Roswell Teams Begin High School Football State Playoff Action

By Mike Blum

ROSWELL, GA -- Roswell’s four high school football teams will all see action in the first round of the state playoffs Friday night, with two teams at home and two on the road after closing out their seasons with lopsided victories.

Centennial, the No. 2 team i Region 7-AAAAAA, is at home against Lanier, the third seed from Region 8. Also at home is Blessed Trinity, which was second in Region 7-AAAA. The Titans host Oconee County, the No. 3 seed from Region 8.

Roswell plays at 3-AAAAAAA champion Hillgrove in Powder Springs after the Hornets claimed the No. 4
seed from Region 4 in a tiebreaker with Lassiter. Fellowship Christian travels to Monroe to take on George Walton Academy in the first round of the Class A private school playoffs.

Lanier at Centennial

The Knights have not won a playoff game since 2002, but after enjoying back-to- back winning seasons for the first time since 2003, this could be Centennial’s time to advance to the second round. Centennial sports a high-scoring offense with a talented array of skill position athletes. Blane Mason has more than 50 receptions for over 1100 yards and 11 touchdowns, with versatile receiver Cal Dickie well over 1000 yards receiving and rushing. Emeka Nwanze rushed for more than 1000 yards and eight touchdowns as a senior transfer from Northview, and freshman receiver Julian Nixon had a hand in 11 touchdowns, five as a receiver, four rushing out of the Knights’ wildcat formation and two passing.

Junior quarterback Max Brosmer has had a big season after taking over for Caden Herring, the region’s offensive Player of the Year in 2016. Brosmer has passed for 2850 yards and 22 touchdowns, and has thrown just one interception in the last six games after being picked off eight times in the first four. The Knights (7-3) have won seven straight games after losing their first three, including a loss to region champion Alpharetta in which they squandered a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Centennial defense has improved as the season has progressed, but the Knights faced their toughest opponents early in their schedule.

Lanier (6-4) was one of three teams to tie for second in Region 8-AAAAAA, and received the third seed.
This is the sixth season of varsity football for the Gwinnett school, which has made the playoffs the last five years and has gone undefeated twice in the regular season, but has never made it past the second round.

The Longhorns defeated non-region opponent St. Pius and region foe Gainesville, which finished in a
three-way tie for second with Lanier and Winder-Barrow. Lanier lost 41-7 to region champion Dacula,
but defeated Gainesville 27-14 the next week to make it into the three-way tie. Lanier struggled to score
in several of its losses, scoring fewer than 40 points combined in those four games. The Knights also hosted a playoff game last year, putting up a fight against Northgate before losing 20-16. The Centennial-Lanier winner will likely play at Mays, the No. 3 team in AAAAAA, in the second round.

Oconee County at Blessed Trinity

Blessed Trinity is in the playoffs for a seventh straight year under head coach Tim McFarlin. The Titans are 6-0 in first round games over that stretch and 11-6 in the playoffs, with visits to the state championship game in 2015 and either the quarterfinals or semifinals in 2013, ’14 and ’16. The Titans went 8-2 this season, but had their string of four straight region championships ended by a 25-24 last minute loss to Marist. The War Eagles scored the winning touchdown and a two-point conversion after getting a very generous spot on a fourth down play on the drive.

As a result, Blessed Trinity faces an almost certain second round game at Cartersville, the No. 1 team in
AAAA with highly touted quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Cartersville has gone 15-0 and won state championships the last two years and is 10-0 this season. Blessed Trinity, ranked sixth in AAAA, sports a team heavy with junior talent, much like the Roswell team McFarlin coached that shared a state championship in 2006. Two-way starters Steele Chambers and Ryan Davis, both juniors, lead the team in rushing and receiving respectively and are also two of the team’s defensive leaders.

Chambers has rushed for 902 yards and 15 touchdowns and averages 6.7 yards per attempt. Davis has
46 receptions for 909 yards and eight scores and also leads the team in interceptions. Junior quarterback Jake Smith has passed for 1569 yards and 11 touchdowns, with sophomore running back Elijah Green splitting time with Chambers, rushing for 779 yards and seven scores.

J.R. Bertrand, who is back on the field after missing most of the season due to an injury, is among the defensive leaders along with fellow juniors J.R. Bivens and Alex Massey, and Jake Rudolph, a senior. Jackson Hamilton has broken into the starting lineup as a freshman. Oconee County went 2-3 in its region and 5-5 overall, and won only one of five games on the road. The Warriors lost 41-13 to region champion St. Pius, a team BT defeated 35-21, but gave region runner-up Jefferson a tough game, losing by seven points. The Warriors, who sport a balanced offense as do the Titans, are in the playoffs for a fourth straight year and advanced to the second round in 2014 and ’15.

Roswell at Hillgrove

The Hornets made the playoffs with a 3-7 record, tying for fourth in their region and getting the final
playoff spot thanks to an overtime win over Lassiter during the regular season. Roswell romped past winless Cherokee 56-20 last week, the only one of the Hornets’ three victories that did not come in overtime. Had Lassiter defeated Etowah in its season finale, Etowah would have gotten the fourth seed thanks to a regular season win over Roswell.

The Hornets got a big game from freshman running back Kenny Djaha, who rushed for 134 yards on nine carries with scoring runs of 27 and 65 yards. Junior Kamonty Jett gained 1064 yards through eight games with 10 touchdowns, but has seen reduced playing time the last two weeks due to disciplinary reasons.

Joseph Daniels also scored two rushing touchdowns and Jett one in the win over Cherokee, with quarterback Cordel Littlejohn throwing touchdown passes of 34 yards to Walt Warren and 66 yards to Caleb Guidry.

Among Roswell’s seven losses, the Hornets lost to three unbeaten region champions, a fourth state-ranked opponent, and three other playoff teams. The Hornets have relied primarily on their running game this season, with Littlejohn passing for a modest 1255 yards and seven touchdowns. Littlejohn rushed for 385 yards and five touchdowns in games against Lassiter and playoff qualifiers Walton and Etowah, but has only one other game with more than 53 yards on the ground.

Defensively, the Hornets added two transfer linebackers who are both cousins of starting receiver Tyneil
Hopper, but the loss of almost their entire starting defense, including three defensive backs who signed with Alabama, Clemson and Minnesota, has been more than the Hornets could effectively handle. Hillgrove (7-3) won seven of its last eight games after taking drubbings against Buford and North Gwinnett to start the season. The Hawks lost 28-17 to region opponent Marietta, but rolled over North Cobb 42-10 and closed out the season with a 14-7 win over McEachern to get their region’s No. 1 seed.

The Hawks have advanced to the state quarterfinals three times since 2010, defeating Roswell 38-28 in
the second round in 2014, the last time the Hornets lost in a game other than a state championship until
this season. Hillgrove has lost in the first round the last two years. The Hornets suffered back-to- back losses in the finals in 2015 and ’16, falling in overtime to Grayson last year.

Tyneil Hopper and safety Jesse Bridgman are the only returning starters from that team. Brothers Cordel and Jamal Littlejohn and Tyron Hopper have helped fill the talent gap by transferring from North Carolina to join their cousin on the team. If the Hornets score an upset win Friday, they would likely travel to Tifton to play fifth-ranked Tift County in what would be a rematch of a 2006 state semifinal game dominated by Roswell.

Fellowship Christian at George Walton

Like Roswell, Fellowship Christian suffered heavy graduation losses after losing in a state championship
game in overtime last year, but the Paladins were not hit as hard as the Hornets. Fellowship finished the season 6-4, suffering three close losses in sub-region games, but managed just one victory over an opponent with a winning record. The Paladins locked up their spot in the playoffs with a 47-12 win over Bowdon in a Region 6-A crossover game.

The Paladins put up big numbers offensively in almost every game, averaging 235 yards rushing, with junior quarterback Brooks Bryant passing for 1425 yards and 14 touchdowns. Brothers Merrick and Lawson Haigler combined for 1550 yards rushing and 17 touchdowns, with Merrick, a senior, amassing 816 yards in seven games for a 7.3 average and 11 scores. Lawson, a freshman, added 733 yards in nine games.

Senior Casey Barham was Bryant’s favorite target with 44 catches for 658 yards and four touchdowns. Senior James Milhollin and junior Cameron Gill were the team’s big play performers, averaging around 30 yards a catch on their combined 23 receptions, nine of which went for touchdowns.

Returning starters Billy McCurry and Matt Morton keyed Fellowship’s defensive effort, with the Paladins
allowing just 10 points a game in their six wins, but yielding 130 points in four losses to playoff teams from the Paladins’ sub-region.

Fellowship is seeded 22nd in the 24-team field, with George Walton the 11th seed. The Bulldogs went 7-3,
placing fourth in Region 8-A with a 6-3 mark. George Walton is a defensive-oriented team, with most of
the team’s games decided by relatively slim margins.

Friday’s game will be a rematch of last year’s second round playoff game, which the Paladins won 38-7 on their home field en route to the a spot in the Class A private school finals. The Fellowship-George Walton winner will play next week in Macon in the second round against sixth-seeded Stratford Academy, which has a first round bye.

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