Preseason Favorites Buford, Colquitt County Absent From State Title Games
The 2022 Georgia high school football playoffs haven’t exactly gone according to plan. For the Carrollton Trojans, Gainesville Red Elephants, and Sandy Creek Patriots, that’s just fine. Those three teams weren’t likely anyone’s preseason picks to be playing during the first week of December. Yet here they are, getting ready to represent their respective school and classification in the GHSA state finals.
Most preseason polls had Colquitt County and Buford as the favorites in Class 7A, and fans figured one of those two teams would be hoisting the state championship trophy on the big stage following the game. But as we all should know by now, the games are played on the field, not on paper, and that’s why we have the Carrollton Trojans playing for a state title this week against Mill Creek.
Carrollton went into Mack Tharpe stadium Friday night and, riding the hot hand of freshman quarterback JuJu Lewis, defeated Colquitt County 35-27 to advance to the state championship game this weekend at Center Parc Stadium, the home of Georgia State’s football team and host site of the GHSA state finals since 2020.
This will be the Trojans’ first trip to the state championship since 2013. Their opponent will be the Mill Creek Hawks, who have never advanced to the state title game before this season. Josh Lovelady’s team punched its ticket to the finals with a dominating performance against Milton in their semifinal contest at Lakewood stadium. The Hawks defeated the Eagles 48-14.
Carrollton, previously a member of Class 6A, moved up to 7A as part of the offseason reclassification, and their first year in Georgia’s highest classification has been a stunning success under head coach Joey King. Despite not being mentioned as a preseason favorite for a state title, they made it to the GHSA state finals by handing the Packers their first loss of the season in front of a raucous home crowd – Colquitt County is considered to have one of the toughest state’s home field advantages. The stunning defeat also was the first loss for Sean Calhoun as a coach for the Packers – he had been a combined 43-0 as the Pack’s head coach this year and an assistant for two seasons prior to that.
Gainesville, which finished 5-5 last season, hired Hoover (Alabama) coach Josh Niblett during the offseason, and he has come in and led the Red Elephants to an undefeated season. Niblett, who won six state titles as the Bucs head coach, was expected to make Gainesville better, but no one anticipated the turnaround to happen this quickly.
An upset win over Marist kickstarted a season-long run of dominant performances, including playoff victories over Sprayberry, South Paulding, Houston County, and Roswell, which fell 35-28 to Gainesville in the semifinal. Now comes the toughest test of Niblett’s first season: The Langston Hughes Panthers are also undefeated and boast one of the state’s best quarterbacks in Prentiss “Air” Noland. Hughes was one of the preseason favorites to make it to the GHSA Class 6A state finals, and this is the Panthers’ second straight title game appearance; they fell to Buford in the 2021 6A title game.
Sandy Creek finished a respectable 9-2 last season, including a first-round playoff loss to Dawson County. Coach Brett Garvin’s team returned several key contributors in 2022, including WR Kaleb Cost and QB/ATH Geimere Latimer, and was expected to be a solid contender in Region 5-3A. The problem was the region also included Cedar Grove and Carver-Atlanta’s Panthers, the two teams in last year’s 3A state championship game, and both squads were expected to compete for a return trip to the title game. But Sandy Creek has proven it belongs just as much as those region foes do, and the Patriots will indeed play for the GHSA 3A state finals this weekend against Cedar Grove.
Now Carrollton, Gainesville, and Sandy Creek will continue their magical seasons by taking the field one more time. Each likely will be the underdog – but that’s right where they want to be.
