ATLien12x

Interesting to note in the four common opponents between the two, Lowndes outperformed Marietta in all four games Lowndes def Grayson 28-20 Grayson def Marietta 28-14 Lowndes def Parkview 38-7 Marietta def Parkview 42-31 Lowndes def Hillgrove 38-8 Marietta def Hillgrove 38-17 Lowndes def Camden 45-13 Marietta def Camden 41-13

Marietta vs. Lowndes When, where: 8 p.m. Saturday, Georgia State Stadium, Atlanta Records, rankings: Marietta is 12-2, the No. 2 seed from Region 3-AAAAAAA and No. 6; Lowndes is 14-0, the No. 1 seed from 1- AAAAAAA and No. 1. Last meeting: Marietta won 30-27 in the first round of the 2012 Class AAAAAA playoffs. Things to know: Marietta was the preseason No. 1 team and made the top 10 of several national polls. Lowndes is the current No. 1 and now ranked high nationally, peaking at No. 3 by PrepNation. Marietta has six of Georgia's top 100 senior prospects but no state title appearances since its 1967 Class AAA championship. Lowndes has no top-100 players but five state titles since 1980, the most of any current Class AAAAAAA school. Add the north-south thing - Marietta is metro Atlanta's oldest football program, Lowndes the flag bearer for storied Region 1 - and this game is full of intrigue. Marietta has won seven straight games, four against top-10 teams, since losing to McEachern in October. Only one team this century, Peachtree Ridge in 2006, has won a state title in the highest class after losing a game that late. The Blue Devils' list of blue chips include QB Harrison Bailey (4,000 yards passing, committed to Tennessee), WR Arik Gilbert (1,614 yards receiving, LSU), WR Ricky White (1,246 receiving, Michigan State), RB Kimani Vidal (1,511 rushing, Troy), DE B.J. Ojulari (LSU) and DB Rashad Torrence (Florida). Lowndes' offense is built around sophomore QB Jacurri Brown, who has rushed for 1,508 yards and passed for 1,253 yards. Lowndes allowed more than 21 points for the first time last week in a 49-28 victory over North Gwinnett. Marietta has allowed 21 or more six times. Marietta and Lowndes have four common opponents. Lowndes beat Grayson 28-20 in the quarterfinals. Grayson beat Marietta 28-14 on Sept. 13. They're both 3-0 against the others. Maxwell Ratings' projection: Lowndes by 14

Looking forward to the semifinals! TexanLive’s deal with NFHS Network is awesome for out of state fans. The old days where folks out of Texas couldn’t watch before the finals. Now we get to follow along the entire bracket

I watched Eastside Catholic vs Odea on NFHS. Wasn’t really impressed with either. They’d both get blown out by the 7A champ. I’d favor Harrison over them comfortably as well EC has five really good kids that’ll play Power 5 on Saturdays. Then 40+ other dudes that will play their last down of football in the GEICO

Josh Downs is better than every skill player on Marietta’s team not named Arik Gilbert. He’s an elite receiver and has been since he was a kid. He’s ranked ahead of Taji, Ricky, Bailey, and the bunch. That said Marietta may be able to move the ball at will, I honestly don’t know. Collectively with Vidal and their OL, they’ve been getting the job done every week. They’re definitely the best offense in the state with the best QB, but we’ll soon find out if they’re the best team According to AJC, they think Osby will play

Touchdown BTW. QB ran it in with under 2 minutes left. They’ll win the 4A state championship. Bolles defense deserved a title. But their offense and coaching staff did not. Lol They forced stop after stop after stop. Their shitty offense couldn’t get a SINGLE FIRST DOWN in the second half. Not one. And to make matters worse they fumbled on a run inside the 25 up with four minutes left. Back-breaker. A failing offense cost them the game. Blew a 21-10 fourth quarter lead. Hats off to BTW. They created more negative plays (tackles for loss+sacks) in a game the team was trailing by two scores than I can ever recall. Seriously don’t think Bolles finished with positive yards in the 2nd half

3rd and 8 for BTW. Inside the Bolles 30. Down 21-18

Holy shit. Lol Bolles just fumbled inside their 25 with 4 minutes left. What a disaster.

What makes you think their secondary is so bad? They’ve only allowed 20+ points in three of their 13 games. If they were horrific that number would be much higher. They're definitely not the strength and they play off receivers at times to keep from getting burnt deep, but their strategy has worked all season. They’ve seen film on Marietta. McPherson has been around a very long time. I’m sure his guys will be up to the challenge. Bailey will get passing yards by sheer volume of attempts alone. But I believe their pass rush and secondary will force some incompletions. Completion % will be more indicative of a win than yards to me on Saturday

Booker T Washington scored. Trailing 21-18 now with five minutes left. Bolles is not able to move the chains at all so I firmly believe BTW will get the ball back now with a chance to win this game

Bolles has not gained a first down this half. I honestly don’t think they’re in positive yards. Yet they still lead 21-10 over BTW in the 4th. They are getting blown BACKWARDS every play offensively. I missed the first half but how this team scored 3 touchdowns is a fucking Christmas miracle

They were definitely able to move the ball on Saturday They were trading scores early in the half. A pick six cost them and the inability to stop North Shore became too much. I don’t know if they’d score 40 on anyone in America, that’s a ton of points in a 48 minute game, but they’d score on a lot of people. Very good offensive team

Ojulari is an absolute freak. Thought Tennessee was getting a highly underrated player in him before the flip. Younger brother of a starter at UGA. He had an outstanding game against St Joseph Prep in the season opener and caught my eye. He stands out every week as their best front seven guy. Explosive athlete

I completely agree. They’re very good this year, the third best team in the nation. That said, their season ends on December 28th. And it probably won’t be that close

Yes! But probably not