GHSA removes team from state tournament, reseeds Class 3A over missing scores
The Georgia High School Association removed Upson-Lee’s boys basketball team from the state tournament Monday night, two days before it was to play Cedar Grove in the first round, and moved five other Class 3A teams to different places on the draw after discovering four missing scores from the regular season.
The scores — which went unreported by Upson-Lee, Hephzibah and Westside of Augusta — changed the order of the GHSA’s Postseason Rankings Formula, the math model that helps select and seed playoff teams in classes 3A, 2A, A Division I and 3A-A Private.
Cairo’s boys, a 10-13 team that hasn’t played a game in 14 days and got word Saturday that it missed the playoffs, will take Upson-Lee’s place as the No. 28 seed against No. 5 seed Cedar Grove on Wednesday night.
Upson-Lee’s removal was not a direct GHSA punishment but the result of recalculating the rankings when other schools notified the GHSA on Monday afternoon of possible missing games.
Hephzibah’s girls and Westside’s boys, who had failed to report one loss apiece, dropped two places in the draw. Upson-Lee, which was 1-1 in unreported games, fell outside the 32-team playoff cutoff.
GHSA executive director Tim Scott said he considered removing all three teams from the tournament.
“Yes, I did think about that, but I also want to make sure I’m fair with what I’m doing and that everybody knows (the penalty) up front, and (playoff removal for failing to report scores) is not something we currently have in our bylaws,” Scott said. “There obviously will be a fine for not putting your information in the program, but we’ll discuss this with the executive committee to address it in the future. I think it’s a pretty big thing when you don’t enter a loss. It doesn’t only affect you, but other teams.”
Those other teams include Pickens’ boys, North Hall’s girls and Long County’s girls. In all, 12 teams have new first-round opponents for games Tuesday or Wednesday night.
In the boys draw, Pickens and Westside swapped seeds, with new No. 22 seed Pickens playing at No. 11-seeded Jefferson and new No. 23 seed Westside playing at Heritage of Ringgold.
In the girls bracket, Hephzibah dropped to No. 24 and will play at No. 9-seeded Ridgeland. North Hall and Long County each moved up one seed, to Nos. 23 and 24, respectively. North Hall now will play at Troup, and Long County will play at Oconee County.
The GHSA was notified of the possible scoring errors around 3:30 p.m. Monday, Scott said. The GHSA verified the mistakes and recalculated the Postseason Rankings Formula ratings, then began notifying the teams involved starting around 8 p.m., he said.
The girls teams, scheduled to play Tuesday, can play Wednesday, but the boys games, scheduled for Wednesday, must be played that day, Scott said.
GHSA associate director Don Corr, who maintains the PSR rankings, said the missing scores were not on the teams’ schedules submitted to the GHSA, so he was unable to anticipate they were missing.
Corr said he sends weekly reminders to athletic directors to report scores, with a backlog of about 140 unreported each week on average. Corr said he sends daily reminders in the week leading up to the final rankings, which he computed Saturday.
“I’ve got around 450 boys and 450 girls teams that I’m responsible for keeping up with, and school athletic directors should be able to keep up with their own scores and turn them in in a timely fashion, especially after all the reminders they get,” Corr said. “We have to rely on athletic directors to do their jobs. It’s frustrating.”
Beginning in 2026-27, the GHSA will use the Postseason Rankings Formula to select and seed playoff teams in all eight classes instead of the current four.
About the Author
Todd Holcomb covers high school sports across the state. He rejoined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2025 and has worked with the AJC in varying capacities since 1985. He is a co-founder and editor of Georgia High School Football Daily.
