The Week 8 schedule will feature 28 total matchups, including 27 region games with 26 Friday contests and one game on Thursday and Saturday. In Region 1, No. 8 ranked Bainbridge will host Westover in its region opener, white Cairo looks to become the first team in the region to reach 2-0 at home against Hardaway. Cairo carries a 4-game win-streak into kickoff and has outscored its last two opponents (Salem 62-0, Shaw 34-0) by a combined 106-0.

In Region 2, Spalding and Perry are at the top of the standings with 2-0 starts in region play. Spalding has big wins over Baldwin (40-14) and Griffin (32-0) already and is set to host Howard—which was 4-0 in non-region play before its 0-2 region start that saw a 49-0 Perry defeat and a 45-0 loss to Baldwin last week. Perry will visit Griffin on Saturday and has won 5-straight since a 57-56 loss to Houston County Week 1. The Panthers picked up a 49-0 win over Howard and 39-7 win over Westside-Macon to fuel its 2-0 region start. Additionally, Westside-Macon will host West Laurens as both programs look to win their first region game of the year.

The big matchup in Region 3 will be No. 5 Burke County at No. 6 ranked Benedictine in their region opener. Southeast Bulloch will visit New Hampstead and No. 10 ranked Wayne County will host Islands after moving up to No. 9 in the polls with its 4-1 start. Southeast Bulloch is currently the only team with a region win after topping 0-6 Islands last week.

Region 4 will have significant region action again this week—headlined by No. 7 ranked Whitewater’s home game against Trinity Christian. Trinity Christian moved to 3-0 in the region last week with a 3-0 win over Starr’s Mill and can join Troup as the first team to reach 4-0 in the region with a win. Whitewater’s lone region loss came to Troup and so a win over Trinity Christian would be huge in the head-to-head if Whitewater is to earn a No. 2 seed or No. 1 seed—depending how these final four weeks unfold. LaGrange will host North Clayton, Starr’s Mill will host Fayette County and Troup will visit Riverdale.

The two leading teams in the Region 5 standings will be facing off this week with Lovett and Stockbridge. Both teams are 3-0 in the region and the winner will control its destiny in route to the region title. Region 6 offers a similar scenario with Westminster and Stephenson facing off, but Miller Grove (also 1-0 in the region) has a big road trip to Holy Innocents—which is coming off a 15-14 loss to Westminster.

In Region 7, No. 1 Cedartown and No. 10 Heritage-Catoosa will meet in a battle of undefeated 6-0 teams. Both teams have topped opponents by more than 28 ppg so far and lead a region that has its four other teams all sitting at 4-2 overall. Sonoraville joins Cedartown and Heritage-Catoosa in the 1-0 camp and will face Central-Carroll and rivals Northwest Whitfield and Southeast Whitfield will faceoff with identical 4-2, 0-1 starts.

In Region 8, undefeated North Oconee can inch closer to clinching the region with a road trip to Cedar Shoals and East Forsyth will look to continue pursuing its first-ever playoff berth with a massive home matchup with Cherokee Bluff.

REGION 1

Cairo 5-2, 1-0

Bainbridge 2-4, 0-0

Westover 2-4, 0-0

Hardaway 1-5, 0-0

Shaw 3-4, 0-1

Friday, Oct. 7

Bainbridge vs. Westover

Cairo vs. Hardaway

REGION 2

Perry 5-1, 2-0

Spalding 4-2, 2-0

Baldwin 2-4, 1-1

Griffin 1-5, 1-1

Westside 4-1, 0-1

Howard 4-2, 0-2

West Laurens 1-4, 0-1

Friday, Oct. 7

Spalding vs. Howard

Westside-Macon vs. West Laurens

Saturday, Oct. 8

Griffin vs. Perry

REGION 3

SE Bulloch 2-4, 1-0

Burke County 5-0, 0-0

New Hampstead 4-1, 0-0

Wayne County 4-1, 0-0

Benedictine 3-2, 0-0

Islands 0-6, 0-1

Friday, Oct. 7

Benedictine vs. Burke County

New Hampstead vs. Southeast Bulloch

Wayne County vs. Islands

REGION 4

Troup 6-0, 3-0

Trinity Christian 4-2, 3-0

Whitewater 5-1, 2-1

Riverdale 3-4, 2-1

LaGrange 4-2, 1-2

Starr’s Mill 4-2, 1-2

Fayette County 1-5, 1-2

North Clayton 1-6, 0-4

Friday, Oct. 7

LaGrange vs. North Clayton

Riverdale vs. Troup

Starr’s Mill vs. Fayette County

Whitewater vs. Trinity Christian

REGION 5

Stockbridge 4-2, 3-0

Lovett 3-3, 3-0

Pace Academy 5-1, 2-1

Hampton 4-2, 1-2

Woodland 3-3, 1-2

McDonough 2-3, 1-2

Luella 1-5, 1-2

Mt. Zion-Jonesboro 0-6, 0-3

Friday, Oct. 7

Hampton vs. Mt. Zion-Jonesboro

Lovett vs. Stockbridge

Pace Academy vs. McDonough

Woodland-Stockbridge vs. Luella

REGION 6

Westminster 4-2, 1-0

Stephenson 3-2, 1-0

Miller Grove 3-3, 1-0

Holy Innocents’ 3-3, 0-1

Southwest DeKalb 2-4, 0-1

Hapeville Charter 0-6, 0-1

Druid Hills 2-3, X-X

Clarkston 1-4, X-X

Stone Mountain 1-4, X-X

Thursday, Oct. 6

Clarkston vs. Stone Mountain

Friday, Oct. 7

Druid Hills vs. Midtown

Hapeville Charter vs. Southwest DeKalb

Holy Innocents’ vs. Miller Grove

Stephenson vs. Westminster

REGION 7

Cedartown 6-0, 1-0

Heritage-Catoosa 6-0, 1-0

Sonoraville 4-2, 1-0

Central-Carroll 4-2, 0-1

NW Whitfield 4-2, 0-1

SE Whitfield 4-2, 0-1

Friday, Oct. 7

Central-Carroll vs. Sonoraville

Heritage-Catoosa vs. Cedartown

Northwest Whitfield vs. Southeast Whitfield

REGION 8

North Oconee 5-0, 3-0

Cedar Shoals 3-3, 3-1

East Forsyth 4-1, 2-1

Walnut Grove 4-1, 2-1

Cherokee Bluff 2-4, 2-2

North Hall 2-4, 2-2

Madison County 2-3, 1-2

Chestatee 1-5, 1-3

East Hall 2-4, 0-4

Johnson-Gainesville 0-6, X-X

Seckinger 0-5, X-X

Friday, Oct. 7

Cedar Shoals vs. North Oconee

East Forsyth vs. Cherokee Bluff

North Hall vs. Madison County

Walnut Grove vs. East Hall

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Peachtree Center in downtown Atlanta is seen returning to business Wednesday morning, June 12, 2024 after a shooting on Tuesday afternoon left the suspect and three other people injured. (John Spink/AJC)

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