Elite eight is round where champions clash

Call it the elite eight, but Georgia high school football’s playoff quarterfinals are truly the round of champions.

Sharpened by two playoff victories, region winners can meet for the first time Friday night. Fifteen of the 32 quarterfinals are champion-on-champion. Twenty-two match top-10 teams. All 32 feature at least one ranked team.

Here’s a closer look at the beginning of the playoffs’ stretch run.

*Teams to beat: The No. 1-ranked teams still playing are Mill Creek (Class 7A), Gainesville (6A), Coffee (5A), Benedictine (4A), Calvary Day (3A), Prince Avenue Christian (A Division I) and Schley County (A Division II). Only Thomson from 2A is out. Defending champions Hughes (6A), Ware County (5A) and Sandy Creek (3A) are also gone.

*Newcomers: Lumpkin County and Bryan County are in the quarterfinals for the first time. Neither had won a playoff game until this season. Lumpkin began varsity football in 1961, Bryan in 1976. Cass is in the quarters for the first time since 1983. Douglas County is in for the first time since 1988, Telfair County since 1993 and Columbia since 1997.

*Regulars: Irwin County is in the quarters for the 11th consecutive season, the longest active streak. Cedar Grove and Rabun County have made it nine straight times, while Callaway and Carrollton are in for the eighth straight time. Buford, whose state-record 22-season streak ended last year, is back.

*The great unranked: Ten of the 64 quarterfinal teams are unranked. They are Brooks County, Camden County, Cass, Columbia, Early County, Irwin County, Jenkins, Monroe Area, Telfair County and Wesleyan.

*Road warriors: Six quarterfinal teams have won two road games and seek a third Friday. They are Camden County, Cass, Jenkins, Macon County, Rabun County and Swainsboro. Cass and Jenkins are the only No. 4 seeds remaining. Jenkins, at 5-7, is the only sub-.500 team.

*Best game: Second-ranked Walton, seeking its first state title in history with likely its most talented team yet, travels to No. 5 Carrollton to face the 2022 runner-up. Carrollton hasn’t won a state title since 1998, when the Trojans competed in Class 2A. Walton’s Jeremy Hecklinski, committed to Wake Forest, has thrown for a Class 7A-leading 3,020 yards. Carrollton’s Ju Ju Lewis, committed to Southern Cal, has thrown for 2,834.

*No. 1 vs. No. 2: No. 1 Benedictine is at home against No. 2 North Oconee in Class 4A in the only quarterfinal between No. 1 and No. 2 teams or undefeated teams. They have been ranked 1-2 since preseason. Benedictine has won 23 straight games. When region champions meet, a coin toss decides the home team. North Oconee is 0-4 all-time in coin tosses, including the 2021 toss that sent the Titans to Benedictine to lose 42-32 in the semifinals.

*Other good ones: Four other games match top-five teams. They are No. 5 Lee County at No. 3 Douglas County in 6A, No. 5 Savannah Christian at No. 4 Lumpkin County in 3A, No. 2 Cedar Grove at No. 3 Mary Persons in 3A and No. 2 Manchester at No. 4 Clinch County in A Division II.

*Tossups: Manchester at Clinch, Toombs County at Rockmart and Gainesville at Woodward Academy are toss-ups, according to the computer Maxwell Ratings. Carrollton is favored by one against Walton. Elbert County is favored by one against Swainsboro. Brooks County is a two-point pick over Rabun County.

*Are we there yet? Camden County from Georgia’s southeast corner is driving 333 miles (666 round trip) to face No. 1-ranked Mill Creek of northern Gwinnett County. Rabun County of the northeast Georgia mountains is playing 10 miles from the Florida border at Brooks County. That’s a 317-mile drive that Brooks made in reverse in 2017. Jenkins of Savannah is going 294 miles to Cartersville. Thomas County Central to Rome and Savannah Christian to Lumpkin County also exceed 275 miles.

*Winnersville: Savannah has four teams in the quarterfinals. They are Benedictine, Calvary Day, Jenkins and Savannah Christian. This is the same city that didn’t have a GHSA football champion from 1969 (Savannah Country Day) until 2011 (Savannah Christian). Benedictine has won four titles since 2014.

*County pride: In addition to Savannah’s Chatham, the counties with at least three teams still going are Carroll (Bowdon, Carrollton, Central-Carrollton), DeKalb (Cedar Grove, Columbia, Marist, Stephenson), Fulton (Creekside, Fellowship Christian, Milton, Roswell, Woodward Academy) and Gwinnett (Buford, Grayson, Mill Creek, Wesleyan).

*Regions that reign: Regions with three teams alive are 8-A Division I (Commerce, Elbert County, Rabun County) and 6-A Division II (Macon County, Manchester, Schley County).

*What's next: As a result of the GHSA's universal coin toss Monday, the team placed higher on the bracket will be the home team for next week's semifinals if both teams are equal seeds. Most No. 1-ranked teams (not to mention North Oconee, which then would be 0-5 in coin tosses) will be on the road. The finals are Dec. 11-13 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.