Credit: Stan Awtrey
Credit: Stan Awtrey
Back in August, before the first play was run, the Maxwell Rankings issued their projections for the upcoming season. They crunched numbers, dropped a little pixie dust in the computer and came out with their mathematical predictions for each region in the state.
Now, with two weeks left in the regular season, it’s a good chance to see where the rankings were accurate and which ones turned out to be a swing-and-a-miss.
How did your team do?
Region 1: OK, this was a tough region to predict. The teams had to play a lot of schools from outside the region that came from bigger classifications. Maxwell picked Bainbridge and the Bearcats are 2-5, but can earn a playoff spot with a win this week over Harris County.
Region 2: Ware County was picked to win the region and the Gators are currently tied for first place.
Region 3: Starr's Mill was the preseason pick and the Panthers still have a chance to win the league. They're in a four-way tie for first and would win a tiebreaker over Griffin, lose it to Whitewater and play Riverdale on Friday. Maxwell's big miss was Riverdale (6-2), which is picked the Raiders sixth in the region and 46th in the classification.
Region 4: Maxwell picked Stockbridge, which is dead on the money. Woodland, currently tied for second place, was slightly underrated in the preseason ratings.
Region 5: The formula was a failure here. Arabia Mountain, picked to finish fourth, can win the region by winning its final two games. Columbia and Southwest DeKalb were selected to finish ahead of the Rams.
Region 6: Maxwell predicted Grady would finish third in the region, but the Gray Knights are ranked No. 7 and will be the No. 1 seed from the league when the playoffs start.
Region 7: The big miss here was East Paulding, which Maxwell picked as the team to beat. The Raiders could still make the playoffs, but as the fourth-place team.
Region 8: Went on a limb and had Buford picked to finish first. The miss here was Flowery Branch as the runner-up, but the Falcons are currently in fifth place and likely to be left out of the playoffs.
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