Lovett this week will try to achieve one of the rare feats in Georgia high school football -- namely beating Buford and Charlton County in the same season. Geography has kept most teams from having a chance to play both teams in the same season, since Buford is in the northern part of the state while Charlton is about as far as you can go to the south without entering Florida. The Class AA championship has gone to either Buford or Charlton County each of the last seven years. The last team to beat both Buford and Charlton County was Greater Atlanta Christian in 1998. But the Spartans couldn't convert that feat into a title of their own. GAC lost to Lincoln County, which lost to Darlington in the final.
The team with the worst record and lowest seeding that remains alive in the playoffs is Cook. The Hornets, a fourth seed, needed the playoffs just to ensure they will finish with a winning record (currently 7-5). They will put their staying power to the test when they visit Buford (11-1).
Southwest DeKalb's record of playoff futility against Clarke Central -- thought to be a dead issue after the Panthers routed the Gladiators 44-21 in 1995, on their way to a Class AAAA championship -- has cropped up once again. Clarke Central's 19-17 victory last week ranked as one of the bigger upsets of the playoffs. The Panthers are 1-5 against the Gladiators in playoff situations.
Defense will give Newnan a chance to win in its quarterfinal showdown with Grayson. It's a battle of unbeatens, a pair of 12-0 teams. Grayson, one of three Gwinnett teams among Class AAAA's remaining eight, is the consensus No. 1 but may find it tough to score against a team that has allowed double-figure scoring only twice this season.
Lassiter is having the best season in school history, and its offense only gets better and better. Two weeks in a row now, they have set season-highs for points scored, following a 62-37 win over North Forsyth in the first round with a 70-49 victory against South Gwinnett in the second. For the season, the explosive Trojans, who next face much tougher Colquitt County, are averaging 43 points a game.
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