Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020
2020 State Championship Games
MONDAY
Flag Football
A-5A: Calvary Day 6, Portal 0
6A-7A: West Forsyth 26, Hillgrove 25

Class A Private
Prince Avenue 41, Trinity Christ. 21

Class A Public
Irwin County 27, Brooks County 19
TODAY
Class 2A
Callaway vs. Fitzgerald, noon

Class 4A
Jefferson vs. Marist, 3:30

Class 6A
Buford vs. Lee County, 7
WEDNESDAY
Class 3A
Oconee Co. vs. Pierce Co., noon

Class 5A
Cartersville vs. War. Robins, 3:30

Class 7A
Collins Hill vs. Grayson, 7
Watch The Games: All 10 state championship games will be televised by Georgia Public Broadcasting and can be seen online at gpb.org and the NFHS Network. Live stats for the football championship games will be provided by West Georgia Sports Information Services, LLC, and can be found by clicking here.
Irwin County 27,
Brooks County 19
Recap: Gabe Benyard scored three unanswered first-half touchdowns – one receiving, two rushing – to give Irwin County a 20-7 lead that the Indians never relinquished. Benyard and his twin, Garland, finished with 300 all-purpose yards, and Garland added a 12-yard sack on defense. Irwin cornerback Derrick Taylor had a team-leading five solo tackles and intercepted two passes, returning one 34 yards for a touchdown and a 27-13 lead with 7:21 left in the third quarter. His second ended a Brooks drive at the Irwin 12 in the fourth quarter. Brooks had another second-half turnover in Irwin territory when an attempted pass was ruled a lateral and recovered by Irwin’s Marcus Edwards at the 42. Brooks got within 27-19 with 34 seconds left when Ni'Tavion Burrus threw a 13-yard TD pass to Willie Brown, but Irwin recovered the ensuing onside kick.
 
History: Irwin County (12-3) successfully defended its state title and won its third championship overall after enduring three COVID-19 quarantines. The Benyard twins and the rest of Irwin’s seniors finished their four years with a 50-6 record. Casey Soliday, the interim coach last season under Buddy Nobles, won his first title as the official head coach. Soliday and his brother, Erik Soliday (2000-01 Americus), became the second siblings to win state titles as head coaches. Lee and Chad Campbell were the first. Brooks County (13-2) lost in the finals for the second straight season after falling in the 2019 Class 2A final to Dublin. Both of Brooks’ losses this season were to Irwin.

GAME STATISTICS

Brooks County********7***6***0***6*-*19
Irwin County********13***7***7***0*-*27

First quarter
BC - Willie Brown 35 pass from Ni'Tavion Burrus (Regan Chastain kick), 8:21
IC - Gabe Benyard 35 run (kick failed), 7:06
IC - Gabe Benyard 2 run (Evan Ross kick), 0:18
Second quarter
IC - Gabe Benyard 53 pass from Cody Soliday (Evan Ross kick), 7:05
BC - Omari Arnold 15 run (kick blocked), 1:07
Third quarter
IC - Derrick Taylor 34 interception return (Evan Ross kick), 7:21
Fourth quarter
BC - Willie Brown 13 pass from Ni'Tavion Burrus (kick blocked), 0:34

*************************BC********IC
First Downs************ *16********15
Rushes/Yards (Net)*****33/87**** 42/137
Pass C/A/I************13/25/2****9/14/1
Passing Yards (Net)*** *137****** 154
Total Offense***********224 ******291
Fumbles/Lost*********** 2/1 ******1/1
Penalties/Yards ********7/46 *****8/58
Time of Possession ****22:06 ****25:54
Sacks By: No./Yards**** 2/11******5/46

Rushing: Brooks County - Omari Arnold 21-113, Tramaine Demps 1-8, TEAM 1-(-8), Ni'Tavion Burrus 8-(-13), Jamal Sanders 2-(-13). Irwin County - Gabe Benyard 14-90, Donivan Thomas 10-33, Garland Benyard 4-25, Kam Ward 8-13, Cody Soliday 4-(-9), Team 2-(-15).
Passing: Brooks County - Ni'Tavion Burrus 12-22-1-125, Jamal Sanders 1-2-1-12, Omari Arnold 0-1-0-0. Irwin County - Cody Soliday 9-14-1-154.
Receiving: Brooks County - Willie Brown 7-68, Tramaine Demps 3-28, Exavion Campbell 2-34, Omari Arnold 1-7. Irwin County - Garland Benyard 6-89, Gabe Benyard 2-67, Kam Ward 1-(-2)
Prince Avenue Christian 41,
Trinity Christian 21
Recap: Prince Avenue Christian scored on its first two possessions for a 13-0 lead and never trailed, but the Wolverines weren't in the clear until a 62-yard drive on six running plays made the score 41-21 with 7:45 left. A turning point came late in the first half when Trinity Christian, trailing 13-7, drove 93 yards on 13 plays to the Prince Avenue 5-yard line but was intercepted by Chas Scoggins in the end zone. Eight plays later, Prince Avenue faced a fourth-and-2 at its 38 and went for it. QB Brock Vandagriff ran 33 yards to the Trinity 29 and threw a 19-yard TD pass three plays later for a 20-7 halftime lead. Prince Avenue had six sacks for 39 yards in losses, with seven players getting at least half credit on one. LB Davis Ridings had one sack and a team-leading eight solo tackles.

History: Prince Avenue (13-1) won its first state title in the 16th season in program history. The title came after the Bogart school’s seventh trip to the semifinals or further. Vandagriff became the ninth Georgia quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season (4,169 unofficially) and seventh to throw for 10,000 in a career (10,097 unofficially) and joined Cartersville’s Trevor Lawrence as the only consensus five-star quarterbacks to win a GHSA championship since 2000. Trinity Christian, a team of only two senior starters, finished 12-3 in only its third season in the Georgia High School Association. 

GAME STATISTICS

Trinity Christian****7***0***7***7*-*21
Prince Avenue Chr.**13***7***7**14*-*41

First quarter
P - Logan Johnson 3 run (kick blocked), 10:27
P - Jake Pittman 45 pass from Brock Vandagriff (Bryson Franklin kick), 7:32
T - Joshua Dallas 9 pass from David Dallas (Noah Maupin kick), 2:26
Second quarter
P - Logan Johnson 19 pass from Brock Vandagriff (Bryson Franklin kick), 0:40
Third quarter
T - David Dallas 2 run (Noah Maupin kick), 9:31
P - Landon Owens 1 run (Bryson Franklin kick), 5:37
Fourth quarter
T - David Dallas 6 run (Noah Maupin kick), 10:41
P - Brock Vandagriff 1 run (Bryson Franklin kick), 7:45
P - Landon Owens 10 run (Bryson Franklin kick), 3:23

*************************TC*******PAC
First Downs************ *18********25
Rushes/Yards (Net)*****41/82**** 35/204
Pass C/A/I************19/28/1***18/26/1
Passing Yards (Net)*** *277****** 262
Total Offense***********359 ******466
Fumbles/Lost*********** 0/0 ******0/0
Penalties/Yards ********7/53 *****8/82
Time of Possession ****25:16 ****22:44
Sacks By: No./Yards**** 2/9 ******6/39

Rushing: Trinity Christian - Tyson Wall 20-60, David Dallas 20-29, Aaron Gates 1-(-7). Prince Avenue Christian - Landon Owens 17-108, Brock Vandagriff 12-76, Zach Dyer 2-21, Logan Johnson 2-2, Team 2-(-3).
Passing: Trinity Christian - David Dallas 19-28-1-277, Prince Avenue Christian - Brock Vandagriff 18-25-1-262, Zach Dyer 0-1-0-0.
Receiving: Trinity Christian - Joshua Dallas 11-162, Tyson Wall 3-12, Danny Baird 3-5, Aaron Gates 2-98. Prince Avenue Christian - Zach Dyer 6-88, Jake Pittman 5-90, Logan Johnson 3-28, Chas Scoggins 2-20, Landon Owens 1-31, Phillip Kelley 1-5.
Class 6A-7A
West Forsyth 26,
Hillgrove 25
Recap: Haylee Dornan scored the tying touchdown with a 4-yard run in the second overtime and then ran in the one-point conversion for the victory. Dornan threw two touchdown passes to Caroline Coggin in the first half as West Forsyth built a 13-0 lead but was intercepted twice in the second half, leading to two HIllgrove touchdowns. Hillgrove got TD passes from Lindsay Bell to Lauren Render (29 yards) and Devina Checo (8 yards with 3:20 remaining). Both teams scored in the first overtime but failed on their extra-point attempts, and Hillgrove then took its only lead at 25-19 on a 7-yard pass from Bell to Jasmine Blackmon.
Photo by Jason Getz
West Forsyth's Haylee Dornan reaches for the game-winning extra point in the second overtime.
SCORING SUMMARY
West Forsyth********13***0***6***7*-*26
Hillgrove************0**13***6***6*-*25
First half
WF - Caroline Coggin 38 pass from Haylee Dornan (Coggin pass from Dornan for 1 point)
WF - Coggin 29 pass from Dornan (pass failed)
Second half
H - Lauren Render 29 pass from Lindsay Bell (Render pass for 1 point)
H - Devina Checo 8 pass from Bell (run failed)
First overtime
WF - Sara Lemley 19 pass from Coggin (pass failed)
H - Render 15 pass from Bell (pass failed)
Second overtime
H - Jasmine Blackmon 7 pass from Bell (run failed)
WF - Dornan 4 run (Dornan run for 1 point)
Class A-5A
Calvary Day 6,
Portal 0
Recap: Hannah Cail's 9-yard touchdown pass to Katie Ellenwood with about nine minutes remaining in the second half provided the game's only points. Calvary Day had reached the Portal 7-yard line on its previous possession but failed to score. The Cavaliers got the ball back at the Portal 17 after a punt and needed three plays to score. Portal appeared to score the tying TD on a 59-yard pass from Emma Yates to Brianna Milton on the next possession, but a penalty brought the ball back to midfield. Neveah Hamilton's interception at the 5 with less than two minutes remaining sealed the victory.

SCORING SUMMARY
Portal*******************0****0****-*00
Calvary Day**************0****6****-**6
Second half
C - Katie Ellenwood 9 pass from Hannah Cail (pass failed)
About Us
Georgia High School Football Daily is a free e-mail newsletter produced and owned by Todd Holcomb and Chip Saye. Holcomb is a former lead high school football writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and co-founder of the Georgia High School Football Historians Association. Saye is a 35-year veteran of the newspaper industry who has covered high school sports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Athens Banner-Herald, Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail and Gwinnett Daily News.