Expect five region champions to be crowned Friday night in Class AAAAAAA.
*The Lowndes-Colquitt County winner will take Region 1. Lowndes (9-0, 2-0) is ranked No. 1, but Colquitt (8-1, 2-0) has won for out the past five games in the series and four of the past five regions titles. Colquitt also won 40-6 last season.
*Westlake (5-3, 3-0) will win its sixth straight region title with a victory over Wheeler (3-5, 1-2). Westlake is 31-1 in region games since 2014 and 3-0 against Wheeler.
*McEachern (8-0, 3-0) will win Region 3 with a victory over North Cobb (6-2, 2-1). It would be McEachern’s first region title since 2016 but sixth in 11 seasons. Franklin Stephens, McEachern’s new coach, can become the ninth in GHSA history to win region titles at four schools. He previously won them at Tucker, Lamar County and Ware County.
*Parkview (7-1, 4-0) can clinch Region 7 with a victory over Meadowcreek (3-5, 2-2). Parkview, the 2018 champion, is aiming for back-to-back titles for the first time since winning state titles in 2000-02.
*Grayson (7-1, 3-0) can clinch Region 8 with a victory over Rockdale County (4-4, 0-3). That would be Granson’s ninth region title since 2008. New coach Adam Carter would become the fourth Grayson coach to win one after Mickey Conn, Jeff Herron and Christian Hunnicutt. Grayson is 25-1 in region play since 2015 and 32-2 since 2014.
Region 6 is already in the books. North Gwinnett (8-1, 5-0) clinched last week. That’s four straight for the Bulldogs, all in Bill Stewart’s four seasons as head coach.
Regions 4 and 5 should go down to the final week.
Region 4 has a four-way tie at the top among Cherokee, Roswell, Etowah and Walton. Walton plays Cherokee on Friday.
Region 5 probably will be settled when North Forsyth (6-2, 3-0) plays Milton (5-3, 3-0) next week, but West Forsyth (3-4, 2-1) could complicate things by beating North on Friday.
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