The start of the 2020 Georgia Football season is in less than two weeks and Class 4A’s schedule is set to begin for the majority of the classification’s 54 teams. As of Friday, Aug. 21, 29 teams have a 10-game regular season schedule planned. Here is a region-by-region look at how COVID has impacted the 4A slate.
REGION 1: Bainbridge, Cairo, Dougherty, Monroe, Thomas County Central, Westover
*Dougherty, Monroe and Westover will not start their season until Sept. 30. Cairo and Thomas County Central maintain a 10-game schedule and Bainbridge currently has a nine-game slate.
REGION 2: Carver-Columbus, Columbus, Hardaway, Jordan, LaGrange, Shaw, Spencer, Troup
*Most teams are set for 10-game regular season schedule except Carver, Kendrick, Shaw and Spencer which have each lost one opponent.
REGION 3: Benedictine, Islands, Jenkins, New Hampstead
*Region 3 has been largely impacted by the Savannah-Chatham County School District’s decision to postpone the start of the season to Sept. 30. Benedictine—a private military school—only has a six-game schedule at this point and Islands, Jenkins and New Hampstead will play a seven-game regular season slate in 2020.
REGION 4: Baldwin, Howard, Perry, Rutland, Spalding, West Laurens, Westside-Macon
*The big news in Region 4 is that Bibb County-based Howard, Rutland and Westside-Macon have all had their season’s suspended indefinitely. If they do not get the season started, then this will leave Baldwin, Perry, Spalding and West Laurens to compete in 4-team region.
REGION 5: Fayette County, Hampton, Luella, McDonough, Mt. Zion-Jonesboro, North Clayton, Riverdale
*McDonough currently only has eight games scheduled this season and North Clayton and Riverdale each have nine. The region competition, however, is unaffected by these disruptions at this point and Fayette County, Hampton, Luella and Mt. Zion are all preparing for a full 10-game slate.
REGION 6: Arabia Mountain, Druid Hills, Hapeville Charter, Marist, Mays, Miller Grove, Stephenson
*Fulton-County’s Hapeville Charter will not start its season until Sept. 14 and the region’s four DeKalb-based teams Arabia Mountain, Druid Hills, Miller Grove and Stephenson are all suspended until Sept. 30. As a result, Druid Hills, Miller Grove and Stephenson will only have six games this season and Arabia Mountain will play a seven-game schedule. Hapeville Charter still has nine games on its slate and Mays and Marist are still poised for a full 10-game schedule.
REGION 7: Cedartown, Central-Carroll, Heritage-Catoosa, Northwest Whitfield, Pickens, Ridgeland, Southeast Whitfield
*Region 7 does not have any teams that have delayed their starts, but Cedartown and Central-Carroll both only have nine games on their schedule at this point. The rest of the region is on track for a full 10-game season.
REGION 8: Cedar Shoals, Chestatee, East Hall, Flowery Branch, Jefferson, Madison County, North Oconee
*Region 8 is the only region in the classification that has all of its schools set to play full 10-game seasons.
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