The volume of region action increases significantly this upcoming week as more of classification is set to play out the region portion of its schedule. Before each of the regions reached this point, Class 4A was challenged with a non-region schedule that pinned Georgia’s middle classification against top outsiders ranging from Class A all the way up to Class 7A. Now, all the focus will be on the individual playoff races in each of the classification’s eight regions and Week 7 is the first of the many important weeks remaining of the 2020 regular season. In total, 22 of the 27 games that will be played in Class 4A this week will be region contests. Three region games will kickoff on Thursday, 17 will be played on Friday and another two region battles will occur on Saturday. Additionally, Friday will feature a total of five non-region games. Today’s blog will give an overview of what to look for in each region moving forward and Thursday’s blog will go into deeper detail in previewing some of the most significant region matchups.
REGION 1
Region 1 will open region play this week with one Thursday matchup and three Friday contests. The six teams competing in Region 1 have had a unique start when compared to other regions in the classification. Three of the teams started on time with Bainbridge, Thomas County and Cairo competing in a combined 11 games, while Dougherty, Monroe and Westover have each only played one game following their delayed starts. Dougherty, Monroe and Westover are all three 0-1 heading into region play, while the trio of Bainbridge (1-3), Thomas County Central (1-3) and Cairo (0-3) have also struggled to find the win column against a challenging gauntlet that featured ranked opponents in 9-of-11 games. Thursday’s game will pin Monroe against Thomas County Central. The Yellow Jackets have won their last 16 matchups against Monroe—including last season’s 35-22 victory. On Friday, watch for Bainbridge vs. Cairo. The all-time matchup goes in favor of Cairo 35-33-7, however, Bainbridge has won three-straight and five of the last six meetings against the Syrupmakers—including last year’s 14-10 victory. Finally, Dougherty will be looking to snap a 10-game losing streak at home when they host Westover on Friday. Last season, Westover defeated Dougherty 48-0, the largest margin of victory seen by any team in the 50 all-time meetings between the programs.
REGION 2
Region 2 is the largest region in Class 4A with a total of nine team and so their push for the playoffs is already well underway. Currently, Carver-Columbus (3-0, 3-0), LaGrange (4-1, 3-0) and Hardaway (3-1, 2-0) are the only teams in Region 2 that are yet to suffer a region defeat. Carver-Columbus and LaGrange will square off in a major clash on Friday and Hardaway will take on Columbus (1-4, 1-2). Winless Kendrick (0-4, 0-3) faces Troup on Thursday (2-3, 2-1) with the Tigers looking to pick up another key region victory to keep their playoff hopes on the right track. Troup’s region loss came to Hardaway (28-26) and they still have Carver-Columbus and LaGrange on the schedule so they will need to take care of business against Kendrick. The other region matchup this week will see winless Shaw (0-4, 0-2) take on Jordan (2-2, 2-1). Jordan is fresh off a 37-14 win over Kendrick and its only region loss came to Columbus (41-26)—leaving tough matchups against Carver-Columbus, LaGrange, Hardaway and Troup on its remaining region schedule following Friday’s trip to Kinnett Stadium to face off with Shaw.
REGION 3
All four teams in Region 3 will be playing non-region contests this Friday. No. 3 ranked Bendectine is schedule to play Class 3A No. 6 ranked Appling County, No. 6 ranked Islands faces Groves, Jenkins faces Windsor Forest and New Hampstead will take on Beach.
REGION 4
There will be three region games taking place in Region 4 this week with Westside-Macon having the lone bye in the seven-team region. Rutland, Westside-Macon and Spalding each suffered region defeats last weekend at the hands of Baldwin, Perry and West Laurens. Howard was on the bye so they are still 0-1 in region action. None of the three 1-0 teams are matched up against one another so this will be an opportunity for them to gain even more ground in the standings. Baldwin will face Rutland, Perry will play Spalding and West Laurens will take on Howard.
REGION 5
There will be three region matchups taking place in Region 5 this week, but they will be spread out with Fayette County and North Clayton squaring off Thursday, Hampton and Luella facing off on Friday and Mt. Zion Jonesboro playing Riverdale on Saturday. Luella became the first team to reach 2-0 in region play this past week with its 20-14 win over McDonough. This was the only Region 5 matchup on last week’s schedule and the rest of the five teams were off on bye weeks. Fayette County (3-1, 1-0) will look to keep its flawless region record in check against a North Clayton (0-5, 0-2) team searching for its first win of the season. As for Riverdale (2-2, 1-0), the Raiders have a chance to remain unbeaten in region play with its matchup with winless Mt. Zion-Jonesboro (0-4, 0-1) on Saturday.
REGION 6
Region 6 will feature the only top 10 Class 4A Week 7 matchup with No. 1 Marist taking on No. 8 Hapeville Charter. Marist is coming off a prolonged two-week bye after having to cancel its matchup with Chapel Hill following a strong 3-0 start that features a 111-3 total margin of victory. Hapeville Charter, meanwhile comes off an impressive 21-0 win over Mays in last week’s region opener. Arabia Mountain and Miller Grove play on Friday and Mays will square off with Druid Hills on Saturday.
REGION 7
Southeast Whitfield will play Trion in non-region play and the rest of Region 7 will square off in a trio of intriguing region openers. Cedartown will face Pickens, Heritage-Catoosa will take on Ridgeland and Northwest Whitfield will face Central-Carroll. Northwest Whitfield sits at 4-0 and is currently ranked No. 6 in the polls. Central-Carroll is 3-1 and is fresh off an impressive 32-13 win over Class 2A No. 10 ranked Heard County.
REGION 8
Last week in Region 8, No. 2 Jefferson defeated Flowery Branch 40-10 to open up region play and North Oconee scored a 41-26 win over Madison County. East Hall and Cedar Shoals' matchup was called off. This week will see a trio of Friday matchups. Cedar Shoals will open up its region schedule against Madison County, while East Hall will face Jefferson in its region opener. Lastly, Chestatee will take on North Oconee in its region opener.
WEEK 7 Schedule
Thursday, Oct. 15
Monroe vs. Thomas County Central
Kendrick vs. Troup
Fayette County vs. North Clayton
Friday, Oct. 16
Bainbridge vs. Cairo
Dougherty vs. Westover
Carver-Columbus vs. LaGrange
Columbus vs. Hardaway
Jordan vs. Shaw
Benedictine vs. Appling County
Islands vs. Groves
Jenkins vs. Windsor Forest
New Hampstead vs. Beach
Baldwin vs. Rutland
Perry vs. Spalding
West Laurens vs. Howard
Hampton vs. Luella
Arabia Mountain vs. Miller Grove
Marist vs. Hapeville Charter
Cedartown vs. Pickens
Central-Carroll vs. Northwest Whitfield
Ridgeland vs. Heritage-Catoosa
Southeast Whitfield vs. Trion
Cedar Shoals vs. Madison County
Jefferson vs. East Hall
North Oconee vs. Chestatee
Saturday, Oct. 17
Mt. Zion-Jonesboro vs. Riverdale
Druid Hills vs. Mays
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