Hillgrove and Archer defeated top-10 opponents in the final minute, Region 1-AAAAAA advanced all four of its playoff teams into the quarterfinals, and one defending state champion went down Friday night in the second round of the Georgia high school football playoffs.
Hillgrove, ranked No. 4 in Class AAAAA, beat No. 5 Walton 23-20 on a 31-yard field goal by Luis Garcia-Cano as time expired in a game between Cobb County teams. Hillgrove (12-0) moved on to play host to Milton, a 24-3 winner over Mill Creek, in next week’s quarterfinals.
Archer, ranked No. 9 in the highest class, beat No. 3 Parkview 36-29 in a back-and-forth game. Parkview came from 28-17 down in the fourth quarter to take a 29-28 lead, but Archer drove for the winning touchdown, a 5-yard run by Semaje Banks, his third TD of the game. Archer (10-2) will be at home next week against unranked Tift County (8-4), a 24-17 winner over East Coweta.
Lowndes will play at Grayson, and North Gwinnett will play at Colquitt County, in the other AAAAAAA quarterfinals.
In Class AAAAAA, Region 1 is reigning supreme again with four qualifiers to the quarters. No. 1 Lee County (12-0), No. 3 Valdosta (8-4), No. 5 Northside-Warner Robins (7-5) and unranked Coffee (9-3) all advanced. The four are 8-0 in the playoffs with no game closer than 11 points. Lee beat Coffee in the 2017 final, and Valdosta was the 2016 champion.
Meanwhile, defending Class AA champion Hapeville Charter is out. Callaway defeated the No. 1-ranked Hornets 31-13. All other defending champions and No. 1-ranked teams are still playing.
In games that might be viewed as upsets by unranked teams, Lanier (9-3) beat No. 6 Harrison 35-23 in AAAAAA, and Bainbridge (7-5) beat No. 5 and previously unbeaten Wayne County 26-19 in AAAAA.
Several other ranked teams went down, but to other ranked opponents.
No. 6 Marist beat No. 4 St. Pius 24-8 in a rematch of a regular-season game won by St. Pius 17-0.
Westminster (8-4 and ranked No. 10 in AAA) beat No. 6 Greater Atlanta Christian 44-34. Westminster had beaten GAC 22-21 in a regular-season game in August.
Here are results of other games between ranked teams:
No. 2 Buford beat No. 9 Kell 44-11 in AAAAA.
No. 2 Cartersville beat No. 10 Ridgeland 41-7, and No. 9 Troup beat No. 7 Pickens 53-14, in AAAA
No. 3 Monroe Area beat No. 7 Dawson County 49-17 in AAA.
No. 10 Washington County beat No. 5 Brooks County 34-30, and No. 2 Rockmart beat No. 7 Bremen 35-23, in AA.
No. 2 Clinch County beat No. 6 Charlton County 38-14, and No. 9 Commerce beat No. 10 Mitchell County 35-33, in Class A public.
Next week's quarterfinals represent the first time that region champions and other same-seeded teams can meet. In those cases, the teams positioned higher on the GHSA draw sheet will be at home.
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