Win or go home. That’s what the playoffs are all about. That’s what the Eastside Eagles and Newton Rams are facing next Friday, as both teams scratched and crawled their way into the Georgia State Playoffs. The first round kicks off November 14th for both teams.

Eastside (6-4, 4-4) finished off its season with a 48-28 loss to Griffin on Friday night. Although the Eagles suffered a tough loss, they finished off the year second in Region 4-AAAA, and won their sub-region. Throughout the season, Eastside has shown its ability to make explosive plays on offense and clutch plays on defense. The sophomore tandem of quarterback Austin Holloway and receiver Josh Sims in addition to the emergence of senior running back Carlos Huggins, has given Eastside the offensive punch that they used to be successful all season. Also, Arthur Holmes has had an amazing season for the eagles anchoring that defense.

Eastside will take on Thomson in the first round of the state playoffs, at Sharp Stadium. Eastside hasn’t had a home playoff game since the 2010 season. Thomson (4-6, 2-2) comes from Region 3-AAAA where they finished third in the standings. Likewise, the Bulldogs finished off their regular season with a 21-14 lost to Burke County.

Newton (5-3, 2-2) finished off its season in an exciting fashion defeating border-county rival Rockdale 29-26 in a late game thriller. With the win, the Rams finished third in Region 2-AAAAAA behind Tucker and Lovejoy. Newton has had an up and down season for the most part. At times, their spread offense seems to look very effective led by offensive leaders Romario Johnson, Davonta Jones and Deandre Huff. Defensively, the Rams have had games where they seem to give up nothing and others where they couldn’t stop the opposing offense. Steven Montac, A.J. Palomino and Nuka Yobo have helped anchor the defense.

For the first time in two years, Newton will be hitting the road for the state playoffs as they will travel down to South Georgia to take on Valdosta. Valdosta (9-1, 4-1) finished off its season with a 22-21 region at Lee County, putting them second in Region 1-AAAAAA. According to MaxPreps, the Wildcats are the no. 6 ranked team in the state of Georgia.