It was a big night for Georgia high school football Friday, especially for South Georgia football.
Three unranked South Georgia teams beat top-10 opponents in the first round, and southerly Region 1-AAAAAA went 4-0, picking off a pair of ranked teams from DeKalb County and reaffirming itself as the state’s most dominant regional force in the state playoffs.
No. 1 Lee County, No. 3 Valdosta, No. 5 Northside-Warner Robins and unranked Coffee – each with at least one state semifinal appearance the past two years – won their games impressively against the metro Atlanta Region 4-AAAAAA.
Playing at home, defending state champion Lee County beat Mundy’s Mill 48-13, and Valdosta, the 2016 champion, beat Lovejoy 70-29. Closer games were expected by Northside, ranked No. 5 despite five regular-season losses, and Coffee.
But Northside validated the faith of the pollsters and defeated No. 9 Tucker 43-21 at Adams Stadium. And Coffee, the 2017 state runner-up, beat No. 4 Stephenson 45-17 at Hallford Stadium. Coffee had lost three times and finished fourth in the high-powered region and was not ranked.
Other South Georgia teams that came north and pulled upsets were Tift County, a 42-7 winner over No. 6 Roswell in Class AAAAAAA, and Bainbridge, a 40-13 winner over No. 8 Jones County in AAAAA.
The only prominent South Georgia team that was turned back was Camden County, seeded No. 3 ahead of Tift in 1-AAAAAAA. Camden was tamed by No. 5 Walton 40-20.
In other games of note, East Coweta defeated No. 10 Marietta of AAAAAAA 28-26. Marietta, a quarterfinalist a year ago, played without all-state quarterback Harrison Bailey and wide receiver Ramel Keyton, who were injured. It was East Coweta’s first playoff win since 2012.
And DeKalb County’s rough go was not limited to AAAAAA. Southwest DeKalb, which was 10-0 at ranked No. 7 in AAAAA, lost to Region 8 No. 4 seed Loganville 14-13. Loganville is 5-6.
Riverside Military, an uranked Class A private school, defeated No. 5 George Walton Academy 24-14. Riverside won a state title 2005 during a six-year stint in the Georgia Independent School Association, but the Gainesville boarding school had never won a GHSA playoff game.
Hebron Christian beat No. 9 Mount Paran Christian, also in the Class A private-school ranks. That marked Hebron’s first-ever playoff victory. The Gwinnett County school began varsity football in 2007.
In other games between ranked teams Friday, No. 6 Harrison beat No. 7 Johns Creek 23-20 in AAAAAA; No. 10 Ridgeland beat No. 8 Flowery Branch 34-14 in AAAA; and No. 10 Westminster beat No. 8 Jefferson 35-7 in Class AAA. Westminster is now 12-1 over the past 13 seasons in the first round, with eight of those wins on the road against higher-seeded teams.
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