Friday recap: Lowndes, Appling County, Jefferson get big wins

Lowndes won the Winnersville Classic, Appling County beat No. 1 Toombs County, Jefferson ended North Oconee’s 33-game region winning streak, and 23 teams clinched region titles - five for the first time in 10 or more years - in football games Friday night.

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Lowndes, ranked No. 5 in Class 7A, beat No. 4 Valdosta 32-21 in a game between 8-0 teams in the state’s most famous rivalry.

The game, held at Lowndes’ Martin Stadium, was the first in 30 years between the crosstown rivals when both had top-five rankings in the highest class. Lowndes (9-0, 4-0) now leads Region 1 and can clinch its first region title since 2021 with a victory over No. 9 Colquitt County (6-3, 3-1) next week.

In Class 3A, No. 2 Appling County beat No. 1 Toombs County 11-7 in another game between 8-0 teams. Toombs entered averaging 58.0 points per game, the most in the state in any class. The victory was Appling County’s first over a No. 1 team since 1967 (Dodge County).

Region 3-3A is not settled as Appling faces No. 3 Pierce County (8-1, 5-1) next week.

In Class 5A, No. 8 Jefferson beat No. 5 North Oconee 27-17 for the Region 8 championship, ending North Oconee’s five-year reign as a champion.

Jefferson has now won five straight region titles of its own, as the two northwest Georgia teams haven’t been region rivals in several years, but North Oconee had beaten Jefferson 35-0 each of the past two seasons in non-region games.

In Class 6A, No. 1 Thomas County Central beat No. 6 Coffee 27-7 to win Region 2. It was Thomas Central’s 24th straight victory and clinched Region 2 as the Yellow Jackets are 9-0 overall, 5-0 in region play.

In Class A, No. 9 Clinch County beat No. 4 Charlton County 34-10 in the Swamp War. Clinch, Charlton and No. 7 Mitchell County are now in a three-way tie for first place in Region 2.

Three Top 10 teams lost to unranked teams, as Lithonia beat No. 4 Tucker 28-21 in 6A; Calhoun beat No. 10 Northwest Whitfield 24-10 in 4A, 31-17; and Laney beat No.8 Social Circle 16-14 in 2A.

Lithonia (4-4) and Calhoun (4-4) were ranked in preseason but started their seasons 1-4. They are now in position to claim region-title shares.

Winning regions for the first time in 10 or more years were Dougherty, LaGrange, East Paulding, Randolph-Clay and Heritage of Conyers.

No. 7 Dougherty of Class 4A beat Westover 31-8 to win Region 1 in a game between coaching brothers: Uyl Joyner for Dougherty and Corey Joyner for Westover. The region title is Dougherty’s first since 2005. Both teams entered 7-1. Albany teams had not met in a game with better records since 1996.

LaGrange, the No. 9 team in Class 5A, won its first region title since 2006 with a 50-13 victory over Griffin in Region 3.

East Paulding, the No. 9 team in Class 6A, won its first region title since 2012 with a 48-7 victory over South Paulding in Region 5. East Paulding, just 6-5 last season, is 9-0.

Randolph-Clay clinched Region 1-A with a 28-8 victory over Terrell County. Randolph-Clay, ranked No. 3 in Class 3A, hadn’t won a region title since 2015. The Devils (9-0) hadn’t had a winning season since 2016.

Heritage, a 1-9 team last season, beat Dunwoody 27-7 for the Region 4-6A title. Heritage’s most recent region title came in 2016, when it was also 1-9 the season before. Heritage is 8-1 this season.

Also winning region titles with victories Friday were McEachern (3-7A), North Paulding (5-7A), Buford (8-7A), Sequoyah (6-6A), Jackson County (8-6A), Cartersville (7-5A), Sandy Creek (4-4A), North Hall (6-4A), Monroe Area (8-4A), Columbia (6-3A), Rockmart (7-3A), Dublin (2-2A), Fannin County (7-2A), Prince Avenue Christian (8-2A), Bowdon (7-A) and Lincoln County (8-A).