Title race wide open in 7-AAAAA

Cass appeared to be the team to beat in Division A after its surprising 23-8 victory over preseason favorite Dalton last weekend, but the Colonels fell into a tie for third place after losing to Creekview 21-14.

“I wish there was something I could say to take the hurt away, but I could see in their eyes how much it hurt them,” Cass coach Bobby Hughes told the Daily Tribune News of Cartersville. “Right now, we are a good team. But to be a really good team, we have to overcome a game like this and find a way to win.”

Creekview is 2-0 in subregion play, and Woodland-Cartersville is 1-0. Woodland’s 42-24 victory over River Ridge snapped the Wildcats’ 13-game losing streak.

Here are some of the other big stories in Class AAAAA from Week 6:

- Columbus’s hopes of reaching 5-0 for the first time since 1974 ended with a 30-3 loss to Carver-Columbus, so the Blue Devils must turn their attention to earning the program’s first state playoff berth since 1994. Columbus likely will need to win three of its final five games – against LaGrange, Shaw, Harris County, Northside-Columbus and Hardaway – to represent 1-AAAAA in the postseason.

- The top teams in 2-AAAAA are beginning to separate themselves from the pack. Undefeated Northside-Warner Robins and Houston County and one-loss teams Jones County and Warner Robins won their games by a combined score of 167-13 and are the only teams in the region with fewer than two losses. All four teams reached the playoffs last year and are heavy favorites to do it again.

- East Paulding’s 46-21 victory over previously unbeaten New Manchester left Alexander as the only remaining undefeated team in 5-AAAAA. East Paulding and New Manchester are two of the five teams – along with Allatoona, Paulding County and South Paulding – with one loss in region play. Alexander will try to hold on to first place on Friday when it faces defending region champ Allatoona.

- Two of the four 8-AAAAA teams that were undefeated in region play suffered their first losses on Friday. Loganville lost to defending region champion Lanier 21-6, and Salem lost to Winder-Barrow 35-34 in overtime when it failed on a two-point conversion. Lanier will have next weekend off before playing at Gainesville, the only other team unbeaten in region play.