Sandy Creek pulled off an upset in the final game of the regular season, and all it got the program was a trip to the dreaded points tie-breaker world in Region 5.
The Patriots defeated No. 1 Cedar Grove 40-35 Friday, dropped to a No. 3 seed and will hit the road for the first two rounds of the state high school football tournament.
Sandy Creek’s victory against the Saints initiated the tiebreaker because the three top teams in the league beat each other: Sandy Creek beat Cedar Grove; Carver-Atlanta beat Sandy Creek, and Cedar Grove beat Carver-Atlanta. A points differential tie-breaker stipulated that if the Patriots beat Cedar Grove by 10 points or less and Carver beat Salem (it did), then Cedar Grove got the No. 1 seed, Carver got the No. 2 seed and Sandy Creek dropped to No. 3.
Now the Patriots are the only ranked team that will face a road trip in the first round (Dawson County), and assuming it wins, then a road trip to (most likely) No. 2 Pierce County in the second round.
The region champions are: Pierce County (Region 1), Crisp County (2), Liberty County (3), Thomson (4), Cedar Grove (5), Rockmart (6), Cherokee Bluff (7) and Monroe Area (8).
Speaking of Monroe Area, it ascended to the top of the rankings for the first time in school history after its flawless run through Region 8 and the jumbling at the top following Cedar Grove’s loss. Before 2012, Monroe Area had won just a single region title (1969) but since, the Purple Hurricanes have won four (2012, 2013 under Matt Flagg) including 2018 under head coach Kevin Reach.
Here are the first-round pairings, with the ranked teams highlighted, and the final regular-season rankings. Follow the link to the playoff brackets.
[Coming Tuesday: Breaking down the brackets.]
First-round schedule
R1#3 Long County at R3#2 Southeast Bulloch
R7#4 White County at R5#1 Cedar Grove (No. 5)
R6#3 Adairsville at R8#2 Oconee County (No. 2)
R4#4 Harlem at R2#1 Crisp County
R3#3 Johnson-Savannah at R1#2 Appling County (No. 6)
R5#4 Greater Atlanta Christian at R7#1 Cherokee Bluff (No. 10)
R8#3 Hart County at R6#2 Ringgold
R2#4 Jackson at R4#1 Thomson (No. 4)
R2#3 Mary Persons at R4#2 Burke County
R8#4 Stephens County at R6#1 Rockmart (No. 9)
R7#3 North Hall at R5#2 Carver-Atlanta (No. 8)
R1#4 Brantley County at R3#1 Liberty County
R4#3 Morgan County at R2#2 Peach County
R6#4 North Murray at R8#1 Monroe Area (No. 1)
R5#3 Sandy Creek (No. 7) at R7#2 Dawson County
R3#4 Windsor Forest at R1#1 Pierce County (No. 3)
Final regular-season rankings
1. (3) Monroe Area (10-0)
2. (4) Oconee County (9-1)
3. (5) Pierce County (8-2)
4. (6) Thomson (9-0)
5. (1) Cedar Grove (7-3)
6. (2) Appling County (9-1)
7. (8) Sandy Creek (9-1)
8. (7) Carver-Atlanta (7-2)
9. (10) Rockmart (9-1)
10. (NR) Cherokee Bluff (10-0)
Out: No. 9 Hart County
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