The GHSA recently released football schedules for the 2016 season. This is the seventh and last in a series of articles on some of the schedule’s interesting features. Today, we look at Class A in 10 blurbs.
-Wesleyan and Holy Innocents’ dropped back from AA and will play in Region 5-A with defending private-school champion Eagle’s Landing Christian and Landmark Christian. ELCA historically plays the toughest non-region schedule of any Class A school. In 2016, it includes Eagle’s Landing, Jonesboro and Hart County.
-Region 6 must scratch its head and wonder why it has 15 teams and Region 5 has only seven. There are more teams in Region 6’s subregion A (eight) than Region 5’s entire football membership. Darlington, down from AA, will be a force. Bowdon also is back down. Top teams should be Trion, Mount Paran Christian. There’s nothing particular interesting about the schedules of any of them, except Pinecrest Academy’s opener at South Forsyth. That would be 2,948 students at South Forsyth (AAAAAAA) vs. 285 students at Pinecrest Academy (A). If they see fit to play each other, what does that say about the move to seven classifications?
-Pelham toiled in Class AA the past four seasons and had its first winning season (6-5) last year since 2002. More good news could be on the way for the Hornets, who are back in Class A probably favored to win their first region championship since 2001 in the new 1-A. It’s a 10-team region whose defending champion, Randolph-Clay, was 7-4 last season. Everybody else was .500 or below. Also watch for Seminole County, whose 3-7 last season was uncharacteristic. Seminole also is moving down from AA.
-Region 2-A is the classification’s strongest with public-school state champion Clinch County (13-1), public-school runner-up Irwin County (10-3-1), Charlton County (7-3) and Turner County (8-3) returning. The Clinch-Irwin rematch is the region opener Sept. 16.
-Region 3-A has the usual suspects – Savannah Christian and Calvary Day on one side, Emanuel County Institute and Johnson County on the other. McIntosh County Academy, moving down from AA, could be a factor. The Savannah teams have scheduled some decent non-region games, among them Calvary Day at Aquinas, and Savannah Christian at Jefferson County and home against Charlton County.
-Macon County was a Class AA team last season that went 10-3, losing only to state champion Pace Academy (33-26), runner-up Fitzgerald and Perry by one point. Now, the Bulldogs are in Class A, where they were a major state power in the 1990s. They are confident enough to schedule Northside-Warner Robins (Sept. 30) and Fitzgerald (Sept. 9) and should be a major force in Region 4-A.
-Region 4 is no pushover, however. Also moving down from AA is Manchester (8-4 in 2015). Holdovers include Hawkinsville (2014 state champion), Marion County (2013 state champion) and Dooly County (2012 state runner-up). So yeah, that’s a tough region.
-Region 7 is a 14-team region led by Stratford Academy in A and Aquinas in B. Lots of other schools of note, such as Lincoln County, Washington-Wilkes, Wilkinson County. As noted in the AA report on Wednesday, Aquinas will be playing Laney of AA for the first time since the 1970s on Aug. 26 in what might be called the unofficial city championship of Augusta. Aquinas opens at home against Prince Avenue Christian.
-Prince Avenue is the leader of 10-team Region 8-A. Commerce and Athens Academy are also contenders. It’s an easy schedule when nine region opponents are penciled in.
