Class 4A Blog: Week 6 Primer, 11 region games to watch for

Miller Grove's Cayman Spalding carries the ball for a touchdown during a GHSA high school football game between Stephenson High School and Miller Grove High School at James R. Hallford Stadium in Clarkston, GA., on Friday, Oct. 8, 2021. (Photo/Jenn Finch)

Credit: Jenn Finch

Credit: Jenn Finch

Miller Grove's Cayman Spalding carries the ball for a touchdown during a GHSA high school football game between Stephenson High School and Miller Grove High School at James R. Hallford Stadium in Clarkston, GA., on Friday, Oct. 8, 2021. (Photo/Jenn Finch)

The Week 6 schedule includes 33 total matchups with 30 Friday games, three Thursday games and 11 region battles. Only one of the Thursday games will be a region matchup and that is Riverdale vs. Fayette County in Region 4. Additionally, Region 2, Region 4 and Region 8 will have region contests, while the remaining regions wrap up their non-region slate. In Region 1, No. 9 ranked Bainbridge will visit Class 5A No. 2 Ware County and is coming off a tough 26-18 loss to Brooks County. Cairo will host Salem, Hardaway visits Class 3A No. 7 Peach County, Shaw hosts Jordan and Westover hosts Northside-Columbus—rounding out the five cross-classification games occurring in Region 1.

In Region 2, No. 3 ranked Perry opens region play with a home game over undefeated Howard (4-0). Perry scored a 35-7 win over Peach County last Friday and Howard is fresh off a 14-3 win over Pike County. West Laurens opens up region play on the road against Griffin—who is looking for its first win of the year after an 0-4 start. Griffin was on a bye last week and West Laurens suffered a 33-0 loss to Bleckley County that dropped its record to 1-3. Finally, 1-3 Baldwin will host 2-2 Spalding to kickoff region play and both teams were off on byes last week.

No. 7 ranked Benedictine will visit Bolles (FL) after a bye last week and No. 6 Burke County will visit Statesboro after its big 28-21 overtime win against Oconee last week that improved its record to 4-0. Southeast Bulloch and Wayne County will be on the road against Hephzibah and Jenkins, respectively, and Islands is off on a bye to round out the Region 3 slate. Region 3 will open up region play next Friday with Burke County at Wayne County, Benedictine vs. New Hampstead, Islands at Southeast Bulloch.

Region 4 starts with Riverdale and Fayette County on Thursday. Fayette County is 1-0 in region play and Riverdale is 1-1. North Clayton is 0-2 in region play and will host Trinity Christian—which opened region play last Friday with a 20-15 win over Riverdale. No. 5 ranked Starr’s Mill and No. 4 Troup are both 4-0 overall and 1-0 in region play and will square off and No. 8 Whitewater will host LaGrange. Whitewater fell to Troup last Thursday and LaGrange dropped an overtime loss to Starr’s Mill. Both Whitewater and LaGrange are 3-1 overall with 0-1 region starts.

There are two non-region games in Region 5 with Lovett hosting Fellowship Christian and Mt. Zion-Jonesboro hosting Upson-Lee. The rest of the region—Stockbridge, Hampton, Pace Academy, McDonough, Luella and Woodland-Stockbridge—are off on their byes. In Region 6, Hapeville Charter faces Carver-Columbus and Stone Mountain hosts Drew on Thursday. On Friday, Clarkston visits Heard County, Druid Hill takes on Region 7′s Southeast Whitfield, Stephenson hosts rival Tucker and Westminster visits Riverwood. Miller Grove is off on its bye after falling in a 48-42 triple overtime marathon last week against Class 7A’s Central Gwinnett.

Cedartown, Heritage-Catoosa and previously-mentioned Southeast Whitfield will return to the field this Friday for non-region games, while Central-Carroll, Northwest Whitfield and Sonoraville are off on their byes. No. 1 ranked Cedartown (4-0) hosts Dalton, undefeated Heritage-Catoosa hosts Chattanooga Prep (TN) and Southeast Whitfield is set to host Druid Hills. Region 7 is the only region in Class 4A with all its teams possessing winning records heading into Week 6 and that is guaranteed to remain true—regardless of the results.

There are four region games to watch in Region 8 with East Hall at Cedar Shoals, No. 2 North Oconee at Chestatee, Walnut Grove at East Forsyth and Cherokee Bluff at North Hall. Additionally, Johnson-Gainesville is at East Jackson and Seckinger will host Forsyth Central. Cherokee Bluff improved to 2-0 in region play last Friday with a 42-21 win over Chestatee. East Forsyth and North Oconee are both 1-0 in region play, Walnut Grove, Cedar Shoals, Chestatee and North Hall are all 1-1 and East Hall joins Madison County with 0-2 starts.

CLASS 4A WEEK 4 RESULTS

REGION 1

Cairo 3-2

Shaw 2-3

Bainbridge 2-3

Westover 2-3

Hardaway 1-4

Friday, Sept. 23

Bainbridge at Ware County

Cairo vs. Salem

Hardaway at Peach County

Shaw vs. Jordan

Westover at Northside-Columbus

REGION 2

Howard 4-0

Westside 4-0

Perry 3-1

Spalding 2-2

West Laurens 1-3

Baldwin 1-3

Griffin 0-4

Friday, Sept. 23

*Baldwin vs. Spalding

*Perry vs. Howard

*Griffin vs. West Laurens

REGION 3

Burke County 4-0

New Hampstead 4-1

Wayne County 3-1

Benedictine 2-2

Islands 0-5

Southeast Bulloch 1-3

Friday, Sept. 23

Burke County at Statesboro

Wayne County at Jenkins

Benedictine at Bolles (FL)

Southeast Bulloch at Hephzibah

REGION 4

Starr’s Mill 4-0, 1-0

Troup 4-0, 1-0

Fayette County 1-3, 1-0

Trinity Christian 2-2, 1-0

Riverdale 2-3, 1-1 LaGrange 3-1, 0-1

Whitewater 3-1, 0-1

North Clayton 1-4, 0-2

Thursday, Sept. 22

*Riverdale vs. Fayette County

Friday, Sept. 23

*North Clayton vs. Trinity Christian

*Starr’s Mill vs. Troup

*Whitewater vs. LaGrange

REGION 5 Stockbridge 3-2, 2-0

Lovett 2-2, 2-0

Hampton 4-1, 1-1

Pace Academy 4-1, 1-1 McDonough 2-2, 1-1

Luella 1-4, 1-1

Woodland-Stockbridge 2-3, 0-2

Mt. Zion-Jonesboro 0-4, 0-2

Friday, Sept. 23

Lovett vs. Fellowship Christian

Mt. Zion-Jonesboro vs. Upson-Lee

REGION 6

Holy Innocents’ 3-2

Westminster 2-2

Miller Grove 2-3

Southwest DeKalb 2-3

Stephenson 1-2

Hapeville Charter 0-4

Druid Hills 1-2

Clarkston 1-3

Stone Mountain 0-4

Friday, Sept. 22

Hapeville Charter vs. Carver-Columbus

Stone Mountain vs. Drew

Friday, Sept. 23

Clarkston at Heard County

Druid Hills at Southeast Whitfield

Stephenson vs. Tucker

Westminster at Riverwood

REGION 7

Cedartown 4-0

Heritage-Catoosa 4-0

Central-Carroll 4-1

Northwest Whitfield 4-1

Southeast Whitfield 3-1

Sonoraville 3-2

Friday, Sept. 23

Cedartown vs. Dalton

Heritage-Catoosa vs. Chattanooga Prep

Southeast Whitfield vs. Druid Hills

REGION 8

Cherokee Bluff 2-2, 2-0

East Forsyth 3-0, 1-0

North Oconee 3-0, 1-0

Walnut Grove 3-1, 1-1

Cedar Shoals 1-3, 0-1

Chestatee 1-3, 1-1

North Hall 1-3, 1-1

East Hall 2-2, 0-2

Madison County 1-3, 0-2

Johnson-Gainesville 0-4, 0-0

Seckinger 0-3, 0-0

Friday, Sept. 16

*Cedar Shoals vs. East Hall

*Chestatee vs. North Oconee

*East Forsyth vs. Walnut Grove

*North Hall vs. Cherokee Bluff

Johnson-Gainesville vs. East Jackson

Seckinger vs. Forsyth Central