Football playoffs primer: First of 119 first-round games kick off Thursday

The Georgia high school football playoffs begin Thursday with the first two of 119 first-round games to be played from the Chattanooga suburb of Fort Oglethorpe to the Atlantic harbor town of Brunswick.

The first round often simply culls the herd — the computer Maxwell Ratings forecast 104 of 119 games correctly last year — but it takes only a few upsets and history-makers to make it special.

In 2024, unranked Sequoyah got the big surprise, beating Class 5A No. 6 Gainesville, a 13-point favorite, while King’s Ridge Christian, Ola and Providence Christian won their first playoff games in history.

This season, 12 teams can win their first playoff games in history.

Thursday’s opening games are Spencer vs. Miller Grove at Godfrey Stadium in DeKalb County and Westover vs. Troup at Callaway Stadium in Troup County. Almost every other game will be Friday night.

And it will be Laney of Augusta making the 257-mile trip to Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe on Friday night while Winder-Barrow goes 292 miles to Brunswick. There are longer trips than those, though.

Here is a primer of what to expect in the first round and beyond.

How it works: The 247 playoff teams are vying for eight championships, each playing in 32-team draws, although Class 3A-A Private will play with 23 teams and nine byes. The first four rounds are played in four weeks. The 16 finalists get the next weekend off but play for championships on Dec. 15-17 weekdays in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Favorites: The No. 1-ranked teams are Grayson (Class 6A), Hughes (5A), Creekside (4A), Sandy Creek (3A), Carver-Columbus (2A), Worth County (A Division I), Lincoln County (A Division II) and Hebron Christian (3A-A Private). Grayson, Carver and Hebron Christian are defending champions.

Regulars: Peach County is in the state playoffs for the 35th straight time, the longest active streak. Also present each season this century have been Marist (since 1994) and Buford (199). Teams with streaks of 20 seasons are longer are Fitzgerald (26), Cook (26), Lovett (24), Ware County (24), Cairo (23), Heard County (21), Savannah Christian (20), Carver-Columbus (20) and Callaway (20).

Newbies: Seckinger, a Gwinnett County school in its fourth season, is the only first-time playoff team. Those making their first appearances in more than a decade are Beach (2011), Treutlen (2009) and Towers (2009).

Seeking history: The 12 teams that can win playoff games for the first time are ACE Charter, Beach, East Forsyth, Glascock County, Hampton, Jackson County, KIPP Atlanta Collegiate, Locust Grove, Long County, Miller Grove, Seckinger and Towers. Among those, only Jackson County (against Centennial) and Locust Grove (against Glynn Academy) are favored to win.

Missing: Commerce missed the playoffs for the first time this season since 1996. Other teams whose long playoff streaks ended were St. Pius (19 seasons), Irwin County (13), Jones County (11) and Pelham (10).

Friday night lights: For the first time since 2019, almost every first-round game is on Friday night. Since 2020, the GHSA has scheduled two classifications for Saturday because of a shortage of playoff-eligible officials. The GHSA has worked to remedy the officials issue, and there will be only one Saturday game — North Clayton against LaGrange at Callaway Stadium. And that’s because Callaway’s three tenants — Troup, LaGrange and Callaway — all made the playoffs and don’t want to play on the same night.

Best first-round matchups: No. 8 Lee County at No. 10 Sprayberry in Class 5A is the lone game between top-10 teams. Lee County won 64-0 when they played in the 2024 quarterfinals but is only a 4-point Maxwell favorite in the rematch. PSN and Atlanta News First are televising that one from Marietta. The only other top-10 team playing on the road will be Class 6A No. 9 Colquitt County at Mill Creek in Gwinnett County. That’s the GPB Sports game of the week.

Travel log: The longest road trip will be Ringgold’s 339-mile journey to Pierce County. Cook to North Murray will be 299 miles. The shortest journey will be Marietta’s 6.6-mile trip to Harrison in Cobb County. The average first-round bus ride will be two hours one way.

GHSA playoffs first round schedule

(Friday unless noted)

Class 6A

• Colquitt County at Mill Creek
• Norcross at Grayson
• Marietta at Harrison
• North Forsyth at Carrollton
• Collins Hill at Lowndes
• South Gwinnett at North Gwinnett
• Hillgrove at North Paulding
• Westlake at West Forsyth
• East Coweta at Denmark
• Walton at McEachern
• Archer at Brookwood
• Dacula at Valdosta
• Lambert at Douglas County
• Paulding County at North Cobb
• Peachtree Ridge at Newton
• Richmond Hill at Buford

Class 5A

• Statesboro at Habersham Central
• Seckinger at Woodward Academy
• Villa Rica at Northgate
• Woodstock at Thomas County Central
• Clarke Central at Effingham County
• Chamblee at Roswell
• Newnan at New Manchester
• Coffee at Sequoyah
• Lee County at Sprayberry
• East Paulding at Hughes
• Dunwoody at Gainesville
• Winder-Barrow at Brunswick
• Creekview at Houston County
• Lovejoy at Rome
• Milton at Shiloh
• Glynn Academy at Jackson County

Class 4A

• Ware County at Flowery Branch
• Dalton at Creekside
• Lithonia at Griffin
• Centennial at Locust Grove
• Eastside at Warner Robins
• Jackson-Atlanta at Cartersville
• Jonesboro at Southwest DeKalb (at North DeKalb Stadium)
• Hampton at Kell
• Ola at Cambridge
• Tucker at Central-Carrollton
• Mays at Cass
• East Forsyth at Benedictine
• Blessed Trinity at Stockbridge
• Starr’s Mill at Marist
• Hiram at M.L. King (at Godfrey Stadium)
• Perry at North Oconee

Class 3A

• Dougherty at Jefferson
• Harlem at Heritage-Ringgold
• Westover at Troup (Thursday at Callaway Stadium)
• Liberty County at Cairo
• Whitewater at Jenkins
• Cherokee Bluff at Peach County
• Oconee County at Northwest Whitfield
• Beach at West Laurens
• Cedar Grove at Sandy Creek
• Pickens at Monroe Area
• Gilmer at Douglass
• Lumpkin County at Calhoun
• Richmond Academy at Stephenson (at Hallford Stadium)
• Long County at Westside-Augusta
• North Clayton at LaGrange
• Mount Zion-Jonesboro at North Hall

Class 2A

• Butler at Carver-Atlanta
• Ringgold at Pierce County
• KIPP Atlanta Collegiate at Sumter County
• Cook at North Murray
• Hart County at Appling County
• Columbus at Hapeville Charter
• Spencer at Miller Grove (Thursday at Godfrey Stadium)
• Westside-Macon at Morgan County
• Redan at Carver-Columbus
• Stephens County at Crisp County
• Franklin County at Callaway
• Jackson at Thomson
• East Jackson at Columbia (at Cobb Stadium)
• Sonoraville at Burke County
• Laney at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe
• South Atlanta at Rockmart

Class A Division I

• East Laurens at Heard County
• Social Circle at Haralson County
• ACE Charter at Fitzgerald
• Washington County at Dublin
• Fannin County at Northeast
• Bacon County at Swainsboro
• Putnam County at Thomasville
• Temple at Toombs County
• McNair at Worth County
• Jeff Davis at Bleckley County
• Oglethorpe County at Elbert County
• Towers at Gordon Lee
• Gordon Central at Jasper County
• Bremen at Pepperell
• Dodge County at Rabun County
• Berrien at Lamar County

Class A Division II

• Mitchell County at Warren County
• Manchester at Wheeler County
• GMC Prep at Emanuel County Institute
• Chattahoochee County at Clinch County
• Washington-Wilkes at Seminole County
• Wilcox County at Bowdon
• Jenkins County at Wilkinson County
• Lanier County at Schley County
• Charlton County at Macon County
• Glascock County at Screven County
• Treutlen at Mount Zion-Carroll
• Greene County at Early County
• Taylor County at Brooks County
• McIntosh County Academy at Johnson County
• Trion at Hawkinsville
• Randolph-Clay at Lincoln County

Class 3A-A Private