The GHSA recently released football schedules for the 2016 season. This is the third in a series of articles on some of the schedule’s interesting features. Today, we look at Class AAAAA in 10 blurbs.
-New GHSA guidelines that consider out-of-district enrollment numbrs have escorted Buford into a higher classification, but the Wolves are still the team favored in Region 8, which also includes Flowery Branch and Clarke Central among others. Buford, the AAAA runner-up last season and an 11-time state champion, has played neither in its history. Buford’s out-of-region schedule includes Roswell in the Corky Kell Classic, Bishop Timon-St. Jude of Buffalo and International School of Broward. The New York team was 8-4 last season. The International School, founded just two years ago, was 0-10, losing by scores that Buford is accustomed to inflicting.
-Regions 1 and 2 each have five schools, meaning teams must find six non-region opponents. These are the South Georgia regions. It’s not always easy to find good matches down south, where schools are more varied in size and spread apart. Regions 3 through 8 are essentially metro Atlanta or north Georgia regions.
-The bus ride from Thomas County Central to Warner Robins will be close to three hours on Oct. 7 for these new Region 1-AAAAA rivals. They also shared a region in 2010 and 2011 but have not played each other otherwise. Also in the region are Veterans, Harris County and Bainbridge. Warner Robins will play cross-town Northside in an opening game for the first time in series history. They will be in different regions for only the third time since 1968.
-Ware County is the most prominent team in the five-team southeast Georgia Region 2. The Gators should be battle-tested before region play. They’ll play Glynn Academy (12-3), Coffee (10-2), Grady (7-5), Northside (9-2), Lowndes (6-5) and East Lake (7-5) of Tarpon Springs, Fla., all pre-region.
-Jones County is coming off its best back-to-back seasons in its history under coach Justin Rogers at 10-3 and 9-2. The Greyhounds are playing Lee County at Mercer in the opener and then AA power Washington County on the road in August. Jones County’s Region 4 is otherwise made up of southside metro Atlanta teams, the most formidable of which is Stockbridge.
-Stockbridge opens against Mays at Clark-Atlanta, then plays Lovejoy before entering region play. Stockbridge has made the quarterfinals or better for four straight seasons and did so last season in the second-highest classification. The Tigers figure to be among the favorites statewide this fall.
-Miller Grove, which opened in 2005, has never made the playoffs in football, but this almost certainly will be the year. In fact, the Wolverines under new coach Justin Larmond might be the team to beat in new Region 5-AAAAA, which comprises six DeKalb County schools – Southwest DeKalb (4-6), Chamblee (2-8), Lithonia (6-4), Arabia Mountain (4-6), Columbia (5-6) and Miller Grove (6-4). Miller Grove beat Southwest DeKalb 35-0 last season. The other four teams played in lower classifications in 2015.
-Grady is playing the most interesting non-region schedule among Region 6 teams with a game against Woodward Academy and a trip to Ware County. Grady and Carver-Atlanta appear to be the teams with the most impressive pedigree in a region. Note that Carver could’ve played AAAA but chose to play up, as did Jackson-Atlanta and Decatur.
-Kell, has averaged 10.7 wins since 2010 playing one class below the top. Now, the Longhorns are two from the top, so watch for them to be a factor statewide. They open against Tucker in the Corky Kell Classic.
-Kell’s Region 7 stretches from Carrollton to Rome to Marietta. The region has the most teams of any other in AAAAA with nine. It also comprises the three largest schools in the classification – Paulding County (1,724 students), Rome (1,714) and East Paulding (1,681). The schedules of this region's teams have several AAAAAA and AAAAAA opponents.
