The Prince Avenue Christian Wolverines are a win away from three consecutive championships after wining Class A Division 1 the previous two seasons. It’s a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since 2019, when ELCA won its fifth consecutive A Private title, and Blessed Trinity won its third straight in 4A. Potentially joining the Wolverines is Bowdon, which can win its third A Division II championship with a win over Brooks County Tuesday.
At 1 p.m. on Wednesday at Mercedes-Benz, the No. 2 ranked, 5-seeded Wolverines (10-3) will play the No. 3, 6-seeded Hebron Christian Lions (11-2) in the 3A-A private championship. It will be a rematch of their regular season finale on Nov. 1 in Dacula, where the Wolverines beat the Lions, 34-31, to win the Region 8-2A championship.
The Wolverines have blown through the playoffs, outscoring Providence Christian, No. 6 ranked Calvary Day and No. 7 North Cobb Christian 166-53. Last week in the semifinals, they beat North Cobb Christian 43-0.
The Wolverines are back in the title game for the fifth year in a row. They beat Trinity Christian in A Private in 2020, and had they not lost to the same team in the next year’s A Private championship, they’d be playing to match ELCA’s run.
With this year’s Wolverines, getting back to the championship wasn’t necessarily the expectation.
“It’s not a thing you expect every year,” Prince Avenue Christian coach Greg Vandagriff said. “But for now, five years in a row, the level of expectation has been set, and now we’re playing for a championship.”
By using two quarterbacks this year, the Wolverines are on their third and signal caller in three years. Brock Vandagriff won his second championship in three seasons in 2022, and Aaron Philo was behind center last year. Both have started this college season, Vandagriff for Kentucky and Philo for Georgia Tech. The offense was more pass-oriented with those two.
With the combination of sophomore Ben Musser and senior Jake Bobo at quarterback, the Wolverines are more balanced than the previous seasons. Sophomore Andrew Beard has 1,930 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns. Musser is 110 of 184 passing for 1,313 yards and 14 touchdowns to seven interceptions, and 592 yards and five touchdowns on 66 carries. Bobo is 73 of 112 passing for 1,260 yards and 13 interceptions to a touchdown, and 258 yards and seven touchdowns on 62 carries.
Seniors Mac Bradley and Kyler Giddens lead the team in tackles with 112 and 108, respectively, and Bradley is tied with senior Christian Garrett with a team-high six sacks. Sophomore Judd Shoemaker has four interceptions, and senior Gaines Scoggins has three interceptions and four fumble recoveries.
“Every year will have its different set of issues,” Vandagriff said. This year’s was that we didn’t really have a quarterback (with Vandagriff’s or Philo’s championship experience), but we have a really good offensive line. They can’t throw, so we’ve been fortunate to become a good run team, with the emergence of Beard. And so now, we’re playing good defense, which was a question for us going in. It took us 3-4 games to find our identity, and now the defense has played good enough to get us to the championship.”
The strength of this year’s team, the offensive line, is led by seniors Jake Atha, Caleb Chandler and Cody Mitchell, junior Mason Townsend and sophomore Gabe Prince. Atha has played in all 58 of Prince Avenue’s games in his four-year career, and if not for two regular season postponements, would have played the maximum 60 of 60 in a four-year span, made possible only by reaching the state championship.
Vandagriff said there are other Wolverines that will also be playing in their 58th game in four years.
“That’s almost like six seasons at that point,” said Vandagriff, referring to a 10-game regular season. “At some point, that comfort level has to help (in the championship game) and take over.”
Beating a team twice in the same season is hard, especially when Game 1 is close. Vandagriff knows the second game against the Lions won’t have the same look.
“There’s familiarity,” Vandagriff said. “There’s no more wondering how big and fast they are. So, we’ll evaluate what they did against us and in the playoffs, and figure out what adjustments we need to make.”
The Wolverines took home the region title hardware by beating the Lions, but it’s the state championship trophy both teams want most. Staying focused on the task at hand, and not the distractions that come with trying to win a third straight title, is the goal.
“There’s always those records that people talk about,” Vandagriff said. “As a coach, myself, I try not to get caught up in it. Every year is it’s on thing, so we’ve done the best we can and now we’re going to try to end 2024 with a championship...Here’s the bad part. When you make it to the championship game, you’re already a winner. It’s just, do you win that final game or not, because everyone who makes it to The Benz is a champion. Even though everyone doesn’t win, you’ve created a memory the kid, and his parents, will never forget.”
Sources: Georgia High School Football Historians Association, MaxPreps, GHSF Daily
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