The first two weeks of the 2020 football season has seen Class 4A struggle as I mentioned in my Tuesday blog. Supporting this claim is the 19-45 overall record that the classification has produced through the first two weeks of action and the fact that only two of the eight regions have winning records up to this point and regions such as Region 1 (0-4) and Region 4 (0-6) have yet to find the win column. Week 3 will be an opportunity to see if the classification is able to buck the trend and there are some major storylines that are worth keeping an eye on. Today’s blog will highlight what to watch for in each of the regions.
REGION 1: Three teams from Region 1 will be playing this week and the trio is pinned up against very tough opposition. Cairo will take on Class 2A powerhouse Thomasville after falling to Class 2A’s No. 1 ranked Brooks County this past Friday in a hard-fought 26-24 matchup. Bainbridge, which was defeated by Class 6A’s Coffee 31-16 Week 2 will now faceoff with Valdosta in another difficult South Georgia clash with a Class 6A powerhouse. The third team in action will be Thomas County Central—which will look to shake off a 34-7 loss to Class 2A Thomasville as they take on Florida’s Wakulla. The Sunshine State-based War Eagles compete in Class 5A and are coming off a 37-16 victory in its season opener against Taylor County (FL). As for the rest of the six-team region: Dougherty, Monroe and Westover will not start their seasons until Oct. 1.
REGION 2: The Week 3 slate will feature two non-region games as the rest of the nine-team region enters a bye week before the conference action kicks off in earnest next week. Hardaway will take on Class 2A Callaway and Spencer will faceoff with Class 5A’s Northside-Columbus. Hardaway scored a 33-3 win over Americus-Sumter in its season opener and observed a Week 2 bye whereas Spencer opened up its slate with a 41-7 loss to Villa Rica (41-7) and a 53-7 loss to Carver-Columbus last Friday in the first Region 2 matchup of the year.
REGION 3: Region 3′s season was impacted the most by COVID-related factors as Islands, Jenkins and New Hampstead were placed in area-only schedules and Benedictine has been left as the lone team in the region to start on pace with the rest of the state. The Cadets have been dominant through the first two weeks of the season and are coming off a massive 49-7 win over Effingham County. Benedictine will look to improve to 3-0 this Friday night when they take on Class 6A’s Brunswick.
REGION 4: Baldwin’s season remains delayed and Perry is currently quarantined due to COVID-19. Westside-Macon will take on Class 3A’s Central-Macon on Thursday and then the rest of the region will be in action on Friday. Rutland will play Region 5′s Luella in the only Class 4A vs. Class 4A matchup on this week’s schedule. Howard will face Northside-Warner Robins (6A), Spalding will face Ola (5A) and West Laurens will face Dodge County (2A). As mentioned previously, Region 4 has been 0-6 so far and will be looking for its first win of the season this week.
REGION 5: Luella was defeated 28-27 in a thriller against Class 5A’s Woodland-Stockbridge last week and will challenge Rutland. Fayette County matches up with Class 5A’s McIntosh, McDonough will try to top Woodland-Stockbridge, Riverdale will take on Drew (5A) and North Clayton will face Tri-Cities (5A) on Saturday. So far this season, Region 5 has produced a 4-10 record.
REGION 6: DeKalb County announced it would begin its season Oct. 1 and so the action will remain limited until then. There are, however, three matchups to keep an eye on. Hapeville Charter will open its season on Friday against Class 7A North Forsyth and No. 1 ranked Marist will challenge Class 5A Woodward Academy. On Saturday, Mays will take on Class 5A Grady in a showdown between Atlanta Public Schools. Marist comes off a massive 43-0 win over Holy Innocents' and Mays is fresh off a 35-28 win over Region 5′s Riverdale.
REGION 7: It will be another busy week for Region 7 as six of the seven teams are on the schedule. Cedartown will look to shake off its 21-10 loss to Rockmart last week against Calhoun (5A), Southeast Whitfield will face Gordon Central (2A), Heritage-Catoosa will play Temple (2A), Northwest Whitfield will face North Murray (3A) and Ridgeland will play Ringgold (3A). Heritage-Catoosa and Northwest Whitfield will each look to open up the year with 3-0 starts.
REGION 8: Cedar Sholas will be on a much-needed bye after opening up its season 0-2 and getting outscored 45-3, but the rest of the region will faceoff with opponents outside the classification. East Hall faces Franklin County (3A), Flowery Branch takes on rival Gainesville (7A), Jefferson challenges Class 2A powerhouse Rabun County, Madison County will play Apalachee (5A), North Oconee faces Cambridge (6A) and Chestatee faces Union County (2A).
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