GHSF DAILY: Class AAA Preseason All-State football team, an early look at the playoffs and more

The following is an excerpt from the July 31 edition of the Georgia High School Football Daily, an e-mail newsletter compiled by longtime Georgia high school football writers Todd Holcomb and Chip Saye:

Class AAA: Preseason All-State 

In early June, GHSF Daily published its tentative preseason all-state teams.
 
Now, having heard your critique and done a little more research, we’re ready to make it official with a few changes. Here’s Class AAA.

Class AAA: The Playoffs:

Here are GHSF Daily’s projections for the 2009 postseason:

FIRST ROUND
Washington County over Shaw
Cairo over Woodland (Stockbridge)
Grady over Franklin County
North Hall over Ridgeland
Jackson over Dougherty
LaGrange over Burke County
Hart County over McNair
Flowery Branch over LaFayette
Gainesville over Cartersville
Stephens County over Cedar Grove
Peach County over Spalding
Baldwin over Troup
Carrollton over Creekview
St. Pius over Eastside
Carver (Columbus) over Thomson
Woodward Academy over Monroe

SECOND ROUND
Washington County over Cairo
North Hall over Grady
LaGrange over Jackson
Flowery Branch over Hart County
Gainesville over Stephens County
Peach County over Baldwin
Carrollton over St. Pius
Carver (Columbus) over Woodward Academy

QUARTERFINALS
Washington County over North Hall
Flowery Branch over LaGrange
Gainesville over Peach County
Carver (Columbus) over Carrollton

SEMIFINALS
Flowery Branch over Washington County
Carver (Columbus) over Gainesville

FINAL
Carver (Columbus) over Flowery Branch

In the News: 

Set your watch. High school football practice begins Saturday at 12:01 a.m.

That’s for those teams that want to be the first on the field. Those planning a midnight madness start to the football season include Bainbridge and Thomas County Central in South Georgia and Woodstock and Riverwood in metro Atlanta.

“People here loved it here last year,” said Riverwood coach Robert Ingram, who started the tradition in his first season as the school’s coach in 2008. “Coming to a school like this, we had no real tradition, nothing to hang our hat on as an identity. That was the reason for us. It was something to say, ‘This is us.’ We called it Camp Raider, and we talk about it a lot.”

Riverwood players will work out at 12:01 a.m., 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. They’ll find time in the evening for a steak dinner. Riverwood kicks it off with a fundraising lift-a-thon on Friday afternoon.

The first coach in Georgia to make a tradition of midnight madness is believed to be Ed Pilcher of Bainbridge in 1991. Pilcher was at Thomas County Central at the time. Winning five state titles over the next seven years did wonders for the event’s popularity, both among players and fans.

“The idea then was to let everybody know that we’re going to get as much work in as possible and get ahead of everybody,” Pilcher said. “It became such a tradition that we had 400 or 500 folks out there watching. In fact, they were getting too close sometimes.”

Bill Shaver, Pilcher’s former assistant, has maintained the midnight madness tradition at Thomas County Central.

Pilcher was unable to start practice at 12:01 a.m. last season, his first at Bainbridge, because the start of practice took place on a school night. But Saturday’s start is perfect.

“We’re not going to go long [an hour, 15 minutes],” Pilcher said. “We’re having camp here [at the school], so we’ll spend the night, have camp for four days. That’s going to be huge for us. A lot of our kids have never been to camp.”

The players will be back up at 6:30, have breakfast at 7 and be on the field again at 9 a.m.

And that’s just the half of it. It’s four-a-days.

“There’s a lot of excitement,” Pilcher said. “They don’t know what it’s like. They’re kind of just waiting to see how it goes.”

MaxPreps recognizes six sophomores: 

Six Georgia sophomores made MaxPreps’ Fresh Faces Class of 2012 Top 100 released this week.

The six are:
RB Raahmil Brantley, North Gwinnett
RB Imani Cross, Flowery Branch
OL Tyler Downing, Camden County
DL DaFar Mann, Stephenson
RB T.J. Moon, Union Grove
WR JaQuay Williams, Heard County

Two That We Missed:

Here are previews for two Class AAA teams for which we lacked information when their regions were previewed this week.

Region 5-AAA Division B

North Atlanta Warriors
2008 record: 5-5, 2-4 (fifth in subregion)
Average record this decade: 4-6
Coach: Brian Montgomery (5-5 in one season)
Offense: Spread (coordinator: Brian Montgomery)
Defense: 3-5 (coordinator: Shakur Bryant)
Starters returning: 6 on offense, 7 on defense
Best player: RB/LB Anthony Jordan
Other top players: WR/CB Lironta Archie, WR/CB Justin Browning, T/DT Chaz Moulder, FB/LB Mike Wells, LB Chris Henderson, DE/TE Stephen Weatherly, DE/TE Marcus Mack, G/DT Marcus Lee
Key losses: QB Jamal Jackson (Appalachian State), WR Elderidge Cooper (North Carolina A&T), TE Chris Hodby (Huntingdon), LB Travis Lloyd (Concordia), WR Joshua Massey (Concordia), LB David Morgan-Kerns (Huntingdon), ATH Duane Smith (Concordia)
Outlook: North Atlanta came within two points (or a 21-20 loss to Grady) of achieving its first winning seasons since the school opened in 1991. Enough talent, experience and confidence return to take the next step, but there is the issue of replacing QB Jamal Jackson (139-for-211 for 1,652 yards, 20 TDs) and WR Elderidge Cooper (60 receptions, 834 yards). Other than that, things look great on Northside Drive. RB Anthony Jordan (1,368 yards rushing) returns along with three of five starting linemen. The WR corps should be good again with two-way starters Lironta Archie and Justin Browning, both good at cornerback. Virtually everyone on defense has started in the past or played extensively. The team still will be young, as five freshmen started at times in 2008. If North Atlanta can stumble upon a quarterback – it will be decided in August among as many as four candidates – this could be a sleeper team.

Washington Bulldogs
2008 record: 7-4, 5-1 (second in subregion)
Playoffs: Lost to Carrollton 23-7 in the first round
Average record this decade: 8-3
Coach: Stanley Pritchett (7-4 in one season)
Offense: Multiple pro style (coordinator: Tony Smith)
Defense: 3-5-3 (coordinator: Al Hollie)
Starters returning: 6 on offense, 5 on defense
Best player: WR/DB Antonio Goodwin
Other top players: QB/DB Qudral Forte, OL/DL Kenny Mitchell, RB/WR/DB Zachary Witchett
Key losses: DB/WR Branden Smith (Georgia), DE Branden Bryant (Central Florida)
Outlook: Stanley Pritchett took over a troubled situation in 2008 when popular coach Rodney Cofield was forced out over administrative red tape. There was even talk of a player boycott, but Pritchett, a former NFL player, won the team over and had it playing well by the season’s end, winning a big game against Cedar Grove in the final seconds to earn a playoff bid. It helped that Pritchett had perhaps the state’s best player in Branden Smith, who is off to Georgia, and another Division I-A recruit. They’re gone, but perhaps WR/DB Antonio Goodwin and QB Qudral Forte can provide a similar 1-2 punch. Goodwin should emerge from Smith’s shadows and be a more productive receiver, while Forte (1,600 yards passing, 22 touchdowns) will be one of the region’s better quarterbacks. He’s got 4.4 speed. Adonis Lovejoy (600 yards rushing) and Zachary Witchett will make for a good set of backs. The issue for Washington will be the lines of scrimmage. Two-way starter Kenny Mitchell will be the only senior.