McEachern’s Walter H. Cantrell Stadium will play host to the state’s premier middle school football invitational as three teams from Fulton, Gwinnett, and Cobb County compete in the third-annual Sheriff’s Cup Invitational. This year, the Mill Creek Hawks will represent Gwinnett County, the McEachern Indians will represent Cobb County, and the CT Martin Vikings will represent Fulton County.
Last year, the invitational was held at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee. The 2023 event saw Cambridge, Tucker, Grayson, and McEachern face off in the second-annual invitational. Tucker prevailed, winning the event by defeating Grayson 12-0 in the championship game.
For the first time, the Cobb County Sheriff’s Department will be the host county, after Gwinnett hosted the event for the past two years. Although Cobb is the host, the other two sheriff’s departments from Gwinnett and Fulton counties remain heavily involved. The initiative of the Sheriff’s Cup is to bring attention to anti-gang and anti-bullying causes and provide resources to kids and parents who deal with these issues. The invitational also gives all three sheriff’s departments one of their biggest community events of the year.
Mill Creek middle and the feeder program for Gwinnett county powerhouse will look to make a run at the Sheriff’s Cup championship in the team’s first appearance. Gwinnett will be represented by a new team in 2024 after two Gwinnett County teams played against each other in the first year of the event Parkview and Grayson. While the Rams also represented the county again last year. The Mill Creek program has helped develop talent that the high school has relied heavily on, talent that helped them win their first state title in 2022. The Hawks, led by head coach Jason Strickland, will field a team of 37 seventh graders, by far the largest team in the event. The depth of having an extra 10 players may come into effect as the event goes on.
McEachern is the only returning school from the 2023 tournament. The Indians, much like their high school team, will lean on a big and physical offensive line to impose their will on opposing teams. While they don’t have the largest roster at just 24 players, the team has a huge advantage on the lines of scrimmage. They will look to use that size advantage to force their opponents to commit more men to the box while they are on offense, and rely more on the passing game, something that can be wildly inconsistent in middle school football, while they are on defense.
The CT Martin Vikings are the only team not directly linked to a high school. The Vikings, based out of southern Fulton County, will field a team of 27 seventh grade players. The team has a very talented group of players that can compete with Mill Creek and McEachern, though it will still be a challenge for the Vikings.
The event will start with a three-game round-robin style tournament, where the three teams will each play two half-games of two 10-minute halves, totaling three games. The two teams with the best records will then advance to the championship game. If two or more of the teams have the same record, points allowed will be used as the tiebreaker.
The event will start with round-robin play at 10 AM with Mill Creek facing McEachern. The second game will be at 11 AM with CT Martin playing its first game of the day against Mill Creek. The final game of round-robin play will be at noon with McEachern playing CT Martin. The championship game will be held at 1 PM, featuring the top two teams from the round-robin stage.
This event will feature some of the only televised middle school football games in the country. It will be broadcast on the Peachtree Sports Network, marking the beginning of the network’s football season coverage. The Sheriff’s Cup will kick off a schedule that includes the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic, The Great Atlanta Bash, The Drive for the GHSA State Title, the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Flag Football Classic, and the Georgia Elite Classic. Overall, the network will televise over 30 games, more than ever before.
Tickets for the event can be purchased by CLICKING HERE!
To watch the Sheriff’s Cup Invitational live on Atlanta News First, CLICK HERE!
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