The Eagles traveled to the Georgia Dome for the second straight year with a 13-0 record for a first ever meeting with the St. Pius X Golden Lions. The Golden Lions proved to be a fierce and relentless opponent, but in the end, the Eagles held on for a 20-17 victory to once again advance to the state championship game in search of that ever elusive first title.

After each team went “3 and Out” to begin the game, St. Pius X went into punt formation for the second time, but the mishandled snap resulted in the Eagles taking over at the Golden Lion 2 yard line when Charles McKenzie tackled the punter after he corralled the bad snap. One play later, Tijuan Green stepped into the endzone untouched and Devon Pike’s PAT made the score 7-0 with 7:13 to go in the first quarter. The Golden Lion ‘wing T option’ option attack finally started clicking as they ran off 7 plays before punting the Eagles deep onto their on 18 yard line. Two holding penalties negated big Northside runs, but the Eagles were not to be denied on this drive as Green broke a tackle on the fifth play and streaked 63 yards down the right sideline for his second touchdown. The PAT was blocked and the Eagles led 13-0 with 1:15 in the first. St. Pius then went on a methodical 15 play / 51 yard drive, but the Eagle D forced them to settle for a 28 yard field goal to narrow the Northside lead to 13-3 at the half.

St. Pius took the second half kickoff and drove 83 yards in 11 plays culminated by a 40 yard touchdown run. The PAT cut the lead to 13-10 with 5:58 remaining in the third quarter. The Eagles were forced to punt after 7 plays and the Golden Lions were on the march once again until senior Deonta Jordan stripped the St. Pius runner at the Northside 28 yard line and the fumble was recovered by sophomore Eric Fields and returned 15 yards to halt the Golden Lion comeback and set the Eagles up at their own 43 yard line. It took the Eagles 8 plays to cover 57 yards, and Green scored his third touchdown of the night on a 1 yard run. Pike’s PAT made the score 20-10 with 8:27 left in the game. St. Pius tried to catch the Eagles off guard on the second play of the ensuing drive when they ran a halfback pass, but Mario Armstrong was not fooled as he picked off the ball at the Eagle 32 and returned it 29 yards to the St. Pius X 39 yard line. The Eagles could not capitalize, however, as they missed a field goal giving the ball back to the Golden Lions at their own 20, and the Lions again were not ready to give up as they drove 80 yards in 9 plays in only 2:04 to cut the Eagle lead to three points with one minute and 17 seconds left in the game. The Golden Lions attempted an onside kick that was recovered by Jordan, and the Eagles ran out the clock to preserve the 20-17 semi-final win.

Following the game, Coach Nix met with the head coach of the other semi-final winner, Marist, in the bowels of the Georgia Dome for the coin toss to determine the host team for the championship. Once again, “tails” did not fail and Northside immediately began preparations to host the state championship game.