And we’re down to the final 8’s in each of the classifications…

The Single-A squads have gotten into the playoff run with their first-round matchups as well and we still have seen some surprises along the way to the Final 48…

So, how did we get here with schools taking time off and the survivors getting used to earlier-than-normal practice times…??? Here are some of the answers…

First off, let’s look at the top team in the state (and top three nationally) as Colquitt County hosted Central Gwinnett. Jake is in “The Locker Room” with a look at that game as well as Grayson’s win, Kell’s upset of Coffee, Bainbridge’s win over Sandy Creek, and Brooks County’s win over Manchester.  

WALB.com, South Georgia News, Weather, Sports

Over in the east, Grady went to the Brickyard to take on the Thomson Bulldogs and Aquinas hosted Brookstone in the first round of the Single-A playoffs. Matt and Nathan have a look at those two matchups for us…

In the west, Dave and Tall Paul have a look at action in Single-A with Marion County surviving Twiggs County’s toughest tests and Pacelli ran into Taylor Trammell and Mount Paran Christian while Callaway (who gets an early vote for coolest post-season uniform) took on Westminster…

WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather

The game of the Week- unquestionably- was on the coast where Benedictine, the defending Double-A champ had their hands full with Lovett for the full 48 minutes. Stefanie has the highlights of a game that went all night long and burned out a lot of the lamps on the scoreboard…

So, that brings us to the “Question of the Column”…

What was the biggest surprise for you, Dear Reader, this week…??? Could have been an individual performance, could have been an upset on the boards that took care of the bracket you were filling out (AND HAD ALL THE CONFIDENCE IN THE WORLD IN…), or something else entirely…

Let me know either at the bottom of the page here in the “Comments” section, on Facebook (on the GPB Sports Facebook page), on Twitter (either @GPB Sports or my personal page @OSGNelson), on Snapchat or whatever other social media platform you may use…

This week on “Football Fridays in Georgia,” it’s a battle of Top Ten teams from the 6A version of the GPB Poll as Archer (the 2014 runner-up) travels to Mill Creek to take on the Hawks as a one-seed hosts a two-seed that has only one loss this season.

Join Jackie, Mark, Matt, and the rest of the GPB Army with your holiday leftovers… (Turkey sandwich, anyone…?) as we give you the quarterfinals in HD! The “All-Access Pass” pregame show starts at 7 with kickoff a little after 7:30. And we’ll take you through the brackets when the game is done to set you up for the semi-finals…

That’s your mission this Thanksgiving Week!

Play it safe, everyone… I’ll see you at the stadium!