South Forsyth Head Football Coach Jeff Arnette spent a few days with his Mom and Dad to help decompress a little bit after the season and the War Eagles first round 7A playoff loss to Grayson. Now that his head is a little clearer, he joins us to put a cap on 2018 and give us some insight into 2019, his tenth season at South Forsyth. Enjoy our visit with the esteemed coach right here, then look below for our second round 7A matchups and predictions.
Let’s take a quick gameday look around the second round games Friday night in Class 7A.
The Featured game on GPB: Archer at Parkview Here’s a chance for you to get a look at what I and many others believe is one of the best teams in the country, much less Georgia. Parkview is undefeated, and in the pre season took on South Georgia legends in back to back weeks and defeated Lowndes at home and Tift County down in Tifton. Who in their right mind even schedules that? They’ve beaten playoff teams Lowndes, Tift County, Mountain View, Milton (who gave the Panthers their closest game, 37-35), Norcross, Brookwood, and Collins Hill. It seems the only challenge left for Parkview might be from Colquitt County in Mercedes Benz stadium. Archer is good, but they lost to Milton in the season opener. These Panthers are running with the Big Cats this season. Prediction: Parkview 35 Archer 14.
Lowndes at Westlake Westlake is 9=2, with early losses to Florida’s Deerfield Beach and Greyson. Lowndes is 8-3, dropping games to Parkview, Tift County and Colquitt County, the toughest teams they faced. These two teams seem similar. The nod goes to the home team. Prediction: Westlake 21 Lowndes 17
Norcross at Grayson As mentioned in a previous post, Grayson went down to Norcross in August for a prearranged scrimmage. Norcross didn’t show up. As in, not there. Revenge is a powerful motivator. Prediction: Grayson 45 Norcross 10
Walton at Hillgrove We covered the Hawks earlier this season when South Forsyth went to Powder Springs, and they are big and fast. Walton has had a great season, but it ends tonight, Prediction : Hillgrove 35 Walton 20
Mill Creek at Milton Milton beat Archer in the season opener back in August, stumbled a little with close back to back losses to Roswell and Parkview, then reeled of six in a row. Milton’s quarterback Jordan Yates, headed to Georgia Tech next fall, had one of his best games this season, rushing for 131 yards and three touchdowns. Take the Eagles at home with Yates having success through the air too. Prediction: Milton 28 Mill Creek 14
East Coweta sneaked into these playoffs with a 4-6 record, but 3-2 in their region. Then they won their first round game, upsetting Top Ten Marietta 28-26. Tift County found themselves in unfamiliar territory with a losing record in their region. Then they pounded Roswell 42-7. East Coweta’s Gerald Green rushed for 270 yards and 4 touchdowns in last week’s win’ Can the Tift County defense shut that down? Prediction: UPSET!!! East Coweta 21 Tift County 17
McEachern at Colquitt County A matchup of legendary Georgia High School programs fronted by legendary coaches. This is a rematch of the season opener for both teams in the Corky Kell Classic, where THE Packers dominated the Indians 41-7. Colquitt county went on to romp to an 11-0 season, McEachern lost to Region rivals Hillgrove and Marietta. Destiny calls the Packers and Parkview. Prediction: Colquitt County 45 McEachern 21
West Forsyth at North Gwinnett An amazing turnaround for the Wolverines sees them as the sole Forsyth County school remaining in these 2018 playoffs, a remarkable achievement for a team that started 1-4. But the reward for their efforts in advancing to the second round is a trip across the river to play the defending 7A state champs. The Bulldogs tripped up with back to back losses early but gathered themselves for a 7 win run. Root hard and loud West fans. It’s likely your last chance til next year. Prediction: North Gwinnett 42 West Forsyth 21
Check back in next week to see how we did.
And thanks as always for checking in to Forsyth Sports 365.com!!