Local High Schools Face Tough Playoff Openers

By Mike Blum

Alpharetta, Cambridge and Milton face major challenges in the first round of the state football playoffs Friday night, as the three teams face road games against state ranked opponents.

Here’s a look at Friday night’s games:

Alpharetta at Alexander

The Raiders narrowly claimed the third playoff seed from Region 7-AAAAAA, rallying from a 35-21 deficit late in the third quarter last Friday night to defeat Chattahoochee 42-35, depriving the Cougars of a possible playoff berth.

Alpharetta (7-3) tied for third in the region at 6-2, and got the third seed over Cambridge thanks to a regular season win over the Bears. The Raiders used an 80-yard run by Ellis Merriweather, a 61-yard pass from Matthew Downing to Marcus Hill after a Matt Gadecki interception and a tie-breaking scoring run by Merriweather after a Chattahoochee fumble.

Downing passed for 243 yards and four touchdowns, two to Carlos Carriere, and Merriweather rushed for 185 yards as the Raiders amassed 527 total yards. Chattahoochee’s Chase Owens passed for 421 yards and three TDs, including a 61-yarder to Andrew Thomas and 82-yarder to Isaac Kinsey. Thomas and Kinsey combined for 16 receptions for 323 yards.

Downing finished his junior season with 2100 yards passing and 23 touchdowns, with Carriere gaining 719 yards on 39 receptions, 13 of them for touchdowns. Merriweather and Nolan Edmonds gave the Raiders a productive running complement to their pass-oriented offense, combining for 1090 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns. Edmonds also had three TD receptions.

With two exceptions, the Raiders played well on defense during the season, and will need an outstanding defensive effort against Alexander (9-1), a Douglasville team that is ranked seventh in the state in 6A, losing only to region champion and third-ranked Mays.

The Cougars are a high scoring team with a balanced offense, but are not as strong on defense, with the Raiders likely needing a big offensive night to have a chance. Alexander won six of its nine games by eight points or fewer.

The Raiders are back in the playoffs after missing out last season following five straight post-season berths. Alexander has lost in the first round the last two years after reaching the quarterfinals in 2013.

Cambridge at Mays

The Bears (6-4) draw Region 5’s top team, playing at No. 3 Mays (9-1) in what will be their first ever state playoff appearance. A late-season 21-19 loss to Alpharetta coast the Bears a possible three-way tie for first with Centennial and Johns Creek in 7-AAAAAA.

Cambridge will hope to win a shootout against the Raiders, who averages more than 40 points a game but have yielded at least 27 points five times, four of them in victories. May has put up impressive numbers both passing and running, with a 2,000-yard passer who has several weapons around him.

The Bears rely primarily on the running of senior Kaelin Byrd, who has gained 1461 yards on 286 carries with 23 touchdowns. Senior transfer quarterback Reid Martin contributed 1560 yards passing and eight TDs, and rushed for 395 yards and five scores. His main receiver is Cameron Moore, last year’s quarterback, who caught 48 passes for 619 yards and three TDs.

While Cambridge is playing in the state playoffs for the first time, Mays is a playoff veteran, reaching the second round in 2013 and ’15, and the finals in 2014. The Raiders’ only loss this season came 35-34 in their season opener to unbeaten Stockbridge, one of the top two teams in the state in 5A.

Milton at Norcross

The Eagles needed wins in their last three games to finish the season at 5-5 and make the playoffs as the No. 4 seed from 5-AAAAAAA. Milton tied for third in the region, but lost to West Forsyth, which got the third seed.

Milton’s big win came in the next-to-last week of the season thanks to a stirring fourth quarter rally against region champion Lambert, but the Eagles needed a 38-15 victory last week at North Forsyth to claim a playoff berth.

The Eagles scored on 44 and 38-yard runs by Solomon Vanhorse, passes of 27 and 71 yards from Jordan Yates to Holden Shaw and Dash Hairston and a 65-yard kickoff return by William Kersey. Milton had 401 yards total offense, with Vanhorse rushing for 177 yards on 21 carries.

After scoring just 30 points during a 4-game losing streak midway through the season, the Eagles’ offense picked up in the final three games, and will need to continue its good play. Norcross, 10-0 and ranked fifth in the state, allowed just 40 points in its last six games.

The Eagles defeated Norcross 26-0 during the 2014 regular season, making their deepest ever playoff run that year by reaching the quarterfinals. The Blue Devils won 14-3 last year, with Milton graduating almost all its top players off the 2014 team.

Norcross won a state title in 2012 and lost in the championship game the next year, but lost in the first round each of the past two seasons. This year’s Norcross team coasted to a region title and has been tested just once all season, an early 17-14 non-region win over Collins Hill, which went 2-8.

The Blue Devils rely largely on their defense, with the offense keyed around senior quarterback Baron Radcliff, who passed for 1,943 yards and 20 touchdowns to compensate for a running game that produced less than 150 yards per contest.

Milton is primarily a running team, with Cameron Adams having four 100-yard rushing games and Vanhorse taking over for him the last two games and combining for 314 yards in the two wins. The Milton defense had a mostly successful season, turning in excellent efforts in wins over Alpharetta and Lambert and in a loss to unbeaten Roswell.

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