It should come as no surprise to anyone who follows area high school football the two teams who are left standing in the state playoffs are the Cherokee County Warriors and Piedmont Bulldogs. Both are certainly no strangers to making deep postseason runs and playing for state championships.
Piedmont has been perennially dominant in Class 3A. Second-year head coach Jonathan Miller has picked up where predecessor Steve Smith left off by making at least the second round of the state playoffs in his two seasons. Prior to that, Smith guided the Bulldogs to the playoffs in each of his 17 seasons at the helm, including five state championships.
Meanwhile, the Warriors have played for the past two Class 4A state titles and have made the playoffs in five of head coach Jacob Kelley’s six seasons.
It doesn’t get much better than that, folks.
Will the two rivals’ traditional history carry on into next week’s state semifinals, or will their championship dreams fall short against Fyffe and at Brooks following Friday’s quarterfinals?
Here’s ‘What In The World Is Shannon Fagan Thinking?’ for this week.
Fyffe (9-2) at Piedmont (12-0)
When talking about Piedmont and Cherokee County, we can also throw Fyffe in the mix with them. The Red Devils are the two-time defending Class 2A state champions, and have earned a total of seven state titles in the program’s history.
In last week’s 42-14 win over Gordo, head coach Paul Benefield picked up his 70th career playoff win, becoming the third coach in AHSAA history to reach that plateau. The other two are UMS-Wright’s Terry Curtis and Central of Clay County’s Danny Horn.
Overall, the victory was Benefield’s 360th of his career. He is 360-58.
Fyffe played last week without star senior running back Logan Anderson, a Clemson signee, who suffered a torn ACL in his right knee in the first quarter of the Red Devils’ first-round win over Ohatchee.
Anderson underwent surgery back on Nov. 11, but the Big Red Machine kept plugging along in Anderson’s absence in last week’s win.
Sophomore running back Ryder Gipson ran for 259 yards on 29 carries with five touchdowns, and Fyffe’s defense sacked Gordo quarterback Jase Neel eight times. Tucker Wilks and Anthony Mil had three sacks apiece. Simon Hicks had two.
Meanwhile, Piedmont exacted revenge against Lauderdale County with a 21-6 victory. Cole Wilson led the Bulldogs by completing 15 of 23 pass attempts for 293 yards and three touchdowns. Rollie Pinto caught five passes for 195 yards and two scores from 67 and 97 yards. Ishmael Bethel had nine receptions for 92 yards and a 24-yard touchdown.
The Red Devils are 3-0 against the Bulldogs in their football history, including a 14-6 decision in their last meeting, the Class 3A state semifinals in 2020. Fyffe went on to win the Class 3A state title that season with a 21-16 win over Catholic-Montgomery to cap a 15-0 season.
The only other two times Piedmont and Fyffe have played came back when they were in Class 2A Region 7 back in 2006 and 2007.
Both teams have reached the state quarterfinals 17 times in their history. Fyffe is 10-7, while Piedmont is 11-6.
This should be a classic battle between two titans. Fyffe’s two losses this season have both come on the road at Pisgah and at Coosa Christian, so I’ll give the Bulldogs the edge playing at the properly named Field of Champions.
The pick: Piedmont.
Cherokee County (11-1) at Brooks (10-2)
Friday night’s Foothills Tractor Game of the Week is the first meeting between these two teams. The Lions outlasted Alexandria 41-35 last Friday. They also defeated Dora in the first round 38-7.
In last week’s game against Alexandria, senior Garrett Burrough ran 11 times for 208 yards and a touchdown. He was also 12 of 15 passing for 108 yards and two touchdowns.
But the Warrior defense has been known for throwing good quarterbacks off their games.
In last week’s 41-14 win against Central of Florence, Tristan Brown led the Warrior defense with 17 tackles, a sack and an interception. Caleb Harbour posted 11 tackles, including one for loss, with a sack and had a 24-yard scoop-and-score before halftime. Keshawn Thomas registered 11 tackles, including two for loss.
Brooks is 5-0 at home this season. The Lions’ only two losses came on the road early in the season (at West Morgan 42-10 on Aug. 30 and at Central-Florence 28-24 on Sept. 13). The Lions are also 1-7 all-time in the state quarterfinals.
Cherokee County is 6-2 all-time the quarterfinals, including wins at West Morgan and at Randolph the past two years. I think the Warriors will be 7-2 following Friday’s action.
The pick: Cherokee County.