By Graham David | gdavid@scoreatl.com
The seventh annual Georgia Elite Classic has set the dates for 2019’s All-Star game lineup at McEachern High School. Following registration and the first round of practices on Friday, Dec. 20, a double-header featuring the Seventh Grade All-Stars (4 p.m.) and the Eighth Grade All-Stars (6:30 p.m.) will be played on Dec. 21.
Sunday, Dec. 22 will stage the remaining five contests. Starting things off will be the Senior All-Stars at 10 a.m. followed at 12:30 p.m. by the academically-inspired Brain Bowl that was introduced for the first time at last year’s Classic. The Junior All-Stars will play at 3 p.m., the Freshman All-Stars are slotted for 5:30 p.m. and the Sophomore All-Stars will take the field in the 8 p.m. finale.
In addition to staging the inaugural Brain Bowl, the 2018 Georgia Elite Classic also featured a Seventh and Eighth Grade game for the first time. This dramatically grew the event, and as a result, more the 500 participants and 180 different Georgia High Schools were represented in last year’s games.
McEachern’s state-of-the-art facilities and videoboard technology have also made it possible for the Georgia Elite Classic to introduce exciting in-game features like coach’s challenges and instant replay. In fact, history was made in last year’s Eighth Grade game when American Team head coach Rusty Reed threw the challenge flag on a fumble and got the play reversed to maintain possession and complete the first successful challenge in Georgia high school football history.
The caliber of talent being showcased year after year at the Georgia Elite Classic has amounted to an ever-growing spotlight. Recruiting expert Rusty Mansell of 247Sports will once again be leading this year’s selection committee and making sure that teams are competitively matched up and that playing time is maximized for each of the participants.
For an in-depth look at the 2019 Georgia Elite Classic schedule, please head to http://georgiaeliteclassic.com/schedule/. For more information, please go to http://georgiaeliteclassic.com/ or call 404-246-7819.