With one week to go, Arthur Ingram III hangs on to No. 1 spot in local contest

The 13^th weekend of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em Contest wrapped up on Saturday, and Hillcrest High School assistant football coach Arthur Ingram III held on to the top spot in the local standings for the fourth straight week.

Ingram, who has 547 total points in the contest, has a seven-point lead over past champion Hunter Norris, who jumped into second place (540 points) from the No. 3 spot. Ricky Taylor fell from second place into third place (537 points), and I remained in fourth place (535 points) for the second straight week.

Casey Grant went from sixth place to fifth place (534 points), and Clint Hyde went from ninth place to sixth place (528 points). Defending champion Drew Skipper and Mike Dailey were tied for seventh place (526 points). Phig Newton and “Murder Creek Man 78” were tied for ninth place (518 points), and Travis Presley was in 11^th place (511 points).

This coming Saturday will mark the final week of this year’s contest, and Ingram appears to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to this year’s contest. This week’s slate of games will feature 10 marquee matchups and if a contestant correctly picks the outcomes of all of those games, they’ll receive 55 total points. With that said, a number of contestants remain within striking distance of this year’s local pick ‘em crown.

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The Southeastern Conference wrapped up its regular season schedule on Saturday, and this Saturday’s SEC Championship Game will feature Auburn and Georgia. This looks to be a good game, and Auburn is favored to win. I’m actually expecting Georgia to win for two reasons. The game is being played in Atlanta, and it’s really hard to beat a really good team twice. Last week: 6-3. So far this year: 88-22.

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Hillcrest High School’s varsity football team has played its way back into the state playoff semifinals and will host the first-ever state playoff semifinal game in Evergreen history tomorrow (Friday) night when they play a rematch against Clarke County High School at Brooks Memorial Stadium in Evergreen. Prior to this year, Hillcrest and Evergreen High School never hosted a playoff game beyond the second round.

The only other team in county history to ever host a playoff game beyond the second round was Repton High School, which arguably has the best overall playoff record in the county’s history. In 1985, the Bulldogs hosted three playoff games in Repton – a second-round game against Frisco City on Nov. 15, a semi-final round game against Beulah on Nov. 29 and a state championship game against Sand Rock on Dec. 6.

Two years later, in 1987, Repton hosted a first-round game against Sweet Water on Nov. 6 and a quarterfinal-round game against New Site on Nov. 20. The following year, in 1988, which was the last year of football at Repton, the Bulldogs hosted three playoff games in the second, quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.

In the end, when you look at everything involved, I think you could make the argument that tomorrow night’s Hillcrest-Clarke County game is the biggest high school football game ever played in the history of Evergreen. I wish them all the best and hope that they’ll make a little more history the following week.