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St. Andrew's is headed back to the state championship game after their swarming defense overwhelmed Southland Academy tonight. In an impressive display of pressure, the Lions (24-4) held the Raiders (24-2) to only 5 points in the second half in their 47-15 victory. This will be St. Andrew's second trip to the championship game in the past three years and their first since moving to the AAA division, the highest in GISA.

With nerves showing early on, the Lions allowed Southland to score the first four points of the game and would only hold an 8-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. However, Lions star Zyere Edwards started finding his stroke in the second quarter scoring 9 in the quarter to go along with 13 more in the third. Edwards finished the night with 26 points to bring his season total to 658, breaking the school's record of 654 set by Chris Haslem during the 1992-1993 season. With 4 3-pointers on the night, Edwards increased his season total to 86 to extend his school record.

Zayden Edwards contributed to the defensive effort in grabbing 8 rebounds to go along with his 8 points while Kaleb Lofton added 6 points and 5 steals to the effort.

St. Andrew's will play against the winner of John Milledge Academy and Creekside Christian Academy in the championship game on Saturday night at 8 pm in Americus at Georgia Southwestern University.

St. Andrew's (47): Zyere Edwards 26, Edwards 8, Lofton 6, Whipple 3, Conley 2, Rickert 2

Southland (15): Brady 4, Ekley 3, Crisp 2, Smith 2, Tyson 2, Usher 2