Region 2-AAAAA begins sorting out the order of its likely playoff representatives when the four remaining unbeaten teams go head to head over the next two days at McConnell-Talbert Stadium in Warner Robins.
The high-profile matchups begin Thursday night when No. 4 Jones County takes on top-ranked Northside-Warner Robins and continue Friday with No. 2 Houston County facing Warner Robins. All four teams are 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the region.
It would seem to make sense that the game later in the season between this week’s two winners would probably decide the region championship, but it doesn’t necessarily work out that way. Northside lost to Jones County 45-37 last year but ran the table the rest of the way, claiming the region title on the way to a state championship.
“Because of last year, our kids can get to experience some great atmospheres this year,” Jones County coach Justin Rogers told the Macon Telegraph. “Thursday night’s game is gonna be a playoff atmosphere. It’s going to be phenomenal.”
Round 2 of the head-to-head round robin will be Oct. 16, when Northside faces Warner Robins and Houston County travels to Jones County.
Here are some of the other top games involving Class AAAAA teams this weekend:
- Allatoona at South Paulding (7:30 p.m. Friday): Defending 5-AAAAA champion Allatoona got in a bit of a hole when it lost to East Paulding in its first game of the season, but the Buccaneers now have a chance to begin digging out. South Paulding is one of three unbeaten teams in the region, and Allatoona still has games remaining against the other two (Alexander and New Manchester).
- Coffee at Glynn Academy (7:30 p.m. Friday): No. 9 Coffee (2-1, 0-1) must recover quickly from its 23-14 loss to sixth-ranked Ware County, because another loss this week against the No. 10 Red Terrors (2-1, 1-0) most likely would doom the Trojans to a road playoff game in the first round. Coffee bounced back from its loss to Ware County last season and finished as the region runner-up.
- Creekside at Stephenson (8 p.m. Friday, Hallford Stadium): Creekside beat Stephenson twice in 2014, once during the regular season (28-14) and again in the Region 6-AAAAA championship game (34-27). Creekside (4-0) has won its four games by an average of 29.25 points. Stephenson's only loss came against American Heritage (Fla.), ranked No. 16 nationally by USA Today.
- Winder-Barrow at Loganville (7:30 p.m. Friday): Loganville (3-0, 2-0) must avoid looking ahead to its game next week against defending region champion Lanier. Winder-Barrow has lost twice this season – once in region play – but was competitive in both, losing to Class AAA No. 3 Jefferson 32-17 and to Gainesville 40-26 last week. Winder-Barrow beat Loganville 46-7 last season.
