Raiders, Eagles Look To Reverse Recent Playoff Losses

By Mike Blum

Alpharetta and Milton, two teams that have not enjoyed a great deal of success in the high school football state playoffs, will begin post-season play Friday night with excellent opportunities to advance to the second round.

The Alpharetta Raiders will host Gainesville in the first round of play in the AAAAAA region and the Milton Eagles will take on Collins Hill at home in its AAAAAAA game.

Gainesville at Alpharetta

Friday’s game is a rematch of the Aug. 25 contest which the Raiders won 29-7. Alpharetta went 8-0 in
7-AAAAAA to win a region title for the fourth time in seven years, finishing 9-1 after an opening loss to Milton. Gainesville is in the playoffs with a 4-6 record, finishing in a 3-way tie for second in 8-AAAAAA and
getting the fourth seed from the region.

The first meeting between the two teams was a defensive, penalty-filled struggle. The Raiders committed 18 penalties for 150 yards, but still limited Gainesville to seven points while scoring seven times. Five of the Raiders’ scores came on Dylan Schorr field goals, with the Raiders amassing 300 yards in offense, almost 200 on the passing of Matthew Downing, who connected with Michael Marbaugh on a 67-yarder for a touchdown. Nolan Edmonds, who was held to 50 yards on 16 carries, scored the other Alpharetta touchdown.

Downing finished the season with 1875 yards passing and 18 touchdowns with just two interceptions, one in the Gainesville game. Spencer Gaddis is the team’s leading receiver with 35 catches for 503 yards and six touchdowns, with Marbaugh and Marcus Hill combining for 40 receptions for 732 yards and seven touchdowns.

Edmonds, who missed two games with an injury, rushed for 803 yards and 13 touchdowns on 93 carries, scoring on runs of 20, 63 and 45 yards last week against Chattahoochee, along with a 32-yard touchdown catch. Kevin Watkins contributed 426 yards and four rushing touchdowns, and Downing had a handful of productive games as a ball carrier, as the usually pass-happy Raiders had success on the ground this season, running behind a veteran line.

After a 34-31 win in their region opener against runner-up Centennial, the Raiders allowed fewer than
10 points per game the rest of the way, with defensive talent up front (Nick Markus and Jack Stanton) at
linebacker (Reid Schulz) and in the secondary (Jaycee Horn, the area’s top college prospect).

While the Raiders have been a dominant team in their region for much of the past decade, they have not fared as well in the post-season. Alpharetta has made it past the first round just twice in seven attempts, with the Raiders’ last six playoff losses coming on their home field.

Gainesville has made the playoffs every year since 2000, winning a state title in 2012. But there is no Deshaun Watson or Blake Sims on this year’s team. The Red Elephants are 9-12 the past two years, with five of their six losses this season coming by 22 or more points and the other by 13. The team’s only win of consequence was by a 38-16 score over Winder-Barrow, one of the three teams to tie for second in the region. Gainesville scored a total of 42 points in the six losses.

If the Raiders win Friday, they will be at home next week against either Dalton or 9-1 Douglas County,
which lost only to Mays, the No. 3 team in 6A. Alpharetta is ranked 10th in AAAAAA and Douglas County
is eighth.

Collins Hill at Milton

The Eagles open the playoffs against an opponent with plenty of experience facing North Fulton teams in the post-season. Collins Hill is 1-3 in the playoffs from 2006-15 against Roswell, including a 20-15 loss to the 14-1 Hornets in 2015. The Gwinnett team trounced Alpharetta 48-0 in the second round in 2013, with Collins Hill reaching the semifinals in 2010 and the quarters in 2013 and ’15. After going 2-8 last year, Collins Hill made a coaching change, with Lenny Gregory taking over as head coach after two seasons at Centennial.

Collins Hill (6-4) is a ground-oriented team, averaging 250 yards rushing a game, with Evan Anderson leading the way with 1,111 yards. The Eagles’ quarterback averages only 75 yards passing per game, and the team has just one win of consequence, 29-21 over Mountain View, which tied for second in 6-
AAAAAAA with Collins Hill and Mill Creek. Collins Hill, which lost 42-13 to Mill Creek and 45-6 to region champion North Gwinnett, got the third seed in a tiebreaker.

Milton finished the season 8-2, one of the team’s two losses by a 31-28 score to North Gwinnett early in the season. The Eagles placed second in 5-AAAAAAA behind unbeaten South Forsyth. The Eagles sport a balanced offense, averaging just over 200 yards rushing and 180 yards passing per game. Quarterback Jordan Yates passed for 1,711 yards and 15 touchdowns and rushed for 652 yards and eight scores, breaking a number of long runs. Solomon Vanhorse got most of his 1,023 yards rushing between the tackles and scored 10 touchdowns, three as a receiver. One of the team’s strengths is its offensive line, a Milton staple for a number of years.

Eight different Milton players had touchdown receptions, including Yates on a pass from Vanhorse, as first year Milton head coach Adam Clack has shown a willingness to attempt the occasional trick play. The Milton defense has done a quality job throughout the season, with state-ranked North Gwinnett the only team to score more than 21 points against the Eagles. Leading the Milton defense are 2016 region Defensive Player of the Year Justin Blanks along with standout defensive back Joe Charleston and linebackers Jordan Davis, Price Townes and George Coyle.

Milton is making its sixth trip to the state playoffs in the last seven years, but has only made it past the first round once in 2014, when the Eagles won the only playoff games in school history and reached the quarterfinals before giving eventual state champion Colquitt County a battle.

The Milton-Collins Hill winner advances to the second round and will almost certainly play at No. 7 Brookwood, the Region 7 champion and a perennial state championship contender.

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