Class 7A State Playoffs Second Round Matchups Set

<p><strong>Atlanta, Georgia</strong> - The first round is now in the books in the Georgia high school state playoffs and the second round matchups are set. Wheeler, McEachern, Archer, Etowah, Norcross, Cherokee, Peachtree Ridge, Grayson, Shiloh, Tift County, Newton, Pebblebrook, Roswell, Discovery, Meadowcreek, and Marietta have all advanced. Only 16 teams remain and we preview the second round matchups below. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em><strong>Top Left Quadrant:</strong></em></p> <p><strong>Norcross @ Grayson</strong> </p> <p>As expected, Norcross and Grayson will face off at Grayson later this week for a monster second round matchup. The winner of this matchup will most likely face McEachern in the final four in a couple weeks at Buford City Arena. This matchup will certailny draw a crazy environment and <strong>2020 W Brandon Boston Jr.</strong> and <strong>USC commit 2019 PG Kyle Sturdivant</strong> will try to lead their Norcross squad to a win. Grayson's own star, <strong>2020 PG Deivon Smith</strong>, will try and lead Grayson to a supreme win over powerhouse Norcross and will look to get his squad back to the final four for the third straight season. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Marietta @ Roswell</strong> </p> <p>Talk about a battle of upset winners, both Marietta and Roswell are coming into this one with upset wins in the first round. Marietta defeated region 2 class 7A champions Westlake on the road while Roswell defeated Lowndes on the road last week. Marietta could be on track to be one of the top programs in the state with first year head coach Markus Hood, a former Allatoona head coach. This game is up in the air and either one of these programs could come out with the win. It will be the first elite 8 appearance in a long time for either one of these programs. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em><strong>Bottom Left Quadrant:</strong></em></p> <p><strong>Cherokee @ McEachern </strong></p> <p>The Indians road to Geico Nationals in New York, New York continued as they smothered East Coweta 89-54 in their first round matchup. Their next matchup should be another cake walk as they will host Cherokee on Thursday night. Cherokee defeated Camden County on the road last week in their upset win and <strong>2021 SG Taihland Owens</strong> will look to continue to rise his stock and his recruitment against the nations number two team in the nation. It will certainly be a very tough task for the young sophomore. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Archer @ Peachtree Ridge</strong></p> <p>After going on the road and upsetting Milton, Archer will now travel to Peachtree Ridge for their second round matchup. Peachtree Ridge will host Archer after defeating rival Berkmar in their first round matchup. This is another interesting matchup and the winner travel to McEachern, assuming they defeat Cherokee which they most likely will, and have a very hard test in the elite 8 matchup.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><em>Top Right Quadrant:</em></strong></p> <p><strong>Pebblebrook @ Etowah </strong></p> <p>Pebblebrook, as expected, defeated North Paulding in their first round matchup on the road and will now face a very underrated Etowah program on the road. The Eagles of Etowah defeated Campbell in their first round matchup and <strong>senior forward Jaxon Etter</strong> will be looking to lead Etowah to the elite 8 for the first time in a long time in the school's history. That will be a big challenge as Pebblebrook over the years have been one of the more consistent basketball programs and this year have been led by their senior guards in now <strong>Florida Gulf Coast commit PG Jalen Harper</strong> and <strong>SG Devin Gordon</strong>. The winner of this matchup will most likely travel to Meadowcreek next week. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Newton @ Meadowcreek </strong></p> <p>As expected both Newton and Meadowcreek advance to the GHSA class 7A second round game. This game could be a super defensive matchup and whoever is the first one to 50 points could possibly win this game. The defending class 7A state champions, Meadowcreek, defeated Duluth in their first round game and Newton demolished Lambert in their first round game. Winner of this matchup is very likely to make that final four appearance, which will be played at Buford City Arena in the next couple of weeks. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><em>Bottom Right Quadrant:</em></strong></p> <p><strong>Wheeler @ Tift County </strong></p> <p>These two schools will meet for the first time since their 2014 meeting which was held in Macon, Georgia in the state tilte game. Tift County came out with the upset over a very talented Wheeler team back then and the rematch here should be interesting. Tift County is coming off their first round win over Walton and while Wheeler is coming off their blowout win over Hillgrove in the first round. Both programs have a very good chance to make an appearance in the state title game and they are no strangers to it. These two programs and head coaches have a lot of experiences with elimination games around this time of year but only one team will be able to advance. </p> <p><strong>Shiloh @ Discovery </strong></p> <p>Shiloh and Discovery will face one another in the second round of the class 7A state playoffs and this matchup could certainly be one of the most competitive ones. Both progams have not been talked about as much throughout the season and both have a chance to make it to at least the final four. Shiloh has been led by their star two guard in <strong>2020 SG Toneari Lane</strong> and <strong>2019 W Kendell Lewis</strong> all year long. Those two will try to lead their Shiloh squad pass a very skilled Discovery program who have a few next level prospects including <strong>2020 SG Jaden Walker</strong> and <strong>Longwood commit 2019 forward Leslie Nkereuwem</strong>.</p>