Out of the 60 teams that reside in Class 4A, there will be five teams playing their season openers this weekend. 30 teams are coming off Week 1 defeats and 25 teams have an opportunity to improve to 2-0. Region 2′s Howard will take on Central-Macon in one of the two Thursday games in Class 4A this week and is coming off a 42-6 win over Southwest last week. The Huskies took the Southwest game 45-12 last year and defeated Central-Macon 46-19 to help fuel what eventually became a 4-0 start—which was the best start since 2015 for Howard. The other Thursday matchup will be Region 3′s Islands versus Class 3A No. 6 ranked Savannah Christian. Islands—who fell 49-8 to Class 3A No. 2 Calvary Day last week was defeated by Savannah Christian 69-6 last season.
Friday will have 46 total matchups before the Week 2 slate concludes with another four games to watch on Saturday. In Region 1, the key matchup to watch will be No. 4 Bainbridge against Class 5A No. 4 Coffee. Bainbridge took that matchup 24-21 last year and the Bearcats are also coming off a 55-3 win over ELCA. After this week, Bainbridge will take on Thomas County Central, Thomasville, Ware County and Brooks County—giving the team six-straight ranked opponents to prepare for Region 1 play. Additionally, Bainbridge has not lost a region game since 2019 and is the only team in Region 1 that scored a victory this past week.
The top storyline in Region 2 is Perry and West Laurens opening their seasons after a Week 1 bye and the spotlight that Baldwin has garnered after scoring a massive 34-13 win over Peach County to open its season. Baldwin will take on Class 2A No. 10 ranked Putnam County in the War Eagles’ season opener, Perry will face Class 6A No. 4 Houston County and West Laurens will host Dodge County in a rematch of last year’s 14-12 victory over the Class 2A Indians.
In Region 3, No. 1 ranked Benedictine will take on the Chambers Cougars out of North Carolina. The Cougars will be opening their season and are currently ranked No. 10 in the state, while Benedictine is coming off a 42-0 win over Jenkins in a game that was called midway through the third quarter after a disruption in the stands. Region 3′s Burke County triumphed Week 1 in a 14-12 victory over defending Class 2A state champion Thomson. That marked alum Franklin Stephens’ head coaching debut with the Bears and earned them No. 8 in this week’s rankings heading into their showdown with Class 6A Effingham County at Georgia Southern’s Paulson Stadium. Last year, Burke County won this matchup 28-10.
The big matchup in Region 4 will be Trinity Christian against Class 2A No. 5 Fellowship Christian. Trinity Christian is one of six teams in the eight-team region that lost this past week. North Clayton and Troup, both earned Week 1 victories and will be facing KIPP Atlanta and Hardaway, respectively. In Region 5, the top matchups will be Stockbridge against Colquitt County, Lovett against Greater Atlanta Christian and Pace Academy versus Westminster in a cross-region intra-classification showdown.
In Region 7, No. 9 Cedartown will take on Class 2A No. 4 Callaway and Central-Carroll will face defending Class A Division II state champion Bowdon with an opportunity to improve to 2-0 under first-year head coach Umbrah Brown. Just five of the 11 teams represented in Region 8 will be active this week and the toughest matchups will be Cedar Shoals at Class 3A No. 8 Monroe Area and Madison County at Class A Division I No. 4 ranked Elbert County.
Region 1
Bainbridge 0-0, 1-0
Cairo 0-0, 0-1
Hardaway 0-0, 0-1
Shaw 0-0, 0-1
Westover 0-0, 0-1
Friday, Aug. 25
Bainbridge at Coffee
Cairo vs. Monroe
Hardaway vs. Troup
Shaw vs. Kendrick
Westover vs. Sumter County
Region 2
Baldwin 0-0, 1-0
Howard, 0-0, 1-0
Spalding 0-0, 1-0
Westside 0-0, 1-0
Perry 0-0, 0-0
West Laurens 0-0, 0-0
Griffin 0-0, 0-1
Thursday, Aug. 24
Howard vs. Central-Macon
Friday, Aug. 25
Baldwin vs. Putnam County
Griffin at Veterans
Perry vs. Houston County
Spalding vs. Mary Persons
West Laurens vs. Dodge County
Westside-Macon vs. Southwest
Region 3
Benedictine 0-0, 1-0
Burke County 0-0, 1-0
Southeast Bulloch, 0-0, 1-0
Wayne County 0-0, 1-0
New Hampstead 0-0, 0-0
Islands 0-0, 0-1
Thursday, Aug. 24
Islands vs. Savannah Christian
Friday, Aug. 25
Benedictine vs. Julius Chambers NC
New Hampstead vs. Windsor Forest
Wayne County vs. Brooks County
Saturday, Aug. 26
Burke County vs. Effingham County
Southeast Bulloch vs. Statesboro
Region 4
North Clayton 1-0, 1-0
Troup 0-0, 1-0
Fayette County 0-0, 1-0
LaGrange 0-0, 1-0
Starr’s Mill 0-0, 0-1
Trinity Christian 0-0, 0-1
Whitewater 0-0, 0-1
Riverdale 0-1, 0-1
Friday, Aug. 25
Fayette County vs. Mundy’s Mill
LaGrange vs. Northside-Columbus
Riverdale vs. Stephenson
Starr’s Mill vs. Northgate
Trinity Christian vs. Fellowship Christian
Troup vs. Hardaway
Whitewater vs. Union Grove
Region 5
Hampton 0-0, 1-0
McDonough 0-0, 1-0
Lovett 0-0, 0-1
Luella 0-0, 0-1
Mt. Zion-Jonesboro 0-0, 0-1
Pace Academy 0-0, 0-1
Stockbridge 0-0, 0-1
Woodland-Stockbridge 0-0, 0-1
Friday, Aug. 25
Hampton vs. McIntosh
Lovett vs. Greater Atlanta Christian
Luella vs. Ola
Mt. Zion-Jonesboro vs. Therrell
Pace Academy vs. West Minster
Stockbridge vs. Colquitt County
Woodland-Stockbridge vs. Columbia
Region 6
Holy Innocents’ 0-0, 1-0
Southwest DeKalb 0-0, 1-0
Stephenson 0-0, 1-0
Westminster 0-0, 1-0
Hapeville Charter 0-0, 0-1
Miller Grove 0-0, 0-1
Druid Hills 0-0, 1-0
Clarkston 0-0, 0-0
Stone Mountain 0-0, 0-1
Friday, Aug. 25
Clarkston vs. Berkmar
Druid Hills vs. McNair
Hapeville Charter vs. Lee County
Holy Innocents’ at Riverwood
Stephenson vs. Riverdale
Stone Mountain vs. Redan
Westminster vs. Pace Academy
Saturday, Aug. 26
Miller Grove vs. Maynard Jackson
Southwest Dekalb vs. Tucker
Region 7
Cedartown 0-0, 1-0
Central-Carroll 0-0, 1-0
Northwest Whitfield 0-0, 1-0
Heritage-Catoosa 0-0, 0-1
Sonoraville 0-0, 0-1
Southeast Whitfield 0-0, 0-1
Friday, Aug. 25
Cedartown vs. Callaway
Central-Carroll vs. Bowdon
Heritage-Catoosa vs. East Hamilton
Northwest Whitfield vs. Coahulla Creek
Sonoraville at Darlington
Southeast Whitfield vs. Gordon Central
Region 8
East Hall 0-0, 1-0
Madison County 0-0, 1-0
North Hall 0-0, 1-0
North Oconee 0-0, 1-0
East Forsyth 0-0, 0-0
Cedar Shoals 0-0, 0-1
Cherokee Bluff 0-0, 0-1
Chestatee 0-0, 0-1
Walnut Grove 0-0, 0-1
Johnson-Gainesville 0-0, 0-1
Seckinger 0-0, 0-1
Friday, Aug. 25
Cedar Shoals at Monroe Area
Cherokee Bluff vs. Adairsville
Johnson-Gainesville at West Hall
Madison County at Elbert County
Seckinger vs. East Forsyth
About the Author
