Region 1 flexed its muscles again in the second round of the Class AAAAAA football playoffs Friday night.
Lee County, Valdosta, Coffee and Houston County swept their games for the second consecutive week, this time by an average margin of 21.25 points, and will make up half the field for next weekend’s quarterfinals. Last week, they beat four opponents from Region 3 by an average margin of 39 points.
Lee County will be the only Region 1 team playing at home next weekend.
Valdosta’s 28-24 victory over Region 7 champion Johns Creek was the classification’s most dramatic game of the night, and the only one decided by fewer than 10 points. Valdosta was projected as an 18-point favorite by the computer Maxwell Ratings.
Johns Creek’s Caleb Adegboyega kicked a 38-yard field goal with 1:43 remaining, but Valdosta answered with a game-winning 46-yard touchdown pass.
“Their quarterback and receivers were so good,” Johns Creek coach Matt Helmerich told Joe Parker of the Johns Creek Herald. “We knew we had to bring some pressure, and they just caught us in a soft spot in the zone and [Valdosta wide receiver Javonte Sherman] is really fast.”
Johns Creek quickly drove back down the field and had one last chance to pull out the victory, but Ben Whitlock’s pass from the 16-yard line into the end zone on the final play of the game was intercepted.
Johns Creek, trying to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in the program’s 11-year history, completed its best-ever season at 10-2. Valdosta, the Region 1 runner-up, is 10-2.
The other Region 1 teams had less trouble. Two-time defending state champion Lee County, the region’s No. 1 seed, rolled past Creekside 49-7. No. 3 seed Coffee outscored Mays 59-36. Houston County, the only No. 4 seed remaining in Class AAAAAA, beat South Paulding 38-22.
- The only upset of the night, according to Maxwell, was Richmond Hill’s 48-34 victory over eighth-ranked Lanier, which was projected as a seven-point favorite. Richmond Hill, the Region 2 champion, fell behind 13-0 after Lanier’s fourth offensive play but outscored the Longhorns 20-0 in the second quarter. The Wildcats never trailed in a back-and-forth second half. Richmond Hill running back Jalen House, possibly the best-kept secret in Class AAAAAA, ran for 215 yards and scored on runs of 1, 17, 53, 83 and 7 yards, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post. Lanier, the No. 2 seed from Region 8, was a semifinalist last season.
- Lanier was one of four top-10 ranked teams to lose in the second round but the only one to lose to an unranked team. The other top-10 teams that were eliminated were No. 10 Stephenson (vs. No. 7 Allatoona), No. 9 Mays (vs. No. 6 Coffee) and Johns Creek, which was ranked fifth. Richmond Hill and Houston County are the only unranked teams remaining in the field.
- The best game of the quarterfinal round, according to the rankings and recent history, will be No. 1 Dacula’s game against No. 3 Lee County, which has more of a championship feel to it than a quarterfinal. Dacula has won four consecutive Region 8 titles and was a semifinalist last season. Lee County has won three consecutive Region 1 titles and will be going for its third straight state championship. Both teams are No. 1 seeds, but Lee County gets to play at home because of the GHSA’s coin flip this week.
- Here are the second-round scores and the matchups for quarterfinals:
Second round
Allatoona 23, Stephenson 13
Coffee 59, Mays 36
Richmond Hill 48, Lanier 34
Valdosta 28, Johns Creek 24
Dacula 42, Glynn Academy 20
Lee County 49, Creekside 7
Harrison 51, Brunswick 19
Houston County 38, South Paulding 22
Quarterfinals
(R1 #3) Coffee at (R6 #2) Allatoona
(R1 #2) Valdosta at (R2 #1) Richmond Hill
(R8 #1) Dacula at (R1 #1) Lee County
(R1 #4) Houston County at (R6 #1) Harrison
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