The midpoint of the season typically has more bye weeks on the schedule and that will be the case Week 6. A total of 19 teams will be observing byes this week: Bainbridge, Cairo, Dougherty, Monroe, Westover, Carver-Columbus, Howard, Fayette County, Riverdale Hampton, Mt. Zion-Jonesboro, North Clayton, Marist, Northwest Whitfield, Heritage-Catoosa, Cedartown, Pickens, Ridgeland and Chestatee. Additionally, there are three Thursday night matchups (Columbus vs. Troup, LaGrange vs. Shaw and Jenkins vs. Beach), leaving the Friday schedule with a total of 18 games.
Region 2 will continue conference action with its two Thursday matchups and pair of Friday games. Region front-runner Carver-Columbus is off on its bye ahead of its anticipated showdown with LaGrange next week. The Grangers will look to remain unbeaten in region play against Shaw, while Hardaway will take its 1-0 region record into its matchup with Spencer.
Region 4′s Baldwin is the only team in the classification that has yet to play a game—but the Braves will make their long-awaited debut this Friday in a region showdown with Westside-Macon. Baldwin’s delayed start was due to COVID-related concerns and they will face a 1-2 Seminoles program that scored a 35-6 victory over Southwest Macon this past weekend.
Luella and McDonough play the lone Region 5 game on this week’s slate. Luella is 1-0 in region play and is coming off a bye week and McDonough is 1-0 in region play after scoring a 24-6 victory over North Clayton this past Friday.
No. 4 Stephenson will square off in its Region 6 opener against Arabia Mountain on Friday. The Jags opened their season this past week with a 25-0 win over Class 5A’s Lithonia. In the victory, Stephenson limited Lithonia to just 38 total yards of offense. Druid Hills and Miller Grove are also set for their Region 6 opener and No. 10 ranked Hapeville Charter gets set to face Mays in another pivotal region showdown.
Just two out of the seven teams in Region 7 are on this week’s schedule. Central-Carroll will take on Class 2A No. 10 ranked Heard County—which was defeated by Cedartown 48-14 this past week. Additionally, Southeast Whitfield will travel to Gordon Lee to take on the Class A-Public Trojans—who are 4-0 entering the matchup. Southeast Whitfield opened its season 0-4 before finding the win column with a 21-7 victory over Armuchee last Friday.
Region 8 will have a trio of region showdowns on its Week 6 schedule. Madison County and North Oconee will face off and East Hall will take on Cedar Shoals. The premiere matchup and only top 10 showdown occurring in the classification this week will be No. 6 Flowery Branch hosting No. 2 Jefferson. This matchup has been selected as the GPB Game of the Week and will put Jefferson’s outstanding rushing attack up against Flowery Branch’s potent passing game in a true contrast of styles. Score Atlanta’s Russell McCloud Jr. previewed this matchup earlier this week and talked to both coaches about this highly-anticipated Game of the Week.
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