Welcome to the opening weekend for the GHSA state football playoffs. The postseason is a week later that originally planned due to Hurricane Helene. Last weekend was turned into the final week of regular season play as those games that were impacted by the storm were played.

Even with a limited schedule, there were games that decided region titles. There were games that decided seeding for the postseason and then there were games that decided who made it into the playoffs and who would be watching from the sidelines.

The Lovejoy Wildcats found themselves in a “Win To Get In” game. When I spoke with Lovejoy head coach Edgar Carson, he talked about meeting with his team and reminding them how special it is to get to play this week.

 “That’s what I told the kids today,” says Carson. “Everybody else is getting ready for wrestling basketball, swimming. You are one of the 32 teams, and that's a good thing.”

A good thing that was far from being a sure thing back on Sept. 27. With their record in Region 3-5A at 1-1, Lovejoy’s game with Morrow was postponed to avoid the approaching storm. That gave way to a different game. The rescheduling game.

“We were supposed to play Morrow when the storm came through on that Friday,” recalls Carson. “We didn't know GHSA was going to move the week. We had scheduled to play Banneker on that following Thursday. Then we were going to play Marrow on that next Tuesday. So it kind of worked out when Georgia High School Association came up and pushed that week back for the storm. We moved that game to last week.”

Lovjoy

Lovejoy's Ryan Henson secures a touchdown pass while happy teammate Michael Gilliam looks on.

Credit: Clayton County

With the Wildcats record at 4-5 overall, 3-3 in region play, their game with Morrow, reset for the extra week, became the most important game of the season.

“We had to win,” recalls Carson. “We lost to Dutchtown early on. We scored, which put use down one and there were only a few seconds left on the clock. I said, hey guys, let's go for it all. So, we went for two and we dropped it in the end zone. That game really hurt us early on. We didn't play well against Newnan, and I knew that Hughes was going to be a juggernaut. We played well with them in the first half. It was 14- 6 at halftime. They got a good football team, and we made some costly errors.”

The 42-6 setback against Hughes, in what was originally scheduled to be the regular season finale, would have been a rough way to end the season. Thankfully there was the game in the extra week, but once gameday arrived things didn’t go as planned.

“Last week Morrow came in super hungry,” says Carson. “They played really well. We found a way to win. We had to score twice in the fourth quarter. At half time, I kind of just told our guys, we’re still in this game. We didn't play well in the first half and Morrow was up 6-0 at halftime.”

Lovejoy

Lovejoy was able to put together a late score and defeat Morrow.

Credit: Clayton County

The turnaround came in the fourth quarter with about six minutes remaining.

“We had a pick six and we forced them to punt late in the game,” Carson says. “It put us on like the 3. We ran a dive and our running back got about 60 yards on that play. From there we would just grind it and we had two timeouts left. We used them and scored with five seconds left on a jet sweep by junior running back Corey Orr.”

That was enough to put Lovejoy in the playoffs.

During the time that I have covered high school football in the Metro Atlanta area, Lovejoy has been Clayton County’s most consistent program. Carson’s predecessor, Al Hughes, led the Wildcats to six region titles and two trips to the state championship game. Those teams were led by players like Tashard Choice, and Travis Custis. This Lovejoy team is different.

“Honestly, it's been kind of different for us this year,” says Carson. “It's been a collective effort across the board. People make a place. I can’t pinpoint one guy. I’m big on family. At Lovejoy we talk about a lot of traditions. I remind them that people have poured back into them. So, what are you going to be known for? What's your legacy going to be? I got that from Coach Hughes. That was one of his things that he used to say. I always try to keep that thing as well.”

Taking part in the state playoffs is something that Carson has worked to maintain at Lovejoy. Last year, their first-round game came with a long bus ride. This week the ride will be to the other side of the airport to face Woodward Academy, a team that was a region rival a season ago.

Lovejoy

Courtney Orr (20) talks with a teammate during a break in play.

Credit: Clayton County

“You always are expecting to make the playoffs,” says Carson. “This is my 14th year. I’ve made the playoffs 13 out of 14 years since I've been there. This week we’re going against Woodward Academy. They are real disciplined and they’ve got a lot of talent as well. They’ve got a good quarterback, and good receivers. We’ve got to be very disciplined and try to limit mistakes because those guys don't make a whole lot of mistakes. We got to go out and try to play Wildcat Football. I told our kids we’ve got to come out this first round and play like we did last year when we went to Effingham. I thought our kids played lights out against Effingham and they were really focused last year. I hope we can bring that type of energy again this week and give ourselves a chance to win.”

This week Football Fridays in Georgia will feature Valdosta at Walton. It all gets started at 7:30 p.m. on the great GPB!