Alexander and Mays are tied for first place in Region 5-AAAAAA after Alexander’s 21-14 victory Friday over fifth-ranked Northgate in the biggest matchup in Class AAAAAA this weekend.
No. 10 Alexander (5-0, 3-0) won the back-and-forth game when Daetrich Harrington scored on a 55-yard run with less than four minutes to play. Harrington scored earlier in the game on a 71-yard run and finished with 173 yards rushing, according to the Newnan Times-Herald. It was the first loss of the season for Northgate (5-1, 3-1), which fell into a tie for third place with the winner of Saturday’s Hughes-Creekside game.
Mays (4-1, 3-0) kept pace with the Cougars with a 44-7 victory over Tri-Cities. The Raiders have won four consecutive games since a 35-34 loss to Class AAAAA No. 2 Stockbridge in the opener. Mays will face Alexander in a game that might decide the region championship at Lakewood Stadium on Oct. 28.
Here are some of the other big stories in Class AAAAA from Week 7:
- Effingham County came up with the biggest non-region victory by a Class AAAAAA team when it beat Class AAA No. 4 Liberty County 35-34. Effingham County (4-2) rallied from 28-14 deficit in the fourth quarter and sent the game into overtime with a touchdown with 3.2 seconds remaining. After the Rebels scored a touchdown and an extra point on their possession, Liberty County (4-1) scored on a 4-yard run by Jaalon Frazier and elected to go for two points but was stopped a yard short of the end zone.
- There’s a logjam at the top of the Region 7 standings after Cambridge handed Johns Creek its first region loss of the season. Johns Creek, which was the only team unbeaten in region play, fell into a first-place tie with Cambridge and Centennial (all three teams are 3-1 in the region, and 1-1 against each other). Fourth-place Alpharetta is just a half-game behind the pack at 2-1, having already lost to Centennial but with games remaining against Cambridge and Johns Creek. Chattahoochee is alone in fifth place at 2-2.
- Northside-Warner Robins and Coffee recorded lopsided victories in their final tune-ups before region play in rugged 1-AAAAAA begins next week. Second-ranked Northside (6-0) routed Class A public No. 1 Macon County 45-6, and Coffee beat Warner Robins 56-22. Their victories gave the region, which also includes No. 1 Houston County, No. 3 Lee County and No. 4 Valdosta, a final combined record of 26-3 in non-region games.
- Grovetown and Winder-Barrow got off on the right foot Friday when they opened region play with victories. Grovetown (3-3, 1-0) moved into the early lead in 3-AAAAAA with a 34-0 win over Alcovy, and Winder-Barrow (4-2, 1-0) got a jump on 8-AAAAAA when it beat Apalachee 28-21. The remainder of their six-team regions will begin league play next weekend.
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