(upbeat music) - Welcome to "Football Fridays in Georgia" post game show presented by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, reminding you to buckle up Georgia.

I'm Hannah Goodin, we're coming to you live from the GPB Sports Studios in Atlanta.

We just wrapped up the quarter final matchup between Walton and Brookwood, Raiders win 52 to 35 there at Brookwood Community Stadium and Snellville, we cannot wait to get to that seven, eight bracket, but first let's bring in Jon Nelson because we are going six A.

We've got our first coach on the line, that's Hughes head coach, Daniel Boone Williams, but I want to take a look at their bracket first, That's going to be the six A bottom left.

Let's see how Hughes got here.

They first defeated Glynn Academy, That's a one seed versus two seed.

Then they defeated Shiloh 28 to eight.

And tonight they defeated Northside Warner Robbins, 48 to seven, Jon.

- Yep, and you look at the high powered offense that we've seen from Hughes, and you also really, we get caught up in those big numbers, but I think we can get just as caught up in the little numbers and we catch up with coach coming up here just a sec.

Obviously, I wanna find out about this defense, which has been astute as you can be, because you only give up 14 and round one, eight and round two, seven tonight against an up and coming Northside Warner Robins side, to get you into the final four from the left-hand side of the bracket, so it's been a great run so far for Hughes.

Coming into tonight, it was the second straight year that they made it into the quarter finals.

Now they're taking that next step into the semis.

- Now let's talk to about it, Coach Williams on the line.

Coach, how does it feel to be going to the semis?

That score 48 to seven in a quarter match up, congratulations.

- Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, man.

That score, it was my kids.

I've talked to him all week about buying in and doing everything right, you know, discipline execution and unbelievable effort.

And they came out tonight and they fought for quarters.

- Coach, leading into this, I wanted to ask about this defense because I know that it's been a balanced effort for you over this run in these first three games where the offense has shown the defense has shown up just as much.

What's it been like for this defense of yours to clamp down as hard as they have in these first three rounds?

- Oh, the defense is a plan for each other.

I mean, they understand all year their goal was to not let people in the end zone.

When they got a thing that they say, it's really just protect our house and they really been doing it because the playoff run would've been at home, so they don't let a lot of people score in the end zones, and they stick to that.

- Coach, you will be taken onto Dacula who defeated Johns Creek 35 to nothing, preview that one for us.

- Dacula coach Vogt does a great job.

I mean, he was at Northside last year and the year before I think he was at the college.

So he does a good job and Dacula always have a lot of talent, so it's a good coach, it's gonna be a good competition, a great game.

- Well, coach, once again, thanks for hanging out with us here on the "Football Fridays in Georgia Post Game Show".

When you show up here in the playoffs, it means that you've won.

Congrats on the round three win and congrats on making it to the final four in the class.

Thanks for hanging out with us on the post-game show, we'll be keeping an eye next week as you take on Dacula.

- All right, thank you so much for having me.

You guys have a good night.

- Thanks a lot for hanging out with us once again, that is one coach, and I guess we should kind of keep a tally sheet down at the lower end of the screen Hannah, as to just how many coaches we have on the shows here in the post season, 'cause I think our modern day record is what, nine or 10 or 10 or 11, what's our modern day record?

- I don't know, producer is saying 10.

- 10, all right.

- Hey, speaking of Dacula, I love live TV, I love when this happens.

We've gotten the Dacula head coach on the line, but first we need to take a look at their bracket, and they are in the top left quadrant of six A, let's see how they got here.

First Dacula defeated Pope 36 to 12.

Then went on to defeat Brunswick 29 to 21.

And tonight against Johns Creek 35 to nothing, a blanking Jon.

- And we always kinda focus back on this Brunswick game.

And when we catch up with the head coach, Casey Vogt coming up in just a sec, I wanna find out what it was like for them to get that Brunswick win on the road, and find out how that's been a catalyst for them going down to south Georgia and getting a big win against an undefeated team coming back and getting the duke tonight.

You wanna talk about momentum this time of the year, we're definitely getting at, Hannah first question to you.

- All right, coach tough one.

How were you able to blank your opponent in the quarter finals?

- I think the biggest thing was our offense came out and we asked the officials, we wanted the ball to start to gain.

We went on 10 play drive, scored a touchdown, and then we kicked off to them.

They went three plays and punted, and then we went seven more places, score second touchdown.

And so all of a sudden it was 15, nothing.

And again, when you have a cushion like that, allows your defense to play for more aggressive than what they already are.

And so again, it kind of snowballed and we had all the momentum on our side the entire football game.

- So coach let's go back a week and talk about momentum.

Going down to Brunswick, getting the duke down there against a team that has been top five all season long, what was the momentum like?

And what was it like after that win knowing that you guys could go on the road, get a win like that, and then come back here in round three, and get a big win against the four seed.

- You know, again, our kids have kind of bought into some of the things that I'm trying to bring to our program is a little bit different than what had been done in the past.

So that's been big and again is a seasonal war on it.

They've gotten more and more in tune with the way I like to coach and speak therefore with the energy I like to bring the practice.

And so it really, again, it all goes back to process of what we do during the course of the week.

Our practice weeks are very worked with like, and the kids go after it.

So then all of a sudden the production on Friday nights is released.

- Coach, obviously going to the semifinals, you'll be playing Hughes who defeated Northside Warner Robbins, 48 to seven.

Both of you guys putting up a lot of points, high powered offenses, strong defenses, preview that one for me.

- Well, again, I had an opportunity, I was at Northside Warner Robins last year, We played Langston Hughes.

And I know now that the team they have, I don't think playing Hughes last year, they were all freshmen and sophomore, the last year.

Again, they've got a super, super talented quarterback.

Again, they're defense work from everywhere.

And I haven't even watched on this year.

I know we got our work cut out for us and we ended up great, we could practice this week.

- First year head coach there, congratulations on heading to the semis.

- All right, thanks so much.

- All right, Jon, let's go to double A.

And we go all over the map here because it all depends on which coach is calling in.

So we are going to go to top right on the double A bracket, and see how Callaway got here tonight.

They first defeated Pepperell, then they defeated Bleckley County, and tonight's South Atlanta 39 to 22, at a neutral location, Jon.

- You look at Callaway and as we bring in a guy who knows what it means to be here at this particular time of the year when you look at this, the way things have laid out for Pete Wiggins, they get the win at home against Pepperell, and then they go on the road.

And I think that the result kind of reminded folks about the Callaway Cavaliers, when it comes to what it means for them and being ready this time of year.

Callaway knocking out Bleckley County, knocking off a one seed, having to go on the road to do it.

Then tonight getting a 17 point win coming to south Atlanta to do that, to win at Lakewood stadium.

So Callaway, once again, you're defending champs.

Last time I checked to be the man you've got to beat the man.

No one has beaten the man in double A so far when it comes to the post-season Hannah.

- And I think I heard you say earlier on the show win number 160 for him.

- Yep, number 160 in the history for Pete Wiggins, it's been a great career for him down there in Hogansville for the Callaway Cavaliers, and to see him and this team just continued to do what they've been able to do.

It has been very, very steady, the output you're talking double digit win season is always making deep runs into the playoffs, getting into the last game of the year.

Finally getting that state championship once again.

Now you're getting to the point where you're seeing Callaway once again, coming out of the upper right-hand side of the bracket, making that run like we're used to seeing them do here in the postseason.

- Well, let's bring him in coach Wiggins, congratulations to win number 160 over south Atlanta, 39 to 22, your final score, how does it feel to be moving onto the semis?

- It's a great feeling I'm really proud of our kids, they've worked extremely hard to get to this point and I'm just really proud of our seniors for their leadership throughout our season.

- And coach, one of the things that I know has been one of the sources of pride, is the balance that you have offensively.

There's no one star that does it each and every single time out, I know Marion Truet had a big night tonight.

We're used to seeing that from him, but you're balanced once again, coming through here in the playoffs.

- Well, Truet, we call him Truet.

Has gotten better as the years went on, Qui Whitfield, Kierra Jackson, those three guys are really special and they work hard each week.

They're good kids and really proud of their efforts throughout the season.

And all three of them would be the first to say, hey, good jobs at all offensive line.

I mean, they very complimentary those guys up front and that they're just humble guys that come to work each day I'm really proud of.

- Coach, 31 teams have punched their tickets to the semis, we're waiting on one game, that's Raven County versus Thomasville.

That's your opponent, looks like Thomasville is going to be it 42 to 17 up over Raven in the fourth quarter, what do you know about them?

- Well, I know that both teams have great players, they're both well coached.

So, two really special programs for out there in Thomasville and Raven.

So two extremely talented football teams, either one would be very a tough, difficult opponent for us next Friday night.

- Thank you so much, coach for your time.

Go celebrate this, win with your team.

- Thank you very much.

- All right, Jon, it's time to check in on the coast with our friends at ESPN Coastal, Christian GoecKel is on the line.

They had three games that they had their eye on tonight.

One of those being four A, which was on their airwaves Marist and Benedictine, Jon, what did you see tonight out of that matchup?

- I think that a lot of folks, when we circled this one, not knowing how the brackets were gonna lay themselves out, you looked at Benedictine and then Marist.

You knew this was gonna be number one versus number two, top of the rankings all season long.

And a lot of times you sit there and you're going, this would be a great game for the end of the season, but it ends up this way, this season, where it ends up in the finals back and forth all the way through when you thought one team was going to pull away, the other team comes back and it goes to the end.

Pretty much with a couple of minutes to go fourth quarter, the game that a lot of folks expected was the one that Christian got to hang out with tonight.

Two great coaches in Alan Chadwick and Danny Brit, Benedictine eventually gets the duke, they hang on by three, and Benedictine moves on to the final four in quad A, so that's a great effort once again, a lot of folks looked at number one versus number two, and we got what we were looking for in this particular game here.

- All right, Christian is here to talk all about it.

Christian, we've got three games we wanna talk to you about, but first it's Marist versus Benedictine, could that be the number one in defending state champs War Eagles, 24 to 21 by just three points.

What did you guys see from the game tonight?

Let us know all about it.

- Yeah, when we saw these brackets come out, a lot of us thought that this was gonna be the game that really decided this half of the bracket of the team that gets to go to the state championship, and it absolutely lived out, so you know I had a chat with coach Tim and really coming and giving you everything they have, they're not gonna beat themselves, but it was the two guys holding gear, and Justin Thomas getting it done.

I'm sure you'll see the highlight coming up soon.

But Justin Thomas made a game winning touchdown catch that's gonna live in BC world for a long, long time.

We wanna play baseball, but he pretty smart might have something to say about that before it's all done.

- All right, Christian, let's go and drift into class A private, the other game that was there in downtown Savannah tonight, upper right as you're filling out your brackets in Pen Fellowship Christian Calvary Day, Fellowship Christian eventually gets the duke 24 to 14.

But for those that haven't had the chance to see the Cavaliers this year, and another great young quarterback there out of the Savannah area, what's it been like to see the Calves this season with Mark Strauss.

- Really fun, and they have a bunch of young guys, as you mentioned, I know it's a disappointing end into their season, but a young team Jay Park leader is a guy who's gonna be back for a couple more seasons.

And then you have a running back as well, that's a freshman in choice forward on the defensive line has offers from everywhere, he'll be back as well.

So this is a really talented team, coach Trot.

He's a guy that can coach them up with the best of Calvary.

They will be back, but I know disappointing especially in a home playoff game.

- All right, so let's go into the swamp and talk about Pierce County.

Once again, the conversations that we have to be the man, you got to beat the man.

As we were talking about a Callaway with double A.

The same thing with Pierce now in triple A, Pierce had a stern test tonight against a Peach County team, but Pierce County hangs on to win 35, 30.

And they're going to host Carver Atlanta next week.

Who's left on the board to get the buzz cut because coaches are getting buzz cuts after wins now.

So who's left on the staff to get a buzz cut?

- I don't know, Brandon and Harry pretty much always run Brandon and Harry, excuse me, coach Harry always rocks one on the way I'm thinking Frederica right now.

But man, he's a, it's a great team and the job that that staff has done has been unbelievable 'cause they've lost a lot of players just to graduation.

And Jon, you know, it's almost impossible to repeat, but Pierce County, man, they're a team.

They had to hold off a combat 'cause they were a big in that game over Peach, they're a football that can go toe to toe with anybody.

- Thank you so much for your time Christian.

Are you, are you in your car?

Are you driving?

Are you pulled over?

- I do have a special surprise for you, Jon, are you ready?

- Yeah, go ahead.

- A legendary champion, Tom Harris.

- [Jon] There he is.

- [Hannah] Nice.

- [Jon] Biscuits and gravy himself, biscuits and gravy.

- Currently on burgers and gravy right now, and we appreciate.

- Strong, well done my friend.

Well, thanks for hanging out with us here once again on the "Football Fridays and Georgia Post Game Show", for giving us the breakdown of everything going on down there in the coast, we'll catch up with you again next week has Benedictine and Pierce continue their runs.

- You guys do a great job, thank you.

- Thank you, Christian.

All right Jon, it's time to go single a private and just according to live TV, we got the Prince Avenue Christian coach on, but he's heading into a dead zone, so we got to hurry through this.

Let's see how they got here.

First they defeated King's Ridge, then they defeated Brookstone, and tonight they defeated First Presbyterian 41 to 22.

What do you think about their run?

- Once again, we talked about how difficult it is to be a repeat champion.

And that's the biggest question I think that you can ask in a situation like this in a very, very tough bracket.

FPD made a great run to get to the third round here as you're looking in your brackets low, right.

But a 19 point win tonight for Prince Avenue Christian.

- All right, Coach Greg Vandegriff, let's get you on before we run out of service.

Congrats on heading to the semi's with your big win tonight.

- Hey, thank you very much for sharing.

- How were you able to get it done?

41, 22 over First Presbyterian.

- Well, all right.

We were here to go the playoffs, that is one price so.

- How difficult is it to repeat as a champ?

I know a lot of folks may not necessarily know what it's like for coaches because of graduation and all these other aspects.

How difficult is it for you to repeat as a champion?

How difficult is it for someone who is a champion to repeat?

- I think it's very challenging.

First off we had like 19 seniors last year, and we really didn't expect to be back in, but our team responded really well, and coaches have done great.

So we're headed still.

I will start once the season is going off here till the end.

- Coach you're there.

- Can you hear me?

We can, we can still hear you.

One more question, you're there in a quiet bus who's behind you?

- Really, where's that bus driver?

- Where's your team?

- Come on.

- (laughs) Most of them rode home with their parents, you know private school, that's what they do.

So the red summer sleep.

- Nice, all right, well, thank you so much for your time and riding home on the bus by yourself, and of course the bus driver, be safe coach and congratulations.

- Thank you all, I appreciate all you're doing.

- All right, Jon, we are gonna take a quick break, but we've got a lot more coming up on the "Football Friday in Georgia Post Game Show", brought to you by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

More coaches, more brackets, stick with us right here on GPB Sports.

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I'm Hannah Goodin coming to you live from the GPB Sports Studios in Atlanta.

Our quarterfinal match up on our airwaves tonight was Walton versus Brookwood, the Raiders won 52 to 35 to advance to the semis.

They will play Milton.

We have yet to get to the 7A bracket, that's coming up.

Jon, let's go back to single A private where we just were.

We've got kitty Dallas on the line.

So let's take a look at how Trinity Christian got here.

They started things out in the first round with a Bye.

Second round, they defeated Athens Christian, 48 to 14, and tonight defeated Darlington 56 to seven.

We've had some huge scores, lots of numbers put up Jon.

- Average score coming into this game for Trinity Christian has been 53 to nine.

Last week's win over Athens Christian 48, 14 was I think the second closest margin of victory that they've had this week.

So Trinity Christian winning by 49 this week against Darlington.

And it's going to be a heavyweight match up next week because it's Trinity Christian going up against Eagles Landing Christian.

So Eagles Landing Christian making it into the semis.

So Trinity Christian, if they're gonna get to the last game of the year, again, they're gonna have to go up against one of the stout forces in class A private Hannah.

- Coach, Dallas, you put up 49 points in the quarterfinals.

How are you able to do it?

- Well, pretty much the way we'd done it the entire year, our offense snaps the ball just about as quick as the officials will allow us to snap it.

And when you played pretty good defense behind it, our starting defense didn't give up any points tonight, and you've got pretty good special teams, what we've had all year and allows your offense to start in a good spot.

My son is our starting quarterback.

He never likes that answer, he never likes to answer when I say, a great defense and special teams allows you to start in a good spot, that makes for a good offense.

He doesn't like that answer, but it's the truth.

- Now I know that David, I think probably tonight, he cleared 3000, I think he was 30 yards shortcoming in, so he cleared 3000 on the season.

What has it been like for you to share this experience with your sons?

It's a special season in its own right with you being top ranked and all of that, but what's it like to share a special season with your sons with this ride, trying to get to a championship?

- It has been special in fact, I've got five boys and I actually posted my two older boys, and I've been fortunate with the two older boys that actually, been on teams where they won a state championship.

So my two older boys have really given Josh and Dave a hard time saying, we know you've made it to a state championship game, but you've never won one with dad.

So we'd love to change that this year.

But of course we got a huge win this next week, but David had another night, he threw for 329 yards and had five touchdown passes.

And Josh had four receptions for 74 yards in three TDs.

And so to be quite honest, I mean, I couldn't be more proud of those two boys, not because they're great athletes, they're great young men, they're great leaders and they know how to treat people on and off the field, and so it, it has been a special year.

But I'm going to tell you outside of that, we got an unbelievable senior class of boys.

I'm sitting here looking Christian Hanson was my leading tackler tonight with seven tackles, three tackles for losses, Dom Casper had nine touches for over 200 yards.

I mean, we got a special group of boys.

And so I have proud of Josh today, but I'm also very proud of the group of boys that they get to play with.

- Coach Dallas, thank you so much.

Your team has looked phenomenal and you've got a big one against Elca.

We all have seen them in the championships over and over and over, so we are really looking forward to that game next Friday.

Thank you so much for your time.

- Elca is the gold standard and we are excited to get our opportunity to compete with them.

- Awesome, good luck coach.

- Thanks.

- All right, Jon, time to go bottom left, triple A.

Let's see, actually bottom right I'm wrong, bottom right triple A.

Let's see how Pierce County punch their ticket to the semi.

- So when you look at the champ and this is, we talked about the buzz cuts for the Pierce County staffs.

Let's see all of the wins that have made this to get to the semi-finals here in the class.

You know, Pierce County you've looked at them, they put 42 on Windsor Forest in the first round, shut them out 42, nothing.

They put 49 on Dawson County in those second round.

So it's 49 there.

Back and forth game with Peach County, Peach County tested when it comes to the post season, making their way through, beating Morgan County at home, having to go to Monroe area, then having to go to Blackshear for the win.

So I think that when you look at what we've seen from Pierce County here, Pierce County has won games in different ways.

They've won games in blow outs, where they won their first two by the total of 91, nothing.

Then they come through with this one where it's a back and forth and you're really tested tonight, Hannah.

- Let's bring in coach Ryan Herring.

Coach is a close one in the swamp.

How were you able to pull it out and get to the semis?

- By the skin of our teeth, I can tell you that.

Peach County, that old Indian phrase or Western phrases.

Peach County has many brave warrior.

So they have many brave warrior.

It was a tough game, we're just fortunate, blessed, to get out of there with a win and I.

- So when you look at this often, so when we caught up with Christian Geockel from ESPN Coastal, just a couple of minutes ago, you have had to do this well, a lot of graduation coming off of that state championship team from last season, how much of a challenge has it been for you and your staff to get to this particular point of the season, knowing that you're a defending champ?

How difficult a coaching job has it been this year with graduation?

- Well, I mean, we lost some real good players that we knew we couldn't replace, but we've somehow asked guys to step up, and we've guys playing every snap on both sides of the ball.

I mean, I got an entire play at every snap, I mean, we've got, I mean, I can name a few, but they're playing every snap on both sides of ball, knowing this is a weak league we're playing, you know, when you're playing Peach County, you're playing one of the Blue Bloods in the state of Georgia.

So I mean, really all the credit goes to our players.

They're just putting up with me every day.

I can't say enough about our kids.

- Next up, it's Carver, Atlanta who defeated Burt County 46 to 14.

What do you know about them coach?

- When we played them last year, they were young last year and they were huge.

So we know they're gonna be a very, very big football team.

We know they're gonna be a real good football team.

Their coach does a great job, after talking to him last year, he was a class act.

So I know what it's going to be a huge challenge.

They're gonna have way of spot 115 pounds on the front.

So, you know, we got our work cut out for us.

I know they got a great football team and that guy at Carver Atlanta, he's a good coach, he does it right.

just like coach at Peach County, that that's a hard nose to fall coach.

And then anytime you beat Peach County, you know, your kids have done something special, and it'll be the same this week, it'll be a big challenge.

And we just got to be healthy enough on Friday night somehow, just to have a shot when.

- Well, congratulations Coach Herring, and thank you so much for your time tonight.

- Thank y'all.

- Thank you, coach.

- Jon, let's go from triple A up to five A top right.

I'm talking Blessed Trinity.

Let's see how they punched their ticket.

They first defeated Southwest Dekalb.

That score was 41 to 20.

Then Woodward Academy, 28, 13.

Tonight, Villa Rica, that final score was 49 to seven.

Blessed Trinity is a three Seed, can we read the upside alarm over number one?

- I mean, I think that if you've made it to this particular point of the season, remember Blessed Trinity is in one of the tougher regions around because you were looking at Cartersville and Calhoun.

So it's just the sheer numbers game that ends up putting Blessed Trinity as your three seed, but the stout running game.

I know that there's a lot of focus on Justice Haynes and what he's able to do when Justice Haynes is healthy, BT is rolling.

We've seen that with these rounds now with Justice Haynes, one of the most talented running backs we have here in the state of Georgia and BT continues to roll, putting up a big number tonight on Villa Rica to get to the final four.

- Okay Jon, maybe not the win is the upside alarm, but defeating the one seed 49 to seven, unbelievable.

Let's bring in head coach, Tom Hall.

Coach, how were you able to put up such big numbers tonight?

- Well, we played really well on both sides of the ball.

Our offensive line was outstanding.

They've just gotten better and better every week.

And on top of that, we got some short fields.

We had some turnovers by our defense, I think we had a scoop and score and a couple of picks , and that helps set us up really nicely as well.

- So coach, we talk about momentum this time of year and you're coming off a win, coming into tonight, where you knock off Woodward Academy, who's a top five team, a top two team, depending on which poll you look at.

You take that kind of momentum where you beat Southwest Dekalb, momentum of knocking off the top five team, then going on the road and beating Villa Rica, who was a region champ.

How would you gauge your progression here in the playoffs with putting up the big numbers that you have to get to a final four?

- Well, it is, it's been really big for us.

We lost so early in the year, a number of reasons for that.

And our coaches have been is just outstanding, they've never let these kids believe that they couldn't rebound from this, get better every single week.

Our players believe in themselves well, so a lot of people had given up on us.

Now we failed where we were out and we feel like we're hitting our stride.

- Coach, your next opponent, Calhoun.

They defeated Clark Central 31 to seven.

We're looking forward to that one.

Can we get some cheers from your team in the back.

- In the bus coach.

- Hi guys, how do you feel about getting to the final four?

- [Crowd] Yes.

- Congratulations guys, that's awesome.

We cannot wait for your game next Friday.

Thank you so much for your time.

- You got it, looking forward to it.

- Jon, what this show is all about, getting the bus excited.

Okay, we're spending quite a bit of time in class single A private, and that's where we are going again.

We're gonna go top right, we've almost covered this entire bracket.

Fellowship Christian gets the win tonight over Calvary Day 24 to 14.

How they got here?

They first defeated George Walton, 42 to seven.

Then they defeated Saint Anne-Pacelli 30 to seven.

So they've had quite the run.

- And I imagine that our next guest is probably somewhere on I 16 or perhaps having stopped before they get onto I 16.

Fellowship Christian, you look at what they've been able to do, region champ out of region six.

- [Man] He right behind me, I'm telling him to pay.

- [Jon] There he is.

- [Hannah] There he is.

- There's the man right there, we wondered if you were on I 16 right now, the head coach of Fellowship Christian, Tim McFarlin coach, congrats on winning on the coast, you made it to a final four.

- Now I appreciate that, Jon, thank you very much.

- Coach, how'd you get it done tonight?

- Defense played exceptionally well.

And we had to because there was so many weapons on Calvary's team, and our coaches did a great job with the players, just played so hard it was games that everybody held their breath till 5:00 in the morning.

We were able to get some stops, we took a halftime lead and then they came out with the ball right down the field so we responded.

So it was a really physical day with a hard-fought ballgame.

And we tried to control it with the run game as much as we could, but we were fortunate, kids played on.

- What have you learned about yourself and your team after that opening loss to Trinity Christian, who has been just lights out all season long?

What have you learned about yourself since then to get you into this final four?

- Well, you see this all the time with football.

It's about how you finishing the kids have just grown.

The program here was in great shape when we came in.

They were huge when Almaran, his staff with a wonderful job.

So when a lot of affairs that need, they graduated a large senior class.

And so when we came in, I think we've got about seven seniors.

And we had I think four guys that've never played in the varsity football game.

So early in the year, we knew that we were gonna be, it would be a little bit well-off and having to play Trinity that early, it's never fun to play Trinity, but anyway our kids have just gotten better every week.

And there's a whole new coaching staff with the exception of a couple of guys that have done a great job, but first of all, we all had to get to know each other, and a couple of team on offense and defense, and they've balled in.

The school has been terrific, whether the support and the players have just been outstanding.

- Where are you are calling in from coach?

- I think he's spending the night in Savannah.

That's what it looks like.

- Yeah.

- I'm right down the hall from a pizza party that's going on, we're staying nearby the airport.

We're gonna just stay at a hotel here as opposed to drive.

We did not wanna make that drive back tonight.

So we came down this morning and the parents had things all set up for us.

So we'll get up in the morning at 7:30 and check for way get on the road and come on home.

It doesn't get any easier, but that's just the nature of the brackets right?

You know, we got a game at home next week against Greg Vandegrift, great team up the class.

- Yep, that'll be Prince Avenue Christian.

They defeated first Presbyterian 41, 22 coach McFarlin.

Go ahead to that pizza party, I'm jealous.

That's where I wish I was going.

- You got it, thanks guys, I appreciate it.

- Thank you.

- All right, Jon, I want some pizza.

Do we have some pizza waiting for us?

- Well, I mean, didn't they say?

Aren't you aren't you supposed to like not eat after nine o'clock because it's bad for your metabolism.

I think that for you, I think that you get the okey doke, you get the hall pass on that one, I don't think I do though.

- Eating for three, eating for three, three weeks away from these babies coming.

All right, let's go back to five A, top left bracket Creek side, how did they punch their ticket?

They first defeated Coffee 28 to 18.

Then St. Pius 41 to 34.

And tonight they defeated Whitewater 20 to 13.

- So you look at Creekside and we've seen them on "Football Fridays in Georgia" this season.

When we saw them in the regular season, we saw them in the playoffs, knocking off Coffee, They were in complete control in their playoff opener against that team and won in 5A.

Then all of a sudden, you win in a shootout with Creekside.

Then you come back and you're going up against Chad Griffin and whitewater another grinder, another tight one.

So you've got some distance in one, you were in a shootout in one, and then you're in a bit of a defensive struggle where you have to make the plays at the right time.

So you've seen Creekside win it in three different ways to get to a final four in the left-hand side, Hannah.

- Let's bring in head coach, Maurice Dixon.

And coach, you've been to the second round three years in a row, finally, over the hump, congratulations.

Heading to the semi's, how does it feel?

- It feels great, before the season started, our guys set goals and we put the work in to accomplish those goals.

And one of those goals was getting past the second round.

So I'm proud of the way they put in.

And I'm just happy that they get the opportunity to experience what is it like to play in the final four.

- What have you learned about yourself in these three games that you may not have known about yourself during region play, where you've won in three different ways as we were talking before you came on.

What have you learned about yourself and your team?

- I think we really do well with adversity.

You know, each game, like you said, was a different game.

We had the fight in cloud to win all of those games.

We talk about emergency all the time with the kids, so I'm just happy that they got an opportunity.

So you know, they work hard, so would they be working through.

- Coach, next up Warner Robbins, they have made quite the run this year beating Jones County 49 to 21.

How difficult of a task is that gonna be?

- Being here you're out, Warner Robbins has a great program.

Cole does a great job down there, they got some great players.

And we really looking forward to the opportunity.

You know, one thing about Creekside, we really don't duck nor smoke.

Warner Robbins is bringing the a lot on Friday night.

So we just gonna prepare a like we've been preparing all week, all year.

- You'd only lost to Cartersville and Woodward Academy coming into the post season.

And I think that it speaks well obviously of the way that you had anticipated your region play and how things were going to go.

For someone who hasn't seen Creekside play this year, when things are going the way you want them to go, describe Creekside football and how things should be going, when it's all at a hundred percent.

- We play a fast physical with fun brand of football.

On defense, we gonna fly around and we gonna make plays, and we going to be aggressive.

And on the offense we go pretty from sidelines to sidelines vertically, but at the same time, we have a power running game that don't really come at you every play.

So, we are uptempo and we believe that something fly around.

So it's really retaining the football, but end of the day, it's all about the seeds if I increase that football that stands in physical.

- Well, congratulations for getting over the hump.

Coach Dixon, we really appreciate your time tonight.

- All right, thank you so much guys, we try our part.

- Good luck.

- All right, Jon, finally time to head to seven A.

- Got you covered.

- We are going bottom right, Colin's Hill.

Let's see how they got here taking a look at the bottom right bracket.

They first defeated Lambert 56 to 13.

Then Pebblebrook 48 to six.

And Lowndes a big win, 49 to seven tonight, Jon.

- Yeah, I mean a lot of folks, when they were looking at this particular quadrant, they were thinking that it was going to be Collins Hill and Lowndes coming into the quarter finals.

And that was how it ended up.

And with Lowndes Maremma last weekend, and we talked to Jamie Dubose, and he was concerned about the health of his quarterback, Jakarta Brown.

He was also concerned about health of one of his running backs in Jay's Belcher.

And then when you run into a team that is ranked top five nationally, that's a lot of different parts of an equation.

And you go to the concrete palace tonight, and these are the kinds of wins I know that our next guest is looking for, that can get you and remind you about what it takes being on the road, having to go on the road sometimes to get another state championship.

Another big win tonight for Collins Hill, knocking off Lowndes the way they did.

- Let's bring in head coach, Lenny Gregory.

Coach, coach, go undefeated 13 and 0, four and 0, in league play.

This was a rematch from last year's quarterfinals where you won, you did it again against Lowndes, at the Concrete Palace, how were you able to get this big win?

- Just so proud of the kids and staff and just everything that we had to do, just going on the road and the trip and planning.

And that was just a lot of distractions.

And our kids were able to overcome them, stay focused, We had a great game plan and we appreciate all week that, you know, you just got to play good in these games.

We gotta step up and play good and our kids performed this outstanding performance tonight.

- How difficult is it to tune out all the noise when people like us are calling you up for post-game shows on a weekly basis and saying that you've won, we wanna talk to you again.

How difficult is it with the expectations that you have internally, with all of the expectations that everyone's putting on you externally being a top five ranked team nationally, how difficult is it to take all the noise and tune it out?

- We just don't focus on that.

I'm happy to get on here and talk about it, but I'm gonna say the same thing every week.

And that is that we're just focused on getting better and improving us and, just trying to go one and 0 each week, and our kids have done a great job, our staff has done a great job of just racing the board and starting over each week, and just finding a way to go one and 0, and be in a better version of us every Friday night.

- All right, in the semis you will play Grayson, and they defeated Roswell 24 to 14, up against head coach, Adam Carter.

What do you know about them?

- Good football team.

We played them two times last year.

But you know, last year was last year, this year is, they're gonna be different, we're gonna be different, so we'll get in there, watch the film and prepare just like we do every week.

And hopefully we'll put together a good game plan and find a way to go one 0.

- All right, coach, thank you so much for your time.

It looks like you're calling in from the bus or the car.

- Safe ride home.

- Oh yeah, we're on the charter bus coming back.

- Nice, let's see your team, is your team behind you?

- You're napping Hannah, it's a dark bus.

- Oh, They're all sleeping.

- Man, well, congrats guys.

- [Crowd] Hi.

- Hi, there you go.

- Hey, guys.

- There's some life in there.

- Oh, safe flight home guys.

- There you go.

- There it is, be good, y'all be safe coming home.

- Thank you so much, coach.

- They wake up for that, they like it so.

(laughs) - Thank you coach, we'll see you next week.

- All right guys, thank you.

- Be good.

- All right, we got top right.

Let's stick with seven A.

We got top right Grayson.

Let's take a look at how Grayson made their way through.

Here, they first beat East Coweta in the first round 48 to 14.

Then Denmark 35, 21.

And tonight Roswell, like I said, they defeated them 24 to 14 Jon, big season for Grayson.

- Yeah, and this is what I want to talk about where Grayson is concerned, is that they're a very young team by Adam Carter's own admission, they're a very young team.

And when you're starting to play those inexperienced freshmen and sophomores at the beginning of the year, by the time you're at this time of the season, they're not playing like freshmen and sophomores anymore, they're playing like that next class up.

And so I think the maturation process I think is key when you're having a run like this, when you can get into a final four in your classification.

I think that to see that the maturation of all of those young guys, I think is key in this situation where you can sit there and go on the road and get a 10 point win.

When you can go on the road the round before and get a 14 point win.

When you're at home, and you can really put the pedal down in the opening round in a two, three match up and win by 34.

I think that it proves a lot to yourself as a young team, but I think it can also prove a lot to everyone else around you, as you're getting more mature, when you're getting all those reps that you're seeing, when it comes to the Grayson and team.

- We love when live TV works, head coach Adam Carter is trying to call in, while we wait for him, let's take a look at the rest of the seven A bracket.

Let's go bottom left to our game tonight.

Walton defeated Brookwood huge game for the Raiders.

52 to 35 in the first round, they were able to beat Colquitt County, a two seed, 41 to 17.

Then Archer, the one seed, 34 to seven.

Oh man, and tonight sophomore quarterback, Jeremy Hecklinsky put on a show, what a score?

52, 35.

- It really wasn't that close I mean, when you look at how things were late, third quarter, early fourth, this was a Walton dominant game.

And you saw Walton once again, Walton goes on the road in the first round, they go down to Colquitt, go to the Hogpen, knockoff Colquitt County.

They put 40 on the board down there, then they come back, clamp down defensively on Archer round two, and then it was just lights out off offensively.

And I think also when you look Brookwood, that Dillon Lonergan wasn't at a hundred percent and you could take advantage of those kinds of things.

And we caught up with Daniel Bruner, Tabitha Turner Wilkins did during the game.

And you got to see what was going on with Walton.

Walton putting 52 on the board gives them a marker on the left-hand side as they're gonna go to Milton next week.

- Yes, they'll play Milton and we'll finish out this bracket in just a minute, but we do have head coach Adam Carter on the line.

He might be a little spotty with his audio, but coach Carter, congratulations, heading to the semis.

How were you able to be Roswell?

They'd been on quite the run.

- Yeah, that's a good football team, coach Bruce has done a great job.

We were fortunate to make some plays early offensively, defensively kind of settled in after that first shot, and just made a couple of blades.

I think that's the biggest thing right now in the play offs.

You're gonna have your teams that see each other every Friday, it's just somebody who's gonna make a play, and we had a couple of nights.

- What's it like to see all of these young guys that by your own admission, you had to start.

You're talking freshmen and sophomores and juniors that didn't have the experience last season as well.

What's it been like to see these young and inexperienced guys, come of age this time of year?

- Well, you know, in a place like this, they expectations to play well all the time.

Well, when you got young guys that are inexperienced, that are having to go through some bumps and stuff, we took those in a regular season and that was all it gets to this point, you know, it's kind of how you finish not necessarily how you start, when it comes to high school football.

We don't really go off of polls, we don't go off any of that stuff, we just go on.

Once you get into play also, you play playing your best football, and we were able to get these young kids, some reps early, and they're coming out playing really well.

I mean, we started two freshmen and three sophomores on BPS tonight, and so they're playing really well.

And we got some older guys, some juniors and seniors that are stepping up big fours as far as leadership roles.

So it's just a fun time, it's fun to watch.

- We just had head coach Lennie Gregory on, you'll be playing Collins Hill in the semis.

You're the defending state champs, what is it gonna take to get another win in the semis, and get back to backstage championship paths coach?

- Well, we all know what the other guys got, I know y'all know it.

It is gonna take us and I feel proud, coach Gregory is one of most talented in the state, regardless of classification.

They're really well.

We're going to try and go with this when they get back just to get into semifinals.

I told our guys, expectations so high here, but don't lose back at what you've accomplished.

So we're just gonna try to ignore this around now.

We'll get started on it in the morning, hopefully we can find a way to go up here like a couple of points, at least being in fourth quarter and give us other stop.

- All right, and we see you driving, any of your players in the bus with you?

- You better not be driving, I hope he is a passenger.

- Hey guys congrats.

- They say congrats, they're totally quiet.

- Well, it'll have to be quiet.

Congratulations, coach and good luck next Friday, we can't wait for your game.

- Thanks guys.

- Thanks coach.

- All right, Jon has promised let's finish out that seven A bracket.

Let's go to top left where Milton got the win tonight.

They will obviously play Walton.

Let's see how they got through here.

They first defeated Duluth 45, 14.

Then Marietta and a big one, 38, 21.

And Mill Creek tonight 36, 27 in a tight game, Jon.

- Yeah, we saw the Milton back and forth with Mill Creek.

they actually down when the game was in the early third quarter, if my memory serves, and it took once again, coming from behind in a very tight game to get those scores, to get that nine point win.

But once again, we saw them the week before on football Fridays, when you're looking at Milton, putting 38 on the board against a Marietta team, that has proven itself to be a very stout offensive team when it comes to Richard Morgan, what we're seeing with the Blue Devils.

You've got two high powered offenses on the left-hand side when it comes to the filling out of that final four.

So of course Hannah, the more that we're talking about two tie, in a two teams that have high powered offenses, it could end up being a game like 17, 16 or something like that.

- It definitely could.

All right, I've got it in front of me, that we want to show the viewers the big picture, the entire seven A bracket.

So Jon, what stands out to you on this?

- [Jon] Wow, you look at, and as I sit here and scan, as we'd gone through all of these, you know, McEachern was a one, they get knocked out by Mill Creek.

But once again, Mill Creek was in a very tough region.

Milton, we saw what Milton was capable of.

I think a lot of folks had anticipated Milton making their way into the final four.

Walton coming through as a three seed.

I think that win against Colquitt County in round one kind of opened up the bracket a little bit, but then we saw what Walton can do as long as they're not at home, frankly, considering what we've seen from Walton on the road.

Collins Hill, everybody knows what we know from them.

And Grayson making their way through.

A lot of folks looked at North Cobb, a lot of folks looked at Roswell, Grayson gets the duke and comes out of the upper right.

Interesting upper right to see Grayson come through as a two seed.

- We're gonna round out the show by giving you the big picture of each bracket and Jon, you know the drill we've got to get through these quickly.

We can not go through every single game.

So let's hit six A next.

Which game to use stands out the most?

For me It's Dacula Hughes.

- [Jon] Okay, and then I'll go to the other side with Carrollton and Buford.

Carrollton winning a shootout tonight against the very tough Westlake team, you've got two seeds there.

Carrollton has to go to Buford next week.

Buford just pretty much clamped down on Lee County tonight.

So you say the left-hand side because of the offense, I say the right-hand side because you're looking at Buford and Carrollton, Joey King makes it to a semifinal for Carrollton on the right-hand side.

- [Hannah] I love a couple.

Two seeds sneaking in there.

All right, let's go to five A, Blessed Trinity.

I just can get over that big one over Villa Rica tonight, 49 to seven.

- [Jon] But once again, Blessed Trinity coming through with a very, very tough region, and they make it through with the running game, everybody focuses on Justice Haynes, but when you clamp down the way that they have defensively, BT and Calhoun on the right-hand side, I know a lot of folks were looking at Warner Robbins coming through, but Calhoun coming through on the right-hand side, getting BT and hosting at the Reef.

I think that's big too.

- [Hannah] And in quad A, my game.

Benedictine defeating number one Marist, and defending state champion, 24 to 21.

That was such a close one Jon, what else do you see?

- [Jon] Yeah, I see Benedictine and I'm right there with you.

North Oconee continues their great run, making their way through having to go to Bainbridge tonight to get the win.

Cedartown put 39 on Perry.

Carver Columbus has had to win from behind more than once, they trailed tonight against Dougherty, they trailed the week before against Hapeville Charter.

And they had to, they got the win against West Lauren's in round one, but Carver Columbus has had to do things a little differently in Quad A.

- [Hannah] And triple A, you know where I'm going, bottom right, and the Swamp Pierce County gets the win over Peach County 35 to 30.

- [Jon] Yeah, Pierce County were through, and they get to host Carver, Atlanta, Cedar Grove, and Appling County.

So Cedar Grove in Peach looks like they might be making their way to the finals, as you're looking at it from those sides, you look at Cedar Grove and Appling.

I think that Appling County is what we've seen with coach Maurice coming out of their region as well, going up against the Cedar Grove.

Appling is gonna have to go to metropolitan Atlanta, has Appling has to go to play Cedar Grove.

Carver, Atlanta has to go to Pierce.

Glad we got to catch up with coach Harry and find out what it's like to be a defending champs.

So it's gonna be interesting final four there triple A.

- [Hannah] In double A, we got a overtime when by Swainsboro over Macon 12 to nine.

And we finally got that Thomasville Raven County final score, that one went forever.

Thomasville defeated them 49, 24.

Jon, that was the longest drive award, Raven County drove 325 miles, how big of a factor did that play?

- [Jon] I think it might've taken a little while for Raven County to get engaged because sometimes, and you know that you can make all of the arrangements you can, an eight hour bus ride, you're making a couple of stops, you're getting acclimated.

And that's a tough environment for anybody who has not seen a game at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Thomasville.

That is a tough environment to play.

Might've taken a little while for Raven County to get their seed legs in that one, but Thomasville is a stout team across the board.

Great win by Zack Grage at home.

And so Thomasville with the one seed, Callaway with the two.

Callaway is going to have to travel south that right-hand side is gonna go through Thomasville, Swainsboro, great run by Northeast making it to the quarter finals for the first time ever in team history.

- [Hannah] Second loss of the season or Raven County, let's go to class single A public, where the two time, I was gonna say double time.

- [Jon] Two time.

- [Hannah] Two time defending state champs, Irwin County.

Here someone ever making County 28 to 15.

What else do you see Jon?

- [Jon] Well, you've got old region rivals on the left-hand side with Irwin County and the stow show with Wilcox, Wilcox beating the the four seed there in Manchester.

Metter, they put up a lot of points, 60 tonight in their win over Turner County.

But Brooks is going to have to do it on the road.

They're gonna have to go through Metter to get to one and two out of the region of doom, there when it comes to class A Public, but those are forced out teams and class A public making it to the final four.

- And finally class single A private I'm going left side, I think Elca versus Trinity Christian is gonna be the game to watch in that classification.

- The way that Trinity Christian has been beating up on folks, I know it'll give Jonathan Jason a chance to get a measure of revenge fellowship.

We talked to coach MacFarlane about their loss early in the year to Trinity Christian Fellowship in PAC.

We caught up with those coaches that one is gonna be stout too, it's gonna be great to see this final four come out next week as well.

- Jon, we broke our record, we talked to 11 coaches.

Previous record was 10.

We did it, we did it.

Can I throw, trying to throw my papers, throw my records.

- Well, I thought you're gonna throw your paper.

- Well, I decided not to.

- Well, it's the end of the show.

- And so now I have to go over and bend over and pick them all up.

- It's the end of the show so I think we can throw our paper, can we?

- We can throw the papers, we'll throw the papers.

- There you go.

- All right, Jon, as always.

As always you are so informative, insightful.

Thank you so much for breaking down these brackets with me on bracketology and thank all of you for joining us on the "Football Friday in Georgia Post Game Show", presented by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, reminding you to a buckle up Georgia, please get home safe.

And if you're already home, thanks for watching from the couch.

We will be back next Friday, it's this semi finals.

I can't believe it, it's gonna be some December match-ups.

Again, thanks so much for watching.

You can follow us on social media at GPB Sports for our next game announcement that will be pretty soon.

For Jon Nelson, I'm Hannah Goodin.

For Greg Kilday behind the camera and everybody in the studio, producers, Steve Graham and Lori Kovar, everybody else in there, thank you so much, and we will see you next week.

- Sweetheart please, don't forget to wear your seatbelt.

- I got it mom.

(Lorry honking) - [Narrator] In the blink of an eye so many tomorrows can disappear.

Buckle up for your future, every trip, every time, A message from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

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