Rundowns and matchups: Jon Nelson previews Georgia's high school football state championships

The Georgia High School Football Championships kick off Monday, Dec. 11 at 11 a.m.

Sixteen teams across the state will compete in eight classifications at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, through Dec. 13.

The games will air on GPB-TV, the GPB Sports app and GPB.org.

GPB Sports' Jon Nelson previews the exciting matchups with GPB's Morning Edition host Devon Zwald.

TRANSCRIPT:

Devon Zwald: This is GPB. I'm Devon Zwald. The Georgia High School Football Championships kick off [Monday]. Sixteen teams from all over the state are competing in eight classifications at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Dec. 11 to 13.

Here to tell us about it is GPB's Jon Nelson. He covers high school athletics for GPB and co-hosts the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast. Welcome.

Jon Nelson: Anytime, Devon. It's always great to talk high school football, especially when you've got trophies on the line down in the Mercedes-Benz [Stadium]. 

Devon Zwald: So, tell us about some of the teams that are playing this year for those trophies. 

Jon Nelson: You've got a great representation. It's a really cool cross-section for me when it comes to small-town versus, you know, the Atlanta area. The last championship on Wednesday night [Dec. 13], you're going to have two schools in Milton and Walton that were 11-and-a-half miles apart. And they used to be in the same region and play each other every year. Now they're playing each other in the last game of the year. You've got Coffee County down in Douglas, Ga. Last time I heard, they are bringing everyone from Coffee County, plus one of the monster tailgates that has achieved legend status. And they are taunting us with the food in their tailgate. You've got Savannah Christian coming up here playing Cedar Grove, a perennial power, on Tuesday. Woodward Academy hasn't won a championship in almost 40 years. Thomas County Central: They're coming back from Thomasville and they're trying to chase after another title. Perry and Stockbridge, two schools that have never won a state championship: Perry's in it for the first time in, like 70 years. Rockmart: They haven't won a state championship since 1950, going up against Pierce County. Bowdon and Manchester: Bowdon is chasing after back-to-back. Manchester has a great pedigree, but they haven't won since the 1980s. Swainsboro and PAC (Prince Avenue Christian), the first championship in tackle football at 4:00 Monday afternoon, is a rematch of last year's in that same division. So it's a great cross-section. 

Devon Zwald: So what are the stakes for the players? Are there college scouts coming or scholarships on the line or anything like that?

Jon Nelson: Georgia is the No. 3 state in the country when it comes to high school football athletes in tackle football going to the next level and going to play in college. And so you're going to have the blue bloods of Division I — all the big names, whatever big name you want to insert — they're going to be chasing after talent that they may not already have or reinforcing the talent that they think they're getting. So there's going to be a lot of folks wearing college sweaters, you know, with logos. You're going to see a lot of logos and head coaches on the sidelines just to make sure that the players who have said they're going to their schools will continue to go to their school. Or, you'll have some coaches there trying to sit there and flip some kids. You might have some of that to come Signing Day, which is Dec. 21. So we're only, you know, 10 days away from National Signing Day. So the drama is added to that as well. 

Devon Zwald: And the games have returned to Mercedes-Benz Stadium after four years. Will this venue have an impact on the mood or the atmosphere for the players?

Jon Nelson: It'll be interesting to see because, you know, it’ll be a different surface that they will have played on. It's the surface that is the artificial turf that's there. Most of them are used to playing on grass. How will they adjust? How will they respond to the big top? I think that, you know, getting through that first couple of minutes, that first hit happens. And then it's like, 'Oh, I'm actually just playing a football game.' And you don't get caught up in that. I think that will be interesting a lot for the smaller schools, especially, and for the schools that haven't been there before, and how they respond to that, to this whole environment of playing where college games are played — the SEC championship, Atlanta United, the Atlanta Falcons. How do they respond? I think for the smaller schools, it might be an interesting look see in the first couple of minutes of every game. 

Devon Zwald: How are the communities and the fans around these teams getting ready for the championships?

Jon Nelson: From Polk County? One of the examples I got was from Rockmart. Rockmart's city government is closing down on Tuesday so everyone can go ahead and go down to Mercedes-Benz. Perry High School is closing early on Tuesday, to give you an example there. So you got shuttle busses leaving early. You got teams leaving the night before. Everybody's trying to get there and make sure that they can navigate the traffic. So maybe add an hour to when you think you're leaving. Leave an hour earlier just so you can navigate and get to parking. 

Devon Zwald: Hmm. Good tip. Got to watch out for the traffic for sure. 

Jon Nelson: No doubt. 

Devon Zwald: You've been covering these teams all season, and now that we're at the finals, what are you most excited to see? 

Jon Nelson: What I like to phrase it as is being able to "share the state with the rest of the state." And we get to do that at GPB across all of our platforms, where you may not know about, you know, the team in Coffee, you may not know about Savannah Christian in Savannah, you may not know about the Perry Panthers and Stockbridge chasing after a championship. You might not know about Swainsboro and an athlete like Demello Jones. He's one of the top recruits in the state. All of these towns coming into a central location and everybody at Georgia Public Broadcasting gets to share what it's like for all of these different teams. And all these different places to come into one place. And what I always like to tell folks also is the more you think we're different, the more we actually are the same. And you get to see that all in one place at the championships on GPB all week long. 

Devon Zwald: GPB. Jon Nelson, thank you so much for your time. 

Jon Nelson: Anytime, Devon.

Visit GPB.org/sports for schedules, videos, team information and features. Follow @GPBSports on social media for updates.