Roswell Football Teams Start Playoffs At Home

By Mike Blum

ROSWELL, GA — The 2018 high school football season was a memorable one for the four teams from Roswell. Three of the teams were unbeaten in their region or sub-region schedules, with the fourth suffering just one region loss, that coming by two points.

Roswell and Blessed Trinity enter the 2018 state playoffs as region champions, with Fellowship Christian capturing its sub-region title before losing in the region championship game. Centennial finished second in its region, and like the other three Roswell teams, will begin the playoffs on its home field.

Roswell opens the playoffs at home Friday, Nov. 9 against Tift County, while Blessed Trinity is at home against Northwest Whitfield and Centennial hosts Allatoona. Fellowship Christian has a first-round bye Nov. 9, and kick off its game at home Nov. 16.

The Roswell Hornets are region champions for the third time in four years, going 5-0 in Region 4-
AAAAAAA with a win over state-ranked Walton and finishing with a 9-1 overall record including a victory over state-ranked rival Milton. The Hornets are ranked sixth in 7A entering the playoffs and host an unranked Tift team that tied for second in Region 1, which includes Colquitt County, the state’s No. 1 team. Tift, Lowndes and Camden County tied for second behind Colquitt, with the Blue Devils winding up as the No. 4 seed.

Roswell enjoyed an outstanding season after going 3-7 last year and losing in the first round of the state playoffs. The Hornets reached the state championship in both 2015 and 2016, with the latter squad consisting almost entirely of senior starters. With a new head coach and a mostly new group of assistants, the Hornets began the rebuilding process last year, and made strides in the second season under head coach Matt Kemper.

The Hornets feature an almost entirely new cast of skill position players other than running back
Kamonty Jett, who has enjoyed a second straight 1000-yard rushing season. Jett went over 1000 yards in Roswell’s eighth game, and after being injured early the next week, did not play in the team’s regular season finale.

Jeremy Slaughter took over for Jett and rushed for 88 yards against Woodstock, but managed just 35 yards last week against Etowah, with the Hornets limited to 50 yards on the ground. The Hornets relied on quarterback Ethan Roberts, who passed for 253 yards and a touchdown to John Copenhaver, who had seven receptions for 106 yards. Roberts finished the season with 1845 yards passing and 18 touchdowns, with Copenhaver leading the Hornets with 42 catches for 712 yards and 8 touchdowns. The Hornets also played the last two weeks without second-leading receiver Jacob Jarrett (28-558-7), with sophomore Marquis Willis making some big plays as his replacement.

The Hornets have been a productive offensive team the entire season, but do not have the same
run/pass balance without Jett, who averaged almost 24 carries per game before being injured.
With a few exceptions, the Roswell defense has done an excellent job, and has stepped up the last two weeks in the absence of Jett, returning three interceptions for touchdowns, as the Hornets broke open tight games with late scoring spurts.

Ty’ron Hopper, Sam Antona, Matt Huelsman, Khaleed Mobley, Will Troutman and Doneiko Slaughter have keyed the Roswell defense, which has also lost some key performers to injury during the season. Like Roswell, Tift (6-4) scored some big wins over its rivals, defeating both Valdosta and Lowndes, with three of the Blue Devils’ four losses coming against Colquitt, Parkview and Warner Robins, three of the top teams in the state.

Friday’s game will be a rematch of a 2006 state semifinal game, with Roswell winning 24-10 en route to sharing the state title. The teams scheduled a home-and-home series a few years after the playoff meeting and split the two games. Tift reached the quarterfinals last season, the first time since 2008 the Blue Devils had advanced past the first round. If Roswell wins Friday, the Hornets will be at home in the second round, likely against Marietta, one of the state’s most talented teams.

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Blessed Trinity begins its efforts to win a second straight state AAAA title, playing at home Friday against Northwest Whitfield, which finished fourth in its region and is 6-4 overall. After having to win its last four playoff games on the road against four of the top teams in the state, the Titans have a much more favorable draw this year. All the other main title contenders are on the
opposite half of the bracket from BT and there are no top teams in the same quarter with BT, which is ranked No. 1 in AAAA.

The Titans (10-0) have the same core of players that led them to a state title last year – RB/LB Steele Chambers, QB/S Jake Smith, WR/DB Ryan Davis and defensive stalwarts J.D. Bertrand and J.R. Bivens. Chambers has rushed for 1091 yards and 15 touchdowns on 141 carries and is among the team’s leading tacklers. Smith has passed for over 1200 yards and 12 touchdowns while averaging just over 12 attempts per game. Davis, who has been slowed somewhat by injury, has 31 receptions for 551 yards and five scores, and has been a clutch receiver for the Titans throughout his career.

The Titans feature one of the state’s best defenses, holding the four state-ranked opponents they’ve faced to a total of 47 points. BT struggled a bit offensively in recent games against the other two state-ranked teams from Region 7, but looks to be in good shape heading into another playoff run, which has become an annual occurrence since Tm McFarlin took over as head coach in 2011.

Centennial suffered a serious blow last week when quarterback Max Brosmer, who leads the state in passing yards, was injured in the second half of the Knights’ regular season finale. The Knights will have to face Allatoona, which has been ranked in the top 10 most of the season, without the main cog in their offense, which has been one of the most productive in the state.

Parker Sperier will take over as quarterback, and will look to a talented group of skill position players to assist him with the difficult task of replacing Brosmer. Running back Cal Dickie has 1272 yards and 18 touchdowns rushing and has added 464 receiving yards. He ran effectively out of the wildcat formation to help the Knights preserve their win last week over Northview.

Centennial has a quality group of receivers led by Richard Shaw (52-862-10). Drake Mason, Rekevian Mathis and Freddy Fairley have also put up some good numbers, combining for around 1775 yards and 15 touchdowns. The Centennial defense has had its moments this season, holding Alpharetta to six points and shutting out Northview in the second half last week, but has also allowed at least 28 points in seven of 10 games.

Without Brosmer, the Knights will need its best effort defensively Friday against Allatoona, which had won seven straight games after losing its first two to teams that have not lost a game this season. Allatoona started its football program in 2008 under former Roswell assistant Gary Varner, who has been the school’s head coach since then. Since 2011, the Buccaneers have lost in the state quarterfinals three times, the semifinals once and won a state championship in 2015. Like Centennial, Allatoona brings a 7-3 record into Friday’s game.

The Knights, in their second season under coach Michael Perry, won their first state playoff game since 2002 last year, and had hopes of making another strong playoff showing following a successful 2017 post-season. Centennial rolled past Lanier 48-14 in its first round game last year before losing a 48-41 shootout to a talented Mays team in the second round. If Centennial wins Friday, the Knights would play either Dacula or Northgate of Newnan in the second round.

Fellowship Christian finished the season seventh in the power rankings that determine playoff seeding for Class A private schools, with the top eight teams drawing first round byes. The Paladins will host the winner of Friday’s game between Riverside Military and George Walton Academy on Nov. 16, George Walton is seeded ninth and Riverside Military is the 23rd seed.

The Paladins went 9-0 during the regular season, 7-0 in its sub-region, and averaged 43 points a game before losing 20-7 to Mt. Zion of Carrollton in the Region 6-A championship game. The game was tied 7-7 at the half, but the Paladins did not manage a first down in the second half and ended the game with 185 total yards while committing three turnovers.

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