Week 1 of the GHSA State playoffs for football kicks off this week on Friday and Saturday. The game of the week is in LaGrange as they host Burke County in a Class 4A playoff showdown. LaGrange comes in at 8-2 as the two seed in region four, and Burke County is 8-2 as the three seed in region 3. Burke County has dealt with a lot of adversity this year. Their head coach Eric Parker suffered a heart attack on November 1st on the sidelines against Wayne County and was airlifted to Savannah to undergo testing. Parker is recovering and taking it one day at a time. Burke County has also played three games in nine days. Coach Parker detailed how the journey has been over the past few weeks.
“We had three games in nine days. That takes a toll because none of them were easy. We beat New Hampstead on a Wednesday night and had to turn around and travel to Wayne County on a Monday,” said Parker. “Then had to turn around and travel to Southeast Bulloch on Friday. That was a grind of all grinds. You don’t get any sense of normalcy when you have to play like that. It disrupted our preparation and practice, but I thought our kids handled it well. This week trying to get back into more of a normal routine, something that we are trying to get done. I thought the kids handled a tough schedule well and are definitely battle tested. I think it is pretty impressive what this group has done.”
LaGrange is coming off a massive 38-34 win against Troup County on the road that helped them lock up the two seed and host a playoff game. It wasn’t easy, but they defeated a talented Troup County team. LaGrange coach Matt Napier talked about last week’s victory.
“Troup has a very talented team. They were 9-0. It was a big game to win. We knew they had a really good team, but we also felt like we had a good team. We knew we had to pay attention to the details and prepare really well for a good opponent,” said Napier. “That is what our kids did. They bought into our plan, did the little things right, and went out and executed at a high level against a good team. It was a big win for our program. We won the turnover battle, and then we were able to contain their quarterback, who is a really good player. We executed at a high level on offense.”
A strength on offense for Burke County is its skilled players. There is not just one individual that can beat you because they do it collectively as a team. An intriguing stat for Burke County is that this season they have completed passes to 17 different receivers. Look for them to
“Skillswise, we have been really good. Early in the year, we struggled a little bit offensive line-wise. It is not that we have these overwhelming skilled kids. It is just that we have a lot of kids that can contribute,” said Parker. “I think that our strength at the skill spot has been that we have been able to get a lot of guys touches. I know at one time we had 17 guys that have caught a pass this year. We have distributed the wealth around, which has helped us a lot.”
Coach Napier talked about making it through a challenging region with five teams above .500 and the expectation for his LaGrange Grangers.
“LaGrange high school expects to compete for region and state championships. That is the mentality of our team. Nobody here is content with a win over a rival. The preparation and the plan going forward is that we want to win bigger things. There are bigger things to accomplish for our team. The focus is there,” said Napier. “The sense of granger pride is real around here. Our community is very excited about where we are as a program. They are looking forward to coming out and supporting us in this big playoff matchup. You are exactly right. Of the four teams that made it out of our region, I think it is safe to say all four are very well-coached and tough. They have a good plan in all three phases. The expectation is for those teams to compete in the playoffs at a high level. Starr’s Mill has a very well-coached and talented team that got left out this year. It shows you there were going to be talented teams in our region left out. We are fortunate enough to be able to slip in and make it and be able to host and have a good seed from what we accomplished late in the year.”
A matchup to look out for in this game is the LaGrange rushing attack vs. the rush defense of Burke County. LaGrange has a nearly 1,000-yard rusher in AJ Tucker, who has taken more of the carries along with Jonathan Keys since star running back Malachi Renderfannin went down with an injury early in the season.
“Unfortunately, Malachi broke his collarbone in week 4. He was actually in the top 20 in the state in rushing until about week 7. He got hurt back in the Starr’s Mill game in overtime. He’s been out for the year. Malachi got an offer from Coastal Carolina the other day,” said Napier. “We’ve had a couple of guys step up. AJ Tucker, our leading rusher last year, had a phenomenal night. He was voted our Wendy’s player of the week last week. He had around 140 yards rushing against Troup. He is up nearly 1,000 this year. He’s done a tremendous job stepping up in his place. Jonathan Keys is a sophomore who is another talented running back. Both guys have stepped up in that role for running back with Malachi out.”
Burke County will look to slow them down, and linebackers Brandon Lively and Jordan Franklin will be names to watch that could impact LaGrange’s ground game.
“Brandon is a throwback, old-fashioned linebacker. He’s a hard-nosed kid. His dad is a Marine, so you can tell he was raised a little differently. We are excited about him. He’s been the heart and soul,” said Parker. “The good thing about him is he has played really well in the bigger ball games, and we will need that from him as well. Another guy I think has played well for us is Jordan Franklin. He’s mainly an outside linebacker for us, but we will move him around on defense.”
“I think the big thing for us is we will have to do a good job against their running game. If we don’t get that slowed down, it will probably be a long night. We have to find a way to stay even or vest them a little bit upfront on the line of scrimmage,” said Parker. “Those two things will go a long way in determining our fate against them. They are a good football team, playing well together and playing hungry.”
It is playoff football, the best time of the year, and both of these teams have made the playoffs the past three seasons. This is the first-ever matchup between LaGrange and Burke County, but it will be an intriguing matchup with a lot on the line for both teams and programs known for winning.
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