MACON, Ga. — The light rain falling at the start of Friday’s GISA AA state championship between the Gatewood Gators and Briarwood Buccaneers did nothing to stop the defending champ Gators from flooding the scoreboard early.

Sixteen 14U American Youth Football (AYF) teams will do battle next week for the association’s 2019 National Championship. No Baldwin County team will make the trip down to Kissimmee, Florida, but one local coach has been given the honor of heading up a team in the title hunt. 

EATONTON — One game stands between the Gatewood Gators and their shot at being named back-to-back GISA AA state champions. 

The lights are bright and the masonry seating is mountainous inside Mercer University’s Five Star Stadium, the site of Friday’s GISA state championship football games, and it’s a stage the John Milledge Academy Trojans have been on before. 

Since reaching middle school, senior Whitley Ward has played her home softball games on GMC Prep’s Couch Field.

With the start of a new decade now less than a month away, it’s entirely fitting that two of the GISA’s most dominant programs throughout the 2010s are set to do battle Friday night for the AAA state championship. 

There are over 5,000 coaches listed in the Georgia High School Football Historians Association (GHSFHA) database, and only about 6.5 percent of them have accomplished what John Milledge Academy head coach JT Wall did Friday night. 

Three times in the last four years. 

John Milledge Academy alum and Florida Atlantic University tight end Harrison Bryant is one of three finalists for the 2019 John Mackey Award, the award committee announced Monday. 

EATONTON — Two longtime Georgia Independent School Association (GISA) programs will meet tonight in what some are referring to as the de facto 2019 AA state championship.

The saying around the state goes that if you’re still practicing Thanksgiving week then you must be a pretty good football team. 

The 2019 John Milledge Academy competition cheerleading squad may have been small in numbers, but that did not affect the Trojans when it came to bringing it out on the mat. 

ROSWELL, Ga. — Baldwin needed to play a near perfect football game in order to take down two-time defending GHSA 4A state champ Blessed Trinity on the road Friday, but that’s not how it went down.

The Trojans of John Milledge Academy welcomed the Southland Raiders to their home field Friday night for a head-to-head matchup in the state quarterfinals. 

With two out of three local teams still in the mix, football season is still rolling along in Milledgeville-Baldwin County. Here’s how some area schools did in their first-round matchups as well as what’s next for them moving forward.

Baldwin High School football shocked many around the state in beating Cairo on the road last week, and the Braves will try to once again turn doubters into believers Friday night. 

Here’s a cool little piece of trivia brought to you courtesy of the Georgia High School Football Football Historians Association. Since launching the program nearly 50 years ago, John Milledge Academy football has faced 63 different opponents. Of that lengthy list of foes, the Trojans have b…

John Milledge Class of 2016 alum and Florida Atlantic University senior Harrison Bryant has been selected as one of eight semifinalists for the John Mackey Award, an annual honor bestowed upon college football’s most outstanding tight end. Finalists will be named on Nov. 25, and the 2019 win…

The Georgia High School Association announced its class and region alignments for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years last week.

Georgia edged past Alabama to No. 4 in The Associated Press college football poll after the Bulldogs had a quality road victory and the Crimson Tide lost star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for the season.

The undefeated John Milledge Trojans now have their marching orders.

CAIRO, Ga. — Things got a little hairy at the end, but the Baldwin Braves are into the second round of the GHSA Class 4A state playoffs for a third straight year.

The completion of the football regular season gave coaches the chance to meet and make All-Region selections this week. 

GMC Prep head football coach Lee Coleman saw an opportunity entering his first season leading the program.

It’s playoff time in Georgia.

Local high school cross country teams advanced to their respective state competitions the weekend of Nov. 2.

The 2019 high school football postseason is set to begin in stadiums around the state Friday night. Some teams, like the 10-0 John Milledge Academy Trojans, have earned the right to sit the first round out with a bye and await their opponent in the second round. Others may have a long road t…

GMC women’s soccer (11-8-1) lost in the District Championship game to No. 2-ranked Eastern Florida. While the Bulldogs battled hard, they were not able to overcome the offensive attack of the Titans who boast one of the top offenses in all of NJCAA women’s soccer. 

There’s no good time for a five-turnover performance, especially when you’re playing the No. 2 junior college football team in the country.

It was a good night to be a Baldwin Brave.

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ga. — The GMC Prep football team was hoping to close out 2019 on a high note Friday as it was paired up against what had been a winless Twiggs County squad for region crossover week.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — After securing a comfortable win over Frederica last week in a rematch of the 2018 GISA AAA state championship game, JMA had a bit more business to take care of in the regular season — a perfect record and the Region 4-AAA championship. They accomplished that pretty easily Friday.

Just one win stands between John Milledge Academy football and its third perfect regular season in four years. 

Two big firsts in GMC Prep head football coach Lee Coleman’s tenure have come in very unconventional ways.

What has arguably been the most successful season in the history of the Georgia Military College cross country program came to a fitting conclusion Nov. 2 at Stanley Park in Westfield, Mass.  The NJCAA Division III National Championships were hosted by Holyoke Community College for the third…

Milledgeville and Baldwin County are special when it comes to producing top athletic talent.

One quarter and even one play can make all the difference in the world.

The Georgia Military College football team has now won four consecutive ballgames, the last three of which have all come as home shutouts.

EATONTON, Ga. — A lot has been happening over the past two weeks with Lake Country United FC (LCUFC).  The club has been very busy with four of its teams.  On Oct. 26, the club honored the military with a free event that featured four soccer matches played in Eatonton.  A little over 400 spe…

It’s not every day that a family gets to celebrate a child winning a championship in his or her sport.

What a difference a year makes.

There’s just something about the postseason that makes the great players step up when it really matters most. 

Most great athletic seasons have a turning point, and for the 2019 John Milledge Academy softball team that time came about halfway through the year after a loss.

Something was missing at the end of GMC Prep softball’s 2018 season.

“Traumatized” was the word used by John Milledge senior Justin Aldridge this preseason when asked to describe the team’s feelings when the Trojans trailed Frederica Academy 28-0 midway through the 2018 GISA AAA state football championship. 

Only a couple games remain in the 2019 football regular season for most teams. Here’s a look at how some of the programs outside Baldwin County are looking with the postseason approaching. 

Entering Saturday’s home bout with Arkansas Baptist College GMC head coach Bert Williams was a little worried about the Buffaloes’ ability to put a lot of points on the board.

MACON — John Milledge Academy softball knew it had a tough task set before it when the team advanced to the GISA AAA state championship.

WAYNESBORO — Last week against Thomson the Baldwin Braves learned the hard way just how much special teams can affect a ballgame.

The John Milledge football team left Bethlehem Christian Academy in the dust Friday night, winning by a final score of 51-0. The lopsided victory sets the Trojans’ record at an undefeated 8-0 on the season.