The Class 6A playoffs resume Friday night with four quarterfinal games.
Two of them match Gwinnett County teams. That’s No. 5 Collins Hill at No. 6 Grayson and No. 3 North Gwinnett at No. 2 Buford. All have won state titles in the past 10 seasons, although Buford’s haul of 13 this century have come in classifications below the top.
The other two games pit unranked teams against super-talented top-five teams. Those would be West Forsyth at No. 4 Douglas County and Hillgrove at No. 1 Carrollton. West Forsyth and Hillgrove have never reached the semifinals.
Here are previews of the four games.
*Collins Hill (11-1) at Grayson (11-1): This is a rematch of the Aug. 16 opening game that Collins Hill won 20-19. Jaylen Burroughs scored on a 3-yard run with 2:11 left, then caught the winning two-point-conversion pass. Grayson was ranked No. 3 at the time and hasn’t lost since. Collins Hill was unranked at the time and has beaten two other top-10 teams since (Mill Creek, Colquitt County) and lost only to No. 2 Buford for a region title. Both teams dominated the second halves of their second-round games last week after slow starts. Collins Hill, now ranked No. 5, beat Colquitt County 28-14 after the game was tied 14-14 at halftime. Grayson, now No. 6, beat Norcross 34-24 after trailing 17-7 at halftime. The Rams held Norcross to negative yardage in the third quarter and took the lead for good midway in the fourth quarter. Neither team is statistically dominant offensively, and their most outstanding players play defense. For Grayson, it’s DE/LB Andre Fuller, who is committed to Georgia Tech; LB Tyler Atkinson, five-star junior recruit; and LB Anthony Davis, a four-star junior recruit. For Collins Hill, it’s DL Deuce Geralds and DE/LB Katrell Webb, both four-star junior recruits.
*West Forsyth (9-3) at Douglas County (10-2): West Forsyth is in its third quarterfinal, first since 2020, and is one of two unranked teams in the Class 6A quarters. Hillgrove is the other. West Forsyth’s previous quarterfinal runs came as an unranked team and ended in defeat, both against Grayson. West Forsyth has beaten unranked Gwinnett County teams Brookwood 24-10 and Archer 45-28 in the first two rounds, both times establishing a formidable run game. Foster Orris rushed for 128 yards against Brookwood and 146 against Archer with five touchdowns. Douglas County, ranked No. 4 and a semifinal team last year in the second class from the top, beat seventh-ranked and previously unbeaten North Cobb 31-10 last week, holding the Warriors to 154 total yards. The Tigers are impressive in their offensive balance. D.J. Bordeaux has thrown for 2,570 yards and 19 touchdowns. Zamarcus Lindley has rushed for 1,141 yards. Aaron Gregory has a team-leading 825 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. This is the first meeting between the two teams.
*Hillgrove (11-1) at Carrollton (12-0): Hillgrove, coming off a 2-8 season and without a winning record since 2019, is the most surprising Class 6A quarterfinal team from a preseason standpoint. Hillgrove last reached a quarterfinal in 2018 and is 0-4 all-time in this round. Hillgrove was the Region 3 runner-up to Harrison but has been decisive in beating South Gwinnett 35-14 and Peachtree Ridge 30-14 in the playoffs. Against Peachtree Ridge last week, Caleb Walters rushed for 77 yards, and Jaiden Moore ran for 73. QB Jabari Green rushed for 73 yards and was just 4-of-8 passing. Hillgrove gets 71% of its offense rushing with Walters, at 904 yards and 17 touchdowns, the team leader. Carrollton, ranked No. 1, will be Hillgrove’s first top-10 opponent. Carrollton has not had an anxious game this season and beat Valdosta 49-13 last week. Julian Lewis was 17-of-27 passing for 369 yards and four touchdowns. A.J. McNeil had four receptions for 155 yards and three touchdowns. Kimauri Farmer rushed for 95 yards. Lewis, who committed to Colorado last week, has thrown for 3,211 yards and 44 touchdowns this season. Carrollton has played Hillgrove in regular-season games the past two seasons and won 49-0 and 56-28.
*North Gwinnett (12-0) at Buford (11-1): These schools are seven miles apart, and their school districts bordered each other as the northern-most Gwinnett County schools until Lanier opened in 2010. They played each other regularly until 1999, when North Gwinnett joined the highest class for the first time. Buford joined in 2022, and now hostilities will resume in the biggest game they’ve ever played against each other, Buford ranked No. 2 and North Gwinnett No. 3. Buford, a team with 10 major Division I-committed seniors, beat Lowndes 42-7 in the second round, the Wolves’ 10th straight blowout victory. Justin Baker rushed for 105 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries. North Gwinnett, with three major D-I prospects on its defense, beat Newton 24-10. Tommy Lafayette rushed for 184 yards on 25 carries. North Gwinnett QB Ryan Hall is a three-year starter with 5,547 career passing yards and 1,965 rushing yards. Buford leads the series 22-5-1.
About the Author
