The weekend in which Region 1-6A had a chance to shine turned out to be one to forget.
Top-ranked Valdosta lost to Class 7A No. 4 Colquitt County 24-10, spoiling Wildcats coach Rush Propst’s return to Moultrie, where he went 119-35 and won two state championship in 11 seasons before being forced out in 2018. No. 2 Lee County lost to Class 7A No. 2 Lowndes 38-13, ending the Trojans' nine-game regular-season winning streak. Lowndes' 38 points were the first allowed by Lee County in three games this season. And Northside lost to crosstown rival Warner Robins 47-0, the Eagles' most-lopsided loss in the 63-game history of the series.
However, the news was much better in other parts of Class 6A.
Lovejoy pulled off the upset of the night Friday when it beat North Gwinnett 19-7. North Gwinnett came in ranked third in Class 7A, with impressive victories over McEachern, Jones County and Parkview, and was projected as a 38-point favorite by the computer Maxwell Ratings.
Instead, it was unranked Lovejoy improving to 4-0 for the first time since 2011, when the Wildcats won their first 14 games before losing to Tucker in the state championships game. Lovejoy trailed North Gwinnett 7-6 but got two fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull away.
Lovejoy’s win ended North Gwinnett’s 27-game home winning streak, and the Wildcats became the first team from a lower classification to beat the Bulldogs since Buford in 1999.
Here are some of the other 6A teams that recorded significant victories Friday night:
- Riverwood won its 18th consecutive regular-season game with a 29-26 victory over Woodward Academy, which was ranked No. 10 in Class 5A. It was the Raiders' first victory over a top-10 team since 2001 and their first against Woodward Academy in the nine-game history of the series. Third-year Riverwood coach Robert Edwards is 21-4 at a school that went 2-8 the year before his arrival.
- Hughes improved to 2-0, matching its victory total from last season, with a 35 -14 win over Mays. Hughes and Mays spent the past four years together in Region 5-6A, and in that time, Mays won all meetings with the Panthers. They’re now separated after Mays was dropped to 4A in reclassification. Hughes opened the season with a 14-7 victory over Harrison, which won the Class 6A title in 2019.
- Buford avenged its only loss from its 2019 Class 5A championship when it routed Clarke Central 47-0. Clarke Central’s 31-28 win in the regular-season finale last year gave the Gladiators their first region championship since 2011 and ended Wolves' region-title streak at six. This was Buford’s second consecutive win (39-6 vs. Carver-Atlanta last week) since losing to North Cobb in the opener.
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