The Perry Panthers are getting prepared to take on the Stockbridge Tigers in the GHSA AAAA State Final at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Tuesday December 12th at 4pm. Both of these teams enter this battle at 12-2 overall with Stockbridge dropping their first two games of the season and Perry losing games one and nine on the season.
The Tigers lost to Douglas Co 35-28 and lost to Colquitt Co 47-27 and have won their last 12 games by an average of 35.8 ppg. Their Playoff run has looked like this:
First Round vs North Hall W 48-0
Sweet Sixteen vs Westminster W 28-24
Elite Eight @ Spalding W 35-14
Final Four @ Benedictine W 45-31
The Perry Panthers opened their season losing another high-scoring contest to county rival HoCo 42-35 in the 100 degree heat back on August 25th. The Maroon, Gold, and White featured a potent high-scoring offense as they hit the 50+ pt mark three times this season. Perry suffered it’s first region loss in over two years to Spalding on Week 11 losing 31-22 that would also cost them a fourth consecutive region title.
The Panthers finished the regular season at 8-2 overall; 5-1 in region play and were the two seed out of region 2-AAAA going into the Playoffs. Perry opened the Playoffs hosting the Burke Co Bears and the Maroon, Gold, and White won in the misting rain 35-14 on a Saturday afternoon.
They made the over two hour trek down to Bainbridge to take on the Bearcats and the Panthers found a way to win with only 7 pts in their 7-3 victory to return to the Elite Eight for the third time in four seasons. Perry then traveled to Stone Mountain to play the Stephenson Jaguars and after trailing 7-0 early, the Maroon, Gold, and White won 34-20 to reach the Final Four for the first time since 1959.
In the Semifinal game last Friday at Starr’s Mill; Perry found themselves trailing by 10 pts twice and overcame the deficit to win 28-24 to make it to their first State Final in their 70 year history. Both the Panthers and Tigers are going for their first ever football championship and the matchup looks relatively even on paper and could go down to the wire or possibly overtime next Tuesday.
