Round three of the Georgia High School Association football state playoffs is in the books and the final four match ups are all set. Friday night saw three more defending champs, Blessed Trinity, Cedar Grove and Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy, get knocked out of the playoffs leaving only Buford and Irwin County to defend their titles. Buford picked up a 44-15 win over Langston Hughes, while Irwin defeated Commerce 25-21. For Buford, the win not only puts the one step closer to winning back to back state titles, but it also puts them closer to giving them a chance to win a state title in every classification they have been in which is now five classifications.
Friday also ended with three Gwinnett County public schools, Norcross, Grayson, and Collins Hill, alive in the playoffs. Ironically, Collins Hill had to defeat another GCPS program in Parkview to get to the final four and next week. The two played a close one but it would be the Eagles of Collins Hill picking up the 21-14 win and they will face Lowndes next week in the semifinals. Grayson and Norcross will square off for a chance to play in the 7A state title game. Norcross took care of business Friday by defeating Colquitt County, who was ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 9 in the nation heading into Friday’s game, 17-7. Norcross quarterback, Mason Kaplan threw for a touchdown and rushed for another in the Blue Devils win as they improved to 13-0. Meanwhile Grayson blanked West Forsyth 33-0 as quarterback Jake Garcia threw for two touchdowns and the Rams’ Sean Downer and Joseph Taylor Jr. each rushed for a touchdown. The Grayson defense also scored on a pick six.
Fulton County had three teams, Westlake, Milton and Langston Hughes, vying for a final four spot on Friday night but only Westlake would emerge victorious as they held off Allatoona 27-24 to advance to the semifinals for just the second time in the programs history. Meanwhile, Milton would lose a tough one to Lowndes 23-13 and as mentioned previously, Langston Hughes fell to Buford 44-15. Other metro area teams to advance would include Carterville, who defeated Ware County 34-31, Greater Atlanta Christian Academy, who knocked off Appling County 31-13, Wesleyan, who defeated Savannah Christian 21-17, and Marist, who defeated Perry 36-7.