Hughes became the second Class 6A team this season to clinch a region championship when it beat Tucker 48-3 on Friday, but the other six titles won’t be decided until the final weekend of the regular season.
Third-ranked Hughes improved to 8-1 overall and 4-0 in Region 4 with its victory over the Tigers (2-7, 2-2). It is the Panthers’ first region title since they won their second of two straight in 2013. Tucker is still very much alive in the playoff race, currently tied for third place with Lovejoy, which beat the Tigers 32-0, but facing a tough regular-season finale against fifth-ranked Westlake.
Hughes joins second-ranked Lee County as Class 6A region champions. The Trojans secured the Region 1 title last week and finished its regular season with a 13-6 victory over Valdosta. Northside-Warner Robins beat Houston County 38-21 to settle the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds from the region. Valdosta was banned from the postseason over violations that occurred in 2020.
In three of the remaining regions, the championship will come down to a head-to-head matchup for the title. Fourth-ranked Brunswick will face Effingham County for the Region 2 title. Brunswick is guaranteed no worse than the No. 2 seed. If Effingham County loses, it could fall to the No. 3 seed or a three-way tie for second place with Statesboro and Richmond Hill.
The top two seeds in Region 3 will be settled next Saturday when Evans and Alcovy face off in Covington. Both teams improved to 4-0 in the region with victories Friday, Alcovy over Heritage-Conyers 27-18 and Evans over Rockdale County 40-6. Alcovy has never won a region title in football since the school opened in 2006. Evans is the defending region champion and has won three of the past four Region 3 titles.
The top two seeds also will be settled in Region 8 when top-ranked Buford, the defending state champion, travels to Dacula. Both are 5-0 in the region after Buford defeated Winder-Barrow 38-2 and Dacula beat Central Gwinnett 42-0. Shiloh secured third place in the region with a 18-0 victory over Lanier and will head to the state playoffs for just the fifth time in school history.
Kennesaw Mountain of Region 6 can clinch the first region title in school history with a victory against last-place Osborne next weekend. The Mustangs are essentially tied for first place with Allatoona and Pope with one loss each but has beaten the other two. If Kennesaw Mountain is upset, the Allatoona-Pope winner will take the title. The winner of the Kell-Lassiter game will be the fourth playoff team.
The other two regions also have three-way ties heading into Week 12.
Carrollton, Rome and South Paulding are 5-1 in Region 5 play and 1-1 against each other, although Rome has the advantage in head-to-head point differential.
In Region 7, Riverwood, Cambridge and Johns Creek go into the final weekend at 5-1 in the region and 1-1 against each other, with Johns Creek holding the point-differential tiebreaker. Johns Creek trailed River Ridge 29-7 at halftime Friday night but rallied for a 40-36 victory to keep pace at the top. Perhaps equally significant, the loss knocked defending region champ River Ridge out of the playoffs. The best the Knights can do is finish tied with Creekview for fourth place, but Creekview would get the nod because of its head-to-head victory.
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