What: First round (quarterfinals) of the GISA Class AAA playoffs
When: Friday, November 11, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Webb Stadium, Albany
2011 records: Mount de Sales is 7-3, 3-3 in GISA Region 2-AAA. Deerfield-Windsor is 9-2, 8-0 in GISA Region 1-AAA.
Last week: Deerfield-Windsor defeated Southland, 41-0. Mount de Sales lost to Tattnall Square, 22-0.
All-time series record: Deerfield leads 7-3.
First meeting: Mount de Sales 20, Deerfield-Windsor 14 (Overtime)—(1988)
Last meeting: Deerfield-Windsor 30, Mount de Sales 27 (2010)
Analysis: The Deerfield-Windsor Knights will begin their quest to win back-to-back state championships, as well as their third title in the last four years, when they play host to the Mount de Sales Cavaliers from Macon at Webb Stadium Friday night.
Although this is the 11th meeting all-time between the two teams, this week’s meeting will mark just the second straight between the Knights and Cavaliers since 2005. Deerfield downed MDS, 20-13, en route to a 9-3 finish six years ago.
Although Deerfield has won the last four meetings against Mount de Sales, three of those contests have had dramatic finishes, with the Knights winning all of them by a combined total of 14 points. Deerfield defeated MDS, 25-21, in 1999, the aforementioned seven-point overtime win six years later, as well as last year’s thrilling win, 30-27, that propelled the Knights into the championship game. The lone blowout win during Deerfield’s current win streak came in 2001, when the Knights shut out the Cavaliers, 24-0, in one of just five regular season meetings all-time. The only other regular season games between both teams came during a four-year period from 1990-1993, with Deerfield going 3-1 in those meetings. Ironically, though, both teams played in a fifth straight game in the quarterfinal round of the 1994 playoffs, with MDS winning big, 29-6. It turned out to be last time the Knights lost to the Cavaliers.
Allen Lowe has an all-time career record of 194-99-3 going into this week’s game against MDS, including a mark of 47-22 at the Savannah-based Calvary Day from 1995-2000. In his two stints at Deerfield (1987-1994, 2001-present), Lowe has a combined record of 147-77. He needs just six more victories to reach 200 wins for his coaching career.
Perhaps the most memorable game in the Deerfield-MDS series came in the semifinals of last year’s playoffs, when a last second field goal from Trey Puckett helped put the Knights into their third straight state title game. They defeated Tattnall Square, 38-22, the following week, to win their second state championship in three years. Don’t be surprised if this year’s game between the Knights and Cavaliers goes right down to the wire.
Source: Georgia High School Football Historians Association (http://www.ghsfha.org/)