The region-title hopes of two defending champions in Class 6A suffered major blows with losses Friday during the seventh week of the high school football season.
Third-ranked Westlake, which has won seven consecutive region titles going back to its days in the highest classification, lost to No. 7 Hughes 31-24 in the first weekend of league play in Region 4. It was the first region loss since Nov. 1, 2019, for the Lions, who are 37-3 in region games since the start of their title streak.
Hughes emerged from the battle of south Fulton County rivals as the heavy favorite to win the title, which would be its first since winning two straight in 2012 and 2013. The Panthers are tied for first place after one week of region play with Tucker, which beat North Atlanta 28-3 for its first victory of the season, and Lovejoy.
River Ridge, which was the surprise of Class 6A last year when it went 9-0 in the regular season and reached the state quarterfinals, had its 13-game winning streak in regular-season games broken with a 44-15 loss to Riverwood in a Region 7 game. The loss dropped the Knights (4-1, 1-1) into fourth place. Johns Creek and Cambridge remain unbeaten in the region. Riverwood, which lost to Johns Creek 40-32 last week, improved to 2-1.
In Region 5, eighth-ranked Douglas County is the only remaining unbeaten team after defending champion Carrollton’s 40-13 victory over South Paulding. Carrollton’s win completed the circle on a wild three-week stretch in which South Paulding defeated Rome, which beat Carrollton, which turned around and beat South Paulding. Those three teams are tied for second place with Alexander, each with 2-1 records in region play.
Two other defending region champions continue rolling along.
Buford, the 2020 Class 6A champion, is 2-0 in Region 8 after a 58-0 victory over Habersham Central. The Wolves have outscored their opponents 99-0 in the two region games and are tied for first place with Dacula, which beat Winder-Barrow 40-15.
Evans, which has won three of the past four Region 3 titles, won its region opener against Grovetown 42-20. The Knights are 21-3 in region games since the start of the 2016 season. Alcovy also in 1-0 in the region after beating Rockdale County last week. The region’s other two teams, Lakeside-Evans and Heritage-Conyers, will meet in their region openers next week.
Brunswick of Region 2 improved to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the region with a 56-21 victory over South Effingham. The Pirates are the only 2-0 team in league play (Effingham County and Statesboro are 1-0). Defending champion Glynn Academy, which lost to Brunswick 17-14 in overtime last week, bounced back with a 35-12 victory over Bradwell Institute to improve to 1-1.
Most of Region 6, which is made up of nine Cobb County schools, was idle this week as the school system had its fall break. In the only game on the schedule, Wheeler defeated Osborne 10-0 for its first victory of the season.
Four-team Region 1 begins league play on Oct. 15.
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