Last Week Brings Play-Ins And Coin Tosses

This is it, the final week of the high school football regular season in Georgia. What started in the sweltering summer heat, back in late July, will end for the majority of the teams Friday night. Each team starts the season with a goal of making it to the post season.This week some will be in , while others will find themselves on the outside looking in.

Some regions will have play-in games, while other regions will have their post season seeding decided on the field. In region 7-AAAAAA, there is a tree-way tie for first between North Gwinnett, Peachtree Ridge, and Mill Creek.Peachtree Ridge will host a surging Mill Creek team this Friday night with a lot on the line. North Gwinnett beat both teams, so the Bulldogs hold the tiebreaker for top seed in the playoffs. That means the winner between Ridge and Mill Creek will be the number 2 seed and get to open the playoffs at home, while the loser will have to hit the road.

ridge stadium

North Gwinnett Coach Bob Sphire is just happy that he won’t have to take part in a coin toss. When asked about the post season coin toss experience Sphire replied , ” All I know is that we done’t seem to win them.”

Region 8-AAAAAA could end in a tie for first place between Archer and Dacula. Archer Coach Andy Dyer says that if both teams win their games Friday night, then their would be a coin toss to decide the top seed for the playoffs. The coin toss location was not revealed. That’s top secret stuff to some coaches.

Then there is the card draw to break a three-way tie. Coach Shane Queen from North Cobb recalled “Drawing the ace, 2 or 3 for first, second, and third.” Queen went on to tell me that the other two coaches were Harrison’s Bruce Cobleigh and Marietta’s Friday Richards, a pair of Georgia high school legends.

Sometime the coin toss comes weeks into the post season. Creekview Coach Terry Crowder’s coin toss memory comes from 2010, when he was at Chattahoochee. Crowder recalls driving to an exit off 285 to meet the coach from Statesboro to toss a coin that would decide who would host the state semifinal game that next week.

On the way, Crowder was on the phone with then Tucker Coach Franklin Stephens , who was on his way to a coin toss with Starr’s Mill .” When I asked Stephens what he would call he said, “Heads”, recalls Crowder. I said, ” I will too “. Crowder met Statesboro Coach Steve Pennington on the 285 exit and was asked to do the honors. Pennington called “Tails” and won the coin toss and the “Hooch” hit the road the next week. Stephens won his coin toss and Tucker was the home team that next week. As it turned out the road teams won both games,and Chattahoochee beat Starr’s Mill that next week in the Georgia Dome to win the state championship.

creekview

There may be a coin toss in Terry Crowder’s future, but not this week. His Creekview Grizzlies will meet the Cambridge Bears in a region play-in game. No coin required, the winner is in the state playoffs, the loser starts basketball practice on Monday. Hey folks, It’s that time of year.

Don’t forget to join me and Mike Sammond Saturday morning from 7-8am on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game for the High School Power Hour. We will recap Friday night and talk with Colquitt County Head Coach Rush Propst

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