By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The state semifinals for Georgia high school football is this weekend. Let’s take a look at the 6A matchups.

The top four teams in the preseason have made it; #1 Buford, #2 Carrolton, #3 Grayson and #4 Douglas County. Those rankings changed during the season, with Buford (12-1) trading spots with Carrolton (13-0) after they lost their season opener. Douglas County (11-2) is now #4 and Grayson (12-1) is #6.

Douglas County at Grayson

This game is at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Grayson Community Stadium in Loganville. This is the first meeting between these teams.

Grayson’s only loss was the season opener to #5 Collins Hill. The Rams avenged that loss by beating them in the quarterfinals 38-14.

Douglas County’s two losses were to Buford and Carrolton. The Tigers beat West Forsyth 20-14 in the quarterfinals. In that game James Johnson (committed to USC) rushed for 100 yards and scored three touchdowns, one receiving.

Some other key Douglas County players are QB D.J. Bordeaux (2,645 yards passing), RB Zamarcus Lindley (1,183 yards rushing), WR Devin Carter (top-40 national junior prospect), WR Aaron Gregory (Texas A&M), LB Michael Hastie (Region 2 defensive player of the year committed to West Virginia) and DE/LB Jordan Carter (Texas A&M).

Grayson’s key players are QB Tyler Burgess (1,823 yards passing, 535 rushing), wide receiver Alexander-Sanchez (three-star prospect), LB Tyler Atkinson (five-star junior prospect, team’s leading tackler), LB Anthony Davis (four-star junior prospect) and DE Andre Fuller (Georgia Tech).

Grayson is in the semifinals for the 6th time in 10 seasons, the most in that time among any school in the highest class, and won state titles in 2020, 2016 and 2011.

Douglas County was in the semifinals last season in 6A but it was the second-highest classification at that time. This is their first time making it to the semifinals in the highest classification.

I believe Grayson will win this game.

Carrolton at Buford

The game is at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Tom Riden Stadium in Buford.

The last meeting between these teams was in 2021 in the 6A semifinals. The Wolves won 21-6.

Both of these teams have been dominant in the playoffs. This is the true state championship game because these are the two most talented teams in the state. They are both top 25 teams in national polls.

Both of these teams joined the highest classification in 2022. Buford is 34-4 in that time and the Trojans are 38-3.

They are still looking to win a title at the highest classification. Carrolton’s last state championship win was in 1998. They did play in the 7A state title game in 2022. Buford has won 13 state championships since 2000.

Buford has beaten seven top-10 teams during its 12-game winning streak. The Wolves key contributors are Dayton Raiola (1,717 yards passing), Justin Baker (889 yards rushing) and Jordan Allen (771 yards receiving). They have 10 seniors committed to major Division 1 schools. They also have 3 juniors who are top-300 national prospects.

The top offensive players for Carrolton are Julian Lewis (3,272 yards passing), Kimauri Farmer (1,142 yards rushing) and Peyton Zachary (821 yards receiving). Lewis was injured early the week before against Hillgrove in the quarterfinals and he did not return. We do not know his status going into this game. If he cannot play the Trojans don’t have a chance.

I think Buford wins this game and they will win the state championship the following week.