The 2022 high school football season is nearing the finish line and there will be nothing but big-time games to close out the year. There are two MaxPreps Top 25 matchups this week, led by a huge Texas showdown between No. 12 Guyer (Denton) and No. 23 Southlake Carroll (Southlake) with a spot in the 6A Division 2 semifinals on the line.
Both of these Texas powers have two of the most explosive offensives in the state. The Wildcats' five-star quarterback Jackson Arnold has thrown for 2,952 yards and 31 touchdowns to go with 733 yards rushing and 18 more scores. The Dragons are led by senior running back Owen Allen who has rushed for 1,977 yards and 35 touchdowns. Both teams are averaging more than 47 points per game.
The other MaxPreps Top 25 contest is going down in Georgia as No. 21 Colquitt County (Moultrie) hosts No. 25 Carrollton in the AAAAAAA semifinals. Both teams are 13-0 this season and the Trojans were the only new team to join the
MaxPreps Top 25 this week after beating Walton (Marietta) 52-27 in the quarterfinals.
No. 20 St. Edward (Lakewood) is one win away from winning its second straight Ohio Division 1 state title and faces the same team they beat in last year's state championship game — Springfield. The Wildcats beat Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati) 28-24 in the semifinals, while the defending state champs rolled past Lincoln (Gahanna) 31-7.
No. 8 North Shore (Houston) takes on Atascocita (Humble) in a huge Texas 6A Division 1 quarterfinal matchup. These two played a month ago and the Mustangs erased a 13-3 deficit to win 16-13. The defending 6A Division 1 state champs have won 26 games in a row heading into Friday's showdown.
Both semifinal matchups in Arizona's Open Division are included in this week's slate. No. 14 Liberty (Peoria) hosts Saguaro (Scottsdale) while Chandler faces No. 22 Basha (Chandler). Both are rematches from earlier in the season. Liberty beat Saguaro 26-17 while Basha pulled off a 14-7 win over Chandler.
The other four games feature De La Salle (Concord) at Folsom in the CIF Division 1-AA regional final, Thompson (Alabaster) vs. Auburn in the Alabama 7A state championship, No. 18 Langston Hughes (Fairburn) vs. Rome in the Georgia AAAAAA semifinals and Eastside Catholic (Sammamish) vs. Yelm in the Washington 3A state title game.
Owen Allen leads No. 23 Southlake Carroll into its UIL 6A Division 2 quarterfinal against No. 12 Denton Guyer.
Saturday, 2 p.m. (All times local) at Northwest ISD Stadium (Justin)
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Denton Guyer has won all 13 games this season by double digits and its closest game was a 23-6 win over Prosper in September. The Dragons have won 11 of 13 games by double digits. One of those one-score games came in last week's 42-35 win over McKinney. Both teams are without some key players. The Wildcats have been playing without four-star junior defensive back
Eli Bowen during the playoffs. Southlake Carroll has been without starting quarterback
Kaden Anderson since early October. The winner advances to the 6A Division 2 state semifinals and awaits either
DeSoto or
Harker Heights.
Friday, 7:30 p.m.
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The Georgia AAAAAAA state playoff bracket is one of the toughest in the country, it was listed as
our third-toughest postseason tournament. The Packers have won every game by at least 18 points and have notable wins over Lee County (Leesburg), Cedar Grove (Ellenwood), Valdosta and North Gwinnett (Suwanee). The Trojans have won 12 of 13 games by more than one score and have notable wins against Rome, Westlake (Atlanta) and Walton (Marietta). The winner faces either No. 19
Mill Creek (Hoschton) or
Milton in the state championship on Dec. 10.
Friday, 7:30 p.m. at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium (Canton)
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The Eagles are going for their second consecutive Division 1 state title and sixth since 2010. Springfield made the Division 1 state championship game last year for the first time and are back again in 2022. The Eagles won last season's meeting 23-13. Schondelmyer is on the short list of candidates to be named the MaxPreps Ohio Player of the Year. He has thrown for 4,424 yards and 47 touchdowns.
Friday, 7 p.m. at Randall Reed Stadium (New Caney)
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The Mustangs have had to play a couple of different players at quarterback since star sophomore QB
Kaleb Bailey went down with an injury against King (Houston) in late September. Amador and
Evan Jackson have both spent time under center during the playoffs. Amador took all of the snaps at quarterback in North Shore's 16-13 win over the Eagles on Oct. 27. The winner faces either No. 9
Westlake (Austin) or
Brennan (San Antonio) in the 6A Division 1 semifinals.
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The Arizona Open Division playoffs have been one of the most competitive brackets since the inaugural one in 2019. All four teams remaining are ranked in our expanded
top 100. Saguaro is the defending Open Division state champs and has won six in a row since a 2-3 start. The Sabercats last loss came against Liberty 26-17 on Sept. 30. The Lions have been the best team in the state and have notable wins over Pinnacle (Phoenix), Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch, Colo.), Saguaro (Scottsdale), No. 22 Basha (Chandler) and Centennial (Peoria).
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After De La Salle won the first five meetings between the two NorCal powers, the Bulldogs have won the last two, including a 24-20 win earlier this season. The Spartans erased a 17-7 fourth quarter deficit to take a 20-17 lead with four minutes left but Folsom would answer as Mack ran in the game-winning score in the final minute to pull out a 24-20 win. The Bulldogs beat De La Salle 28-27 in last year's 1-AA regional final. Folsom has been winning big games even without some of its key players. Four-star tight end
Walker Lyons got injured in the first game of the season and 2023 Notre Dame commit
Rico Flores Jr. missed last week's 23-13 win against Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills). The winner faces either
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) or
Lincoln (San Diego) in the CIF Division 1-AA state championship on Dec. 9.
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Chandler is one win away from keeping its streak alive of playing in the state championship game. The last time they did not play for a state title was in 2015. During the regular season meeting it went down to the wire. The game was tied 7-7 until Buchanan scored the game-winning rushing touchdown with just over two minutes left to take a 14-7 lead.
D.J. Jaiman intercepted Raiola to seal the win. In Chandler's 47-27 win over Centennial (Peoria) last week Raiola completed 25 of 36 passes for 267 yards and three touchdowns.
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Thompson is one win away from winning the 7A state title for the fourth consecutive year. Auburn is going for its first state title. These two played in the 7A championship in 2020 and the Warriors pulled off one of the
wildest comebacks in high school football history. Thompson scored 10 points in final 18 seconds to win 29-28. The Warriors avenged a regular season loss against Hoover with a dominant 40-10 win in the semifinals. Auburn's only loss came against Central (Phenix City) and they got revenge in the playoffs with a 14-13 win to advance to the state championship game.
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The Panthers have been one of the most dominant teams in the Peach State. They have outscored the opposition 715-146 and won every game by at least 26 points. Rome has won 10 games in a row since suffering its only loss of the season against No. 25 Carrollton. Norland has been one of the best quarterbacks in Georgia this season throwing for 3,590 yards and 49 touchdowns. The winner will face either
Roswell or
Gainesville in the AAAAAA state championship on Dec. 9.
Top players
Both teams got hard-fought wins in the 3A state semifinals last week. Eastside Catholic held off O'Dea (Seattle) with a 35-28 double-overtime win. Fotualii-Aliifua stepped up big-time in the absence of star running back
Masen Uribe. He rushed for 182 yards and scored all five touchdowns. Yelm took down Bellevue 28-27 in the other semifinal. Aalona scored the game-winning touchdown on 4th and 1 in the final seconds. Platt had a huge game rushing for over 150 yards and three scores.
