ATLANTA, Georgia, Aug. 16 — The Brookwood (Snellville) Broncos were the 7-4 GHSA Class 6A Region 7 runner-ups in 2024, losing to the West Forsyth (Cumming) Wolverines in the first round of the playoffs. The Houston County (Warner Robins) Bears, meanwhile, finished 8-5 after making a deep run to the GHSA Class 5A quarterfinals where they lost to the eventual undefeated state champion Milton Eagles, 56-14.

The two teams will tangle in downtown Atlanta at 1 p.m. this afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium!

Stay tuned, and we’ll be back sometime after the top of the hour with more pregame information.

 

 

Refresh for updates.

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|| FIRST QUARTER ||

Brookwood is unfazed by by Houston County’s electrifying 2025 bow. They march right down the field and answer with a touchdown on a beautiful juke by Gary Chatman on a 24-yard touchdown run. It’s the capper to a 7-play, 72-yard drive. We’re back to even just two-and-a-half minutes into this thing.

1st Qtr — BROOKWOOD 7, HOUSTON COUNTY 7

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Just a side note of interest. Houston County is not pronounced like the city of Houston in Texas … which is HEW-stən. Houston County is pronounced HOW-stən. There’s the answer to your trivia question of the day.

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We’re under way! And what a way to start. The biggest star in the game, Jordan Smith, takes the opening kick 96 yards to the house to put Houston County up on the first play of the season.

1st Qtr — HOUSTON COUNTY 7, BROOKWOOD 0

|| PREGAME ||

Scroll down to enjoy some of our content below and take a look back at the Grayson Rams’ big win over Collins Hill last night just a few miles east of today’s games in downtown Atlanta.

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KEYS TO THE GAME …

One of the big keys in today’s game is the environment. These kids don’t get to play in an NFL stadium very often, so just not being overwhelmed by the whole experience. Season openers are big games, but sometimes they feel even bigger than they are. Most of the time they are non-conference affairs against teams from different classifications like this game, and they’re not going to make or break your season.

But you still have to get your emotions under control playing in a facility like this, and that will be a challenge for these head coaches from the start.

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MAJOR STORYLINES …

One of the biggest storylines today is that Brookwood will be making its official season debut under new head coach Chad Nighbert, the Broncos’ former defensive coordinator. He actually served as the interim head coach last year, however, from the third week of the season through the playoffs when former head coach Philip Jones took a leave due to health reasons. But this is still officially the beginning of a new era.

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TEAM INFO …

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There will be a lot of high level talent on the field this afternoon for both squads. Brookwood has three ranked upperclassmen on 247sports.com’s Classes of 2026 and 2027. Houston County has four. The top-ranked player on the field will be Houston County safety Jordan Smith, a 4-star defender who has committed to the Georgia Bulldogs.

Brookwood’s top-ranked player is CB Kris Brunson who is committed to the Louisville Cardinals.

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SETTING THE SCENE …

Brookwood High School is in Snellville less than 10 miles from Grayson High School which played in the game we live-blogged here last night. Both of them are less than a half hour from Collins Hill High School in Suwanee which hosted last night’s game and about the same general time/distance to Buford High School, the site of our Thursday night game here.

This is one of the richest areas in the country for high school football. And if Texas is No. 1 when it comes to your average football scene on a Friday night, Georgia is a close second. California and Florida have great high school football teams, and certain schools and towns in those states are rabid about their football. But it doesn’t feel as deeply ingrained in the culture as it does to me in Texas and Georgia. And this particular little area in northeast metro Atlanta seems particularly rabid about its football. Just witness that new $62 million football stadium in Buford that opened Thursday night:

 

 

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We are inside 30 minutes to kickoff so we’ll start taking a look at some of the info relevant to today’s Brookwood-Houston County game.

First things first, we don’t have to worry about the weather today. This game is being played indoors at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta. Friday night’s games in the greater Atlanta area were delayed in many cases due to the weather passing through. The start of Grayson’s game at Collins Hill was delayed for nearly two-and-a-half hours. I’m not sure if that figured into the sluggish start for Collins Hill and the early mental errors (like jumping offsides on the first two plays of the game to give Grayson its initial first down). That could have just as easily been opening night jitters.

But, either way, it was clear that one team (Grayson) was ready after the long delay and one team (Collins Hill) wasn’t. We don’t have weather as a factor today so that’s a good thing. We can just focus on football today.

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TOP 25 AND THE GAME OF THE WEEK …

While you’re getting ready for this afternoon’s big game, get yourself up to speed on the preseason edition of The Sporting News High School Football Top 25.

Then check out our TSN Game of the Week Recap featuring the No. 14 Milton (GA) Eagles at the No. 12 Buford (GA) Wolves from Thursday night.

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MORE GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL …

We’ve also got reports on some of Georgia’s top returning players by position groups here:

Georgia’s best linebackers in 2025 headlined by five-star recruits at Gainesville, Grayson

Georgia’s top offensive linemen in 2025 include several teammates who form imposing units at top programs

Georgia’s top 20 receivers heading into 2025 include four future Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia’s top high school football running backs in 2025 led by Georgia, Notre Dame commits

Grayson star tops list of Georgia high school football’s best quarterbacks in 2025

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OUR PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAMS …

Finally, don’t miss out on The Sporting News Preseason All-American Teams that just debuted today!

The Sporting News High School Preseason All-American Offense 2025

The Sporting News High School Preseason All-American Defense 2025

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We’ll check back in here in a while with a look at some more storylines.

MORE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL HEADLINES …

Here are the top 20 quarterbacks to watch in West Texas for ’25 season

Battle of Texas defending state champs shifts location to nearby 10,000-seat stadium

Here are the top 20 quarterbacks to watch in South Texas for ’25 season

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