Oakwood
Oakwood, GA · Events
Cherokee Tribune
Gwinnett Daily Post
Marietta Daily Journal
New PSR produces unlikely matchup between Marietta and Buford in Round 1
Marietta has a tall task ahead this Friday night, as the Blue Devils will travel to Buford to take on the Wolves in the first round of the Class AAAAAAA playoffs. Blue Devils coach Cameron Duke spoke highly of Buford’s talent and coaching, acknowledging the tough task ahead of the Blue Devils this week. The Wolves (10-0) are the No. 3 team in the nation according to MaxPreps. The new PSR system for playoff seeding implemented by the Georgia High School Association this season impacted both teams. Marietta (6-4) and Buford were both negatively impacted by playing two out-of-state games, which don’t carry the same weight in the formula as in-state games do. Marietta is the 24th-seeded team in Class AAAAAAA, while Buford is No. 9. Duke said the way the Blue Devils’ two out-of-state games affected their seed may impact how they approach scheduling moving forward if changes aren’t made. “We’re grateful for the opportunities that we had to go play the NFL Academy and play St. Cloud, who’s a playoff team down in Florida, and I believe Buford would say the same thing about playing Mallard Creek out of North Carolina and Miami Central out of Florida,” Duke
Marietta Daily Journal
Hillgrove hits road but peaking at right time
Hillgrove and Peachtree Ridge enter the first round of the state playoffs with 7-3 records, but the final stretch of their regular seasons couldn’t have been much more different. The Hawks have won four in a row and six of their last seven, while Peachtree Ridge has lost three of its last four and is coming off a 51-3 loss to Brookwood. Missing in that game were quarterback Zain Belfield and running back August Hall, which Hillgrove coach Justin Deshon said was a big component in Peachtree Ridge’s late-season struggles. “I think it’s the start of a new season, especially with us going there,” Deshon said. “Part of the reason they’ve struggled as of late is they’ve had just a litany of injuries, so we expect some of those guys to get back on the field from some of the injuries they’ve had. "We expect the best version of them. They were a really, really dynamic football team early in the season when they were all the way healthy.” For the Hawks, October went smoothly. They defeated Harrison, another Cobb County frontrunner 35-26, and nearly beat McEachern in a close 27-24 contest for their only loss in region play. Before
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Gwinnett Daily Post
Grey Richardson excels as Buford wrestling state champ, football defensive lineman
Anytime, anywhere. That’s the motto for Grey Richardson, a state champion wrestler in his weight class and a key member of Buford’s state championship football team last season. It’s not a combination of sports that usually goes together with the calendars overlapping and the physical demands both require, but none of it bothers Richardson. Not even when the two schedules completely back into each other. “I love his attitude,” Buford wrestling head coach Tom Beuglas said. “For example, we’re going out to Kansas City two days after the football state championship. And if we make it, he’s going to have to stay and play football. And I go, ‘I guess you’re not going to be going to Kansas City.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, I’m going!’” Richardson plays on the defensive line in football, a body type that creates both advantages and disadvantages for wrestling. On one hand, a lot of the techniques are the same. Getting leverage, using his hands, beating the guy in front of him. But in the same vein he wrestles in the 285-pound division, a spot many schools either can’t fill or maybe only have one wrestler. It meant at times he had to wrestle a