There are 25 games in Class 4A on the Week 9 schedule with 18 region matchups and 10 teams off on their byes. Region 1 has three matchups scheduled that will all be non-region games. Bainbridge will face Dade Christian Florida on Friday before they close out the year against Westover, Thomas County Central and Monroe. Dade Christian is a talented Class 2A program out of the Miami area that the Bearcats defeated 35-13 last year. Bainbridge heads into this year’s matchup with a flawless 2-0 start in region play and will try to capture back-to-back region titles for the first time in school history once region action resumes. Dougherty was undefeated before Bainbridge scored a 45-14 victory over the Trojans last Friday and now Dougherty will visit Class A Public’s Randolph-Clay. Dougherty is 2-0 all-time versus Randolph-Clay and this will be the programs’ first meeting since 2015. The other game involving Region 1 will be Westover squaring off with Region 6′s Hapeville Charter. This will be an intriguing first-ever meeting between the two Class 4A programs.
Three region battles will take place in Region 2, including No. 4 ranked Carver-Columbus at a 6-1 Troup team that is off to a 5-0 start in region play. The winner of this game will be in the front seat of the region and Troup will have to slow down a Carver-Columbus team that is riding a five-game winning streak after opening the year with a 25-22 loss to Class 6A powerhouse Lee County. Last year, these teams squared off in the season finale and Carver scored a thrilling 32-29 victory. Kendrick will look for its first win of the year at Spencer on Thursday and Hardaway will look to remain at the top tier of the standings against Shaw on Friday.
In Region 3, New Hampstead and Islands will open their region schedules, while No. 3 Benedictine faces South Effingham and Jenkins takes on Beach in non-region play. Islands scored a 26-14 win over New Hampstead last year, which was the Phoenix’s only regular season loss during their abbreviated 7-game schedule.
Region 4 has a trio of region games with No. 9 Baldwin having an opportunity to remain unbeaten in region play at home against Howard before closing out the season with No. 6 Spalding and No. 7 Perry. Spalding is off on a bye this week, Perry will visit West Laurens and Westside Macon will travel to Rutland.
The biggest matchup in Region 5 to watch for is Riverdale at Fayette County. Neither team has lost in region play heading into kickoff and Luella is also undefeated in region play. Both teams will have to play Luella in the coming weeks and the winner of this matchup will likely join Luella in being able to control its own destiny in the race for the region title. Luella will be taking on North Clayton and will have a bye before it closes out the year with Fayette County (Oct. 29) and Riverdale (Nov. 5).
In Region 6, No. 2 ranked Marist hosts Arabia Mountain and Stephenson will visit Mays—which started the season 0-4 and has since gone 2-0 in region play. Stephenson meanwhile, looks to shake off last Friday’s 34-27 loss to Miller Grove—which is off this week on a bye.
Heritage-Catoosa and No. 5 ranked Cedartown do not meet until the final week of the season and are currently the only remaining teams in Region 7 yet to lose a game. Heritage-Catoosa visits Northwest Whitfield this Friday and Cedartown will host Ridgeland.
In Region 8, No. 1 ranked Jefferson is off on its bye this week and there will be three region matchups to watch for. Flowery Branch is coming off losses to North Oconee and Jefferson and will look to avoid an 0-3 region start at home against Cedar Shoals. Chestatee visits Madison County in another game with playoff implications and North Oconee will look to improve to 4-0 in region play against East Hall, which carries an 0-3 region record.
REGION 1
Bainbridge (3-3, 2-0) vs. Dade Christian FL
Cairo (3-3, 1-1) (BYE)
Dougherty (5-1, 1-1) at Randolph-Clay
Monroe (2-5, 0-2) (BYE)
#8 Thomas County Central (5-2, 2-0) (BYE)
Westover (2-4, 0-2) at Hapeville Charter
REGION 2
*#4 Carver-Columbus (5-1, 4-0) at Troup (6-1, 5-0)
Columbus (2-5, 2-3) (BYE)
*LaGrange (4-1, 2-1) vs. Jordan (CANCELLED)
*Kendrick (0-6, 0-4) at Spencer (2-5, 1-4) (Thursday)
*Shaw (0-4, 0-2) at Hardaway (4-2, 3-1)
REGION 3
#3 Benedictine (5-2, 1-0) at South Effingham
*New Hampstead (6-1, 0-0) at Islands (4-2, 0-0) Jenkins (2-4, 0-1) at Beach
REGION 4
*Howard (2-4, 0-2) at #9 Baldwin (4-2, 3-0)
*#7 Perry (5-1, 1-1) at West Laurens (3-4, 1-2)
*Westside-Macon (3-3, 1-1) at Rutland (1-5, 0-2)
#6 Spalding (5-1, 2-0) (BYE)
REGION 5
*Hampton (1-4, 1-2) at McDonough (4-3, 1-2)
*Luella (5-2, 3-0) at North Clayton (0-7, 0-3)
*Riverdale (4-0-1, 2-0) at Fayette County (5-2, 3-0)
Mt. Zion-Jonesboro (0-6, 0-3) (BYE)
REGION 6
*Arabia Mountain (3-4, 1-2) at #2 Marist (4-1, 1-0)
Druid Hills (0-8, 0-1) at Clarkston (Thursday)
Hapeville Charter (1-5, 0-2) vs. Westover
*Stephenson (5-1, 1-1) at Mays (2-4, 2-0)
Miller Grove (5-2, 2-1) (BYE)
REGION 7
*Central-Carroll (3-4, 0-2) at Pickens (4-2, 1-1)
*Heritage-Catoosa (4-1, 2-0) at Northwest Whitfield (3-3, 1-1)
*Ridgeland (1-6, 0-2) at #5 Cedartown (5-1, 2-0)
Southeast Whitfield (1-7, 0-0) (BYE)
REGION 8
*Cedar Shoals (2-3, 2-1) at Flowery Branch (3-3, 0-2)
*Chestatee (3-3, 1-1) at Madison County (3-3, 0-2)
*#10 North Oconee (4-3, 3-0) at East Hall (1-6, 0-3)
#1 Jefferson (7-0, 3-0) (BYE)
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