Class 4A Blog: Week 9 Takeaways and current region standings

The major Week 9 action occurred in Region 6 and Region 8 and the playoff picture experienced a dramatic shakeup following the results. In Region 6, Hapeville Charter entered the week as the only 2-0 team, however, the Hornets were toppled 34-0 by Westminster—which was coming off a Stephenson loss. Prior to the Stephenson game, Westminster had picked up a 9-3 win over Holy Innocents’ in its region opener. Holy Innocents’ scored a 47-7 win over Miller Grove and a 36-0 win over Southwest DeKalb to join the Wildcats and Hornets at 2-0 and Stephenson’s path to 2-1 came with a 20-13 loss to Hapeville Charter and big victories over Westminster (20-13) and Miller Grove (49-24). This leaves Region 6 with four teams currently tied with 2-1 region records and Miller Grove sits at 1-2. The path forward will see Stephenson take on Holy Innocents’ and Southwest DeKalb following a bye this week. Holy Innocents’ will also be on a bye and will take on Hapeville Charter after the Stephenson game. Westminster will be off this week before closing the season with Southwest DeKalb and Miller Grove and Hapeville Charter will observe its bye before critical contests against Miller Grove and Holy Innocents. As a result, there is still a possibility that two teams can finish with just one region loss and splitting their final two games also won’t necessary guarantee a playoff berth.

Region 8 is going to experience an equally compelling log-jam with the exception of the No. 1 seed, which is heavily favored to go to No. 2 ranked North Oconee. The 7-0 Titans are 5-0 in region play and have a two-game lead with just three weeks ago. Each of its next three opponents (Walnut Grove, East Hall and Cherokee Bluff) have already dropped more than two region games and therefore a win this week against Walnut Grove would secure the region title regardless of the the results from the final two games.

North Hall, East Forsyth and Madison County are all vying for the No. 2 seed and have a slight lead over Cedar Shoals, Cherokee Bluff and Walnut Grove—all of which have three region losses to their three. As previously mentioned, North Hall, East Forsyth and Madison County have already lost to North Oconee. What matters now is where the other in-region loss occurred. North Hall’s was a 49-35 loss to Madison County and after this week’s bye, the Trojans will close out the season at Cedar Shoals and home against East Forsyth. With East Forsyth, the Broncos control their destiny for the No. 2 seed, because in addition to the North Oconee loss, the Broncos fell to a three-loss Cherokee Bluff team and will take on Madison County this week before Chestatee and North Hall. Cherokee Bluff fell in a 27-26 heartbreaker to Madison County and lost 27-17 to North Hall and 21-16 to Walnut Grove to form their 3-3 region record. The Bears still have East Hall and North Oconee on the schedule. The Bears will need to win this week to improve to 4-3 in the Region and could eventually benefit from their prior win over East Forsyth. Similar to Cherokee Bluff’s win over East Forsyth, Cedar Shoals threw another wrench into the picture with this week’s 40-36 win over Madison County. The Jaguars’ three losses are to North Oconee, Cherokee Bluff and East Forysth and they will close out the season with Chestatee and North Hall. Walnut Grove’s 21-16 win over Cherokee Bluff this past week kept their playoff hopes alive and the Warriors have North Oconee, Madison County and Chestatee on the remaining schedule. Every result will impact the region as a whole moving forward and there are seven teams still in the playoff picture. As noted, if North Oconee can win this week against Walnut Grove then the Titans will secure the No. 1 seed, but the final three playoff spots will be far from settled.