Six of the eight region titles in Class 6A were settled last week, with the remaining two champions to be crowned Friday night in the final weekend of the high school football regular season.
Five of the six titles were claimed by teams that repeated as region champs. They are Thomas County Central, Woodward Academy, Marist, Roswell and Gainesville.
The exception to that group is Douglas County, which defeated Newnan 41-7 last week in a Region 5 game to clinch its first region championship since 2002. The Tigers had 759 total yards and were led by Sire Hardaway (244 yards passing, 75 rushing), Zamarcus Lindley (142 yards rushing) and Daryus Jackson (140 yards rushing). Douglas County is 9-0 overall, 6-0 in the region and ranked No. 3.
The key victory for Douglas County this season was its 30-27 win over defending state champion Hughes on Sept. 22 in what ultimately was the region championship game. Douglas County concludes the regular season Friday night against South Paulding and will open the playoffs at home on Nov. 10 against the No. 4 seed from Region 8 (Habersham Central, Shiloh or Jackson County).
The most dramatic championship-clinching game was Thomas County Central’s 31-24 victory over Lee County in Region 1. Thomas County Central stopped Lee County quarterback Weston Bryan inside the 3-yard line on fourth down with about a minute left after the Trojans had a touchdown called back on a penalty.
“Lee’s quarterback is a big young’un, he’s like a tight end, and our sophomore safety came up and wrapped him up, and our linebacker finished up.” Thomas County Central coach Justin Rogers told Todd Holcomb. “He hit him sideways where he couldn’t fall forward [a yard or less from a first down]. You know it’s two good teams when whether he falls forward or sideways determines the game. There were eight or nine plays like that where if one thing changes, the game changes for either side.”
It is the second consecutive region title for the Yellow Jackets, who are 19-0 in regular-season games and 21-1 overall since moving into Class 6A from 4A before last season. Lee County had won the 1-6A title the previous five seasons.
Woodward Academy clinched its second consecutive Region 3 championship and eighth region title in 10 years with a 38-8 victory against Mundy’s Mill. Woodward led only 10-8 at halftime but pulled away in the second half. Lucas Farrington scored two touchdowns for the War Eagles. Mundy’s Mill will be the region’s No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
Marist of Region 4 wrapped its fourth consecutive region championship with a 17-0 victory over rival St. Pius. The War Eagles conclude the regular season against Riverwood and can finish no worse than tied for first place with Dunwoody or North Atlanta, but Marist has beaten both and holds the tiebreaker. This week’s Dunwoody-North Atlanta game will determine second and third place.
Rome of Region 6 won its third consecutive region title and sixth in eight years with a 55-19 victory over Creekview. That was Rome’s closest region game of the year, as the Wolves have outscored their region opponents 287-29 in five games. The Wolves play last-place Etowah this week. Creekview will finish as the No. 3 seed behind Sequoyah.
Top-ranked Gainesville rolled to its second consecutive Region 8 championship with a 41-14 victory over North Forsyth. Gavin Hall rushed for 308 yards and three touchdowns as the Red Elephants won their 19th straight regular-season game under second-year coach Josh Niblett. North Forsyth, the region’s runner-up last year, will be the No. 3 seed this season behind Lanier.
The other two Class 6A region championships will be settled this weekend, and both could end in jumbled ties for first place.
In Region 7, defending champion Roswell goes into its game against Alpharetta as the region’s only remaining unbeaten team and can clinch its sixth region title in nine years with a victory. Alpharetta and Blessed Trinity have one loss each, and an Alpharetta victory likely creates a three-way tie among those teams (Blessed Trinity is a 41-point favorite against Lassiter, according the computer Maxwell Ratings), with the winner to be determined by the region’s tiebreaker rules.
Region 2 is looking at a similar scenario. Effingham County is the only remaining unbeaten team in region play and can capture its first region title since 1995 with a victory at home Friday against defending champion Brunswick. A Brunswick win probably would produce a three-way tie with Effingham County and Glynn Academy, all of which would have one loss and be 1-1 against each other.
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