ATLANTA — Georgia high school football concludes its season next week with a series of state championship in flag football and regular, tackle football at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Games will be broadcast on Georgia Public Television, as well as gpb.org and NFHS Network online.

The area has one school still competing, Brooks County. The Trojans, under first-year head coach Josh McFather, will face Bowdon Monday in the Class A, Div. 2 championship.

Mostly playing bigger schools, the Trojans finished 6-4 in the regular season. Irwin County was the only school their size that beat them, and that was by 17-14. Brooks also fell to Thomasville, Fitzgerald and Pierce County, all of whom reached the quarterfinals or better. FItzgerald lost in the semis, as did Irwin.

On the other side of the field is Bowdon, a 12-2 squad that has won the last two state championships. Like Brooks, they lost to a region rival. Manchester won by a 28-20 score in October. Brooks beat Manchester in the final four.

The Red Devils’ other loss was to Fellowship Christian in the opening week of the season. Fellowship was a semifinalist in 2024.

Brooks County is equally adept at running and passing.

Runners have 2,168 yards this year, according to team stats on MaxPreps, while passers have accumulated 2,312 yards.

Junior Burrus, only a sophomore, is starting QB for Brooks. He has 27 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. Burrus isn’t a runner, leaving that mostly to Chris Cole. Out of Brooks’ 2,168 rush yards, Cole has 1,839 of them, with 17 touchdowns.

George Lamons Jr. is the squad’s top receiver, with 59 catches for 1,257 yards and 19 scores. Burrus can also rely on Camauri Brinson (459, 6), Denzell Brown (365, 3) and Trae Stevenson (233, 1).

The Trojans average a score of 29-13. Twice, they’ve won playoff games by scoring 17 or less.  To survive these games, they’ve had to rely on special teams, where Brooks has an advantage. Kicker Rafael Mojica has four field goals this season and is 50-of-50 on PAT kicks.

Defensively, Brooks is averaging nearly 10 tackles per loss per game. Marquis Williams has an astonishing 43.5 stops behind the line with 18 sacks and 21 hurries. The Trojans have picked nine passes.

Bowdon leans towards running, averaging 8.3 yards per carry. Joshawia Davis had 15 touchdowns and Charles Maxell III has 13. Maxwell is the team’s quarterback. He’s completed 65% of his throws for 2,475 yards and 35 touchdowns. Only four of his passes have landed in the arms of the other team.

Kaiden Prothro has over 1,100 receiving yards and 21 touchdowns. Two other Devils receivers have more than 400 yards each.

Though few southern Georgia this season, there is another connection: Milton, the favorite in Class 5A is coached by Ben Reaves, a former Berrien assistant. Carrollton, perhaps the favorite in 6A, eliminated Valdosta in the state playoffs.

Irwin County, Fitzgerald, Lee County and Coffee were all eliminated in the semifinals. One week after setting the state record with 605 rushing yards, Coffee’s Tyrese Wodgett gained 250 more against Langston Hughes in a 49-26 loss.

Monday, Dec. 16

Flag, Div. 1: Southeast Bulloch vs. Columbus, noon

Flag, Div. 2:  Greenbrier vs. North Oconee, 2 p.m.

Class A, Div. 2: Brooks County vs. Bowdon, 4 p.m.

Class 4A: North Oconee vs. Marist, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 17

Flag, Div. 3: Pace Academy vs. Pope, 11 a.m.

Class A, Div. 1: Toombs County vs. Northeast (Macon), 1 p.m.

Class 2A: Carver (Columbus) vs. Burke County, 4 p.m.

Class 5A: Milton vs. Langston Hughes, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 18

Flag, Dv. 4: McEachern vs. Lambert, 11 a.m.

Classes A-3A, Private: Hebron Christian vs. Prince Avenue Christian, 1 p.m.

Class 3A: Calhoun vs. Jefferson, 4 p.m.

Class 6A: Carrollton vs. Grayson, 7 p.m.