Class 6A blog: By-the-numbers preview of Saturday’s first round

*5 – Playoff teams that missed the postseason in 2020. Effingham County and Pope last made the playoffs in 2018. Riverwood, Shiloh and South Paulding are in the field for the second time in three years after missing out in 2020. Riverwood won the Region 7 title. South Paulding finished tied with Rome and Carrollton for first in Region 5 but ended up as a No. 3 seed because of tiebreakers.

*6.3 – Points allowed per game by Buford, the fewest of any Class 6A team. The Wolves were even better in region play, allowing just nine points (with four shutouts) in six games while outscoring their opponents 272-9. Only Class 7A No. 2 North Cobb (27) and Myers Park of North Carolina (17) scored more than seven points against them. Hughes is second in the class, allowing 6.8 per game.

*7 - Consecutive region titles that Westlake had won coming into this season, a streak that was broken when the Lions finished second to Hughes in Region 4. Hughes’ 31-24 victory over Westlake on Oct. 1 was the game that ultimately settled the region championship. Westlake will be moving next year back to the highest class, where it won six straight region titles before dropping to 6A in 2020.

*10-0: Fourth-ranked Brunswick’s regular-season record. The Pirates were the only Class 6A to make it to the playoffs with an unblemished record. Brunswick won the Region 2 championship, its first title since 2009, and reached the 10-win mark for the first time since 1999. Lee County, Hughes, Carrollton, Kennesaw Mountain, Riverwood and Buford all finished with 9-1 records.

*13-3 – Record of the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds (home teams) in the first round of the 2020 Class 6A playoffs. The eight region champs all advanced, and the No. 2 seeds went 5-3. The surviving No. 3 seeds were Sprayberry (34-14 over Creekview), Brunswick (41-6 vs. Alcovy) and Cambridge (36-14 vs. Kell). Most of the games weren’t close – the average first-round victory was by 30.6 points.

*16-2 – No. 2 Lee County’s record in the playoffs since the start of the 2017 postseason. The Trojans had five-game runs to the championship in both 2017 and 2018, won two games in 2019 before losing to Dacula in the quarterfinals, then won four more games to reach the 2020 final, where it lost to Buford 34-31 in overtime. Fifteen of the 18 games during that stretch were played in Leesburg.

*42.1 – Points per game scored by Carrollton, the most of any 6A team. The Trojans scored at least 21 points in every game, including a 45-27 contest with Rome that was their only loss, and reached at least 35 points in eight of their 10 games. Carrollton’s season high came in a 69-7 victory over Paulding County on Oct. 8. No. 2 Lee County (41.8) was the only other 6A team to average at least 40.

*3,010 – Passing yards by Riverwood quarterback Avery Smith, the most of any player in 6A. Smith was one of three players in the state to surpass 3,000 yards (Rabun County’s Gunner Stockbridge and Prince Avenue’s Aaron Philo were the others). Other Class 6A leaders were Houston County’s Simeon Askew (1,635 yards rushing) and Johns Creek’s Joshua Thompson (925 receiving yards).

First-round schedule (all games are Saturday)

Houston County at Evans, 1:30 p.m.

Johns Creek at Rome, 7:30 p.m.

Pope at Dacula, 1 p.m.

Tucker at Brunswick, 7:30 p.m. (Glynn County Stadium)

Lakeside-Evans at Northside-Warner Robins, 2 p.m. (McConnell-Talbert Stadium)

Douglas County at Riverwood, 1 p.m.

Shiloh at Allatoona, 7:30 p.m.

Glynn Academy at Hughes, 7:30 p.m.

Effingham County at Westlake, 4 p.m.

Lanier at Kennesaw Mountain, 7:30 p.m.

Creekview at Carrollton, 7:30 p.m.

Alcovy bye

Lovejoy at Richmond Hill, 1 p.m.

Kell at Buford, 5:30 p.m.

South Paulding at Cambridge, 7:30 p.m.

Grovetown at Lee County, 4 p.m.