Morrow and Mundy’s Mill were not expected to be playoff teams this season, at least not according to the computer Maxwell Ratings, but both Clayton County teams are in the thick of the race with four weeks remaining in the high school football regular season.
Both teams are 3-1 in Region 3-6A, tied with Lovejoy for second place behind fourth-ranked Woodward Academy, and each got into the enviable position by recording a narrow victory over Jonesboro the past two weeks. Mundy’s Mill escaped with a 14-13 win two weekends ago, and Morrow beat the Cardinals 28-22 Friday night.
Jonesboro had been projected in the preseason by Maxwell to finish third in the eight-team region behind Woodward and Lovejoy. Mundy’s Mill was picked to finish fifth and Morrow sixth.
Morrow has made just one playoff appearance (2019) since 1998. Mundy’s Mill has reached the playoffs six times in its 20-year history, most recently in 2020.
Here are where things stand in Class 6A after the eighth week of the regular season:
- Houston County bounced back from a 50-21 loss to second-ranked Lee County in the teams’ Region 1 opener with a 21-17 victory over Northside-Warner Robins. The victory left Houston County and Northside at 1-1 in the region, a game behind Lee County and No. 7 Thomas County Central. The odds are that the Lee County-Thomas County Central game on Oct. 28 will determine the champion, but Houston County and Northside will have some say in how it plays out. Houston County plays at Thomas County Central on Oct. 21, while Northside has games remaining against both Thomas County Central (Nov. 4) and Lee County (Oct. 21).
- Sixth-ranked Rome emerged as the only remaining unbeaten team in Region 6 play after a 52-0 victory over Sequoyah that left the Wolves at 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the region. Sequoyah (3-4, 2-1) fell into a three-way tie for second place with River Ridge and Creekview, which are both 2-1 in the region after River Ridge’s 20-17 victory over Creekview last week. Rome was the Region 5 champion last season before moving to Region 6 in reclassification and is seeking its fifth region title in seven years. The Wolves are off this week before closing out the regular season with games against River Ridge, Creekview and Etowah (4-2, 0-2).
- South Paulding and top-ranked Hughes remain on a collision course for the Region 5 title. They both improved to 4-0 in the region with blowout victories in Week 8. Hughes defeated East Paulding 59-0, and South Paulding rolled past New Manchester 61-6. They will meet on Oct. 28 in Douglasville in a game that is almost certain to decide the championship. South Paulding has never been a region champion in its 17-season history, despite coming close several times. The Spartans finished in a tie for first place with Rome and Carrollton in Region 5 last year, but Rome got the title and South Paulding was the No. 3 seed because of the region tiebreakers.
- North Forsyth took a half-game lead over fifth-ranked Gainesville for first place in Region 8 with a 21-7 victory over Lanier. North Forsyth is 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the region while Gainesville, which was idle last week, is 6-0 and 2-0. It’s likely that the region title will be on the line when the two teams, which dropped from Class 7A this season, meet on Oct. 28 at Gainesville. North Forsyth has won just one region championship in its 29-year history. That title came in 2001 under head coach Bruce Miller, who departed for Gainesville after the season and led the Red Elephants to nine region championships and a state title (2012) over the next 16 years.
- Lakeside-DeKalb, a Region 4 team playing a non-region schedule for the third consecutive sesaon, reached the five-win mark for just the second time since 2003 (first since 2016) with a 26-6 victory over Drew. The Vikings are 5-2, with wins over Berkmar, Northview, Forest Park, Johnson-Gainesville and Drew and losses to Osborne and Dunwoody. If Lakeside can win its final three games against Stone Mountain, Druid Hills and Clarkston – Class 4A teams also playing non-region schedules that have a combined record of 5-13 – it will finish with its most victories since the 1996 team went 13-2 and reached the state final.
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