Thirty-two teams in Class AAA will extend their football seasons at least one week longer as the regular season gives way to the playoffs. Five of the regions had been decided before Friday ; the remaining three went to decisive region championship games this week. Here is a look at the seedings from each region across:
Credit: Seth Ellerbee
Credit: Seth Ellerbee
Region 1: Crisp County locked up the region with a 4-0 record. Cook (No. 2 seed), Monroe (No. 3 seed) and Dougherty (No. 4 seed) will be the other teams entering the playoffs from this region. The defending region-champion Cougars will face Region 2 No. 4 seed Appling County in the first round of the playoffs.
Region 2: Liberty County knew it had to win against Pierce to take the No. 1 seed in the region. The Panthers prevailed with a 41-14 victory. Pierce (No. 2), Tattnall County (No. 3) and Appling County (No. 4) are the other teams entering the playoffs from this region. Liberty County will face Region 1 No. 4 Dougherty in the first round of the playoffs.
Region 3: Jenkins locked up the No. 1 seed and Southeast Bulloch took the No. 2 seed, but three teams are tied for the two remaining playoff berths. Windsor Forest, Savannah and Beach finished 4-3 in region play and await the tiebreaker. Jenkins will face Region 4 No. 4 seed Jackson in the first round of the playoffs.
Region 4: Peach County went 6-0 through region play, taking 4-AAA, and its No. 1 seed, for the second consecutive season. Westside-Macon, which finished with a 5-1 region record, takes the No. 2 seed. Pike County (No. 3 seed) and Jackson (No. 4 seed) are the remaining playoff-bound teams from this region.
Region 5: Cedar Grove is the No. 1 seed with a flawless 7-0 record through region play. A tie-breaker determined the other three seeds after Westminster, Lovett and Pace Academy finished with 5-2 region records. Pace Academy, which was a 13-point underdog to the Lions according to the Maxwell ratings, defeated Lovett 17-14 Oct. 27 to bring the three teams to even behind top-ranked Cedar Grove. Lovett will face Bremen in the first round of the playoffs before meeting Region 7 No. 1 seed and third-ranked Greater Atlanta Christian. Top-ranked Cedar Grove will face Region 6 No. 4 Adairsville in the first round of the playoffs.
Region 6: Calhoun (No. 1) won its 17th region title in a row, tying a state record set by Lincoln County from 1982-1998. North Murray (No. 2), Bremen (No. 3) and Adairsville (No. 4) are the remaining teams from this sub-divided region. The Yellow Jackets will face Region 5 No. 4 Pace Academy in the first round of the playoffs.
Region 7: Greater Atlanta Christian defeated Dawson County 49-10 to take a region title for the fourth consecutive season (2014-15 was in 6-AA). Dawson County takes the No. 2 seed, and North Hall (No. 3) and East Hall (No. 4) are the other two teams from this region. The Spartans will face Jackson County, the No. 4 team from Region 8, in the first round of the playoffs.
Region 8: Morgan County took the No. 1 seed while successfully defending its 2016 8-AAA title. Monroe Area (No. 2), Hart County (No. 3) and Jackson County (No. 4) advanced to the first round of the playoffs. Morgan County will face Region 7 No. 4 East Hall in the first round.
