Three of the area’s four football teams competing in the second round of the GHSA playoffs Friday night didn’t have to look far – in the figurative sense – to get scouting reports on their opponents from the other side of the Peach State.
Calhoun, Christian Heritage and Gordon Lee are playing teams from northeast Georgia that resemble themselves, giving each local head coach a chance to float an age-old gridiron cliché when asked what it will take to reach the state quarterfinals.
“The team that makes the least mistakes will win,” said Gordon Lee coach Josh Groce, whose Trojans will travel from Chickamauga to perennial power Commerce in a Class A public game that features two 10-1 teams with offenses that are heavily weighted toward a run-first approach.
“We are very similar, so we know what to expect,” Calhoun coach Clay Stephenson said about the Class AAAAA game for his Yellow Jackets (8-3) at Clarke Central (8-2) in Athens. The Gladiators, like Calhoun, boast a balanced offense and an aggressive defense.
“They remind me a lot of us,” Christian Heritage coach Jay Poag said of the Class A private school opponent for his Lions (10-1), Monroe’s George Walton Academy (9-2). “They have multiple playmakers who can score on any play, just like we do.”