There should be no further discussion about which region is the toughest in Class AAAAA. For the second straight year, Region 7 has swept its four first-round playoff games. No other league can make that claim.
This time the victim was Region 5. Top seeded Carrollton whipped Arabia Mountain 42-14, and No. 2 seed Rome rolled Lithonia 52-0. No. 3 seed Kell outslugged Columbia 48-32 and No. 4 Hiram shocked No. 10-ranked Southwest DeKalb 16-12.
No. 1-ranked Carrollton (11-0) was stunned by an 80-yard pass in the first quarter, but scored the next 42 points. Brandon Marenco rushed for 122 yards and three touchdowns and Kodee Brewer added 58 yards and one touchdown. The Trojans played without quarterback Myles Morris, but fill-in Nick Tuggle threw a touchdown pass to Terrell Carmicheal.
No. 3 Rome (9-2) jumped on Lithonia early and led 39-0 at halftime. E.J. Burks ran for three touchdowns and Ahijah Blackwell ran for two more. Quarterback Caleb Ellard ran for a score and connected with Adam Peterson for another touchdown. Ethan Scales got the defense involved with a pick-six.
No. 6 Kell (9-2) got two touchdowns from freshman tailback David Mbadinga who rushed for 125 yards, and two touchdown passes from Corbin LaFrance, one to Jamal Hill and one to Jaylen Brown. Arthur Nwandu scored twice, one a blocked punt he returned for a score, and Nate Woghiren added an interception return for a touchdown.
Hiram got a 70-yard touchdown run from Jalen Townser and stunned Southwest DeKalb with a late touchdown. It was the second straight season the Panthers (9-2) had won the Region 5 championship, only to be upset in the first round. Southwest scored on Tommy Wright’s 83-yard kickoff return and a 10-yard pass from Rion White to Aquil Muhammad.
Here’s how the other ranked teams fared in the first round:
No. 9 Griffin ousts defending champions: The Bears scored two touchdowns in the final quarter and eliminated defending state champion Bainbridge 21-20. Darshaveious Foster threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Prince Green to tie the game and Morgan Roberson added the game-winning extra point with two minutes remaining. Bainbridge missed a field goal in the final minute.
Foster had three touchdown passes. He connected with Jamoi Mayes for 30-yard score in the first quarter and threw a 13-yard touchdown to Terrell Jester with six minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Bainbridge scored on a blocked punt, a 67-yard run from Trey Bouie and a 60-yard pick-six from Jaheim Jenkins.
No. 2 Warner Robins rolls late: The Demons (10-1) scored two late touchdowns for a 28-7 win over Jonesboro. Ahmad Walker ran for two touchdowns, while Jahlen Rutherford and Jalen Addie each ran for touchdowns.
Fedd leads No. 8 Dutchtown to win: Quarterback Arendez Fed ran for two touchdowns threw for another to lead the Bulldogs to a 20-0 win over Statesboro. Fedd rushed for touchdowns of 14 and 3 yards and threw a 13-yard scoring pass to Nate McCollum.
No. 4 Ware County overtakes Ola: Ware County trailed 22-20 in the fourth quarter, but came back for a 35-22 win over Ola. The Gators took the lead for good when quarterback Thomas Castellanos ran for a touchdown with 4:04 remaining. He added an insurance touchdown run in the final minute.
Buford rebounds with big win: The No. 5-ranked Wolves, a bit cranky after last week's loss to Clarke Central, led 43-0 in the second quarter and beat Decatur 43-6. Jarvis Evans threw two touchdown passes and Gabe Ervin, Victor Venn and Xalan Taylor each ran for touchdowns.
Jones County bounces back: No. 7 Jones County bounced back from last week's loss to Stockbridge to defeat South Effingham 26-13. Andrew Carner rushed 16 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns, one of them 80 yards. Hunter Costlow threw for 123 yards and a 16-yard touchdown to Maleek Wooten. Matthew Sheffield added a 50-yard touchdown run.
Riverwood avoids first-round upset: Quarterback Avery Smith threw two touchdown passes to Donovan Logan to help the Raiders (11-0) outlast feisty Loganville 17-14. Smith threw a 45-yard pass to Timothe Dorne to set up the 2-yard game-winner to Logan late in the fourth quarter. Elijah Kirby ran 26 times for 117 yards for Riverwood and outside linebacker Kaleb Patton had 11.5 tackles, 3.5 for loss, and two sacks.
Here's how they match up for the second round: Cedar Shoals (8-3) at Jones County (10-1), Hiram (6-5) at Griffin (10-1), Buford (10-1) at Ware County (8-3), Veterans (9-2) at Carrollton (11-0), Wayne County (8-2) vs. Clarke Central-Lithia Springs winner, Rome (9-2) at Warner Robins (10-1), Dutchtown (10-1) at Riverwood (11-0), Kell (9-2) at Starr's Mill (8-3).
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