The high school football season will start for real this week with the beginning of the state playoffs, and we have six teams that will try to bring Cobb County its first state title since Marietta won it all in 1967.

However, looking at the brackets, the GHSA did no favors to any of our teams with their draws as they begin traveling down the road to the championship games Dec. 11 and Dec. 12 at the Georgia Dome.

After taking time to dissect the brackets, I see two, or maybe three, teams keeping their dream alive heading into Round 2. Here is what will happen.

Class A:

Whitefield Academy (6-4) at No. 1 Wesleyan (10-0):

There is a reason the Wolves are the No. 1 team in the state. Wesleyan has allowed only 25 points all year and has shut out five opponents — with the most points any team has scored in a game against them is seven. At the same time, the Wolves score an average of 40 points a contest.

Whitefield Academy has been outscored 81-14 the last two weeks. It is not a recipe for success if the Wolfpack plan on pulling one of the biggest upsets in state history.

Class AAAA:

Sprayberry (7-3) at No. 7 Marist (8-2):

This game features two teams whose five combined losses have all come at the hands of teams that have been ranked this season. Marist’s two losses are to No. 2 Southwest DeKalb (9-1) and Class AAA No. 4 St. Pius X (10-0). Sprayberry lost to Class AAAAA No. 8 Lassiter, No. 8 Hiram and Dalton (Dalton wasn’t ranked when they met in Week 2).

Both teams pride themselves on their defenses. The question is, will Sprayberry be able to score enough points to keep the game close going to the fourth quarter? If the Yellow Jackets can, I wouldn’t bet against Jerick McKinnon making a play when it counts.

Class AAAAA:

Marietta (5-5) at No. 1 Grayson (10-0):

Marietta is up against longer odds than Whitefield Academy as it faces the No. 1 team in Class AAAAA. Why? In some national high school polls, the Rams are ranked as high as No. 2 in the country.

Also working against the Blue Devils’ favor is the fact that no No. 1 team has lost in the first round of the playoffs since the playoffs expanded to 32 teams in 1990.

Unfortunately for Marietta, the question likely isn’t whether or not Greg Franklin can run the ball effectively enough to keep the game close, it’s can he run effectively enough to avoid a running clock in the fourth quarter?

Kell (6-4) at Peachtree Ridge (8-2):

Give credit to the Longhorns. They could have packed the season in after starting 0-4, but six straight wins to close the regular season earned Kell the No. 3 seed out of Region 6AAAAA. The problem is, Peachtree Ridge is not Pope, Centennial, Campbell, Wheeler, Alpharetta or Milton.

The Lions are loaded with athletes who are bigger, stronger and faster. The one thing Kell may have in its favor is the bracket. The winner will likely earn a trip to play McEachern in Round 2, and maybe the Longhorns can catch Peachtree Ridge looking ahead.

North Forsyth (7-3) at No. 8 Lassiter (10-0):

There are two ways to look at North Forsyth. When the Raiders play what might be considered an upper-echelon, or elite, team, they are averaging five points a game, having lost to Peachtree Ridge, Collins Hill and North Gwinnett. Against every other opponent — all wins — the Raiders average 33 points a game.

Lassiter is 10-0 and ranked in the top 10, but it has yet to play a ranked team this season. Are the Trojans really an elite team? If they are, they’ll take care of business and move on.

Brookwood (5-5) at No. 6 McEachern (10-0):

It was almost three months ago that these two teams met in the Georgia Dome to open the season in the Corky Kell Classic where McEachern won, 42-32. But, Brookwood isn’t your typical .500 team and No. 4 seed. The Broncos played Grayson as close as any team has this year in a 10-point loss, and with that early game against McEachern, they already have an idea of what Rajaan Bennett and company can do.

The big difference here is this game will be played at McEachern, where the Indians have outscored their opponents by an average of 44-12.

So, what happens on Friday?

Heading into Round 2, Cobb County will have two teams still playing — Lassiter and McEachern. I almost picked a third and, if there is a third team to win Friday, it will be Sprayberry. And I might still change my mind in the Cobb Football Friday Lucky 7.

But, that’s just my opinion.

What do you think?