There will be a total of 42 games played in Class 4A this weekend, including two Thursday games, 37 Friday games and three Saturday matchups. In Region 1-AAAA, No. 8 ranked Bainbridge will visit Class 5A No. 4 Coffee in an intriguing cross-classification top 10 showdown. Bainbridge reached the quarterfinals this past season and fell to Coffee 31-16 top open that season. Cairo and Dougherty will also be opening their seasons, while Monroe, Thomas County Central and Westover all try to find the win column after dropping their season openers this past week.
In Region 2-AAAA, Carver-Columbus will visit Spencer for the first region contest in the classification this season. Carver-Columbus is currently ranked No. 4 and is coming off a narrow 25-22 loss to Class 6A No. 2 ranked Lee County. Shaw will face Monroe Thursday night and LaGrange will visit Class 5A McIntosh with an opportunity to improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2015. The other big matchup to watch will be Troup at defending Class 2A state champion Callaway. Troup is led by sophomore quarterback Taeo Todd—who accounted for 261 total yards and three touchdowns in last week’s big 28-21 win over Harris County. Callaway was able to win this matchup 27-7 last year, but this was before Todd and the Tigers found their footing and went on to nearly win the Region 2 title in a 32-29 loss to Carver in the regular season finale.
Region 3 will see Islands face Windsor Forest on Thursday and No. 2 ranked Benedictine host Florida’s Christopher Columbus—which is a Class 8A program coming off a perfect 2020 season. Benedictine advanced to the semifinals last year and has made it to the quarterfinals in seven of the past eight seasons. Additionally, Jenkins will visit Beach and New Hampstead will take on Johnson-Savannah in another Savannah-area showdown.
It will be a light weekend in Region 4 with five of the seven teams off on bye weeks. Howard and Spalding will be the only teams competing this weekend from this region and the Huskies will be at Southwest Macon, while Spalding travels to Union Grove.
In Region 5, Riverdale will take on Region 6′s Mays on Saturday in the final game of the third annual Great Atlanta Bash. Mays won this matchup 35-28, but Riverdale went on to have its highest win total (8-3) since 2005 and advance to the state quarterfinals for the first time since 1998. McDonough has a big matchup with Class 3A powerhouse Mary Persons and Fayette County will play at Whitewater after its 67-0 win over Midtown last Friday. Luella plays Woodland-Stockbridge, Mt. Zion-Jonesboro plays Starr’s Mill and North Clayton takes on B.E.S.T. Academy in what should all be good non-region tests for these Region 5 programs.
The big game in Region 6 will be defending state champion and No. 3 ranked Marist taking on Class 5A No. 1 ranked Blessed Trinity in the War Eagles’ season opener. Arabia Mountain visits ML King, Druid Hills faces Redan, Hapeville Charter takes on Woodward Academy after their big 17-14 win over ELCA last week Miller Grove visits Lakeside-DeKalb and Stephenson hosts Southwest DeKalb.
In Region 7, Cedartown and Heritage-Catoosa are both off on bye weeks. Central-Carroll will host a tough Chapel Hill team, Northwest Whitfield will visit Gordon Central, Pickens will host Commerce, Ridgeland will visit Dalton and Southeast Whitfield will travel to Coahulla Creek.
There are six more games to keep an eye on in Region 8 and Madison County will be off on a bye week. Cedar Shoals takes on Class 3A powerhouse Oconee County, Chestatee visits another talented Class 3A program with Cherokee Bluff, East Hall hosts Class 3A’s West Hall in its season opener, No. 7 Flowery Branch hosts Class 3A’s Dawson County after its 21-14 win over St. Pius last Friday, No. 1 ranked Jefferson visits Class 6A Central Gwinnett and North Oconee hosts Class 5A Ola. Jefferson is coming off a 22-13 win over Class 2A No. 1 ranked Rabun County and Central Gwinnett defeated Discovery 20-0. Jefferson won last year’s matchup with the Black Knights 61-7.
Here’s a look at the Week 2 Schedule
REGION 1-AAAA
Bainbridge at Coffee
Cairo vs. Brooks County
Dougherty vs. Kendrick
Monroe at Appling County
Thomas County Central vs. Thomasville
Westover vs. American Collegiate Academy FL (Saturday)
REGION 2-AAAA
Carver-Columbus at Spencer (REGION GAME)
Columbus at Smiths Station AL
Hardaway at Sumter County
Jordan at Randolph Clay
Kendrick at Dougherty
LaGrange at McIntosh
Shaw vs. Monroe (Thursday)
Troup at Callaway
REGION 3-AAAA
Benedictine vs. Christopher Columbus FL
Islands vs. Windsor Forest (Thursday)
Jenkins at Beach
New Hampstead at Johnson, Savannah
REGION 4-AAAA
Baldwin (BYE)
Howard at Southwest Macon
Perry (BYE)
Rutland (BYE)
Spalding at Union Grove
West Laurens (BYE)
Westside, Macon (BYE)
REGION 5-AAAA
Fayette County at Whitewater
Hampton (BYE)
Luella vs. Woodland-Stockbridge
McDonough at Mary Persons
Mt. Zion-Jonesboro at Starr’s Mill
North Clayton vs. B.E.S.T. Academy
Riverdale vs. Mays (Saturday)
Region 6-AAAA
Arabia Mountain at ML King
Druid Hills vs. Redan
Hapeville Charter vs. Woodward Academy
Marist at Blessed Trinity
Mays vs. Riverdale (Saturday)
Miller Grove at Lakeside-DeKalb
Stephenson vs. Southwest DeKalb
Region 7-AAAA
Cedartown (BYE)
Central-Carroll vs. Chapel Hill
Heritage-Catoosa (BYE)
Northwest Whitfield vs. Gordon Central
Pickens vs. Commerce
Ridgeland at Dalton
Southeast Whitfield at Coahulla Creek
Region 8-AAAA
Cedar Shoals at Oconee County
Chestatee at Cherokee Bluff
East Hall vs. West Hall
Flowery Branch vs. Dawson County
Jefferson at Central Gwinnett
Madison County (BYE)
North Oconee vs. Ola
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