No Class 6A team has clinched a region championship heading into the final two weeks of the high school football regular season, but that will change Friday when at least one and possibly as many as four teams secure their titles.
Top-ranked Lee County will face No. 3 Valdosta to determine the Region 1 title. No. 7 Carrollton (Region 5), No. 5 Allatoona (Region 6) and No. 8 River Ridge (Region 7) also are on the verge of championships.
Here’s a brief look at the races for region championships and playoff berths in each Class 6A region:
*Region 1: Lee County, Valdosta, Houston County and Northside-Warner Robins will all make the playoffs from this four-team region. The winner of this week’s Lee County-Valdosta game will be the champion, and the loser will be the runner-up. Lee County won the past three region championships, and Valdosta won in 2016. They also have combined to win three of the past four state titles. Northside and Houston County play each other this weekend, with the winner getting third place and the loser settling for fourth.
*Region 2: Richmond Hill had a chance last weekend to clinch its second consecutive region title, but a 7-5 loss to Glynn Academy is likely to result in a three-way tie for first place that includes Richmond Hill, Glynn Academy and Brunswick. Glynn Academy holds the advantage in the region’s tiebreakers but needs to beat Statesboro next week to clinch. Fourth place will go to the winner of this week’s game between Effingham County and Statesboro. Bradwell Institute and South Effingham are winless in region play.
*Region 3: Heritage-Conyers and Rockdale County weren’t able to piece together a full region schedule after the Rockdale school system delayed the start of their seasons, so Evans, Alcovy, Lakeside-Evans and Grovetown will take the playoff berths from this six-team region. The winner of the Alcovy-Evans game next week will be the region champ. Alcovy (opened in 2006) has never won a region title. Evans won two in the past three seasons. The Grovetown-Lakeside game on Friday will decide third and fourth place.
*Region 4: Westlake, Hughes, Lovejoy and Tucker are almost certain be the playoff teams from this six-team region (not including Lakeside-Atlanta, which is playing a non-region schedule). Westlake is the only unbeaten team in region games, but the Lions have games remaining with Lovejoy and Tucker, so the region title is still up for grabs. Hughes, which beat Lovejoy last week, probably finishes no worse than second if it beats Tucker on Friday. North Atlanta and Morrow would need a miracle to crack the top four.
*Region 5: Carrollton is the only remaining unbeaten team in region play. The Trojans will clinch the title this week if they beat Alexander and Douglas County loses to Rome, or next week if they beat Douglas County in the regular-season finale. Douglas County and Rome are tied for second place with one loss each and are in good playoff position. The fourth spot likely will go to the winner of next week’s Alexander-South Paulding game. East Paulding, Paulding County and Dalton are out of the mix at this point.
*Region 6: First-place Allatoona is closing in on the region title and should get it Friday when it faces Lassiter. Kell and Sprayberry have one loss each and are fighting it out for the second and third playoff spots. Their game this weekend will settle it. Pope is in fourth place despite dealing with some pandemic-related cancellations. Kennesaw Mountain has made late push for the playoffs with three victories in its past four games, but it may have come too late. Lassiter, Wheeler, South Cobb and Osborne are out of it.
*Region 7: River Ridge can clinch the first region title in the program’s 12-year history with a win this week, but to get it the Knights will have to beat a Johns Creek team that won the region three of the past four years. Johns Creek is tied for second with Creekview, which it plays next week, and will be the region champion if it wins out. Both are headed to the postseason. Cambridge leads Sequoyah by a game in the race for fourth place, but it has the more difficult remaining schedule and lost to Sequoyah on Oct. 26.
*Region 8: Buford and Dacula are undefeated in region play, have clinched playoff berths and will face each other next weekend to determine the region champion. Dacula has won the past four titles in 8-6A. Habersham Central took hold of third place with an upset of Lanier two weekends ago and should get one of the other two playoff spots. The final berth is likely to go to the winner of next week’s game between Lanier and Winder-Barrow, although Shiloh still has an outside shot. Central Gwinnett is out of the race.
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