Our final regular-season Pick-6 presents you with some top-flight matchups to end the 2023 campaign, setting the stage for some very interesting potential playoff scenarios. The pair of Region 4-7A games in Georgia high school Week 12 – Newton at Archer and Grayson at Parkview – will provide fans with entertaining battles for playoff seeding and home-field advantage for rounds one and two.
Cedar Grove and Carver Atlanta are teams headed in what appear to be different directions. The Saints seem to be heating up at just the right time after a regular season that saw them struggle for much of the year, while Carver is in a rebuilding season after competing for the state title two seasons ago.
North Cobb takes on a team, Osborne, that many think is the best story in high school football. The Cardinals won just three games over a six-year period prior to 2023, and a win over an established program like North Cobb could signal that the turnaround is complete under third-year head coach Luqman Salam. But can they actually pull it off in Week 12 of the Georgia high school season?
Another Week 12 game is Norcross and North Gwinnett, two heavyweights in Georgia high school football’s biggest classification. But first, we begin with our ITG Next Game of the Week, featuring the Rome Wolves and Etowah Eagles. Enjoy!
ITG Next Game of the Week
Etowah at Rome
The Wolves and Eagles tangle in this regular-season finale for both teams. It is also marks the end of our 2023 ITG Next Game of the Week schedule, which has been a tremendous success! This game features the Wolves of John Reid, who has done a great job turning the Rome program into a state championship contender year after year, including the two state titles he led the Wolves to in 2016 and 2017, shortly after arriving from Tift County following the 2015 season.
Last year, Reid got the Wolves within striking distance of another state title appearance with a trip to the state semifinals, where they fell short to finish 12-2. Now Reid will take the Wolves into the state playoffs for the eighth straight season following this matchup with Etowah. They already know they’ll be hosting their first-round playoff game, but for Etowah, what started out as a promising season will be ending on this night at Barron Stadium. Etowah opened 2023 at 4-0, and it looked then like this game with Rome wouldn’t be their last before turning in their equipment for the year. Can Etowah go out on a high note by upsetting Rome in front of their home fans?
Phil’s Pick: Rome 38, Etowah 14
Newton at Archer
This is one of two big Region 4-7A matchups in Georgia high school Week 12, as the Rams take their 3-1 region record into Archer, which is also 3-1 heading into the regular-season finale. With Grayson and Parkview battling in another big matchup, this entire region will be tough to deal with in the first round of the state playoffs. All four teams have been highly ranked at different points of the season, and it is very possible that each one will make a deep run in the state playoffs.
Archer started out with a 1-3 record before rebounding with four straight victories, including a huge 28-27 win against Parkview. That one put Archer at the top of Region 4-7A before last week’s game against Grayson. Newton, on the other hand, looked quite impressive until they were upset by Parkview 28-27 two weeks ago. It’s been that kind of season in this region, and now we head into the final game to sort out who claims the region title.
Newton had some impressive wins prior to the Parkview game, including wins over Grayson, Westlake, and McEachern. This will be yet another great game in what has turned out to be one of the best regions from top to bottom in the state.
Phil’s Pick: Newton 28, Archer 24
Grayson at Parkview
Similar to the Newton vs. Archer game previewed above, this is the other half of the top-4 in the super-competitive 4-7A Region. Grayson and Parkview enter this Georgia high school Week 12 game with a chance to land a playoff seed anywhere from having home-field advantage to being forced to go on the road in round one.
Grayson features one of the top defensive players in the state in Tyler Atkinson, a sophomore LB who leads the team in tackles and sacks. On offense, senior QB Jeff Davis is solid, completing over 72% of his passes while throwing for 2,000 yards. He entered last week with 22 TD passes against just 1 INT for the season. Over his four-year career, Davis has thrown for over 4,500 yards.
Parkview comes into the game with a 7-2 overall record and 3-1 region mark. The Panthers are led by senior QB Jaiden Jenkins, who has thrown for 1,220 yards so far this season. A win could have put coach Joe Sturdivant’s team in the driver’s seat atop the region standings, but that one-point loss to Archer earlier in the season has Parkview bunched together with their opponents as they play out these final games.
Phil’s Pick: Parkview 28, Grayson 21
Norcross at North Gwinnett
Two of the most storied football programs in GHSA history – and two of the state’s most respected coaches – go to battle in this big Region 7-7A clash. North Gwinnett enters the game at 6-3 overall, but more importantly, 4-1 in the region. The Bulldogs are led by former Parkview head coach Eric Godfree, who came over to North Gwinnett in the offseason. Their field general is junior quarterback Ryan Hall, who has thrown for just over 1,400 yards this season, and has more than 3,000 yards in his career.
Norcross comes in with an impressive 8-1 overall record and 5-0 in the region. The Blue Devils’ lone loss came against Mill Creek, a 27-13 defeat way back in Week 2. Since that game, they’ve reeled off seven straight wins under head coach Keith Maloof, and now they’re looking to make it eight in a row. Norcross is led by quarterback AJ Arrington, who has thrown for just over 600 yards while rushing for more than 700 yards so far this season. This is gonna be a good one!
Phil’s Pick: Norcross 20, North Gwinnett 16
Cedar Grove at Carver Atlanta
This Georgia high school Week 12 clash is a rematch of the 2021 Class 3A state championship game. Carver lost that one, 56-26, but it still was a satisfying season for Panthers fans, and they followed that up with a 9-4 record last year. This year, however, has been nothing like either of those seasons, with the Panthers getting off to a rough start by dropping six of their first seven games after being a preseason Top-5 team.
They started out with a big win over another preseason ranked team, defeating LaGrange in Week 1 under head coach Darren Myles. However, since then the Panthers have won just once more. They’ll make the playoffs as either the 3 or 4 seed in Region 5-3A, and fans are hoping they can find some of the 2021 magic in this year’s postseason.
On the other side, after the Saints suffered a tough start that saw them lose five of their first seven games, Cedar Grove has rebounded with impressive wins over Douglass Atlanta and Sandy Creek. The latter contest was our ITG Next Game of the Week, which gave us a first-hand look as the Saints completely dominated the defending Class 3A state champions in a rematch of the 2022 title game. Most of the starting roster that head coach John Adams trots out will be playing on Saturdays somewhere following their Cedar Grove careers. That roster includes QB EJ Colson, a Central Florida commit; and top running back Bo Walker, who has committed to Georgia.
Phil’s Pick: Cedar Grove 38, Carver Atlanta 12
North Cobb at Osborne
The Warriors enter their final regular-season game against a solid Osborne team that has played well as one of the darkhorse teams in Region 5-7A. The Cardinals enter the contest with a 7-2 record after dropping a tough one last week against Walton. Things don’t get much easier against Shane Queen’s North Cobb Warriors, who come into the game sporting a 6-3 record overall, including a 3-1 region record.
A win by Osborne could mean the difference between hitting the road for the first round of the state playoffs vs. hosting a playoff game next week. Osborne has enjoyed a complete transformation of its football program under head coach Luqman Salam. The former Hillgrove defensive coordinator was hired in 2021 to take over a team that had lost 30 straight games during the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons. After a 1-9 start to his Osborne tenure in 2021, Salam led the team to a 5-5 record in 2022. Then he took the Cardinals to new heights with this season’s 7-0 start before dropping a double-overtime game 17-10 to Wheeler. The team lost last week to region champ Walton, but here is a chance to end the regular season 8-2 and head into the playoffs on a positive note.
North Cobb has welcomed back two of its top two players, with QB Nick Grimstead and RB David Eziomume returning to the team following injuries that forced them to miss two games each. This is a program-defining game for Osborne … if they can pull it off.
Phil’s Pick: North Cobb 35, Osborne 14
