There are plenty of intriguing matchups to keep track of this upcoming weekend, but before we get to previewing the top games, here’s a broader look across Class AAAA as we countdown to Week 7 kicking off.
There are 54 total teams in Class AAAA and just seven remaining undefeated teams. Region 8’s North Oconee is the first team to reach 6-0. Woodward Academy sits at 4-0 out of Region 3. Region 5 boasts Cartersville (5-0) and Sandy Creek (4-0). As for Region 7, there are still three undefeated teams in it with Denmark (4-0), Marist (5-0) and Flowery Branch (4-0).
The Week 7 schedule will be comprised of 18 total region games, involving 36 of the classification’s 54 teams. Four of Class AAAA’s teams will be playing non-region games, all of which will feature Region 3 teams (Burke County vs. Statesboro, Thomson vs. Lee County, Richmond Academy vs. Greenbrier and Cross Creek vs. Westside-Augusta). The remaining 14 teams in the classification will be on their bye weeks. This group includes all five teams in Region 8 (North Oconee, Oconee County, Madison County, St. Pius, Stephens County), in addition to Blessed Trinity (Region 7), Gilmer (Region 6), Chapel Hill (Region 5), Salem and McDonough (Region 4), Baldwin (Region 3) and Americus-Sumter, Westover and Dougherty (Region 1).
Hardaway and Shaw will be kicking off Week 7 with an intriguing Thursday night Region 1-AAAA battle. Hardaway avoided an 0-3 start in region play by scoring a massive 20-14 win over Americus-Sumter last Friday. Now, the Hawks can climb back to 2-2 in the region with a potential win over a Shaw team that has opened up a 2-1 region start. Cairo can potentially move to 4-0 in the region with a win over Columbus, which is off to an 0-2 region start. Also, Carver-Columbus can improve to 4-0 with a win over Northside-Columbus, which is looking to avoid starting 0-4 in region play.
This week marks the first region games in 2-AAAA. Spalding (1-4) takes on Mary Persons (2-3), Upson-Lee (2-3) matches up with Perry (2-3) and West Laurens (4-1) takes on Howard (4-1) in a very intriguing matchup. West Laurens was 4-1 heading into this matchup last season, but dropped it 16-10 to the Huskies and then failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2013 with a 1-4 region finish.
Region 3 will conclude its non-region schedule with its four cross-classification matchups. In Region 4, Woodward Academy, Hampton, Eastside and Luella enter this week with 1-0 region records. Eastside faces Luella, Woodward Academy faces Druid Hills (2-2, 0-1) and Hampton faces North Clayton (0-4, 0-1).
In Region 5, Cedartown and LaGrange will square off on Friday, each with 0-1 region starts on their resumes. Central-Carroll, which picked up a 17-14 win over LaGrange to move to 1-0 will face Cartersville, which used a 24-2 victory over Cedartown to open up 1-0 in region play. The biggest matchup of the weekend, will likely be Troup vs. Sandy Creek. Troup defeated Chapel Hill 21-14 this past week in region action. As for Sandy Creek, this will be the region opener for the 4-0 Fighting Patriots.
Region 6-AAAA features a trio of teams with 1-0 region starts taking on squads that opened up with 0-1 region starts; LaFayette (Heritage), Pickens (Southeast Whitfield) and Ridgeland (Northwest Whitfield).
All three undefeated teams are in action in Region 7-AAAA: Flowery Branch (vs. White County), Marist (vs. Chestatee) and Denmark (vs. West Hall). This will be Flowery Branch’s region opener, while Marist and Denmark are each 1-0 and facing 0-1 opponents. Region 8 is on its bye and will open up region play next weekend.
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