The second half of the high school football season begins this weekend, and the remaining two regions that have yet to begin league play (Regions 1 and 4) will do so Friday night. There has been a lot of the expected and perhaps more of the unexpected in Class 6A through the first six weeks of the season. Here’s what we’ve learned to this point.
- Allatoona is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since it began playing a region schedule in 2010. The Buccaneers are 1-5 overall (0-2 in Region 6) and likely need three wins in the final four games to reach the playoffs. Allatoona will be favored against Woodstock next week, but finding two more wins against Etowah (4-1), Sequoyah (2-3) and River Ridge (4-1) will be a challenge.
- Blessed Trinity (up from 5A) and Roswell (down from 7A) were projected in preseason by the Maxwell Ratings to be the top two teams in Region 7, and it’s playing out that way. They’re tied for first place with Alpharetta after one week of region play, and they’ll face each other this week at Roswell, with the winner emerging as the favorite. Roswell is ranked No. 3, and Blessed Trinity is No. 10.
- Brunswick hasn’t missed a beat since coach Sean Pender departed for North Hall after leading the Pirates to an 11-1 record in 2021 and its first region championship since 2009. Now under coach Garrett Grady, the Pirates are 5-0, extending their regular-season winning streak to 17 games. The only teams left on their schedule with winning records are Effingham County and Evans, both 3-2.
- Gainesville was expected to be good upon its return from Class 7A with new head coach Josh Niblett, but it has proven to be more of a contender than many would have thought. Gainesville is 5-0, 1-0 in Region 8 and ranked No. 5. The Red Elephants have won all of their games by at least 10 points against a schedule that has included No. 9 Marist, 7A Mountain View and 5A Clarke Central.
- At 5-0, eighth-ranked Houston County is off to its best start since the Jake Fromm era. First-year head coach Jeremy Edwards, formerly the offensive coordinator at Warner Robins, has the offense humming, averaging 50.4 points per game, second in the state behind Hughes’ 53.8. The Bears ended a five-game losing streak against Warner Robins last week and open Region 1 play on the road Friday against Lee County.
- Top-ranked Hughes continues to steamroll over everything in its path. The Panthers have outscored their opponents 269-52, and their closest game was a 47-21 road victory over Class 7A McEachern that wasn’t as close as the final score makes it seem. Hughes’ only two losses since the start of the 2021 season both came by one point – 7-6 in overtime against Newton in the 2021 season opener and 21-20 against Buford in the state final.
- If anyone is going to challenge fourth-ranked Woodward Academy for the Region 3 title, it will be Lovejoy or Jonesboro, which are both tied with the War Eagles for first place with 2-0 region records. Lovejoy will get its shot this week when it hosts Woodward, and Jonesboro gets its turn when it travels to Woodward on Oct. 21. Lovejoy and Jonesboro meet Nov. 4 in the regular-season finale.
- Thomas County Central has been the biggest surprise of the first half of the season. The Yellow Jackets moved up two classes from 4A and had not had a winning season since 2016. Now, under first-year coach Justin Rogers, they’re 5-0 and ranked No. 7. However, the Yellow Jackets have yet to face a Class 6A team, so the true test will begin Friday when they open Region 1 play against Veterans.
- Paulding County went 3-7 overall and 1-6 in Region 5 last year, but under first-year coach Umbrah Brown the Patriots are 4-1 for the first time since 2003, and they are tied with Hughes and South Paulding for first place with a 2-0 region record. The remaining schedule is tough, including the season finale against Hughes, but the Patriots are in position to earn their first playoff berth since 2017.
- Of the four private schools that moved into Class 6A this year (St. Pius, Marist, Woodward Academy and Blessed Trinity), St. Pius has had the roughest go of it, starting the season 1-4 and averaging just 7.6 points per game. Still, with two of Region 4′s six playoff-eligible teams sitting at 0-5, a postseason berth is almost a certainty and a second-place finish (at least) appears well within reach.
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