Brunswick, Rome, Kennesaw Mountain, Riverwood and Buford captured Class 6A region championships on the final Friday of the high school football regular season.
Fourth-ranked Brunswick became the only 6A team to make it through the regular season unbeaten when it defeated Effingham County 21-18 in a game that decided the Region 2 championship. The Pirates are region champions for the first time since 2009. Effingham County, in its first season under former Roswell and Buford coach John Ford, was seeking its first region title since 1995. Instead, the Rebels fell to the No. 3 seed behind Richmond Hill and will face a first-round trip to No. 5 Westlake next Saturday. Defending region champion Glynn Academy avoided elimination with a 34-7 victory over Statesboro and will open the playoffs at No. 3 Hughes.
Buford, the defending state champion, defeated Dacula 42-7 in a game the decided the Region 8 championship. It is the 18th region title in 21 years for the Wolves. Dacula settled for the No. 2 seed ahead of Shiloh, which previously had clinched the No. 3 seed. Lanier and Winder-Barrow met to decide the No. 4 spot, which Lanier earned with a 22-13 victory.
Kennesaw Mountain, which opened in 2000, won the first region championship in school history when it defeated Osborne 47-0 to clinch first place in Region 6. The Mustangs’ nine wins are two more than in any previous season. Defending champion Allatoona defeated Pope 28-13 in the game that settled the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, and Kell took fourth place by beating Lassiter 34-6.
In Region 5, Carrollton, Rome and South Paulding entered the final weekend of the regular season with 5-1 region records and 1-1 records against each. All three won and the tie remained, but Rome emerged as the region champion by virtue of point differential in the head-to-head games. Rome last won a region title in 2018. Carrollton finished as the runner-up, and South Paulding took the No. 3 seed. Douglas County, which lost to Carrollton 35-31, will be the No. 4 seed.
Region 7 also had a three-way tie entering the final weekend, but that worked itself out when Johns Creek lost to Creekview 28-20. Johns Creek’s loss left Riverwood (defeated Chattahoochee 45-6) and Cambridge (defeated River Ridge 34-10) tied for first, with Riverwood emerging as the region champion thanks to its 40-33 victory over Cambridge on Oct. 22. Riverwood’s title was its second in three years and second in school history. Creekview secured third place with its victory and knocked Johns Creek down to fourth. River Ridge, which finished in fifth place, was the only defending region champion in 6A that failed to reach the playoffs.
The one remaining unclaimed region championship is in Region 3. Defending champion Evans and Alcovy will settle that title when they meet Saturday night in Covington. Lee County of Region 1 and Hughes of Region 4 had clinched region titles in previous weeks.
- According to the GHSA Web site late Friday night (and other games that have not been officially sent in), here are the first-round matchups that have been settled:
First-round pairings
(R1 #3) Houston County at (R3 #2) TBD
(R7 #4) Johns Creek at (R5 #1) Rome
(R6 #3) Pope at (R8 #2) Dacula
(R4 #4) TBD at (R2 #1) Brunswick
(R3 #3) Lakeside-Evans at (R1 #2) Northside-Warner Robins
(R5 #4) Douglas Co. at (R7 #1) Riverwood
(R8 #3) Shiloh at (R6 #2) Allatoona
(R2 #4) Glynn Academy at (R4 #1) Hughes
(R2 #3) Effingham County at (R4 #2) Westlake
(R8 #4) Lanier at (R6 #1) Kennesaw Mountain
(R7 #3) Creekview at (R5 #2) Carrollton
(R1 #4) Bye at (R3 #1) TBD
(R4 #3) TBD at (R2 #2) Richmond Hill
(R6 #4) Kell at (R8 #1) Buford
(R5 #3) South Paulding at (R7 #2) Cambridge
(R3 #4) Grovetown at (R1 #1) Lee County
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