Today’s interviewee is GHSA executive director Robin Hines, who will be overseeing the football championship games for the sixth season. Hines will be most visible at Center Parc Stadium after each championship game, when he awards the trophies to the eight football champions and three flag football winners.

1. What are you most looking forward to this season? “I’m looking forward to some communities that haven’t been there before, or not in a long time, and their players getting that experience of playing for a state championship. It’s probably the most excited I’ve been for that. We’ve heard more contact from people in the communities than I can remember. For example, Schley County, expressing how grateful they are for being there for the first time. It reminds you how important it is. I’m also really excited for the weather forecast.” [There’s a chance of rain each day, but highs should be in the 60s and 70s.]

2. Are there any particular teams or games you’re looking forward to seeing? “I’m excited for all of them. You’ve seen what the predictions are. There should be a lot of great games. I’m interested in seeing a team like Mill Creek, having been on the cusp of a state championship and how well they’ve played, and now they have a chance to get that first state championship. I’m excited to see Bowdon and Cedartown because of the seasons they’ve had [each making the finals for the first time in more than 10 years]. I’m impressed by the accomplishment of Warner Robins after a slow start [1-4 to open the season] and seeing them get better and being here for the sixth time in a row. That’s incredible. I’m excited to see Swainsboro. They average about three or four passes a game. I’m really proud of coach Scott Roberts and the job he’s done because we worked together many years ago when I was at Jackson County, and he was an assistant coach there. Prince Avenue is a fun team to watch. I saw them in the semifinals against St. Francis. It’s going to be a lot of great teams, great coaches and great football.”

3. Any advice for fans attending the games this week? “They need to be reminded that GSU and Center Parc Stadium have a clear-bag policy. If they come to the gate with a bag or a purse, they’re going to have to go back to the car to put it up. So be prepared for that. Do all you can ahead of time, like purchase tickets and parking. Look at your team’s materials. You can go in any gate, but they’re designated for home and visitors to save you a walk.”

4. The three-day event will kick off with three flag football games. What’s your impression of that young GHSA sport? “Everybody from those communities need to show up and watch these girls play. We’ve seen the level of competition and the strategies of these coaches grow and grow. They’re falling right in line with Georgia being the best 11-man football in the country. These girls can play, and they compete hard. It’s incredible to see it evolve over the years. In the first year we sanctioned it [in 2020], there was some disparity in a lot of areas in the state, but we’ve now seen parity come along as the sport has grown [to 223 teams this season from 188 in 2021 and 91 in 2020]. It’s our fastest-growing sport. We had 47 JV squads this year. We’re seeing communities put it in the middle schools and in the rec departments. I’d like to see more schools in south Georgia have teams. That’s what we need to work on next.”

[In October, Hines said he was negotiating with the Atlanta Falcons to return the finals to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the site of the 2017 and 2018 finals. Hines had no comment on that issue.]

Today’s interviewee is St. Anne-Pacelli coach Dwight Jones, whose team defeated Stratford Academy 10-0 in the GIAA Class 4A championship game last week in Macon. The state title was the first for St. Anne-Pacelli, which started football in 1960, and the first for Jones, who began coaching in 1979. St. Anne-Pacelli left the GHSA for the GIAA this academic year. Jones came to St. Anne-Pacelli in in 2019. He previously had been a head coach at Harris County, Jones County, McIntosh, Northside of Columbus and Hardaway in Georgia and Russell County and Auburn in Alabama.

1. What has this championship meant for your school and community, and what's it mean for you, as a first-time champion? “I just think it’s another breath of fresh air. We’ve had a great fall and winter months. The kids are excited. The coaches are excited. The faculty is excited. I had a great group of players and a great coaching staff. You have to be blessed and injury-free and have the luck of the draw, as we say. I’ve played in semifinals and lost to the team that won it. I’ve lost in the second round to the team that won it. It takes a special group, and this one was truly special.”

2. Talk about the championship game and the semifinal, an overtime victory over your archrival, Brookstone. What was most memorable about them? “Brookstone, that’s our biggest rivalry. They’re probably 10 miles from our school. It was down to a third-and-26 play in overtime. Cam Ellis, our quarterback, makes a great scramble run and gets it down to the 1. We take it in on the next play. That was a fantastic win. [The final score was 20-17.] To be able to come off that and get the momentum back and play a good football game against Stratford and win the state championship was a great effort by our kids.”

3. What would you want people to know about your team? “I met with the seniors before summer practice started, on July 4, and I asked each of them to write down seven goals for the season. I said to make sure they were realistic. Everyone listed winning a state championship. We had one, Jaquez Johnson, write it seven times – state championship, state championship, state championship all the way down. We had a great group of seniors. These kids genuinely loved and cared about each other. The biggest thing they wanted was for Pacelli High School to win. They didn’t care who got the credit as long as Pacelli got the credit. That says a lot nowadays when so there’s so much me, me, me. They pulled for each other. Little things became big things from keeping the weight room clean and the toilets flushed. They did it the right way.”

4. What were your initial feelings about your school joining the GIAA, and what are they now? “I think it’s still high school football. It’s good football. We play some of the same teams in Macon that have really good football programs. We played Brookstone again, and they’re a good program. We didn’t play Trinity Christian and ELCA, but a lot of people don’t want to play them. They went from 1A to 2A and 4A. Friday night, I thought it was a good high school football game played between two good high school teams, and we got after it for 48 minutes. And you couldn’t have found a better venue than what we had when we played Brookstone. You can take me to Lowndes or wherever. I’ve played in 6A semifinals in Alabama. There was no place to sit that night. It was standing room only. Both student bodies were involved. It was a fantastic atmosphere. I know what it’s like to play in great atmospheres, and that’s what it was, man.”

Today’s interviewee is Swainsboro coach Scott Roberts, whose team defeated Irwin County 22-21 in the Class A Division I semifinals last week on Landen Scott’s 32-yard field goal on the final play. It was Scott’s first successful field goal. He’d attempted one previously. It was earlier in the game, and Irwin County blocked it. Roberts didn’t hesitate to call Scott’s number again with the game on the line. The victory ended a five-year streak of making the finals for Irwin, which coincidentally is Roberts’ alma mater.

1. How did you pull it out last week? “There’s no doubt that it could’ve gone either way. Irwin County is a great program. We had a 19-7 lead at the half, and I kept telling our players they were going to give us their best shot, and we didn’t handle it well. It was just two teams fighting and playing like crazy. We just made one more play in the end.”

2. What happened on the final play? “It was fourth-and-10 from the 13 [with Irwin County leading 21-19]. We knew if we went for it, we were going to have to throw the ball in the end zone. [Swainsboro hadn’t completed a pass in the game.] So we let the clock run down to two seconds and called time out and discussed it. I said go with the field goal. I thought it gave us the best chance to win. It was the decision that I could live with if it didn’t work out. It wasn’t just the kicker I was thinking about. The holder, Jakari Nobles, is one of our captains, and he wanted to kick it. Carson Palmer is our snapper. Just knowing that whole operation is some of our better players that we trust the most. On the field goal that was blocked, Landen was just slow getting to the ball. We knew he had plenty of leg. He just needed to speed up the process. We brought that to his attention, he sped up, and he got it off. He stroked it right down the middle.” Asked about the reaction of the players and fans, Roberts added, “I’ve just seen it on film because I never made if off the sideline. Somebody jumped on me. But I know it was really loud. We had a big crowd that made that two-hour drive, and it was a big factor in the game for us.”

3. Demello Jones had a big game for you, rushing for 169 yards and scoring three touchdowns [giving him 27 on the season]. What makes him an outstanding player? "Demello is just a freak athlete. He can play any skill position we’ve got. He’s been working at quarterback, wide receiver, playing cornerback on defense. His biggest asset is he’s so unselfish. If he’s a wide receiver not getting the ball, he blocks. The whole team is like that. It’s the most unselfish group I’ve been around in my whole life. They don’t care who gets the credit. They just want to win.” [Georgia reportedly offered Jones as a wide receiver last month. Jones, a junior, and sophomore Qin Brown are 1,000-yard rushers this season.]

4. Swainsboro might be the least-passing team in the finals. You’re averaging just four attempts per game. How are you making that work? “We were throwing the ball a good bit and getting beat in the second round. I watched what teams like Dublin and Fitzgerald were doing, making it to the finals and winning championships, rotating quarterbacks and running the football and playing great defense. That’s been our formula. Running the ball and playing good defense usually travels good in cold weather and on the road, and that’s what you expect in the playoffs. We can throw, and kids can make plays [Swainsboro passed for more than 100 yards each of the first three rounds after never doing it in the regular season], but it fits our whole complementary football. If we can keep the chains moving and let the clock run, that’s what we want to do.”

Today’s interviewee is Carrollton coach Joey King, whose team defeated No. 2 Colquitt County 35-27 last week to reach Saturday's Class 7A championship game against Mill Creek. King led Cartersville to state titles in 2015 and 2016 and took the Carrollton job in 2021 after two years on college coaching staffs.

1. What was the difference in the Colquitt County game? “Both teams that played in that game definitely deserved to be there. The game was very physical, and both teams fought extremely hard. I thought our guys played hard and made plays when they needed to. We had a goal-line stand in the first quarter and then went on a 99-yard scoring drive after that defensive stop. I think that was a defining moment on both sides of the ball.” [With no score, Colquitt County had a first-and-goal at the 5-yard line with 4:37 left in the first quarter. After an incomplete pass, Carrollton’s Brodie Bradburn and Zykie Helton each made tackles at the 1-yard line, and Helton and Mules Butler made a third stop at the 1. Carrollton went 99 yards on nine plays, one a 33-yard run by Bryce Hicks on fourth-and-1 from the Carrollton 20.]

2. You have a freshman quarterback, Julian Lewis, who has major Division I offers and thrown for more than 3,000 yards. What's the skill set that allows him to be this successful? “Julian has been great for us all year. From a skill-set perspective, he has great accuracy and anticipation. His feet are good in the pocket, and he can throw with different arm angles. He's also a very cerebral quarterback and understands what we are trying to do offensively. He's still a freshman but is growing into a leadership role on this team. We are excited to see his development continue in all of those phases.”

3. Hicks is having a great postseason, too. [He rushed for 205 yards against Colquitt.] What's his skill set? “Bryce is a great player. He works hard and understands the game well. Bryce is the type of player that can play any position. He's explosive, has great vision, catches the ball really well and loves the game. Many people don't know how strong he is. He may be considered small to some, but he's a very strong player.” [Hicks, a 5-foot-9, 165-pound junior running back, has 663 yards from scrimmage and 11 touchdowns in four playoff games.]

4. Carrollton is in the highest classification for the first time, something you probably didn't anticipate when you took the job. When you found out about reclassification, what would you have thought if someone had told you that your team would be in the finals this year? And when and how did it dawn on you that, 'Hey, we've got a shot here’? “If someone would have told me before the season that we would be in the finals in 7A, I would have told them that they must be a Trojan! Everyone outside of this program counted us out when we moved up. We weren't even mentioned in the top 15 before the season started. Buford beat us in the 6A semifinals last year 21-6 and moved up a classification to be the preseason No. 1, and we weren't even thought of. We had a lot of young guys that played on that team that took that personal. We do a pretty good job of tuning out the outside noise, but we used that as a little fuel to the fire this year. I'm not the type of coach that ever ‘feels’ like we've got a shot. We work hard week in and week out and try to be the best team that we can be each week. Our players love each other, and the chemistry of this bunch is what makes them special.”

Today’s interviewee is Fulton County Schools athletic director Steven Craft. The interview was conducted by Hannah Goodin and Jon Nelson of GPB Sports on the “Football Fridays in Georgia” podcast. Three Fulton County teams are in the semifinals tonight. Milton is playing Mill Creek and Hughes is playing Rome in a doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m. today that GPB Sports is televising from Atlanta’s Lakewood Stadium. The third Fulton semifinalist, Roswell, is playing Gainesville at McEachern’s Cantrell Stadium. All three Fulton schools had to move their games to neutral sites because their stadiums didn’t meet GHSA minimums for seating. Craft, also a GHSA board of trustees member, discusses the logistics of setting up those games and the GHSA rules that precipitated them. The full interview can be heard here. This excerpt is edited by permission to read easier and fit GHSF Daily’s Four Questions format.

1. Three Fulton teams are in the semifinals. What does that say about football in your area? “It just says we have amazing kids, amazing coaches, amazing community support and tremendous district support because it takes all of us in there. But, you know, at the end of the day, this is about our kids, this is about our coaches, our communities, and everything that they pour into this. When you advance this deep into the playoffs, you have talent but also luck. But it comes down to that commitment that all of the stakeholders have in place in order to make this happen. So as a district athletic director, this is one of the proudest accomplishments to have three teams in the state semis. And we had five in the quarterfinals [including Westlake and Creekside]. So it means an amazing accomplishment for our district and our schools and most importantly our kids.”

2. Once you knew which of your teams were going to the semifinals, how immediate were the conversations getting all of these things in motion? How busy was your weekend? “The phone calls started as soon as I was driving home from Langston's game. [Hughes beat Woodward Academy 56-28 in the 6A quarterfinals.] That was the second game I went to Friday night. [Craft also attended the Creekside-Warner Robins game about six miles away] And I knew I had three teams that qualified. So I started reaching out right then. I was reaching out with Gainesville's athletic director. I was getting a number for Rome's athletic director, and I was reaching out to the head coach at Mill Creek because I had his contact number. So I started that conversation Friday night and probably worked till about 1:30, 2 that night and then started working the phones again probably 7:30 Saturday morning because we had three teams designated as the home teams. At one point I had three venues and lost one of those venues. ... Just so you all know, when the home team stadium does not meet the capacity, then it is the responsibility of the home school to secure a facility that does meet it unless the opponent agrees to waive the seating requirement.”

3. How did things transpire from there? “In this case, all three [visiting] schools asked to have a stadium that meets the stadium requirements, and that is their right from the White Book [the GHSA bylaws]. I was fortunate [that] McEachern was more than happy to host a game for us, so we put Roswell and Gainesville there. I had already secured with APS [Atlanta Public Schools] to have the Langston-Rome game at Lakewood. We weren't able to use their other facility [Henderson Stadium, formerly known as Grady Stadium, in Midtown], which is where I was kind of hoping to put the Mill Creek-Milton game. So at that point I started the conversations with the Mill Creek administration. OK, here's the options we can do. Here's some choices. Would you like for me to look at this, this and this? Are there any circumstances you would consider playing this game in Milton? And they said no. I asked them about the Forsyth [County] high schools. Their stadiums are much larger than ours. Do you want me to reach out to those schools? And they said no. So at that point, the venue that I had available was to do a doubleheader at Lakewood. So I started working on it, started having conversations with my counterpart, Jasper Jewell, who is the athletic director for APS, and Corey Collier, who was his coordinator, and started having conversations like, hey, is a doubleheader doable? And we started working through the logistics. I reached back out to Mill Creek and said, hey, here's what I can do. Here are the options. Are you interested in this [the doubleheader]? And they said no, we're not interested in that. I called a few other places that [ultimately] weren't interested in hosting us. And so I'm like, OK, here's where we are. We're going to do a doubleheader. And we finalized everything and signed the contracts Sunday. And I just kept working most of the day Sunday on the logistics.”

4. When it comes to Lakewood, how is it going to work specifically? Do you have to completely clear the stadium out and then re-ticket everyone? “We’ve got two games set up, and that is a little unique for us in Fulton County Schools but not unique for APS. They routinely have doubleheaders, and they had a doubleheader in the second round. So we've got one game set up for 5 [p.m.], Milton versus Mill Creek. And then we will start the next game ... 30 minutes after the first. So hopefully we stay on schedule. Normally with an event like this, you would have to clear the stadium. But the reality is Lakewood Stadium holds close to 12,000 people, so we're going to have a lot of space for the fans. We are not going to have to clear the stadium. All the tickets are done electronically. So Milton and Mill Creek will be buying from their link. The Langston and Rome fans will be buying from their link. So you don't have to worry about the separation of money and making sure the schools are getting what they're entitled to do. If some of the fans from Mill Creek and from Milton want to watch the second game, they're going to be welcome. ... We should have plenty of space for everybody to be there on Friday.”

Today’s interviewee is Deerfield-Windsor coach Jake McCrae, whose team defeated Brookwood School 26-21 on a final-play, multi-lateral touchdown pass in the GIAA semifinals last week. Deerfield-Windsor will play John Milledge Academy tonight at Mercer University for the GIAA Class 3A championship.

1. What happened on the final play? “I still don’t know what happened. They took the lead 21-20 at the end of the third quarter, and the fourth quarter was just back and forth, a punt fest. They went for it on a fourth-and-2, and we stopped them [at the Deerfield-Windsor 40-yard line with 14.4 seconds left]. They called time out to get their defense ready. I told my kids we’re calling the play we worked on, the home-run play. It’s the Boise State play, the one they used to beat Oklahoma [in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl]. I’m just trying to get across the [Brookwood] 33-yard line to give my kid a chance to kick it 50 yards. So many things had to happen right on that play. One is that the receiver catches it. Two is that he flips it. It hit the ground, and our receiver picked it up. He gets tackled and throws it behind his head. Now we’ve got two kids on the ground trying to get the ball, and if they get it, the game’s over because they’re on the ground. So our quarterback rips if from them before they get it. He’s a freshman. He’s got two guys draped on him, pulling him down, and he’s smart enough to throw it backward to our No. 1 running back, who one-handed catches it, turns and goes down the sideline and gets three blocks, probably illegal blocks. The crowd rushed the field, and I had eight parents run me over before I knew we were in the end zone. Flags were on the field and conversations are happening. It was not until the referee puts his hands up in the air for a touchdown that I exhaled.” [See the play here.]

2. What has been the reaction to that play and to the victory in your school community? “By the time we’re on bus riding home, MaxPreps had Tweeted the play. Our kids were excited about that. Our community is excited about it, but they’re also excited about these kids. Our starting quarterback goes down in week 10, and everybody wrote us off, ‘We can’t win without him.’ I didn’t necessarily disagree with them because he’s that good, and this freshman kid comes in, and these kids keep proving everybody wrong.”

3. What went into the decision for Deerfield-Windsor to return to GISA (GIAA)? Was it the same as the other schools, or was there something specific to Deerfield's situation? “When I got here [from Florida in 2020], they told me they were jumping to the GHSA. I didn’t know the difference. This was my first year in Georgia. They still play with 11, right? We took our lumps and learned what it meant real quick. We had a tough schedule. We kept a couple of teams on it this season but played a more competitive schedule. The reasoning for it was really that everybody jumped together. It wasn’t a domino effect. It was predetermined by all the athletic directors. We’re all going. If we had stayed, there wouldn’t be anybody left for us to play.” [Deerfield’s enrollment used for the GHSA’s 2020 reclassification was 188 students, making it the fourth-smallest football-playing school in the association. Competing now against schools with similar numbers, Deerfield-Windsor has improved its record to 10-2 from 3-7.]

4. Some might describe last week's final play a miracle, and some might say you need another one this week against John Milledge, a team on a 49-game winning streak. What is the challenge that you face in that game? “I’ve seen enough to know that we’ve got to go above and beyond to put a dent in them. Their coach is excellent. They’re disciplined, athletic and big. One of the coaches I talked to said, ‘Just so you know, they’re faster than they look on field.’ But we’re going to show up. We’re getting on the bus and heading there. I told my kids what I’ve told them since I got here. Play low, run with the football, stay onsides, hold onto the ball and then look up at the end of the game and see what the score is. That’s been our blueprint. Play as hard as we can with who can and next-man-up mentality as best we can. This senior class has grasped it well, and it’s going to be fun, that’s for sure. This opportunity is something they’ll never forget, especially in the way we got here.”