Carrollton and Milton won semifinals showdowns between nationally ranked football teams Friday night while North Oconee, Toombs County, Northeast-Macon and Hebron Christian advanced to state championship games for the first time.
In Class 6A, No. 1 Carrollton beat No. 2 Buford 30-17. Both had consensus top-10 national rankings.
Carrollton, led by AJC Super 11 quarterback Julian Lewis, will be trying to win its first championship since 1998. Thought to be questionable because of a hand injury suffered last week, Lewis was instead outstanding, competing 15 of 18 passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns.
Carrollton will be up against No. 5 Grayson, a 35-28 winner over No. 4 Douglas County.
Milton, the No. 1 team in 5A, beat No. 2 Lee County 56-28 in a game between unbeaten teams. Luke Nickel threw four TD passes, three to fellow AJC Super 11 pick C.J. Wiley in the second half. A team that had nine major Division I signees this week, Milton is ranked in the top five of six national polls.
Lee County finished the season with 745 points, third most in GHSA history, and quarterback Weston Bryan rushed for 282 yards and four touchdowns in his final high school game.
Milton will play No. 4 Hughes, which beat defending champion and seventh-ranked Coffee 49-26.
The 4A finalists are No. 1 Marist and No. 3 North Oconee. Marist beat No. 10 Creekside 27-21 while North Oconee beat No. 4 Blessed Trinity 27-7.
North Oconee, a 21-year-old Athens-area school, is in the finals for the first time. The Titans had lost semifinals games in 2021 and 2022.
No. 3 Jefferson and No. 7 Calhoun advanced in Class 3A. Jefferson beat unranked LaGrange 21-14. Calhoun beat No. 8 Stephenson 35-13. Both winners are city schools that moved down two classes this season.
No. 1 Carver-Columbus and No. 3 Burke County won easily in Class 2A. Carver beat No. 4 Appling County 49-6. Burke beat last season’s runner-up, No. 8 Rockmart, 35-22.
The A Division I finalists, Toombs County and Northeast, guarantee at least one first-time champion this season.
Toombs County beat No. 2 Dublin 42-15. Opened in 1987, Toombs had never advanced past the quarterfinals until this season, although the Bulldogs’ run is not surprising. They have been ranked No. 1 since preseason.
No. 5 Northeast beat No. 9 Fitzgerald 46-14. Northeast will be the first Macon public school in the finals since Central won Class 3A in 1975.
In Class A Division II, No. 4 Brooks County beat No. 1 Manchester 17-14 in overtime while No. 2 Bowdon, the two-time defending champion, beat No. 3 Irwin County 42-28. Brooks most recently won a state title in 2021.
The Class 3A-A private finalists are No. 2 Prince Avenue Christian and No. 3 Hebron Christian.
Prince Avenue Christian, which beat No. 7 North Cobb Christian 43-0, has won state titles three of the past four seasons. Hebron Christian, a 24-17 winner over No. 5 Fellowship Christian, is in its first championship game. Hebron played its first full varsity season in 2008.
The finals will be Dec. 16-18, a Monday-Wednesday schedule, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
