Defending region champions stepped up in big ways Friday night as Westlake and Parkview took sole possession of first place in their regions while Roswell insisted it’s still the team to beat in Region 4. North Gwinnett became the first Class AAAAAAA team to clinch its region.
Here’s a regon-by-region recap of how some of the regions sorted things out:
*In Region 1, Lowndes and Colquitt County cleared the path for a Nov. 1 showdown for the title. Lowndes, ranked No. 1, beat No. 10 Camden County 45-13 while No. 3 Colquitt defeated Tift County 49-7. Colquitt is the defending region champ and has won Region 1 four of the past five seasons. The game will be at Lowndes.
*Westlake defeated Newnan 34-7 in a Region 2. That leaves the Lions (5-3, 3-0) as the lone unbeaten team in region play and clearly favored now to win their sixth straight region title. No other school in the highest class has a streak close to that. Improving Newnan (5-3, 2-1) appeared to be Westlake’s top threat but has lost six straight games to the Lions.
*Marietta defeated North Cobb 63-35, which left McEachern (8-0, 3-0) as the lone unbeaten team in Region 3 play. McEachern can clinch the title with a victory next week against North Cobb (6-2, 2-1). No. 7 Marietta (6-2, 2-1) and No. 6 Hillgrove (7-1, 2-1) have each lost to McEachern.
*Roswell (5-2, 2-1) beat Walton 14-7 in overtime to create a four-way tie atop Region 4. Others knotted are Walton (4-4), Cherokee (6-2) and Etowah (4-4), each with 2-1 region records. Roswell, which ran the region table 5-0 last season, lost two weeks ago to Cherokee, which hasn’t won a region title since 2002. The other three teams have won region titles more recently.
*Milton (5-3, 3-0) and North Forsyth (6-2, 3-0) won again Friday and will play Nov. 8 with the region title on the line assuming no major upsets in the meantime.
*Parkview beat Brookwood 50-19 in a game that determined the lead in Region 7. Parkview (7-1, 4-0) is the only region team without a loss and is on target for its first back-to-back region titles since the state-championship reign of 2000-02. Parkview can clinch that next week by beating Meadowcreek (4-4, 3-1).
*Grayson (7-1, 3-0) is in charge of Region 8 and won another Friday, beating Newton 30-14. Grayson can clinch the championship with a victory next week over Rockdale County (4-3, 0-2).
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