Region 1 is the largest in the classification with nine teams, and the action has been especially busy in the weeks following Hurricane Michael due to slew of weather related postponements.
This is the final week of the regular season all of the state, but it got off to an early start with Region 1’s field of teams. Carver-Columbus and Westover squared off at Kinnett Stadium last night for some Monday Night Football. Columbus was coming off a bye, but Westover had played three days prior—beating Americus-Sumter 35-12. Carver-Columbus will close out its season this Friday against Americus-Sumter, and Westover will have another quick turnaround with a Thursday night season finale with Hardaway. What this means, is that the Patriots will have played three football games in just seven days.
As for the results from last night, Carver-Columbus played perhaps its best game of the season and served Westover a 44-13 defeat. The Tigers were just 3-7 last year, and now first-year head coach Corey Joyner’s squad is taking an 8-1 record into Friday’s finale against Americus-Sumter.
Joyner’s son Jaylen is a senior quarterback and threw four touchdown passes in Monday’s victory. Khiari McCoy returned a kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown that pushed the lead to 14-3 and later rushed for a touchdown.
THE PLAYOFF PUSH
Cairo has the No. 1 seed secured and Carver-Columbus locked down the No. 2 seed with last night’s win, but the two remaining playoff seeds will be determined by this week’s results.
Columbus matches Westover’s 4-3 region mark, but defeated the Patriots head to head and owns the tiebreaker. So all Columbus has to do is beat Northside-Columbus this week to guarantee the No. 3 seed. Westover has wins over Northside-Columbus (3-4) and Americus-Sumter (3-4), so a win over Hardaway (3-4) would put the Patriots in as the No. 4 seed. If Columbus loses, however, Westover would get the No. 3 seed with a victory and Columbus would take the No. 4. Hardaway needs Columbus to beat Northside-Columbus and a win over Westover to take the No. 4 seed outright, because Northside owns the tie-breaker over Hardaway. Americus-Sumter (3-4) could force a three-way tie at No. 4, but only if Westover tops Hardway, Columbus falls to Northside-Columbus, and they can get past Carver-Columbus.
Region 1 is matched up with Region 4 in the first round, which as of now would include #1 Eastside, #2 Salem, #3 Woodward Academy, and most likely Henry County at the No. 4.
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