Six of the eight Class 6A regions have begun league play as high school football heads into the second half of the regular season with games Thursday and Friday.
Regions 2, 3 and 8 got their league play under way last week, and Region 4 gets going Friday with a bang as top-10 teams Westlake and Hughes meet in a battle to determine the favorite.
The 55 Class 6A teams are fighting for the four playoff spots available in each region. The exception is four-team Region 1, which will send only three teams to the playoffs because Valdosta was banned from the 2021 postseason over alleged recruiting violations last season.
Here’s how the playoff picture is starting to shape up heading into Week 7.
*Region 1: Second-ranked Lee County, the state runner-up last season, is the overwhelming favorite to win the title. If the Trojans meet those expectations, that will leave Northside-Warner Robins and Houston County battling for the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds from the region. The teams will meet in their final regular-season game at McConnell-Talbert Stadium on Oct. 29. Valdosta will be home for the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
*Region 2: Sixth-ranked Brunswick has established itself as the team to beat, especially after its 17-14 overtime victory last week against Glynn Academy, which has won five of the past six region titles. However, Glynn Academy lost to Brunswick last year and still managed to grab the No. 1 seed. Effingham County, under first-year coach John Ford, has been a pleasant surprise with its 3-1 start. Look for the Rebels to battle it out with Glynn, Richmond Hill and Statesboro for the other three spots in the playoffs.
*Region 3: Evans, which opens league play against Grovetown this week, continues to be the strongest program in the region. The Knights went 20-3 in region play with three titles from 2016 to 2020 and is off to a 4-1 start this season, the only team in the region with an overall winning record. Alcovy made the playoffs last year for the first time in seven years, and the Tigers got off to a good start with a victory over Rockdale County last week. The computer Maxwell Ratings project Alcovy, Grovetown and Lakeside-Evans to join Evans in the playoffs, but this race is wide open.
*Region 4: The Westlake-Hughes game ultimately decided the region champion in 2020, and that could be the case again when they meet at Westlake in their region opener Friday. Both are playoff locks. Lovejoy is 2-1 and likely to be another of the region’s playoff teams. Tucker is almost always in the region title hunt but is off to an 0-5 start. A victory by North Atlanta (4-1) against the Tigers this weekend would make it likely that the Warriors, not Tucker, would get the other playoff berth.
*Region 5: Losses the past two weeks by preseason favorites Carrollton (lost to Rome) and Rome (lost to South Paulding) will make for an exciting race for the region title. And the playoff picture appears to be five strong teams – Douglas County, South Paulding, Carrollton, Alexander and Rome – battling for the four spots. Douglas County and South Paulding are 2-0 in league play, the only remaining unbeatens. Paulding County, East Paulding and Dalton certainly aren’t out of the hunt, but they’ll have a lot of work to do.
*Region 6: Kennesaw Mountain has been the surprise of Class 6A. The Mustangs are 6-0 for the first time in school history, and a victory against Pope on Oct. 15 all but assures them of their first region title. Pope also is unbeaten in region play and in good shape but has yet to play Kennesaw Mountain or third-place teams Allatoona and Sprayberry. Allatoona is off to a substandard 2-3 start, but the Buccaneers are 2-1 in region play and will find their way into the playoffs one way or another. Look for Kell or Sprayberry to take the other playoff berth.
*Region 7: Johns Creek (4-1, 2-0), which won three of the past five titles, is in a good place after a key win against Riverwood last week. Defending champion River Ridge won its region opener and is 4-0 overall. Both are likely playoff teams. Look for the other two berths to go to a group that includes Cambridge, Riverwood, Creekview and Sequoyah. Cambridge (3-0, 1-0) surprised Creekview 7-0 two weeks ago and has the upper hand on the Grizzlies. The loser of this week’s Sequoyah-Creekview game will be in a bad spot.
*Region 8: It’s anybody’s guess who is going to join top-ranked Buford in the playoffs. Maxwell projects that those teams will be Dacula, Winder-Barrow and Shiloh. Dacula and Winder-Barrow put themselves in a nice spot with impressive victories in their region openers last week. Shiloh is 0-4 overall but lost to No. 3 Westlake 26-6 last week and to three Class 7A schools by a total of 10 points. Lanier and Habersham Central could still make some noise, as well, but Central Gwinnett probably has too much of a hill to climb.
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