This weekend is the GHSA State Football Championships on GPB.  The season kicked off back in August with over 400 schools dreaming of making it to the Georgia Dome.  Fourteen teams have made it and seven teams will win state championships.

GPB Sports is proud to bring these seven terrific matchups into your living rooms and we have a great lineup of announcers to describe the action.  Calling the Single A Public Title game between Clinch County and Irwin County and the Single A Private Championship game between Eagles Landing Christian Academy and Aquinas will be Tommy Palmer and Sam Crenshaw.  If you are a football fan you will recognize the baritone voice of Tommy Palmer who has been covering high school football in Georgia since almost before there were helmets.  Sam Crenshaw is a long time broadcaster on both Atlanta television and radio and brings a wealth of knowledge to the broadcast booth.

Calling the Class 2A gameon Saturday will be Larry Smith and Tucker High School coach Bryan Lamar. Larry will call the play by play in this one before moving to his analyst spot in the two night cap games. Coach Lamar called our second round playoff game between Camden County and Roswell and brings a great wealth of coaching knowledge and insight to the broadcast. And these two have a great game to call as the Purple Hurricane of Fitzgerald takes on the Pace Academy Knights.

Jon Nelson and former Atlanta Falcon Chuck Smith will call the Class 3A title game between Blessed Trinity and Westminster on Friday along with the Class 4A championship game between the Purple Hurricanes of Cartersville and the Buford Wolves. Jon has been at GPB Sports for over two decades and has written five books, two on high school football in Georgia and is our resident historian and authority. Chuck Smith was part of the “Bomb Squad” defensive line for the Falcons when they played in Super Bowl XXXIII.

Calling the two games for us on Friday and Saturday nights will be Matt Stewart and Larry Smith. Matt is the dean of high school sports play by play and it’s been great to have him as part of our GPB Sports team the last two years.  He knows high school sports inside and out.  Larry Smith likewise is a veteran broadcaster who has worked in sports departments all over the country and at CNN. He brings a great perspective to the games and is a great partner for Matt.

Jackie Brittain and I will host our pregame, postgame and Tail Gate Party shows which will be a lot of fun. We will hear from the coaches from the upcoming games, the pep bands, principals, parents, and fans along with several special guests.   We will have a special social media challenge for you and if you win, you will take home a fabulous prize so you will want to tune in early and stay all weekend. Also be sure and check out our very special open to the games which were put together by a very very talented group of people here at GPB.

Our VP of Sports Bob Brienza, and our sports operations chief Kevin Gerke have done an excellent job of assembling a great crew of talented veterans who will do all the hard behind the scenes work like producing, directing, technical directing,  audio, executive producing, writing, gripping,  lighting, photography, social media, tape replay, graphics, stage building, editing, photography,  floor directing, spotting, stats, red hat, and more.  Over 120 people will put in two long days to broadcast over 22 hours of programming over a day time period.  It is always a ton of fun and it’s the weekend I look most forward to in the work year.

It is kind of like Christmas, New Years, the Super Bowl and your birthday all rolled into one.  The games, the plays, the memories will last a life time. Executive Director Gary Phillips and his entire crew at the GHSA do an outstanding job of putting this event on which takes a great logistical effort.

So good luck to all the players, coaches, athletic directors, students, parents, and fans.  Let’s all have a great time and enjoy the best high school football championships in the entire country.

Let the games Begin!!!