Macon football teams set for GIAA state tournament

The GIAA playoffs are set, and two Macon teams have a bye week home field advantage in the first two rounds of the Class 4A state tournament.

The Stratford Eagles secured the No. 1 seed in the 4A bracket with a win over Calvary Christian on Oct. 25. The 34-7 victory gave Stratford an 8-2 regular season record and a third-place Region 6 finish, though region placings do not impact playoff seeds in the GIAA.

The win was important for another reason: the Eagles showed they can still move the ball without their premier player. Running back Tyler Stephens, who had led all classifications of GIAA in rushing yards before sustaining an injury against Mount de Sales.

Stratford did not miss a beat filling the gap in the backfield. Freshman Aaron Jefferson stepped right in and tallied 131 rushing yards on 11 carries, with Sanford Horne and Morris Butler chipping in for several yards as well. 

The Eagles get a week off before facing the winner of the No. 8 vs. No. 9 game on Nov. 7 at home. Stratford could face Calvary Christian again — the Knights are the No. 9 team in the tourney — or draw No. 8 Bethlehem Christian, which it did not face during the regular season.

The next-highest ranked team, No. 3 FPD, has its first playoff matchup set in stone with two weeks to prepare.

The Vikings will host No. 6 Strong Rock Christian on Nov. 7 after both teams get the first week of the tournament off. FPD, much like crosstown rival Stratford, will benefit from a week off to recuperate from injury. Star quarterback and defender Major Simmons missed the final two games of the season after getting hurt against Stratford. The Vikings have also been without standout linebacker Brady McHugh, who anchors the defense, since he sustained an injury against John Milledge.

Though they lost against a strong John Milledge team, the Vikings still looked solid enough against a contender and played well with freshman backup Cash Walker. 

Strong Rock, which did not play FPD during the regular season, finished 6-4 with key wins coming against Calvary Christian and St. Anne-Pacelli. Running back Jake Johnson is the most potent offensive threat for the Patriots, coming into the contest with 1,205 rushing yards this year.

Mount de Sales and Tattnall finished outside the Top 10, ending their seasons. The Cavaliers finished 2-8 and ranked No. 12. The Trojans finished 0-10, its worst finish since an 0-10 mark in 1974, and ranked No. 13 out of 15 schools.

Windsor, CFCA earn playoff bids

Two more Macon schools made the playoffs as well, this time in the GIAA’s Class 2A tournament.

Windsor Academy will be the only Bibb County GIAA team to play in the first round of the playoffs Oct. 31, earning the No. 8 seed in 2A. The Knights will host No. 9 Augusta Prep at 7:30 p.m. to determine who will face top-seeded Brentwood in the next round.

Windsor got off to a sluggish start this year but caught fire in the tailend of the season, going 1-7 before reeling off a pair of wins in their final two games including a 16-14 thriller over archrival Central Fellowship to finish 3-7.

Knights quarterback Heath Woodard found his stride in that final stretch — Windsor and head coach Dylan Bass actually switched quarterbacks briefly midseason before going back to Woodard — when he formed a connection with star Dawson Sims in the passing game.

The team has now tallied more than 300 yards of offense in its last three consecutive games, the kind of hot streak that should be valuable as the postseason begins.

Augusta Prep comes into the playoff game 2-8 with a victory against Thomas Jefferson Academy in its final game and, back on Aug. 29, a win against Windsor. The Cavaliers defeated Windsor 22-14, though the Knights look very different on offense later in the year.

CFCA bounced back from that loss to Windsor with a 56-32 win over Cherokee Christian, bringing them to 5-5 on the season and the No. 6 seed in the playoffs. The Lancers get this week off before travelling to face No. 3 Southland Academy on Nov. 7.

Central Fellowship’s offense runs through tailback and jack-of-all-trades Judson Walls, son of head coach Jake Walls. Despite breaking his elbow and missing two weeks in the middle of the season, the younger Walls returned on Oct. 10 and ran all over Heritage in his first game back.

The Lancers are 0-4 against Southland all time, though all of those matchups came between 2001 and 2005. Southland is 6-4 this year and lost its final two games of the regular season in competitive games with RTCA and Southwest Georgia.