Gwinnett County teams went 6-2 in the top half of Class AAAAAA on Friday night, with Central Gwinnett bagging the biggest prize – ninth-ranked Walton.
Central (7-4) beat the Raiders 49-20, ending Walton’s season at 9-2. It was the second straight season that Central scored the biggest upset of the first round in the highest class. In 2014, Central beat then-No. 5 North Gwinnett 15-14.
Also winning Friday from Region 8 were No. 2 Grayson (38-10 over Wheeler) and No. 4 Archer (40-17 over Etowah). Third-ranked Roswell, the Region 5 champion, prevented a sweep with a 63-25 victory over Parkview.
Region 7, the other all-Gwinnett league, won all three of four with Region 6. Region 6’s champion, South Forsyth, survived with a 20-14 victory over Norcross. It was South Forsyth’s first playoff victory since 2003.
No. 5 Mill Creek, No. 6 Peachtree Ridge and Collins Hill from Region 7 won handily.
In Region 1 vs. Region 4, the four ranked teams won, which meant three victories for R1. No. 10 Valdosta rallied from a 10-0 halftime hole to beat North Cobb 21-16. No. 1 Colquitt County, No. 7 McEachern and No. 8 Camden County advanced.
In Region 2 vs. Region 3, the home teams won – Newnan (over Lovejoy 34-3), Newton (over East Coweta 38-17) and Westlake (over Lakeside-DeKalb 79-20).
Tucker plays Hughes on Saturday.
New draw –
(R1 #2) Camden County at (R5 #1) Roswell
(R7 #3) Collins Hill at (R2 #1) Newton
(R1 #3) Valdosta at (R8 #1) Grayson
(R7 #2) Peachtree Ridge at (R3 #1) Westlake
(R8 #3) Central Gwinnett at (R1 #1) Colquitt County
(R3 #3) Hughes/(R2 #2) Tucker winner at (R6 #1) South Forsyth
(R8 #2) Archer at (R4 #1) McEachern
(R3 #2) Newnan at (R7 #1) Mill Creek
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