Friday, November 22, 2002
Friday, November 22, 2002 |
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Quest for state football titles starts tonight
By MICHAEL
BOYLAN The state football playoffs start tonight and four local teams will try their best to get to the state title game. Starr's Mill, the Region 4-AAAAA champ, and East Coweta will represent the area in the AAAAA state playoffs, while Sandy Creek shoots for a AAAA title and Landmark Christian hopes for a perfect seaso on their way to a Class A title. Starr's Mill (8-2) will host Tift County (3-7) tonight. The Panthers have a 3-1 record at home this season and have won three games in a row. In that span, they have outscored their opponents, 107-59. Their running attack is very hard to stop as there are several players that can penetrate and punish defenses, thanks to a solid offensive line. The Panther defense is also intimidating as it makes big plays when needed and grow more and more intense as the game goes on. Tift County (3-7) has a record of 1-3 on the road and finished the season with a win over Colquitt County, after losing four games in a row. Though Tift's record isn't great, they play in one of the toughest regions in AAAAA, having to face Valdosta, Coffee and Lowndes each year. East Coweta does not enter the playoffs this year like they are used to. The Indians are 5-5, 1-4 on the road. Their longest win streak of the season is two games and the Indians would like to stretch that to three games with a win tonight. Instead of hosting a team this year, East Coweta must travel to take on Coffee (7-2-1). Coffee defeated Valdosta last week by a score of 33-20. The win was the Trojans' fifth win in a row. They are 3-1-1 at home. Sandy Creek is on the road tonight as well, which suits them just fine as they are 5-0 on the road. The Patriots are 4-1 in their last five games and their loss was to Pebblebrook by a point. That loss prevented them from clinching the second spot in the region and hosting a game in the first round. The Patriots have plenty of weapons, including star running back Phillip Hyde, who has rushed for over 1,600 yards this season. The defense has also come up big for Sandy Creek, blocking punts and extra points, making interceptions and recovering fumbles. If the defense can give the offense the ball, Sandy Creek could have a good night. Their opponents, the Ware County Gators, are 7-3. They are 4-1 at home this year and had won five games in a row before losing by a field goal last week. Ware County has put a lot of numbers on the scoreboard this year, averaging 28.2 points per game. Landmark Christian (10-0) has got to be a favorite to make the title game. They are dominating on both offense and defense, posting two shoutouts in their final two games while scoring 100 points. They have only scored under 30 points once this season. They have more weapons on offense than they know what to do with and yet it seems like everybody gets a chance to shine in each game. Their opponent is Jefferson (5-5), which lost 45-21 to the War Eagles Sept. 20. Jefferson has lost three games in a row and has been outscored 73-24 in that span. Should all of our local teams win tonight, Landmark will take on either Lincoln County or Bremen, Sandy Creek will play the winner of Thomson and Troup, Starr's Mill will meet the winner of Northside and Wayne County and East Coweta would face off against the winner of Warner Robins and Bradwell Institute. All games tonight are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
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