Georgia High School AAAAA Preview - First Predictions of the Season Courtesy of GSF

Here's a reprint of some very insightful analysis by Gwinnett Soccer Fan on this year's Georgia High School AAAAA Boys predictions. I gleaned from a somewhat infamous forum out at www.network54.com.

Gwinnett Soccer Fan, please contact me if I need to take this down, but I wanted to give your analysis some more coverage and put it out as a good starting point for folks to bring their own opinions to the table.

Again, full props to GSF, reprinted in its entirety:

#1 - Collins Hill ... at least eight or nine returning starters from last season's state runner-up finish ... strong team but will there be chemistry?

#2 - Chattahoochee ... Coach Meenan has really been building a great program the four or five seasons and these guys play CHHS in the first region game of the year ... all the marbles early??

#3 - Walton ... although they lost all of their top stars to D-1 soccer, they will still be a strong team because of Coach Boozer ... Raiders win 6-AAAAA.

#4 - Harrison ... I know many of you out there don't think much of Coach Gross but he has also built a solid program in Cobb County ... look for the Hoyas to win 5-AAAAA and seriously compete for the title.

#5 - Parkview ... they have their terrific striker (KG) coming back and one of the best keepers in Gwinnett County ... they have a solid coach (Tolmich) and have back-to-back 8-AAAAA titles ... only problem has been that they haven't made it past the 2nd round since since the 2005 title season.

#6 - East Coweta ... I know many of you will laugh at this because you are thinking "ECHS, are you crazy?" They return their most of their starters with the exception of their keeper and they should breeze into the quarter-finals before meeting a tough Atlanta-area team. Can they repeat and make it to the Final Four? I think they can.

#7 - Norcross ... The Blue Devils were young the last two seasons and did well in the playoffs despite their youth ... this season they have a great nucleus of solid players and will compete well with Collins Hill and the Hooch ... look for Norcross to be the "sleeper pick" this season.

#8 - Peachtree Ridge ... they won 7-AAAAA last season but were upended in the playoffs by a very good Brookwood team last season ... the Lions will be a solid team but all of 7-AAAAA is good. It would not surprise me to see 7-AAAAA sweep 8-AAAAA in the first round of the playoffs this year.

#9 - Centennial ... they had a great run last season beating Parkview and making it to the quarter-finals before losing to East Coweta ... although they lost some key players, they will be very competitive.

#10 TIE (Brookwood and Northview) ... Brookwood lost nine seniors from last year's team and is in complete rebuilding mode this season and lacking a goalkeeper ... they have a good coach and solid rising JV players but I don't know if they can get past the 1st round of the playoffs ... Northview was really young last season and lost to Brookwood in the 1st round of the playoffs ... EC and SD are terrific goal scorers for the Titans and they will have to beat either CHHS, PRHS, Hooch, or Norcross if they want to make the playoffs.

Honorable Mention:

North Cobb (5-AAAAA)
South Forsyth (7-AAAAA)
Kennesaw Mtn (5-AAAAA)
Central Gwinnett (8-AAAAA)
Camden County (3-AAAAA)
Houston County (1-AAAAA)

Best of luck to all the teams.
GSF