Only one area football team survived the first round of the state playoffs. Starr’s Mill picked up a 45-14 win over Brunswick last Friday, while Landmark Christian was upset by Temple and Sandy Creek got shutout by Griffin.

The Panthers (9-2) scored over 40 points for the second straight week as they beat up on the Brunswick Pirates to advance to the second round of the Class AAAAA playoffs. Starr’s Mill rushed for over 350 yards in the win as Greg Davis picked up 143 yards, while Brandon Witta ran for 113 and Antonio Brown got 89. Quarterback Robby Davis threw for 114 yards and connected on a touchdown pass with Dante Cheeks.

“It’s a big deal for us when we have over 100 yards passing,” said Coach Mike Earwood of his team, which tends to favor the run over the pass. Earwood also commented that all three of the Panthers runners are all very close in their rushing totals in each game, meaning that the team is spreading the ball around.

The Starr’s Mill defense did a good job of bending but not breaking. They gave up over 300 yards passing, mostly on a few big plays, but held the Pirates to below 100 yards rushing and kept them off the scoreboard when it mattered the most. Earwood cited good defensive play from Daniel Beaman, the leading tackler for the night, as well as Chad Gloer and the play of Jeff Partlow, Andrew Thompson, Bradley Conner and Kevin Farrow.

Starr’s Mill will host Colquitt County (6-5) on Friday. The winner will take on the winner of Brookwood and Marietta.

Landmark Christian hosted the Temple Tigers and Friday and lost 14-13 in overtime. The two teams were deadlocked at 0-0 at the half, though Temple had threatened to score on several occasions and had missed two field goals in the first half. In the second half, Temple scored first and Landmark answered late in the fourth quarter with quarterback Matt Moody leading a charge, picking up a key first down himself and throwing to Miles King and Blake Wyatt for two others. Moody would score on a quarterback keeper and and the two teams would enter overtime tied at 7-7. Landmark scored first with Moody picking up 13 yards on the first play and scoring on a keeper on the second play but a missed extra point would loom large. Temple scored on a five yard run and connected on their extra point attempt for the win.

It was a sparse night for the War Eages offensively with King, Tommy Kinney and Jimmy Eden conecting on a few big plays over the Tigers. Defensively, Nathan Hunter picked up an interception, while linebackers Tim Creamer, Zech Glaize and Tyler Chapman played well in the War Eagles attempts to stop the running game of Temple.

The War Eagles finished the season with a record of 7-4.

Sandy Creek traveled to take on the Griffin Bears and were handed a 30-0 loss. Though the Patriots were shut out, the future looks bright for the team. They will bring back a number of people who started or saw a good amount of time on offense, including quarterback Jake Turing, wide receiver Tim Ruseel and running back Khiry Battle. They will also have a good amount of experience on the defense with Aybid Coleman, Fred Jones and Rickey Nicholson leading the way.

Sandy Creek will be a part of region 6-AAA next season and will face teams such as Carrollton, Carteersville and Cedartown as well as Haralson County and Villa Rica.

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