High school football playoffs live blog: What to know before tonight’s games

The road to Atlanta has never been shorter — and tougher — than it will be Friday night for 16 Georgia high school football teams.

The GHSA football semifinals will kick off Friday night, and Peach State powerhouses will battle teams trying to make their first state championship.

National attention will shift to the only quarterfinal game being played Friday night. That’s the highly-anticipated matchup between Gainesville and Hughes, two nationally-ranked Class 5A teams who had to wait an extra week to play after Gainesville and the GHSA litigated punishments for a brawl in the school’s second-round game at Brunswick.

Previews — including predictions and historical information — of every fourth-round matchup can be found below:

• Class 6A
• Class 5A
• Class 4A
• Class 3A
• Class 2A
• Class A Division I
• Class A Division II
• Class 3A-A Private

AJC Varsity’s playoff brackets can be found here.

Four reigning champions still alive in title defense

The defending state champions of GHSA’s four biggest classifications have already been eliminated. Only four still have a chance to defend their state title.

Here are the four defending state champions that are still fighting for the lives in the semifinals.

Class 2A: Burke County at Carver-Columbus (-26)

Class A Division I: Toombs County (-8) at Heard County

Class A Division II: Bowdon (-5) at Clinch County

Class 3A-A Private: Greater Atlanta Christian at Hebron Christian (-24)

Grayson (6A), Milton (5A), North Oconee (4A) and Calhoun (3A) all lost in the second and third rounds.

GHSA semifinals spreads, rankings

Below are the final regular season top-10 rankings and point spreads, according to Maxwell Rankings, for every Georgia high school football playoff game on Friday night. Notably, the only unranked team still playing is Pepperell in Class A Division I.

Class 6A

• No. 2 Buford (-14) at No. 5 Valdosta
• No. 8 North Gwinnett at No. 3 Carrollton (-19)

Class 5A

• No. 4 Gainesville at No. 1 Hughes (-11)

Class 4A

• No. 6 Marist at No. 4 Benedictine (EVEN)
• No. 5 Kell at No. 1 Creekside (-30)

Class 3A

• No. 8 LaGrange at No. 1 Sandy Creek (-14)
• No. 7 West Laurens at No. 3 Jefferson (-7)

Class 2A

• No. 9 Sumter County (-17) at No. 12 Hapeville Charter
• No. 9 Burke County at No. 1 Carver-Columbus (-26)

Class A Division I

• No. 2 Toombs County (-8) at No. 3 Heard County
• Pepperell at No. 1 Worth County (-18)