The Week 8 schedule will feature a total of 28 games in Class 4A with 21 region games and seven non-region games. Friday will see 24 games, there will be four Thursday games and defeated Hapeville Charter 28-20 in a rare Wednesday matchup last night. Today’s blog will give an overview of what’s in store with this lineup of games.
In Region 1, Cairo and Monroe meet after opening up their region play with losses. Cairo fell 17-7 to Bainbridge and Monroe fell 35-9 to Thomas County Central. It’s also worth mentioning that Dougherty scored a 53-34 win over Westover this past week. Like Cairo and Monroe, Westover will look to find the win column this week against Thomas County Central—which opened the season 0-2 and has strung together four-straight victories. The other big game will be Dougherty at Bainbridge. Last year, Bainbridge won this matchup 56-7, but this year could be much more competitive. Dougherty is currently ranked No. 8 in Class 4A and is off to a 5-0 start. I mentioned Dougherty’s 53-34 win over Westover last Friday and if the Trojans can find a way to score a victory this Friday, it would result in the program’s first 6-0 start since the 1993 season.
Region 2 will have a trio of region games. On Thursday, Hardaway visits Kendrick and Shaw visits Troup and then Columbus will host Spencer on Friday. Troup will have a chance to improve to 5-0 in region play. Carver-Columbus would’ve had an opportunity to do the same this week, but their opponent Jordan cancelled the rest of the season three weeks ago and so the Tigers will be off this week with LaGrange.
Benedictine will play Jenkins in the first Region 3 game of the 2021 season. No. 3 ranked Benedictine has won four-straight games since opening the year with a pair of out-of-state losses and this includes a 49-42 win over Ware County and a 59-28 win over Burke County last Thursday.
In Region 4, No. 10 ranked Perry will take on Class 2A No. 10 Washington County just one week after dropping a 31-26 loss to Spalding—its first loss of the year. Spalding, which was 1-9 last season is 5-1 and will look to improve to 3-0 in region play with a home game against 1-5 Rutland on Thursday. Baldwin is yet to lose a region game and will travel to West Laurens and Westside-Macon will host Howard in another Region 4 matchup with playoff implications.
Region 5 does not have a particularly busy Week 8 schedule; Riverdale is on a bye and Luella (Northside-Warner Robins) and North Clayton (Duluth) both have non-region opponents. The two region battles will be Fayette County at McDonough and Hampton at Mt. Zion-Jonesboro. Fayette County is already 2-0 in region action so this will be a big opportunity for the Tigers to move to 3-0 before their showdown with Riverdale on Oct. 15
Marist defeated Hapeville Charter 28-20 in Region 6 action on Wednesday. On Friday, Mays and Arabia Mountain are set for a big showdown that will impact the playoff picture and then undefeated Stephenson (5-0, 1-0) will face Miller Grove—which is coming off a 20-6 loss to Arabia Mountain.
Cedartown, Heritage-Catoosa and Northwest Whitfield are currently at the top of the Region 7 standings after picking up victories last Friday. Cedartown beat Pickens 31-0, Heritage-Catoosa beat Ridgeland 57-28 and Northwest Whitfield defeated Central-Carroll 33-27. Cedartown and Northwest Whitfield will cross paths this Friday and the winner will be in great position to contend for the region title moving forward.
In Region 8, No. 1 ranked Jefferson will visit Cedar Shoals and both teams are currently 2-0 in region play. Jefferson comes off a 63-0 win over East Hall, while Cedar Shoals scored a 27-20 overtime win against Madison County last Friday. Jefferson also has a 27-7 win over Flowery Branch in region play. Flowery Branch had a bye after its loss to the Dragons and now the Falcons will square up with North Oconee. North Oconee will have to face Jefferson later on Oct. 29 so they need this win over Flowery Branch to position themselves for home field in the playoffs.
REGION 1
*(2-3, 0-1) Cairo at (2-4, 0-1) Monroe
*(5-0, 1-0) Dougherty at (2-3, 1-0) Bainbridge
*(2-3, 0-1) Westover at (4-2, 1-0) Thomas County Central
REGION 2
*(5-1, 4-0) Carver-Columbus vs. (0-4, 0-2) Jordan (CANCELLED)
*(3-2, 2-1) Hardaway at (0-5, 0-3) Kendrick (Thursday)
*(0-3, 0-1) Shaw at (5-1, 4-0) Troup (Thursday)
*(2-4, 1-3) Spencer at (1-5, 1-3) Columbus
(4-1, 2-1) LaGrange (BYE)
REGION 3
*(4-2, 0-0) Benedictine at (2-3, 0-0) Jenkins
(3-2, 0-0) Islands vs. Groves
(5-1, 0-0) New Hampstead at Beach
REGION 4 *(3-2, 2-0) Baldwin at (3-3, 1-1) West Laurens
*(2-3, 0-1) Howard at (3-3, 1-1) Westside-Macon
(4-1, 1-1) Perry vs. Washington County
*(1-5, 0-2) Rutland at (5-1, 2-0) Spalding (Thursday)
REGION 5
*(4-2, 2-0) Fayette County at (4-2, 1-1) McDonough
*(0-4, 0-2) Hampton at (0-5, 0-2) Mt. Zion-Jonesboro
(5-1, 3-0) Luella at Northside-Warner Robins
(0-6, 0-3) North Clayton at Duluth (Thursday)
(4-0-1) Riverdale (BYE)
REGION 6
*(1-4, 1-0) Mays at (3-3, 1-1) Arabia Mountain
(0-7, 0-1) Druid Hills at East Forsyth
*(4-1, 1-0) Marist 28, (1-5, 0-2) Hapeville Charter 20 (Wednesday)
*(5-0, 1-0) Stephenson at (4-2, 1-1) Miller Grove
REGION 7
*(3-1, 1-0) Heritage-Catoosa at (2-4, 0-1) Central-Carroll
*(3-2, 1-0) Northwest Whitfield at (4-1, 1-0) Cedartown
*(3-2, 0-1) Pickens at (1-5, 0-1) Ridgeland
(0-0, 1-6) Southeast Whitfield at North Murray
REGION 8
*(1-5, 0-2) East Hall at (2-3, 0-1) Chestatee
*(3-2, 0-1) Flowery Branch at (3-3, 2-0) North Oconee
*(6-0, 2-0) Jefferson at (2-2, 2-0) Cedar Shoals
Madison County (BYE)
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