Carrollton and Milton will put their top-10 national rankings on the line when GHSA champions are crowned next week at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Carrollton will face Grayson in the Class 6A game on Dec. 18, and Milton will take on Hughes in the Class 5A game on Dec. 17.

The 16 head coaches in the state finals have won 1,704 games in Georgia, lost only 466, and have a winning percentage of .785. Ten have played for state titles as head coaches, and eight are former champions with claims to 20 titles overall. It’s likely cyclical, but that’s a big contrast to last season, when the 16 coaches had only 993 wins and five total state titles.

The state football finals are back for another year at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which will host championship games in all eight classifications and the flag football finals in four divisions on Dec. 16-18. Here’s a recap of last week’s 16 football semifinals and the significance of the results for both the winning and losing teams.

The field is down to two teams in each classification of the GHSA playoffs. Here are the scores from the 16 semifinal games played Friday night. If you have corrections, please contact us.

Georgia’s four hottest football teams, each ranked in the top 25 nationally, will go head-to head in two games tonight when the playoffs resume with 16 semifinals. Carrollton, the consensus No. 7 team from nine national polls, is playing at No. 9 Buford in Class 6A, while No. 25 Lee County is playing at No. 4 Milton.

Keith Maloof, who led Norcross football to 210 wins and two state championships in 26 seasons, retired Wednesday. He is the all-time winningest coach in Gwinnett County. Corey Richardson, a Norcross assistant for 23 seasons, will be Maloof’s successor, the school announced. Maloof, 62, became Norcross’ coach in 1999.

Three games this week will match teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in their classifications, and one will be in Class A Division I, where Toombs County visits Dublin for a trip to the championship game against Fitzgerald or Northeast. Burke County takes on Rockmart and Appling County faces Carver of Columbus in Class 2A semifinals.

Four region champions will go head to head in the Class 4A semifinals Friday night. Top-ranked Marist will be at home to face Creekside, while Blessed Trinity will travel to North Oconee. In Class 3A, the top two ranked teams have been eliminated, and the teams that beat them (LaGrange and Calhoun) are still alive.

North Cobb Christian and Calhoun upset No. 1-ranked opponents in the quarterfinals last week, and North Cobb Christian made further news as one of four teams making the semifinals for the first time. The other first-time semifinalists are Toombs County and Northeast in Class A Division I and Hebron Christian in 3A-A private.

The Georgia high school football playoffs are down to 64 teams playing for eight state championships. The quarterfinals were the round of wreckage a year ago, when Mill Creek, Buford, Colquitt County and Carrollton – all ranked in the top 25 of USA Today’s and MaxPreps’ national polls at the time – were taken out.

The only game in any classification between undefeated teams, a game between a defending champion and a No. 1-ranked opponent, and a rematch of longtime rivals headline this weekend's quarterfinal schedule in classes 4A, 3A and 2A. Sixty-four teams remain in the GHSA playoffs, each with an eye on the state championships Dec. 16-18 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Cambridge and Cherokee Bluff made history by reaching the football quarterfinals for the first time, and Sprayberry, Jenkins County and Southeast Bulloch are back in a final eight after absences of more than 40 years. Unranked teams LaGrange, Stephens County and Aquinas victimized Sandy Creek, Callaway and Athens Academy, respectively, in the second round’s biggest upsets.

As far as upsets go, last week’s first round of the football playoffs was just a warmup for most of the state’s best teams. It’s about to get dicey Friday night, when the round of 16 arrives with 64 games on the weekend schedule, 16 that match top-10 teams.

Three games matching top-10 opponents and three rematches from the regular season headline the second-round schedule in Class A Division II and the 3A-A private playoffs this weekend. The top-10 battles are No. 2 Bowdon at No. 9 Metter in A Division II and No. 8 Lovett at No. 3 Hebron Christian and No. 9 Wesleyan at No. 10 Christian Heritage in 3A-A private.

Four games matching ranked opponents highlight the second-round schedule in Class 2A and Class A Division I this weekend. In Class 2A, No. 10 Thomson travels to No. 6 Hapeville Charter and No. 9 Carver of Atlanta visits No. 4 Appling County. The Class A Division I games include No. 10 Dodge County at No. 6 Worth County and No. 7 Commerce at top-ranked Toombs County.

A couple of Class 3A rematches from the regular season will be among the high-profile games this weekend in the second round of the GHSA playoffs. Top-seeded Jefferson will try to avenge a 32-30 loss to Oconee County in the teams’ regular-season finale on Nov. 1. Sandy Creek will seek to beat LaGrange for the second time this season after winning 27-7 on Aug. 30.

Unranked Sequoyah, Cambridge and Luella defeated top-10 teams, and Archer, Peachtree Ridge, Houston County and Bleckley County eliminated region champions in highlights of last week’s first round. The opening round was light on upsets, which is the norm. The computer Maxwell Ratings pegged 104 of 119 games correctly.

New Hampstead’s Rashawn Truell finished first in regular-season passing yards with his 500-yard performance last week in the team’s season finale against Ware County, a 48-41 victory. Teammate Kamari Maxwell had 271 receiving yards in the game and took the Class 4A lead with 1,344 and fell five yards short of the statewide leader, Jaylen Elder of Morgan County.