There will be four Thursday night games and 23 Friday night games within Class 4A this week with 22 of the total 27 matchups being region showdowns. As a result, Week 10 is going to be a significant milestone regarding the overall playoff picture. In Region 1, Hardaway and Shaw square off Thursday night and Hardaway can guarantee a playoff berth with a victory. A Shaw win would have an additional outcome because the Raiders still play Westover in their finale and can ascend to a No. 3 seed if Westover falls to Cairo and then Shaw defeats the Patriots a week from Friday. In Region 2, a Spalding win over Westside-Macon would guarantee both Perry and the Jags home field in the first round and set the stage for another region championship game between No. 4 Perry and No. 6 Spalding on the Oct. 27. That matchup will be Spalding’s season finale and then Perry will face West Laurens in its finale on Nov. 3.
In Region 3, Benedictine (8-0, 3-0) defeated Southeast Bulloch 28-7 and can clinch the region title this Week against Wayne County. The Cadets’ 3-0 region mark stands above Burke County (2-1), who Benedictine previously defeated and the Jackets (2-1), who previously fell to Burke County. A Wayne County win over Benedictine would be significant beyond the region implications, but it would also open up the possibility for a three-way tie. If Benedictine wins, the Cadets get the No. 1 seed and Burke County would be able to lock up the No. 2 seed after its bye against New Hampstead.
Trinity Christian controls its destiny in Region 4 with a 4-0 region mark, however Troup, LaGrange and Starr’s Mill are each sitting at 3-1 heading into this week. The Lions will take on LaGrange, Troup will play Fayette County Thursday night and then Starr’s Mill will look to keep its home field aspirations alive at home against Riverdale. North Clayton (2-3) and Whitewater (1-2) square off and it is a must-win for both teams to remain in playoff contention. Region 5 front-runner Stockbridge will visit winless Woodland-Stockbridge on Friday as Pace Academy and Luella battle for an out-right grasp on the No. 2 seed. Pace Academy will take on Stockbridge next week and a win over Luella would make that a potential region championship game.
The major action this past week occurred in Region 6 and Region 8 and the playoff picture experienced a dramatic shakeup following the results. In Region 6, Hapeville Charter entered the week as the only 2-0 team, however, the Hornets were toppled 34-0 by Westminster—which was coming off a Stephenson loss. Prior to the Stephenson game, Westminster had picked up a 9-3 win over Holy Innocents’ in its region opener. Holy Innocents’ scored a 47-7 win over Miller Grove and a 36-0 win over Southwest DeKalb to join the Wildcats and Hornets at 2-0 and Stephenson’s path to 2-1 came with a 20-13 loss to Hapeville Charter and big victories over Westminster (20-13) and Miller Grove (49-24). This leaves Region 6 with four teams currently tied with 2-1 region records and Miller Grove sits at 1-2. The path forward will see Stephenson take on Holy Innocents’ and Southwest DeKalb following a bye this week. Holy Innocents’ will also be on a bye and will take on Hapeville Charter after the Stephenson game. Westminster will be off this week before closing the season with Southwest DeKalb and Miller Grove and Hapeville Charter will observe its bye before critical contests against Miller Grove and Holy Innocents. As a result, there is still a possibility that two teams can finish with just one region loss and splitting their final two games also won’t necessary guarantee a playoff berth.
Region 8 is going to experience an equally compelling log-jam with the exception of the No. 1 seed, which is heavily favored to go to No. 2 ranked North Oconee. The 7-0 Titans are 5-0 in region play and have a two-game lead with just three weeks ago. Each of its next three opponents (Walnut Grove, East Hall and Cherokee Bluff) have already dropped more than two region games and therefore a win this week against Walnut Grove would secure the region title regardless of the the results from the final two games.
North Hall, East Forsyth and Madison County are all vying for the No. 2 seed and have a slight lead over Cedar Shoals, Cherokee Bluff and Walnut Grove—all of which have three region losses to their three. As previously mentioned, North Hall, East Forsyth and Madison County have already lost to North Oconee. What matters now is where the other in-region loss occurred. North Hall’s was a 49-35 loss to Madison County and after this week’s bye, the Trojans will close out the season at Cedar Shoals and home against East Forsyth. With East Forsyth, the Broncos control their destiny for the No. 2 seed, because in addition to the North Oconee loss, the Broncos fell to a three-loss Cherokee Bluff team and will take on Madison County this week before Chestatee and North Hall. Cherokee Bluff fell in a 27-26 heartbreaker to Madison County and lost 27-17 to North Hall and 21-16 to Walnut Grove to form their 3-3 region record. The Bears still have East Hall and North Oconee on the schedule. The Bears will need to win this week to improve to 4-3 in the Region and could eventually benefit from their prior win over East Forsyth. Similar to Cherokee Bluff’s win over East Forsyth, Cedar Shoals threw another wrench into the picture with this week’s 40-36 win over Madison County. The Jaguars’ three losses are to North Oconee, Cherokee Bluff and East Forysth and they will close out the season with Chestatee and North Hall. Walnut Grove’s 21-16 win over Cherokee Bluff this past week kept their playoff hopes alive and the Warriors have North Oconee, Madison County and Chestatee on the remaining schedule. Every result will impact the region as a whole moving forward and there are seven teams still in the playoff picture. As noted, if North Oconee can win this week against Walnut Grove then the Titans will secure the No. 1 seed, but the final three playoff spots will be far from settled.
Region 7 was off last week and all three matchups will be huge for the playoff picture. Central-Carroll (2-0) and Northwest Whtifield (2-0) will face Southwest Whitfield (0-2) and Heritage-Catoosa (1-1), respectively ahead of their matchup next Friday night. Additionally, Sonoraville (0-2) will visit Cedartown (1-1).
Class 4A Week 9 Results and Current Standings
Region 1
Cairo 2-0, 7-1
Bainbridge 2-0, 6-2
Westover 1-1, 4-4
Shaw 0-2, 3-5 Hardaway 0-2, 0-8
Thursday, Oct. 19
*Hardaway vs. Shaw
Friday, Oct. 20
*Westover vs. Cairo
Region 2
Spalding 4-0, 8-0
Perry 4-0, 7-1
Westside-Macon 2-1, 6-1 Baldwin 1-2, 4-3
Griffin 1-3, 1-7
Howard 0-3, 3-4
West Laurens 0-3, 2-5
Thursday, Oct. 19
*Griffin vs. Howard
Friday, Oct. 20
*Baldwin vs. West Laurens
*Spalding vs. Westside-Macon
Region 3
Benedictine 3-0, 8-0
Burke County 2-1, 7-1
Wayne County 2-1, 6-2
Southeast Bulloch 1-2, 4-4
New Hampstead 1-2, 3-4
Islands 0-3, 0-8
Friday, Oct. 20
*Islands vs. New Hampstead
*Wayne County vs. Benedictine
Region 4
Trinity Christian 4-0, 5-2
Troup 3-1, 6-1
LaGrange 3-1, 5-2
Starr’s Mill 3-1, 4-3
North Clayton 2-3, 4-4
Whitewater 1-3, 3-4
Fayette County 1-3, 1-6
Riverdale 0-5, 0-8
Friday, Oct. 20
*LaGrange vs. Trinity Christian
*Starr’s Mill vs. Riverdale
*Whitewater vs. North Clayton
Region 5
Stockbridge 4-0, 5-2
Pace Academy 3-1, 4-3
Luella 3-1, 3-4
McDonough 2-2, 5-2
Lovett 2-2, 2-5
Hampton 2-2, 3-4
Mt. Zion-Jonesboro 0-3, 0-6
Woodland-Stockbridge 0-3, 0-6
Friday, Oct. 20
*Lovett vs. Mt. Zion-Jonesboro
*McDonough vs. Hampton
*Pace Academy vs. Luella
*Woodland-Stockbridge vs. Stockbridge
Region 6
Holy Innocents’ 2-1, 7-1
Stephenson 2-1, 6-2
Westminster 2-1, 5-3
Hapeville Charter 2-1, 4-4
Miller Grove 1-2, 5-3
Southwest DeKalb 0-3, 2-6
+Druid Hills 0-0, 5-1-1
+Clarkston 0-0, 1-6
+Stone Mountain 0-0, 1-6
Friday, Oct. 20
Clarkston vs. Midtown
Druid Hills vs. Johnson-Gainesville
Stone Mountain vs. Lakeside-DeKalb
Region 7
Central-Carroll 2-0, 7-0
Northwest Whitfield 2-0, 6-1
Heritage-Catoosa 1-1, 4-3
Cedartown 1-1, 4-3
Sonoraville 0-2, 2-5
Southeast Whitfield 0-2, 1-6
Friday, Oct. 13
*Cedartown vs. Sonoraville
*Central-Carroll vs. Southeast Whitfield
*Heritage-Catoosa vs. Northwest Whitfield
Region 8
North Oconee 5-0, 7-0
North Hall 4-2, 6-2
East Forsyth 3-2, 5-2
Madison County 3-2, 5-2
Cedar Shoals 3-3, 3-5
Cherokee Bluff 3-3, 3-5
Walnut Grove 2-3, 3-4
East Hall 1-4, 2-5
Chestatee 0-5, 0-7
+Johnson-Gainesville 0-0, 3-4
+Seckinger 0-0, 2-6
Thursday, Oct. 19
Seckinger vs. Cross Keys
Friday, Oct. 20
*Cherokee Bluff vs. East Hall
*Chestatee vs. Cedar Shoals
Johnson-Gainesville vs. Druid Hills
*Madison County vs. East Forsyth
*North Oconee vs. Walnut Grove
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