Round 1 recaps

Round 1 is mostly in the books for all four brackets. Round 2 will take place on Saturday for the A-5A boys and girls, and on May 8-9 for the 6A-7A boys and girls.

(Here are predictions made for all brackets before the state playoffs began.)

Below are some Round 1 highlights.

Boys(updated bracket)

  • Kennesaw Mountain edged Creekview 10-9 in a battle of unranked teams. While I had Creekview winning, I also tabbed it as an interesting matchup that could go either way, as both teams had a similar RPI ranking heading in. While it's a hard-fought postseason win for the Mustangs, their run is likely to be a short one because up next is No. 1 Lambert. The Longhorns are the consensus top team in the state regardless of classification and won their first round matchup 22-0 over Parkview.
  • The Peachtree Ridge (10-5) at Lakeside-Evans (10-5) game was postponed due to weather, school officials for Peachtree Ridge said. The game will be played on Friday at 7 p.m. This is the last remaining Round 1 game yet to be played, regardless of gender or classification. I picked Peachtree Ridge to win it.
  • Another game I said to keep an eye on was Roswell at North Atlanta. It was another game I considered to be a coin-flip and then incorrectly picked, as Roswell won rather easily, 9-5. I also had North Atlanta advancing over Peachtree Ridge in the second round.

Girls: (updated bracket)

  • Unranked Chattahoochee knocked off No. 9 Centennial with a convincing 14-7 win. In hindsight, picking Centennial to win was bad judgment given that 1) Chattahoochee had already beat Centennial 20-13 on April 20, and 2) Chattahoochee had the better LaxPower.com RPI ranking (No. 6 to Centennial's No. 11). I had Centennial advancing to the second round with a win over Creekview.
  • I picked all other games correctly and all winning teams defeated opponents by a healthy margin, including No. 1 Milton (19-1 over Dunwoody), No. 2 Lassiter (20-0 over Campbell), No. 3 North Gwinnett (23-3 over Grayson), No. 4 Mill Creek (15-1 over Greenbrier), No. 5 Walton (22-2 over North Atlanta) and No. 7 Cambridge (19-0 over Parkview).

Boys: (updated bracket)

  • I only missed on one game, and it was a slight upset. McIntosh edged Wesleyan 16-15 at home in a battle of unranked programs. The Wolves held the advantage with a No. 15 RPI ranking to the Chiefs' No. 27 ranking, but home-field advantage appears to have been enough for the Chiefs to offset that component.
  • All other wins came in the the double-digit variety, except No. 7 Starr's Mill 16-11 over No. 6 Buford and No. 3 Marist 14-9 over Whitefield Academy.

Girls: ( updated bracket )

  • This is the only bracket I'm still batting 1.000 on. Top-ranked Blessed Trinity took care of Whitewater with an 18-1 win and in the process, reclaimed the No. 1 overall RPI ranking over Milton by mere percentage points. The Lady Titans own a .6940 edge over Milton's .6934.
  • There was one matchup of top 10 teams. No. 4 McIntosh defeated No. 10 Holy Innocents' 20-11. It's a bit of a mystery why Holy Innocents' was ranked to begin with, as the Lady Golden Bears were just 4-7 at the time they were honored with a place in the polls. Only one of those wins — a 12-11 victory over then-No. 9 Pinecrest Academy — came against a team with a winning record, and the Lady Golden Bears currently own a No. 30 RPI ranking. McIntosh advances to play No. 8 Kell in the second round. The Lady Longhorns are coming off an 18-1 win over Grady.

Check back on Tuesday, when Round 2 will have been completed in A-5A.

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Credit: Seth Ellerbee

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Credit: Seth Ellerbee