Six region titles, about half of the playoff berths and most of the seedings in Class AAAAA are still up for grabs going into the last weekend of the high school football regular season.
Here’s a look at each region, and the games that will have the biggest impacts on the playoff picture.
*Region 1 (LaGrange at Northside-Columbus, Saturday) – Carver-Columbus clinched the region title with a victory over Northside last week, and the winner of the LaGrange-Northside game will finish second. Northside would be the No. 3 seed if it loses. A loss would leave LaGrange in a tie for third place with Columbus (off this week) and possibly Shaw, which would win a tiebreaker over Columbus for fourth place if it beats Harris County and LaGrange wins.
*Region 2 (Houston County at Northside-Warner Robins): A Northside victory would give the Eagles their 13th region title in 18 years and would drop Houston County to third place. A Houston County victory would force a three-way tie with Northside and Jones County that would be decided by points allowed among the tied teams. Warner Robins has clinched fourth place.
*Region 3 (South Effingham at Glynn Academy): Coffee is almost certain to win the region title, needing only a victory against 0-9 Bradwell Institute. Glynn Academy will finish as the No. 2 seed if it beats South Effingham, but a South Effingham victory would create a three-way tie for second place with Glynn and Ware County. All four teams have clinched playoff berths.
*Region 4 (Region play-in games): Third-ranked Stockbridge and No. 7 Northgate will play in the region championship game to determine the top two seeds. The other state playoff berths will go to the winners of the Drew/Woodland-Stockbridge and Starr's Mill/Dutchtown play-in games. Stockbridge beat Drew to win the region championship last season.
*Region 5 (Hiram at South Paulding): Allatoona can win the region title with a victory against Chapel Hill. South Paulding, Alexander and East Paulding are tied for second place, but South Paulding beat both teams. The Spartans' game against Hiram is the key because they could fall from the No. 2 seed to the No. 4 if they lose and East Paulding and Alexander win. All four teams are favored, and all have clinched playoff berths.
*Region 6 (Region play-in games): Second-ranked Mays and No. 5 Stephenson will play in the region championship game to determine the top two seeds. The other state playoff berths will go to the winners of the Carver-Atlanta/Miller Grove and Southwest DeKalb/Creekside play-in games. Creekside beat Stephenson to win the region championship last season.
*Region 7 (Region play-in games): Kell and Dalton will play a rematch of the 2014 region championship game to again decide the top two seeds. Kell beat the Catamounts 16-14 last season to win their third consecutive region title. The other state playoff berths will go to the winners of the Cambridge/Creekside and Riverwood/Rome games.
*Region 8 (Flowery Branch at Gainesville): Lanier clinched the region title last week and needs only a victory against 0-9 Apalachee to complete its second consecutive 10-0 regular season. Gainesville can clinch second place with a win against Flowery Branch, and Loganville will clinch the No. 2 or No. 3 seed if it beats Clarke Central. A Flowery Branch victory would create multiple tie opportunities that could include as many four teams. However, if the teams projected as favorites by the computer Maxwell Ratings win their games, the final order will be Lanier, Gainesville, Loganville and Winder-Barrow.
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