The Week 3 Class 4A slate kicks off with two Thursday games (Westover vs. Spencer and Southwest DeKalb vs. Decatur) before a packed 43-game Friday schedule. There will be five cross-region matchups within the classification in addition to a pair of Region 8 matchups. Region 2′s Griffin will visit Region 4′s Whitewater, Region 2′s Spalding will face Region 4′s Fayette County, Region 3′s Benedictine will visit Region 6′s Westminster, Region 5′s Luella will visit Region 4′s Starr’s Mill and Region 7′s Centra-Carroll will visit Region 5′s Hampton. In Region 8, Cedar Shoals will host East Forsyth in their region opener, while East Hall takes on Johnson-Gainesville—which occupies the region, but will not impact the standings.
There are plenty of significant matchups to track this weekend and No. 5 ranked Bainbridge will visit Thomas County Central—just one week after its noteworthy 24-21 victory over Coffee. Cairo, which scored a 28-3 win over Monroe this past week will host Thomasville in another big-time South Georgia battle.
In Region 2, Howard is observing a bye after its strong 2-0 start and 1-0 West Laurens will look to come off its bye week strong against a Houston County team that defeated No. 6 ranked Perry 57-56 this past week. The Panthers will look to bounce back from that narrow defeat with another big-time game against a powerhouse from a higher classification when they visit Class 5A no. 3 ranked Jones County.
Benedictine fell 41-15 to Miami powerhouse Christopher Columbus last Friday. This is nothing new, as the Cadets opened last season 0-2 against out-of-state teams and then ran the table with 13-straight victories to clinch the title. The Cadets will host Westminster, who is also coming off a loss; the Wildcats fell Pace Academy 21-19. That loss to Pace Academy was the first time the Knights have topped Westminster on the gridiron in program history. Pace Academy will be taking on Greater Atlanta Christian this Friday with an opportunity to improve to 3-0.
I have suggested that Region 4 is arguably going to be the toughest region in Class 4A this season and there will be key games to track this week with Starr’s Mill hosting Luella and Whitewater taking on Griffin. Region 5′s Hampton is off to a 2-0 start and will square off with 2-0 Central-Carroll out of Region 7. The Lions join Cedartown, Heritage-Catoosa, Northwest Whitfield and Southeast Whitfield as Region 7 teams that have opened up the season 2-0 and with Sonoraville at 1-1, Region 7 has produced a 11-1 start so far this year.
Region 8 is the largest in Class 4A with an 9-team region fighting for the four playoff spots the action starts this week in earnest with Cedar Shoals and East Forsyth. Cedar Shoals is 0-2 after last week’s 58-13 loss to Monroe Area and East Forsyth is 1-0 after scoring a 48-0 win over Seckinger.
CLASS 4A WEEK 3 SCHEDULE
REGION 1
Shaw 2-0
Bainbridge 1-1
Cairo 1-1
Hardaway 0-2
Westover 0-2
Thursday, Sept. 1
Westover vs. Spencer
Friday, Sept. 2
Bainbridge at Thomas County Central
Cairo vs. Thomasville
Hardaway vs. Northside-Columbus
Shaw at Harris County
REGION 2
Howard 2-0
Westside 2-0
West Laurens 1-0
Spalding 1-1
Baldwin 0-2
Griffin 0-2
Perry 0-1
Friday, Sept. 2
Baldwin vs. Ware County
Griffin at Whitewater
Perry at Jones County
Spalding at Fayette County
West Laurens vs. Houston County
Westside-Macon vs. Morrow
REGION 3
Burke County 2-0
New Hampstead 2-0
Benedictine 1-1
Wayne County 1-1
Islands 0-2
Southeast Bulloch 0-2
Friday, Sept. 2
Benedictine vs. Westminster
Islands at South Effingham
New Hampstead vs. Bradwell Institute
Wayne County vs. Appling County
REGION 4
Riverdale 1-1, 1-0 LaGrange 2-0
Starr’s Mill 2-0
Troup 2-0
Whitewater 2-0
Fayette County 0-2
Trinity Christian 0-2
North Clayton 1-1
Friday, Sept. 2
Fayette County vs. Spalding
North Clayton at McNair
Riverdale at Mundy’s Mill
Starr’s Mill vs. Luella
Trinity Christian at Mary Persons
Troup vs. Callaway
Whitewater vs. Griffin
REGION 5 Hampton 2-0
Pace Academy 2-0 McDonough 1-0
Stockbridge 1-1
Woodland-Stockbridge 1-1
Lovett 0-2
Luella 0-2
Mt. Zion-Jonesboro 0-2
Friday, Sept. 2
Hampton vs. Central-Carroll
Luella at Starr’s Mill
McDonough vs. Union Grove
Pace Academy at Greater Atlanta Christian
Stockbridge vs. Dougherty
Woodland-Stockbridge vs. McIntosh
REGION 6
Holy Innocents’ 1-1
Miller Grove 1-1
Westminster 1-1
Hapeville Charter 0-2
Southwest DeKalb 0-2
Stephenson 0-1
Druid Hills 1-0
Clarkston 0-1
Stone Mountain 0-2
Thursday, Sept. 1
Southwest DeKalb vs. Decatur
Friday, Sept. 2
Clarkston vs. Therrell
Druid Hills vs. Berkmar
Hapeville Charter vs. Pebblebrook
Holy Innocents’ at Christ Church
Miller Grove vs. Douglass
Stephenson vs. Arabia Mountain
Stone Mountain at Discovery
Westminster at Benedictine
REGION 7
Cedartown 2-0
Central-Carroll 2-0
Heritage-Catoosa 2-0
Northwest Whitfield 2-0
Southeast Whitfield 2-0
Sonoraville 1-1
Friday, Sept. 2
Cedartown vs. Sequoyah
Central-Carroll vs. Hampton
Heritage-Catoosa vs. Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe
Northwest Whitfield vs. Ringgold
Sonoraville vs. Dalton
Southeast Whitfield vs. Gordon Lee
REGION 8
East Forsyth 1-0
East Hall 1-0
North Oconee 1-0
Walnut Grove 1-0
Madison County 1-1
Cedar Shoals 0-2
Cherokee Bluff 0-2
Chestatee 0-1
North Hall 0-1
Johnson-Gainesville 0-2
Seckinger 0-2
Friday, Sept. 2
Cedar Shoals vs. East Forsyth (REGION GAME)
Chestatee at White County
East Hall vs. Johnson-Gainesville
North Hall vs. Dawson County
North Oconee vs. South Forsyth
Walnut Grove at Chattahoochee County
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