The high school football season came to an end for three local teams on Friday, but it goes on for four others who will represent their regions in the state football playoffs starting this Friday.

The teams that survived the season are Landmark Christian, Sandy Creek, Starr’s Mill and Whitewater and all four teams finished the regular season with wins on the road. McIntosh played a road game at Creekside on Friday and lost 41-7. The loss left the Chiefs at 0-10 for the season.

Landmark Christian defeated Our Lady of Mercy on the road 55-7. Landmark opened up a 49-0 lead by the half and got two touchdowns a piece from Brian Lee and Matt Moody. Other scorers on Friday were center Sam Brown, Jimmy Eden, Walter Lenard and Colby Wren. Defensively, the War Eagles got fumble recoveries from Cody Crook and Scott Berger, a forced fumble from Josh Pollard and an interception from Eric Burdette off of a pass deflection from Kaiden Garlington.

Sandy Creek defeated Cedartown 41-13. The Patriots led 27-6 at the half with a touchdown run from Josh Williams, two touchdown passes from quarterback Jake Turing, one to Braxton Lane and one to Joseph Snowden, and a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown from Jordan Griffin. Chris James also had an interception in the first half. In the second half, Rashad Hollis and Williams each had a rushing touchdown.

Turing threw for 180 yards on the night, while 11 players combined to rush for 146 yards. Fred Jones and Robert Jaracz were the leading tacklers with six tackles. Jones had three tackles for a loss and one sack. He also had a pass break-up, while Jeremy Holt added two.

Starr’s Mill took on Fayette County on the road and won 42-14. Robby Davis threw for 181 yards and four touchdowns and the leading receiver was Dante Cheek with six catches for 100 yards and a touchdown. Eric Pitts caught two touchdown passes and Manny Alvarez caught another. Greg Davis rushed for 42 yards and a touchdown. Ryan Mullikan also scored a touchdown for the Panthers. Starr’s Mill gained a total of 385 yards of offense on Friday and spreads the ball around well. Scorers for Fayette County were Brandon Boykin and Quincy Carruthers.

Whitewater played at Northgate and won 41-27. Coach Amos McCreary gave a ton of credit to the offensive line for the win.

“This was probably the best game they’ve played since they’ve been here,” McCreary said. Their performance helped lead Tavoris Dixon to rush for 238 yards and two touchdowns, while quarterback Jay Bright rushed for three more.

Two players in particular that stood out to McCreary were fullback Colin Wooddy and Brandon Madison. He felt that both made key blocks in the win. He also felt center Michael Brandenburg played well, just as he had all year long. Defensively, the Wildcats gave up three big pass plays, all of which led to touchdowns from Northgate, but the offense was able to outscore the Vikings and hold on for the win.

This Friday, these four winning teams will start their quest for a state football title.
Landmark Christian (8-2) will host the Social Circle Redskins (6-4). The War Eagles have won six games in a row and only their game with Whitefield Academy on Oct. 13 was closer than a two touchdown margin. The Redskins have lost four of their last six games, though they won their final game of the season last Friday, beating Prince Avenue Christian 51-18. The two teams have played four common opponents this year; Fellowship Christian, Whitefield Academy, Mt. Pisgah and Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy. Landmark went 4-0 and Social Circle went 3-1, losing to ELCA 22-12.

Sandy Creek (7-3) will play at the Flowery Branch Falcons (9-1) on Friday. Sandy Creek has won three games in a row. In those games they are allowing an average of 11 points and are scoring an average of 37 points. The Falcons will pose more of a challenge than the Patriots’ last three opponents though, as two of those teams finished the season with losing records. The Falcons have won four games in a row since losing to North Hall 21-18. In six wins this year, they have allowed seven points or less and in their nine wins they have been held below 34 points only once.

Starr’s Mill (7-3) will travel to take on the Ware County Gators (8-2). The Panthers have won three games in a row and they are obviously a different team when they have Greg Davis and Brandon Witta in the backfield. Their absence though created some depth as players had to step up and are now threats to score as well. In their final three games, they are scoring an average of 39 points per game and are allowing an average of nine. Ware County will be a very tough opponent. They have won seven games in a row and have posted four shutouts in that span. In fact, they have only allowed a total of 27 points over the last seven games, while scoring a total of 235. Perhaps their biggest victory thus far was handing Statesboro, the previously undefeated region 3-AAAA champion, a 20-0 loss in the final week of the season.

Whitewater (7-3) will host the Brunswick Pirates (7-3) on Friday. The Wildcats have won five of their last six games but four of those games were very close. Thus far, they have found a way to win a lot of their big games, but none will be bigger than Friday’s game. The Pirates have gone 7-1 over their last eight games. They have posted three shutouts in that span and have allowed seven points or less five times this season. They closed out the season with a 9-7 win over Effingham County and two of their three losses came against others that have made the Class AAAA playoffs.