green field goal unit out there for a really quick field goal right before the half to make it a two score game going into halftime.

That was.

I thought that was pretty.

You know, pretty pretty strong momentum swing.

Yeah.

I was about to say that's always a good cushion to have when you've got two scores up at the half.

Coach, for people that haven't seen West Laurens play, how would you describe your your type of play with your team?

I think we're a physical football team.

We're a run first team.

We want to run the ball.

We want to play good defense.

And you know, we want to be sound in the kicking game and you know, I feel like we have turned into a sharp team that does things right.

You know, we we you know, been a long time since we've we've lost the turnover battle or or had a bunch of silly penalties that ended up costing us field position or conversion downs or anything like that.

So I feel like we're kind of growing as a team, and you know, I think we're a physical, physical outfit coach.

We can't thank you enough for joining our postgame show.

Good luck next week.

I think you're facing Jenkins.

Is that right?

Yeah, I think we are.

We're playing Jenkins out of Savannah, so right up by 16.

Or be right up by 16 for them.

There you go.

Well, hey, I got the gear to wrap it.

We look forward to following you for the rest of the playoff run.

Good luck to you.

Thank y'all.

We'll see y'all some more later on.

I love it I love that attitude.

Coach.

What are you doing back there, John.

It's called looking at brackets.

We're going to take a peek at AAA.

We're going to look at the AAA bracket.

We're going to end up looking at how West Laurens has made it to this particular point.

Let me back up here a little bit.

Here are the winners tonight in AAA.

Once again Lagrange gets the Duke.

They put up a lot of points fourth quarter second half.

And they get the win Stevenson they had to go to overtime before they knocked off West side Augusta Douglas in one of the shocks of the night at the Reed.

It was 5-0 at one point finished up 12-0.

Astro fan is happy and they have made their way there.

They get to take on Sandy Creek in the next go.

Round 14 12 the final there.

Now you look up here, Jefferson and Cairo.

This is upper left.

Jefferson put 49 on Harlem tonight.

Troup and Cairo.

Cairo got the win late, winning 28 20 there.

So then you go down to the West Laurens bracket.

The kit Burdette honorary bracket here in the quadrant.

Jenkins knocked off peach.

It was a 38 28 final there.

Oconee County West Laurens.

You mentioned Nikki in the conversation that you had with Coach Burdette.

They clamped down on him defensively.

Ty*, another big game.

Jenkins and West Laurens.

So Jenkins team five goes to West Laurens.

Team for go ahead.

And Ryan bring it full for me one more time.

So it is next week.

Lagrange at Stevenson Douglas at Sandy Creek Cairo at Jefferson and Jenkins travels to West Laurens.

And that is AAA, and that is how we wrap up one bracket of the eight on the night.

All right.

We've got my my good friend, Coach Thompson from Fellowship Christian.

This is where all my tuition goes.

Coach, coach.

There you go.

You finished at 955.

Thank you for calling in.

I would be in bed by now.

Hey, you have been a big help for us, Nikki.

People don't understand how much you have helped our football team.

You've come and talked to him about some very important things and?

And helped our football team.

And I just want to put it out there that you are the best.

And we appreciate you very much.

I didn't pay him to say that, John.

I swear.

Yeah.

Well you can't later.

There you go, coach.

Look, you had a big 56-27 win.

Fellowship is heading into their tenth straight second round appearance.

I mean, what can you say about the assessment of your team tonight.

It was such a big win for you guys.

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

This was a you know it's been three weeks since we played 21 days.

And we were very concerned about if our team was going to execute or how we were going to come out and really afraid that we would come out and, and really be flat.

But it was the total opposite.

We we scored every time we touched it.

We had two pick sixes with with 30s left to go in the first half, it was 49 to nothing.

And we played nothing.

But our we pulled all our starters in the second half and they didn't.

And they, they scored a few touchdowns, but it we executed and played very well.

So now we got to get ready for, for a tough Savannah Christian team.

I was going to say when you heard that you were playing Savannah Christian, what was your first reaction.

And what are you going to focus on this week?

You don't have to tell us the game plan unless you want to, but.

What's going to be the focus?

You know, we played them earlier in the year.

We went down there.

We we made it a big trip and we stayed overnight.

And we were we were extremely prepared for that game.

Our guys really took all the extra time and meeting our coaches did a great job.

Now it's just they got to come here and they're a very good football team.

They're very well coached.

Baker Woodward does a great job there.

This is going to be a big time football game.

I mean, the quarterfinal game it gets nothing but but more competitive.

And this is this will be a big challenge to us, a huge challenge.

We're going to have to really play well on in all three phases.

We did that tonight.

We just got to find a way to keep getting better.

The teams that keep getting better are going to keep advancing.

The teams that don't are going to play basketball.

All right coach, well thank you again for is Otis with you in the office right now?

No.

And I'm missing him.

I Otis does not get to show up on game day.

She's talking about my my dog, and I have to give him too much attention.

And he doesn't get it on game day.

Nikki.

So he's not happy.

But I'm ready to get home and sing.

Well.

We will let you go, because you know that the boss there at the household is definitely going to be waiting, and he's probably going to be sitting there tapping that wrist, going, you were gone forever.

You were gone for an entire month.

Where have you been?

Where's my treat?

Where's my walk?

Coach?

You know what?

Yeah.

Hey, when you go in there, hey, he's going to be happy.

He's.

I do know that.

And he doesn't even know if we won or lost yet.

And then he'll be a lot more.

Happy when he finds out.

No doubt about it.

Thanks, coach, for dropping by with one of your secret weapons here.

It's great to catch up with you.

Don't be a stranger.

We'll catch up with you soon and follow your path.

Thank you.

You got you got an awesome partner right there next to you.

Appreciate y'all.

Thank you for having us on.

And God bless y'all.

Thank you.

Thanks, coach.

You ain't kidding.

The Paladins are in.

They are most certainly.

Okay.

We've got a full we've got a full bracket.

I can fill in some holes here.

Let's go to the bracket.

We can put this one to bed.

We can fill in some holes.

Upper left.

It is fellowship in Savannah Christian.

That one is good to go.

Savannah Christian beating Christian heritage tonight by 12.

So Savannah Christian going to fellowship.

That's what that's going to look like in the upper right part of the bracket.

Going down.

Whitfield and Calvary Day.

Whitfield Academy wins that.

14821.

They're going to go to Calvary.

Calvary day was the first one in the barn tonight winning 56 17 over Kings Ridge.

Let's go.

Upper right and show you what's happening here.

Athens Academy wins over Holy Innocents.

So Athens Academy the three gets to host Greater Atlanta Christian, greater Atlanta Christian wins tonight 48 16.

So advance Athens Academy advance GHC GAC as team six goes to Athens Academy to take on the Spartans next week at team number 3.

Then the last one down low Wright Prince Avenue Christian 41.

Six over Wesleyan.

Late final Hebron Christian over Trinity Christian 53 20.

So here's what it looks like in full.

It is Savannah Christian at Fellowship.

Whitfield at Calvary.

Dae Gassy at Athens Academy.

Pack at Hebron.

And that is the bracket that we can put to bed on this one.

All right.

We got to put you to bed real quick, John.

You'll be able to come back.

Just take a quick little nap because in a little bit after we come back from break, we'll have more scores and we'll hear from more coaches from around the state.

Keep it right here on GPB.

We'll be right back.

You wouldn't take a call during the big game.

Oh hey what's up man.

You wouldn't be texting while cheering on your team.

Jacket.

And you definitely wouldn't want to watch a video while marching with the band.

So why would you drive a car while distracted driving isn't a game when you lose on the road, it could lead to a crash.

So when you get behind the wheel, put the distractions aside, drive hands free, and save lives.

Heads up Georgia.

DBHDD is launching Red ribbon, 365 a year round alcohol and drug prevention curriculum for Georgia schools and families from kindergarten through high school.

Students learn to make healthy, drug free choices with fun, age appropriate lessons and monthly activities.

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All right.

What do you think?

Jasper?

Honestly, I think that polyester shirts affecting your game.

What?

I think cotton would have been a better choice.

Cotton.

Yeah, it's come a long way.

You know, nowadays, cotton breeze and wicks moisture.

Great.

Plus, buying cotton means supporting Georgia farmers.

I think that's wonderful.

Okay, sure.

But what do you think about the putt?

Oh, it's really hadn't thought about it.

Post game show presented by Governor's Office of Highway Safety John Nelson parking your phone while driving or doing the post game show.

It's safe fun.

While we're doing post game shows.

That's not.

Going to happen.

Georgia.

We have a good friend of the show, the legendary coach Alan Chadwick from Marist on the line.

Coach, how you doing tonight?

I'm doing fine.

Thank you.

Appreciate y'all.

Having me.

As as always coach.

It's great to see you.

Blessed Trinity always a tough opponent with Ed Dudley.

And there was a moment that Nikki and I were able to catch where it was running the football, running the football, running the football.

And you distance yourself with a pass right down the seam in the middle of the field.

The receiver had no one around him and that locked it in for you.

What's it like to have a more balanced effort where folks are used to seeing that seven foot long staff?

You drop it between the quarterback's ankle and the A block, and now you're having passing, helping you out.

What's it like having this balanced attack?

Well, when you run the ball as much as we do we've got to have play actions and things like that to keep people off of us.

And that's exactly what happened in that particular situation.

They were playing really downhill on us.

And we we faked a off tackle play to the fullback, popped back and had two receivers open down the middle.

Coach, how do you feel like your team is prepared heading into the quarterfinals to face a really tough North Oconee team?

I'd rather not think about that.

Right now.

We just want to enjoy this one tonight and.

I knew it.

Was coming a great this was a great win for us.

I mean, it's a really fine program.

They they've got some really fine defensive players and good running backs and a solid offensive line.

Well coached team.

We felt like we had to play at the top of our game tonight to to have a chance.

We felt like we had to be tough and physical and run the football and take advantage of some, some opportunities when we got them our defense came back in the second half and shut them out.

We made some really good adjustments.

We were not playing well and fitting well in our responsibilities and our gaps in the first half, but Coach Hewett, our defensive coordinator, made some adjustments and just basically got on the kids about playing their responsibility and doing their job.

And that's what we did in the second half, and we shut them out and we got a couple of big plays and we had three interceptions on the night.

One returned for a touchdown.

Pick six by Owen Hare.

And that kind of, you know, sealed it for us right there coach.

As always thank you so much for your time.

Every time we talk to you, we learn something new.

I feel like we all get smarter and better when you're in the room.

So thanks so much for that.

Okay.

Thank you all.

Appreciate what you do for high school football.

Thank you.

Coach.

Coach.

Well speaking of smarter and better Harris, here's John Nelson.

Please stop.

Yeah.

Take us to.

All right.

Let's go through Quad-a and let you know what happened here.

We'll start full, but let's go down here into the low Wright part where we were catching up with Coach Chadwick Beatty.

The winner tonight over Marist, North Oconee AFF.

It was so Marist gets the win tonight over Beatty.

So that's why we caught up with coach Chadwick.

Marist.

The North Oconee Marist travels to North Oconee next week.

North Oconee was tight with M.L.

King earlier on the night.

North Oconee ends up winning by the score of 42-21 Now you come back, let's go up north.

Since we're on this particular side, central Carroll and Cambridge central Carroll coach Amber Brown put 64 on Cambridge tonight.

They advance Benedictine a little calmer 217 over Cass Benedictine works their way through but central Carroll has to take the road trip to Benedictine next week.

So that one's going to be a true test on the road for them.

All right.

Now, where do you want to go?

Let's go.

Upper left.

Show you what's going on here.

Creekside and Ware County.

Creekside has just been rolling 49-0 The final here.

Tribe pride in true form.

Knocking off Ware County.

Lithonia.

We advance.

Lithonia.

They were ahead late.

This one's locked in.

Centennial comes through as a four seed.

Their run ends after one.

So Creekside and Lithonia.

Lithonia as a three.

They travel to Creekside next week.

Now you want to go down to the lower part of the bracket.

Here's what it looks like here.

We mentioned a lot of offense from Cartersville.

We've seen it all season long.

Cartersville put 64 on Warner Robins tonight.

It was 50-0 at the half 43-0 after 160 4-0 The final here a lot of second and third teamers coming in for the purple Hurricanes in the second half.

Southwest DeKalb and Kell.

This one was tight all the way through.

Kell gets the win 1710.

Cartersville because there one and Kell because they're a one.

Remember the coin flip lower half of the bracket wins.

So Cartersville has to go to Kell next week.

So if we pull it full one more time to take a peek at all of Quad-a, here's what it is.

Marist at North Oconee.

It is central Carroll at Benedictine, it is Creekside at Lithonia.

Lithonia to Creekside, sorry.

And then Cartersville and Cartersville goes to Kell.

And that is your rundown in quad A we've got another bracket popped up and I think we're going to class A Division one.

We'll let you see what happens here.

When it comes to class A D-1.

And it's a lot of the ranked teams that we're used to seeing when it comes to class A Division one.

Here we go.

All right.

So now here it is in full.

Let's take a peek.

Let's start upper left.

Let's start here.

Let's challenge.

Let's challenge our sight lines and our state capitals here.

Heard county and social circle.

Heard County put up a lot of points early on.

Heard County Shane Lassiter, the top team in the class.

They advance Fitzgerald and Dublin.

This was a shock.

This was an 89 matchup at Shamrock Bowl, but Fitzgerald and West Tankersley get the win on the road.

Dominant performance by the Purple Hurricane singular as they win.

And so heard County and Fitzgerald Fitzgerald is the nine will go to heard County next week and see what life is like there in Franklin.

Tell you what.

Let's go down low.

Show you what's going on here.

Northeast Macon, put some distance between themselves and Swainsboro in the second half.

So northeast Macon, another deep playoff run for them.

They're coming through as the five.

Thomasville and Toombs.

This one was back and forth all night long.

Toombs County buddy Martin, they get the win.

Toombs as the four.

Thomasville your 13 Toombs County so northeast Macon in a four or five has to travel to Lyons next week and go to the pit.

You better get your buddy burgers early.

That's all I'm saying.

Get your tickets early.

Get your buddy burgers early.

Northeast, Macon and Toombs.

That's the left hand side of the bracket.

Now let's go to the right hand side of the bracket.

Show you what's going on here.

Upper Wright.

And this one, the game of the night by a lot of folks estimations.

It was a walk off field goal.

Worth County gets the win.

The number 1.

The number 3 team number 1 ranking in some polls survives Bleckley County.

Great run of the 14 for Vaughn Lassiter.

So worth County wins by three and a walk off field goal against Bleckley.

Gordon Lee hangs on against Andy Dyer and Elbert County, so Gordon Lee comes through as the six.

Warrick County as the top as the three seed, the top one in this upper quadrant here.

So Gordon Lee will travel next week to Sylvester to take on Worth County.

Let's go down low right, and show you what's going on here.

Jasper County and Pepperell.

Pepperell was winning late.

We're going to go ahead and advance them.

So Pepperell advances.

This game actually started about an hour late.

Pepperell had tire problems on their busses.

So it was a late start.

And Pepperell gets the win by making it by getting the win over Jasper County.

Rabun County over Marion Barry and a great run for Jackson Dean.

We had him on the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast last week.

So Rabun County, as the 15.

They're going to go to Lindale to take on Pepperell in 15-10 Gordon Lee is going to travel from Chickamauga, go down to Sylvester Heard County's hosting Fitzgerald northeast.

Macon goes to Lyons, and that is the rundown in class A, Division one.

I'm going to take a seat.

Can you wait?

Don't move.

First of all, a, I need you.

To.

Move Chickamauga one more time.

Chickamauga.

Love it.

Okay, two, we're gonna go now to class A, Division two.

I think this bracket is complete, right?

That is correct.

Okay.

We have eight in the middle, so we'll walk us through this one.

All right, let's go.

Upper left.

Show you what's going on.

Everybody talks about.

Remember the Alamo.

Remember in Georgia history where you had to pass and you had to know all the state capitals in the state of Georgia?

I don't know if that's.

Still, I grew up in Alabama, so.

No.

Well, I'm talking to the collective here.

Not necessarily you, but how things are in the state of Georgia.

You remember the Alamo?

How?

Because it is the county seat of Wheeler County.

Wheeler County gets the win over Warren tonight.

So Wheeler County, region champ.

They are one of the top ranked teams in class A Division two.

They get the win.

They get to go through.

Clinch County had a bit of a back and forth with ECI before winning by ten.

So Homerville as a one is going to host Wheeler County and Clinch County next week.

That one's going to be a great one.

Let's go down low, show you what's going on here.

Washington-wilkes and Bowdon.

Bowdon continues their great postseason runs that they have under Rich Finley.

They get the win over Washington-wilkes tonight in the Western frontier.

Jenkins got out to an early lead in Ellaville against Sligh County.

Jenkins County gets the win.

So Jenkins as a three seed, travels to Bowdon next week.

So a three seed travels to Bowdon.

The road trip continues for everybody from Millen against Bowdon next week.

That's the left hand side.

Let's go to the right hand side.

That's the full.

Let's go.

Upper right.

Show you what's going on here.

Charlton and Screven.

The Gamecocks from Sylvania.

They get the win over Charlton County tonight.

Early County great season from Mount Zion Carroll.

Great run for Brad Gordon.

Mount Zion Carroll.

But early County gets the win here.

Screven County as a one seed.

Early county as a one seed.

So that means Screven travels to Blakely.

That's like going from one end of the state to the other.

Pack a lunch or dinner in a midnight snack and some hard hats and some pillows.

Let's go down low, right.

Show you what's going on here.

Johnson County and Brooks.

This one was once again one of the great games of the great games of the night.

Johnson County and Lincoln County, these two teams working their way through.

And it's going to be Lincoln County hosting next week.

And that is your run at 80:02.

One more time.

Let's take it full show you what's going on when it comes to 82 Wheeler County clinch Bowden Jenkins, Screven, early Johnson county, Lincoln County.

And we got a coach who.

Is we got a coach.

Come sit down John take a break.

I can.

Take it.

All right.

We got Coach White who we just talked to on the podcast not long ago.

Douglas County had a big win, John.

It was an overtime win.

They beat North Cobb 30-20 for Coach White.

Are you on the line?

Yeah.

I can hear you.

I'm on the.

Line.

There he is.

Coach, good to see you again.

We want to hear all about your game.

How'd it go for you tonight?

Started off not in our favor.

We were down 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.

We fought back.

Got it to 21:14 at halftime.

We both traded field goals and ended up in overtime.

We picked off one of my safeties.

Adrian Cole intercepted a pass on third down in the first overtime.

And then DeMarcus Lindsay had a ten yard score to end the game.

Coach, that was a fantastic summary because we were on air.

We couldn't watch your game, so I felt like I was there in that moment of you describing the play by play coach, what would you say was the turning point for your team where you really punched it in to advance to the quarterfinals?

I think the resilience of our quarterback and our running game.

Mike Johnson had a great game.

Our offense really fought hard tonight.

They took what the defense gave him.

You know, it's it's hard to beat a team twice, especially because we beat them last year in the second round.

So we knew we were going to be ready.

And you know Coach Quinn does a great job with those guys.

And the things that we were taking advantage of last year, they wouldn't let us do.

So just hard fought.

I'm just so proud of my kids.

And as I say all the time, God is just so good right now.

He is.

Well, how was your group this week that you've told us about all those coaches that that you communicate with every day?

Oh, yeah.

So every Saturday morning I go on, we have a coaches devotional at 8:00.

It's probably about 50 coaches all throughout the state.

And, you know, we just thank God we share we share stories at first little war stories, but then we get in the word every, every Saturday morning at eight.

And it's been great for me.

It's been four years and I've never missed a Saturday.

I love that coach.

Well, hey, we're looking forward to following along your game next week against Coach App and the Buford Wolves.

That's going to be a must see.

We're going to be following that one for sure.

Even right here in the studio next week.

Well thanks again and God bless.

And we're going to continue to go Tigers.

Go Tigers.

Thank you coach.

Thank you.

All right let's take a peek at that 5-A.

Let's take a peek at the 5-A bracket.

Because this one was going to be one of the big brackets.

Remember tonight coming in one third of the matchups had two top ten ranked teams in them.

And that's your full screen look at what's going on in 5-A.

Let's go upper left and show you how it happened here.

Woodward Academy 278 winners over Statesboro.

They're going to travel to Thomas County Central next week.

Thomas County Central, 41 point winners over Villa Rica 55-14 Roswell in Sequoyah Roswell big win over Clark Central 50-7 They're going to travel to Sequoia.

Sequoia beat Newnan 48 28.

Now let's go.

Upper right.

Show you what happened here.

One of the big matchups anticipated all the way through Lee County and Hughes.

Hughes gets the win 49 31.

And then we have the store.

Another story of the night.

But for not necessarily a good reason Gainesville and Brunswick.

It was 42-0 in the third quarter in this one.

And the game was suspended because you had an on field brawl.

Then the videos out there, if you want to go look, it's just if you want to go look fine, but just know the game was called third quarter.

Gainesville was up 42-0 Hughes now gets to host Gainesville.

Keep an eye on what the disciplinary proceedings are with this game and what comes out of it through the eyes of the GHSA.

Is anybody going to be missing?

What's the appeals process?

Gainesville at Hughes next week.

And then one of the other brackets, top to bottom, Houston County in Rome, Rome distanced themselves late.

It was 21, 21, 28, 28, 31, 38, 28.

Final.

Rome Jackson County gets the win over Milton 24-19 Their run of firsts continues.

So let's take it full one more time.

Show you what's going to happen next week.

Woodward at Thomas County Central Roswell at Sequoia, Gainesville at Hughes.

Keep an eye on it.

Rome at Jackson County next week.

And that is what's going on in 5-A.

All right.

We're slowly getting down to the 64 teams that will be facing.

We got our first snort laugh out of Nikki tonight.

We'll be right back after the break.

We'll have more coaches calling in, maybe more snort laughs and a lot more.

That's what I was looking for right there.

More in a bit.

So.

You wouldn't take a call during the big game.

Oh hey what's up man.

You wouldn't be texting while cheering on your team.

Jacket.

And you definitely wouldn't want to watch a video while marching with the band.

So why would you drive a car while distracted?

Driving isn't a game when you lose on the road, it could lead to a crash.

So when you get behind the wheel, put the distractions aside, drive hands free, and save lives.

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Welcome back into our Football Friday in Georgia postgame show presented by Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

Parking your phone John.

While driving, not in studio saves lives.

We corrected it this time.

Heads up Georgia John, let's take us or you take us to the two.

A bracket.

Yeah.

I can do that.

Can you do that?

I think we haven't covered them yet.

We haven't.

So I've got.

It right here.

We'll go ahead and rock and roll with it.

And it is.

We'll start off upper left like we always do.

You got the full look there for a second.

Pierce and Carver.

Atlanta.

It was early back and forth.

But turnovers and being very opportunistic for Pierce County.

They they carved Atlanta wins by 20.

They're going to host Sumter County next week Sumter wins by 17 28-11 against North Murray on the road up in the mountains.

Let's go low left.

Show you what's going on here.

Hateful charter.

We can fill that one in Hapeville charter over Appling 38 27.

They advance 32 27.

They advance to take on Morgan County, who knocked off Miller Grove.

Great season for the Wolverines getting that first round playoff win.

So it is it is hateful charter as the 12 going to Morgan County next week as the four let's go upper upper Wright show you what's going on here and hit me.

There we go.

Carver Columbus 56 to nothing over Stevens County.

It was 49-0 Late third quarter running clock for most of the second half.

Thompson knocked off Callaway so I can flip that one.

Thompson beat Callaway in that one.

So Thompson goes to Carver Columbus next week, and so Thompson goes to Carver.

Columbus will switch that one when we post it to Gpb.org.

So right now Thompson Carver Columbus, that's next week.

Let's go low right.

Show you what's going on here.

Columbia and Burke County, Columbia, the seven knocks off Burke County.

Great season for the Columbia Eagles.

We caught up with them at DeKalb County Media day.

And go back on our YouTube channel and check that one out.

Columbia and Rockmart.

So Rockmart Biff Parson and the Yellow Jackets, they're going to host.

So let's take it full one more time and show you what's going on in AA Sumter at Carver Atlanta.

It is hateful charter at Morgan County.

It is Thompson at Carver Columbus.

And it is going to be Columbia at Rockmart.

That is AA as we know it.

All right, John, AA down.

And now we're going to double down and go to 6-A because we're going to go through the bracket and then we're going to announce where we're going next week.

But you have to listen to John first.

Oh we do.

Okay cool.

We get to listen to me first.

All right hit it.

Let's go full and go.

Let's push upper left and show you what's going on here.

Grayson.

Winner 3110 over.

Colquitt.

It was tight early.

Grayson ends up distancing themselves.

Third and fourth quarter.

Grayson gets the Duke.

They're going to go to Carrollton.

Carrollton in control, 516 over Harrison.

Great season for the Hoyas out of region three.

Being the number 2 seed.

Then our game as we had it here on Georgia Public North Gwinnett big win over Lowndes tonight.

And so North Gwinnett over Lowndes.

They're going to go to West Forsyth.

West Forsyth once again down to Hillgrove.

Come back to win 20-17.

North Gwinnett to West Forsyth.

All right let's go full and then go upper right Walton continues 49 14 as a four seed.

What is it we say about four seeds that coming in at 5-5 Look at the full schedule and you get to see what's going on.

Walton will travel to Valdosta.

Valdosta had 56 in round one, 49 in round two, beating Brookwood Walton at Valdosta, Douglas County.

We caught up with Johnny White in the previous segment and Douglas County in overtime over North Cobb 30 24, and they are going to go to Buford.

It's almost like we've said that one once before.

Douglas County and Buford, as we talk about it here on the great GPB.

So pull your 6-A all the way back out.

Great work by Bonke and Ryan tonight, all night long with all of the fancy pushes and graphics and things.

Grayson at Carrollton, North Gwinnett at West Forsyth, Walton at Valdosta and it is Douglas County heading to Buford Low.

Right.

So that means what Nicki Noto.

Palmer that means you guys need to feast your eyes on the top left of that bracket.

We're heading to Carrollton.

Grayson's coming to town, John.

We're going to talk to Coach Bryant.

Coach King this week.

Can't wait to catch up with them.

That is our official quarterfinals game of the week.

The Grayson Rams will be at Carrollton Trojans.

And cannot wait for that one once again.

Thanksgiving week.

Yeah, like a Thanksgiving feast.

Absolutely true.

Class class a D1.

Before we get out of here, Fitzgerald and her northeast, Macon, Toombs Worth and Gordon.

Gordon Lee and Rabun and Pepperell.

That's going to do it for eight brackets and a lot of recycled paper.

That's another week here on the postgame show.

That's right.

Everyone have a happy Thanksgiving week.

Students are out of school, but we're going to be working hard all week.

Oh yeah.

Our school we're going to be in school all week getting ready for the podcast and getting ready for our game of the week.

We'll see you guys Friday.

We'll be right here in the studios.

So.

You wouldn't take a call during the big game.

Oh hey what's up man.

You wouldn't be texting while cheering on your team.

Jacket.

And you definitely wouldn't want to watch a video while marching with the band.

So why would you drive a car while distracted?

Driving isn't a game when you lose on the road, it could lead to a crash.

So when you get behind the wheel, put the distractions aside, drive hands free, and save lives.

Heads up Georgia.

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