I attended the GA AAAA Semifinals last night

[murphy1981]

I was in the area last night and attended the semi-finals in AAAA between Buford and Cartersville. What a field full of athletes I seen on display on both squads!!!! Buford won the game 27-3 and will be gunning for their 7th straight state title as well as 11 of the last 12.


Cartersville plays in the same conference as Gilmer who beat murphy 49-10. This was Gilmers only loss in the regular season.

Either on of the teams would have won the state in NC in any classification in my opinion.

It hurts to say this but GA high school football is light years ahead of any NC program.


Pulling for Robbinsville to bring the title back to the SMC this weekend.

 

[BK13T-$]

Your right GA ball is better but I would say we can compete in 1a with them.

 

[knine1]

You saw 2 of the top teams in the southeast for sure. Like Ive said before at the very top I don't think there's a big difference in each class between Nc and Ga. It's the depth of good teams 5-15 in each class where Ga excels.. . NC high school ball is better than about 40 other states just not as deep as Ga.

Buford is an exceptional case in that it's a recruited all star team from metro Atlanta. Cartersville is a more traditional 1 town 1 school powerhouse. Gilmer has never been a serious playoff threat and was not that good imo. Franklin would beat them by 2 scores my opinion.

Everybody has an opinion but I think 1A and 2A are very close between the 2 states. The Shelby's and Clinton's of 2A and the top 1AA and 1A teams would hold their own vs the same class in Georgia most years. Havelock Crest N Guilford would be Top 10 teams in the same class in Ga. Again it's the quality depth 5-15 where you notice a difference. NC has a very good caliber of football and better than most states but Georgia is deeper and a top 5 state for recruits.

 

[Tigertown_a_Rick]

Originally posted by knine1:


You saw 2 of the top teams in the southeast for sure. Like Ive said before at the very top I don't think there's a big difference in each class between Nc and Ga. It's the depth of good teams 5-15 in each class where Ga excels.. . NC high school ball is better than about 40 other states just not as deep as Ga.

Buford is an exceptional case in that it's a recruited all star team from metro Atlanta. Cartersville is a more traditional 1 town 1 school powerhouse. Gilmer has never been a serious playoff threat and was not that good imo. Franklin would beat them by 2 scores my opinion.

Everybody has an opinion but I think 1A and 2A are very close between the 2 states. The Shelby's and Clinton's of 2A and the top 1AA and 1A teams would hold their own vs the same class in Georgia most years. Havelock Crest N Guilford would be Top 10 teams in the same class in Ga. Again it's the quality depth 5-15 where you notice a difference. NC has a very good caliber of football and better than most states but Georgia is deeper and a top 5 state for recruits.

Good post....I lived in Marietta for several years back in the late 80's and early 90's, and watched former Ga. QB Eric Zeier lead the Marietta Bluedevils to 2 straight 10-0 seasons in Georgia's biggest class at the time....A friend of mine from N.C. came down one year, and he and I went up to Cartersville and watched them win the 3A title at the time....Obviously, that area is really growing for Cartersville to be playing in the 4A Classification today...As for Zeier, his career came to an end in the playoffs against Colquitt County who is also a powerhouse down in South Georgia...Anyway, the game went into overtime, and neither team scored as overtime is, or was played at that time, like the start of the game, and the first team that scored won....Otherwise, total yardage after each possession is calculated, and the winner is then determined....Never liked that overtime rule as Colquitt won that game with about 15 or 20 more yards than Marietta was able to muster...Don't know if that old overtime rule has been changed by the GHSAA, but it should be?

As for Buford, they weren't a powerhouse when I was in the "ATL", but Marist was which is just south of the I-285 Perimeter, and the famed Spagetti Junction....With Atlanta spreading northward, the talent is coming with them...It was Parkview a few years ago, Norcross and a few others like North Gwinnett and now Buford who has benefited from the growth of the "ATL"...Clemson freshman QB Deshawn Watson is from Gainesville High School in Georgia, which is just right up the road from Buford....Former S.C. record-setting QB Connor Shaw played at Flowery Branch. I think, which is also right around the Gainesville area in North Georgia just up the road from Buford...Buford is an absolute Dynasty, and would have loved to have seen that game last night...Kudos to you Murphy81!

Back when I was in and around Atlanta, Lincoln County which is not too far from Greenwood S.C. and just across the border, was the powerhouse in Class A football....Think I read where they were in the title game a few years ago, but like Knine stated above, it's getting harder for those old public schools from those small rural areas to compete for titles like they used to, back in the day...

Thanks for sharing Murphy81...Football is on a different level down in Georgia for several different reasons, but North Carolina Football is getting better and better every year, and the introduction of Spring Football for the first time in 2015, should help booster the future growth of football in this state even more!

 

[duplinman]

disregard found out what I needed to know under a different topic

This post was edited on 12/7 11:04 AM by duplinman

This post was edited on 12/7 11:05 AM by duplinman

 

[No.1RamsFan]

So you are basing this on the fact that a one loss team beat Murphy 49-10 and you surmise that they would beat teams like MC, NB, Havelock, etc. I doubt that very much. My thought is any of these NC teams would fair pretty well against the Georgia state champions in each like classification. My guess is that MC would beat Murphy 100-0 if they wanted to. Just like in scouting an opponent you cannot watch two teams play and make that type of judgement. I have found myself watching two teams play and thinking to myself that I was not sure if my team could beat the team I was scouting. When we played them we wore them out. My conclussion was that I apparently was not a very good judge of the team I was scouting and definately was not a good judge of the talent I had on my team. So, unless each top team in NC plays each top team in GA we will never know how those games would turn out. Again my guess is the top teams in NC would hold their own with the team in the other 49 states.

This post was edited on 12/8 10:47 PM by No.1RamsFan

 

[No.1RamsFan]

It hurts to say this but GA high school football is light years ahead of any NC program.

Not true.

 

[mbdfan]

Originally posted by No.1RamsFan:
So you are basing this on the fact that a one loss team beat Murphy 49-10 and you surmise that they would beat teams like MC, NB, Havelock, etc. I doubt that very much.

Do you have a reading comprehension issue? He didn't say the team that beat Murphy, which was Gilmer, he said the team that beat Gilmer, Cartersville.

And for the record I don't think Catersville beats Mallard Creek or New Bern or even Havelock but the team that beat Cartersville, Buford, would.

 

[btango]

Buford is one of the top teams in the US. They are loaded up with players from the Atlanta Metro area and have a lot of kids playing big time college ball. Powerhouse program. Saw two signs made by the cheerleaders of an opposing team:
1. Proud to be Homegrown!
2. Our players live in our town.

 

[gotoblueg]

I think in the next five years,1A football in nc rural area will be Evan less talented. People here are moving to big cities to get jobs. It has taken its toll here in Columbus and surrounding counties. 1A football seems to be hardest hit schools. Charter schools take numbers away too. Areas like Charllotte,Raleigh,Wilmington,Ashville,Greensboro seem to be doing fine in 4A,3A. I don't know how teams in the
mountains will come out with numbers in the future,but it doesn't look good for teams in the rural areas. We used to be 3A schools in the 70,80 now 400 or below in a lot of schools. Whiteville is back up to 750 or so. They are city system. Good jobs will bring more people to areas,and we need them badly. South Carolina,Georgia are growing at a good rate in all areas it seems. Jobs is what is doing this IMO. I will be there to see Starmont and WRH game,and Clinton,Shelby should be great. Could either one of these teams play with teams from Georgia u think?

 

[CHEERDUCK]

Originally posted by Tigertown@Rick:

Originally posted by knine1:


You saw 2 of the top teams in the southeast for sure. Like Ive said before at the very top I don't think there's a big difference in each class between Nc and Ga. It's the depth of good teams 5-15 in each class where Ga excels.. . NC high school ball is better than about 40 other states just not as deep as Ga.

Buford is an exceptional case in that it's a recruited all star team from metro Atlanta. Cartersville is a more traditional 1 town 1 school powerhouse. Gilmer has never been a serious playoff threat and was not that good imo. Franklin would beat them by 2 scores my opinion.

Everybody has an opinion but I think 1A and 2A are very close between the 2 states. The Shelby's and Clinton's of 2A and the top 1AA and 1A teams would hold their own vs the same class in Georgia most years. Havelock Crest N Guilford would be Top 10 teams in the same class in Ga. Again it's the quality depth 5-15 where you notice a difference. NC has a very good caliber of football and better than most states but Georgia is deeper and a top 5 state for recruits.

Good post....I lived in Marietta for several years back in the late 80's and early 90's, and watched former Ga. QB Eric Zeier lead the Marietta Bluedevils to 2 straight 10-0 seasons in Georgia's biggest class at the time....A friend of mine from N.C. came down one year, and he and I went up to Cartersville and watched them win the 3A title at the time....Obviously, that area is really growing for Cartersville to be playing in the 4A Classification today...As for Zeier, his career came to an end in the playoffs against Colquitt County who is also a powerhouse down in South Georgia...Anyway, the game went into overtime, and neither team scored as overtime is, or was played at that time, like the start of the game, and the first team that scored won....Otherwise, total yardage after each possession is calculated, and the winner is then determined....Never liked that overtime rule as Colquitt won that game with about 15 or 20 more yards than Marietta was able to muster...Don't know if that old overtime rule has been changed by the GHSAA, but it should be?

As for Buford, they weren't a powerhouse when I was in the "ATL", but Marist was which is just south of the I-285 Perimeter, and the famed Spagetti Junction....With Atlanta spreading northward, the talent is coming with them...It was Parkview a few years ago, Norcross and a few others like North Gwinnett and now Buford who has benefited from the growth of the "ATL"...Clemson freshman QB Deshawn Watson is from Gainesville High School in Georgia, which is just right up the road from Buford....Former S.C. record-setting QB Connor Shaw played at Flowery Branch. I think, which is also right around the Gainesville area in North Georgia just up the road from Buford...Buford is an absolute Dynasty, and would have loved to have seen that game last night...Kudos to you Murphy81!

Back when I was in and around Atlanta, Lincoln County which is not too far from Greenwood S.C. and just across the border, was the powerhouse in Class A football....Think I read where they were in the title game a few years ago, but like Knine stated above, it's getting harder for those old public schools from those small rural areas to compete for titles like they used to, back in the day...

Thanks for sharing Murphy81...Football is on a different level down in Georgia for several different reasons, but North Carolina Football is getting better and better every year, and the introduction of Spring Football for the first time in 2015, should help booster the future growth of football in this state even mo

Lenior Rhyne University is stocked heavily with Georgia players.

 

[No.1RamsFan]

Do you have a reading comprehension issue? He didn't say the team that
beat Murphy, which was Gilmer, he said the team that beat Gilmer,
Cartersville.

I know what he said and I understood what he was pointing to. Perhaps you are the one with the reading comprehension issue. What I was pointing out is the fact that it does not matter who beat who. My point was that you cannot compare scores and you cannot look at two teams and make judgements on how good they are. The rest of my post brought this out. I doubt that Buford would beat MC. The other gamers would be a toss up.

 

[No.1RamsFan]

gotoblueg. My guess is that every state has the same problem. There are a lot of states that are very sparsely populated in the rural areas. Many more than NC.

 

[mbdfan]

Originally posted by No.1RamsFan:
I doubt that Buford would beat MC. The other games would be a toss up.

lol ok

 

[btango]

I saw Colquitt at Valdosta this season. Mallard Creek can play with Colquitt. Not saying they win but they are in it. Colquitt is considered the best team in Georgia this season and nationally ranked top five or so in probably every poll.

Also saw Byrnes at DeLaSalle and Dutch Fork at Allen.

I think Mallard Creek 2013 could have played with any team in the nation. Full package.

For me a big negative in NC high school football is the sub-divided playoffs. Gives more kids a chance to win a trophy but I would really like to know who is the best 4A team in NC and the best 1A, 2A, and 3A. I would prefer ten regular season games with a six round playoff (instead of five) and no sub-dividing.

 

[BK13T-$]

Not me.

 

[No.1RamsFan]

For me a big negative in NC high school football is the
sub-divided playoffs. Gives more kids a chance to win a trophy but I
would really like to know who is the best 4A team in NC and the best 1A,
2A, and 3A.

I always thought that the playoffs was for the kids. To me it has never been about the fans.

 

[T Roy C]

Originally posted by btango:
Buford is one of the top teams in the US. They are loaded up with players from the Atlanta Metro area and have a lot of kids playing big time college ball. Powerhouse program. Saw two signs made by the cheerleaders of an opposing team:
1. Proud to be Homegrown!
2. Our players live in our town.

If you want to say WOW look at Buford HS on GoogleEarth. They have their main stadium that seats 6-7k then have 2 other smaller stadiums that seat about 1k...then have 2 other full sized fields for practice and yet a 6th half-sized field. All have artificial turf and the 3 with seating are all lighted. This for a schools w/ just over 1,000 students.

 

[knine1]

Mallard creek would want exactly zero to do with Buford this year lol. Last year, maybe.

 

[btango]

Originally posted by knine1:

Mallard creek would want exactly zero to do with Buford this year lol. Last year, maybe.

Did you think Dutch Fork would play Allen to a TD? You just never know.

 

[SPRedRaider]

Originally posted by No.1RamsFan:
Do you have a reading comprehension issue? He didn't say the team that
beat Murphy, which was Gilmer, he said the team that beat Gilmer,
Cartersville.

I know what he said and I understood what he was pointing to. Perhaps you are the one with the reading comprehension issue. What I was pointing out is the fact that it does not matter who beat who. My point was that you cannot compare scores and you cannot look at two teams and make judgements on how good they are. The rest of my post brought this out. I doubt that Buford would beat MC. The other gamers would be a toss up.

You should take dose of your own medicine.... you guys bashed Crest for a week solid because "lowly" Shelby gave them a game...... but we can't compare scores remember.

 

[Thunder.Head]

Originally posted by murphy1981:
I was in the area last night and attended the semi-finals in AAAA between Buford and Cartersville. What a field full of athletes I seen on display on both squads!!!! Buford won the game 27-3 and will be gunning for their 7th straight state title as well as 11 of the last 12.


Cartersville plays in the same conference as Gilmer who beat murphy 49-10. This was Gilmers only loss in the regular season.

Either on of the teams would have won the state in NC in any classification in my opinion.

It hurts to say this but GA high school football is light years ahead of any NC program.


Pulling for Robbinsville to bring the title back to the SMC this weekend.

Buford is one of the top programs in the country, so that is no surprise. Those Knotts Independence teams could have competed with them. Heck, Bobby Poss took AC Reynolds to Orlando in 2000 I believe was the year, and beat a much larger and very good program from Texas.

NC's problem is that we have so many schools that it dilutes the talent pool. I did a research study one time a few years ago on the education system in NC, and the state that compared most to NC in terms of enrollment #'s, was Georgia. NC and GA are nearly identical in K-12 enrollment #'s in public schools, yet GA had nearly 2/3rd of HS that NC has. In county where NC has 2 or 3 high schools (i.e. Haywood County), Georgia would only have one. Could you imagine the talent you would see on the field in this state, if we consolidated that much?

 

[ObserveAndReport]

Originally posted by Thunder.Head:

Originally posted by murphy1981:
I was in the area last night and attended the semi-finals in AAAA between Buford and Cartersville. What a field full of athletes I seen on display on both squads!!!! Buford won the game 27-3 and will be gunning for their 7th straight state title as well as 11 of the last 12.


Cartersville plays in the same conference as Gilmer who beat murphy 49-10. This was Gilmers only loss in the regular season.

Either on of the teams would have won the state in NC in any classification in my opinion.

It hurts to say this but GA high school football is light years ahead of any NC program.


Pulling for Robbinsville to bring the title back to the SMC this weekend.

Buford is one of the top programs in the country, so that is no surprise. Those Knotts Independence teams could have competed with them. Heck, Bobby Poss took AC Reynolds to Orlando in 2000 I believe was the year, and beat a much larger and very good program from Texas.

NC's problem is that we have so many schools that it dilutes the talent pool. I did a research study one time a few years ago on the education system in NC, and the state that compared most to NC in terms of enrollment #'s, was Georgia. NC and GA are nearly identical in K-12 enrollment #'s in public schools, yet GA had nearly 2/3rd of HS that NC has. In county where NC has 2 or 3 high schools (i.e. Haywood County), Georgia would only have one. Could you imagine the talent you would see on the field in this state, if we consolidated that much?

Yeh, that's a fun what-if game to play, but personally I prefer us having more smaller schools. I've also read studies saying the optimal size for a high school is 600-800 students or so because they are large enough to offer varied opportunities but not so large to where kids are just another face in the crowd. Plus consolidation hurts small communities by taking away their hub. If keeping smaller schools means our high school football teams won't be quite as talented as GA's, so be it. I like high school football more for the sense of community than for the talent level anyway.

 

[btango]

Originally posted by Thunder.Head:

NC's problem is that we have so many schools that it dilutes the talent pool. I did a research study one time a few years ago on the education system in NC, and the state that compared most to NC in terms of enrollment #'s, was Georgia. NC and GA are nearly identical in K-12 enrollment #'s in public schools, yet GA had nearly 2/3rd of HS that NC has. In county where NC has 2 or 3 high schools (i.e. Haywood County), Georgia would only have one. Could you imagine the talent you would see on the field in this state, if we consolidated that much?

Your numbers are off. Georgia has more high school football teams in the GHSA than we have in the NCHSAA. One issue in Georgia is the number of counties and also the city/county school districts still exist heavily. There are over 150 counties in GA which is the second most in the US to Texas.

 

[knine1]

Well I watched most of the NC and Ga title games on the tv. I would rate the best teams I saw as:

1-Buford
2-Colquit County
3-Archer
4-Mallard creek
5-Crest
6-Northside Warner Robbins.

MC and Crest could play with those teams except for Buford this year. I think man for man they can matchup with any team In the country this year.

 

[Tigertown_a_Rick]

Originally posted by knine1:

Well I watched most of the NC and Ga title games on the tv. I would rate the best teams I saw as:

1-Buford
2-Colquit County
3-Archer
4-Mallard creek
5-Crest
6-Northside Warner Robbins.

MC and Crest could play with those teams except for Buford this year. I think man for man they can matchup with any team In the country this year.

That South Georgia Conference with Colquitt, Tift, and Camden County along with Valdosta Lowndes and Valdosta is about as tough a big school conference as it gets....Kinda like a bigger version of the SMC..lol!

Knine, isn't the state championship games in Georgia held nowadays at the host school on a rotation basis from North to South in Georgia?

Still miss that aspect of playing for a state title in front of the home folks....It was a happening and an economic boost back in the day for small communities thoughout N.C. when the title games were played on your turf, but big money and big stadiums ended that era of high school football in N.C.....Good to see that the GHSAA is giving the title back to the fans instead of the corporations!

It's amazing to think of the money that is poured into the atheletic programs in high schools around Georgia with the example of buford as mentioned above as a prime example of that...That is where I think that Georgia is light years ahead of N.C. because of the vast amount of resources that can be tapped into to benefit high schools all around the state of Georgia...Remember some of the comments from Murphy folk a few year ago when Kennesaw came to play at Murphy with several new luxury buses in tow....Could be wrong, but think the Education Lottery Money in Georgia benefits the schools down there, and is distributed a whole lot differently than it is in North Carolina?

 

[ObserveAndReport]

It was a great thing. But GA gave in and moved them all to the Georgia Dome this year.

The football atmosphere in GA is a lot more intense than in NC, though, that's for sure. High school games even come on PBS down there.

 

[BK13T-$]

I lived in Newnan G.A.(Coweta County) for four years. The handful of games I saw didnt do much for me. It was kinda like the Eastern teams in NC. Not much fan base and not that good for 3a ball.

 

[ObserveAndReport]

Yeh, I guess it depends on where you are. The teams in the northern Atlanta suburbs are something else, and so are some of the teams in south Georgia down near the Florida line.

 

[btango]

I went to the Colquitt County at Valdosta game this season. Sold out 11,500. Packed. Fans on top of the action. Beautiful football only facility right in town. Rabid.

Football in some areas of metro Atlanta is big time but nothing compares to the atmosphere of south central GA.

 

[knine1]

Rick all Georgia title games have been played at the Georgia dome for about 5-6 years now. The power structure in Georgia for the last few years is Gwinnett county, a suburb county of Atlanta, and of course the traditionall south Georgia powerhouses. Unlimited money has poured into Gwinnett county football the last 10 years. My cousin coached at brookwood and gave me a tour of the facilities a few years ago. They would dwarf anything ive seen at western or app st. The Falcons use these facilities some during preseason scrimmages and meetings. I read in the Atlanta paper last year that if Gwinnett county was a state it would have the 11th most D1 recruits in the nation Basically gwinnett county is it's own state when it comes to football.

NC plays a top 10 state caliber of football overall but Gwinnett county has become its own money driven football beast apart from the rest of the state of Georgia.

 

[btango]

Originally posted by Tigertown@Rick:
It's amazing to think of the money that is poured into the atheletic programs in high schools around Georgia with the example of buford as mentioned above as a prime example of that...That is where I think that Georgia is light years ahead of N.C. because of the vast amount of resources that can be tapped into to benefit high schools all around the state of Georgia...Remember some of the comments from Murphy folk a few year ago when Kennesaw came to play at Murphy with several new luxury buses in tow....Could be wrong, but think the Education Lottery Money in Georgia benefits the schools down there, and is distributed a whole lot differently than it is in North Carolina?

Colquitt County HS is 40 minutes from Valdosta Stadium. Colquitt was out of school that Friday. The team did their walk through practice, got on a bus and went to Valdosta and stayed in a hotel the night before a game. Kept them busy, got them in bed, and had them ready. Huge 18 wheeler hauls equipment with the trailer painted up in a football helmet and slogans. Was told the booster club spent $150k on the program. They want to win.

 

[Tigertown_a_Rick]

Originally posted by knine1:

Rick all Georgia title games have been played at the Georgia dome for about 5-6 years now. The power structure in Georgia for the last few years is Gwinnett county, a suburb county of Atlanta, and of course the traditionall south Georgia powerhouses. Unlimited money has poured into Gwinnett county football the last 10 years. My cousin coached at brookwood and gave me a tour of the facilities a few years ago. They would dwarf anything ive seen at western or app st. The Falcons use these facilities some during preseason scrimmages and meetings. I read in the Atlanta paper last year that if Gwinnett county was a state it would have the 11th most D1 recruits in the nation Basically gwinnett county is it's own state when it comes to football.

NC plays a top 10 state caliber of football overall but Gwinnett county has become its own money driven football beast apart from the rest of the state of Georgia.

Yeah, lived in Norcross for a couple years after college, and football at that time wasn't that great in Gwinnett, but like you said above: It's on a whole different level now....Back in the 80's, SW DeKalb(sp?) was a powerhouse with legendary coach Buck Godfrey...Watched them play MacEachern one year in the playoffs....Roswell and Cobb County area was an area around the "ATL" that had some pretty good football back then, but Gwinnett has taken the Atlanta spotlight since that time...Carrolton has seemingly always been a talent rich area as well in West Georgia, but South Georgia, the Warner Robbins area around Macon and the Albany/Columbus area around Fort Benning has really become a hotbed for talent that last several years....

Good story Btango, never seen a game in Valdosta, but have visited the stadium before, and it's a pretty big facility to say the least...Valdosta used to dominate Big Boy Football in South Georgia, but Lowdnes, Camden County and Colquitt County have caught up with the Wildcats thru the years...