Milton vs. Colquitt County
I believe that everybody expected Colquitt County to be in this position at the start of the season. Not the same can be said for the Milton Eagles. Colquitt came into the season ranked #2 in the state by the AJC's Maxwell ratings. Milton was not on the list. In fact, the AJC had Milton as the 35th team in all classifications and 17th inside of 7A. I believe this speaks to the job that Head Coach Adam Clack has done in only his second year with the Eagles. Under the previous regime, the program had seen a downturn in success, going a combined 9 - 12 over the 2015 & 2016 seasons. Clack is 21 - 4 over his brief tenure with Milton and sports a gaudy winning percentage of 84%. The Eagles have already put themselves in rarefied air for their program having secured only the third region title in program history and reaching the State Title game for the first time in the 69 year history of Milton Football. You can't take anything away from the Colquitt coaching staff either. Managing the pressure of high expectations and having that preseason target on your back is just as, if not more, difficult than being an underdog when you're dealing with 14 - 18 year old young men. Rush Propst and his coaches have been able to cultivate the God given ability that they are undeniably blessed with and mold it together into a cohesive and powerful unit.
A mixture of defense and Senior QB Jordan Yates proved to be just enough for the Eagles to take down perennial contender Lowndes in the Final 4. Yates has been the straw that stirs the drink the entire season for the Eagles, he's not only had success through the air (175 for 274 and 2414 yards), but he is also the 2nd leading rusher on the team through 14 games with 862 yards and 4.9 yards per carry. Personally, Yates' world may have been thrown into flux some with the resigning of Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Johnson just a week ago. Yates has been considered a very solid commitment to the Yellow Jackets for some time now, so it remains to be seen how a coaching change will affect his standing with GT. However, Yates must now turn all of his focus to putting all his abilities on display at full force just down the road from his potential future school in Mercedes-Benz Stadium against a very big, very fast, very well coached Colquitt defense. Yates will rely on a quartet of senior targets to help him move the ball effectively. Dylan Leonard, Jordan Cox, Holden Shaw, and Joseph Charleston are all members of the class of 2019 and all have at least 16 receptions and 250 yards receiving on the year. Leonard is the leader in both categories for Milton with 46 receptions and 837 yards receiving on the campaign. That comes out to averages of 18.2 yards per catch and 64.4 yards per game. In order for the Eagles to have success against the Packers, both of those numbers will need to be exceeded, as was the case in the semifinal in which Leonard paced the receiving core with 2 receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown. The Eagles struggled to get momentum on the ground against Lowndes with only 67 yards on 33 carries. The offensive line will look get better traction behind left guard Paul Tchio (6'5" 330lbs) and company as a consistent effort to run the ball will be needed for balance to slow down a very capable Colquitt pass rush. Yates was able to have a small amount of success rushing on the perimeter when it mattered most, but other than that, the Eagles rushing attack will need to find improvement before playing Colquitt in order to keep the Packers' offense off the field.
Colquitt County has just been lights out on both sides of the ball this season. The Packers have an average margin of over 31 points per game. Propst's squad is scoring over 41.1 points per game and only allowing 10.1. Rashard Revels is the leader of the stingy defensive unit. The senior safety has 198 tackles, 4 caused fumbles, a fumble recovery, is rated a 3-star prospect, and is currently committed to the resurgent UAB Blazers. Camari Louis is also a name that will be called out a lot in the upcoming title game vs. Milton. Reviewing the film against Archer, both of Colquitt's safeties are very active and Louis always seems to find his way around the ball and his statistics bare this out with 4 interceptions and 2 caused fumbles on the season. Revels and Louis are able to run free and make plays because of the pressure and control applied by their 3 man front. Zy Brockington, Brian Merritt, and LaQuavion Haynes, are the starters for the Packers' defensive line and they reek havoc on the opposing line. Merritt is a legit 300 pounds and it's not a sloppy 300 either. The Senior nose guard is very athletic and can get to the QB in a hurry. He has 9 sacks and 17 QB hurries on the year and will look to add to that total and bring down Milton's Jordan Yates. I look for Brockington and Haynes to have favorable matchups in this game due to the fact that Merritt will likely draw double teams and will leave the tackles on an island a lot. Brockington and Haynes have combined for 12.5 sacks on the season and I look for the Eagles to utilize a back or tight end to help in protection of Jordan Yates.
Offensively, the Packers' sport the patented Rush Propst spread attack that usually features a quarterback that is a solid manager of the entire playbook and is able to stay balanced between the run and pass as a unit. Jaycee Harden is that solid manager that Propst is accustomed to having. At 6'0" 172 pounds, Harden is not your prototypical QB, especially as more of a pocket passer, but he makes good decisions and has thrown 22 touchdowns on his 160 completions this season and only 6 interceptions. Harden has stuffed the stat sheet exactly with an average of 171 passing yards per contest, but there hasn't been much need for him to. The Packers' have blown everyone out with the exception of Grayson and Archer, and even then they were able to get enough from their zone runs and one back power schemes to produce 26 and 22 points respectively. Admittedly, the Eagles defensive front is somewhat undersized for 7A, but they place with great leverage and technique. I look for the Eagles to try and play Senior outside linebacker Charlie Keeney as more of an overhang player and cheat him into the box as much as possible in order to force this game onto the right throwing shoulder of Harden. He struggled to complete passes early against Archer early in game, but Archer played a 3 man front and was able to commit more players in coverage as well. It will be chess match between the two teams all night. Will the 4-2-5 defensive style of the Eagles be able to control the box and force the Packers to take to the air, something they can do but don't major in? Or, will the Packers offensive line be able to use their size (an average of 275 pounds per lineman) to lean on the 4 Milton front that doesn't have a player weighing over 215 pounds?
The Sports Vent Prediction Generator sets the spread at 13.5 in favor of Colquitt County. The thing that the generator does not have that I do however is eyeballs. I can see that this Milton defense, though undersized, is rallying to the ball incredibly well and is able to use their quickness up front to get pressure with only 4 and can drop 7 into coverage. Their ability to drop and extra man in the box in #14 Charlie Keeney to stop the run and make Colquitt one dimensional will be the difference in this game. I think that Harden, while being a good player, is going to be forced to throw more than he has all season and he'll have to try and find the windows in the zone coverage of the Eagles. I believe that this will result in a lot of shorter passes by the Packers and the ability rally to short passes with Safeties Nassier Currie-Sudler and Joseph Charleston is something that Milton is clearly confident in by how they align to 2 x 2 and 3 x 1 formations. Also, Milton inside linebacker Jordan Davis is a sideline to sideline monster and can tackle in space and bring the thunder when he does. His ability to cover ground and drop in zone coverage underneath the quick game will be a positive for Milton as well. It should be stated that Colquitt is extremely talented and big and if they execute they could very well win in decisive fashion like they have done most of the year. I think though that Adam Clack, the Milton community, and the Eagles' playmakers more hungry and that they are playing better and more complete football as of late. Archer hurt Colquitt at home with big plays and nearly knocked them off in OT! The Benz is going to be rocking with members of the Milton community that have been waiting 70 years for this moment! I think that energy propels Jordan Yates, Dylan Leonard, and a red hot defense to make just enough big plays to upset the Packers. Milton beats the spread of 13.5 and wins their first State Championship!
Milton 26 - Colquitt (-13.5) 24
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