Five region championships and at least six playoff berths in Class 6A will be up for grabs Friday and Saturday in the final weekend of the high school regular season.
Top-ranked Lee County (Region 1), No. 3 Westlake (Region 4) and No. 4 Allatoona (Region 6) clinched region championships last week. It was the seventh consecutive title for Westlake and the fourth straight for Lee County. Allatoona won its first region title since 2015, when it went on to win a state championship.
Here’s a brief look at the races for region championships and playoff berths in each Class 6A region (all records listed below are for region games only):
*Region 1: Final seeding is complete for this four-team region, which finished its regular season last weekend. Lee County clinched its fourth consecutive region championship with a 41-7 victory over Valdosta. The Wildcats will be the No. 2 seed from the region in the playoffs. Northside-Warner Robins secured the No. 3 seed with a 26-23 victory over Houston County, which will be the No. 4 seed. Northside is returning to the postseason after missing out last year (when the region had five teams) for the first time since 1991.
*Region 2: Defending region champion Richmond Hill (5-1) completed its regular season last week. If Glynn Academy (4-1) and Brunswick (4-1) win as expected, it will create a three-way tie for first place. However, Glynn Academy will win the region title if it beats Statesboro because it holds the tiebreaker advantage in the event of a three-way tie, or a two-way with Richmond Hill, which would win the title in Glynn Academy loses. Statesboro beat Effingham County 35-33 last weekend to clinch the fourth playoff berth.
*Region 3: The winner of the Alcovy-Evans game this week will be the region champ, and the loser will be the No. 2 seed. Alcovy (opened in 2006) has never won a region title. Evans won two in the past three seasons. Lakeside beat Grovetown 21-14 last week to take the No. 3 seed and lock Grovetown in at No. 4. Heritage-Conyers and Rockdale County weren’t able to piece together a full region schedule after the Rockdale school system delayed the start of their seasons, leaving only four teams eligible for the playoffs.
*Region 4: Region champion Westlake (4-0) and runner-up Hughes (3-1) will be the top two seeds in the playoffs, regardless of what happens this week. The other two playoff berths will go to Lovejoy (2-2) and Tucker (2-2) if Lovejoy beats North Atlanta (1-3) as expected. Lovejoy is ranked No. 13 by the computer Maxwell Ratings, while North Atlanta is No. 36. If Tucker upsets Westlake, the Lovejoy-North Atlanta loser will miss the playoffs. Losses by Lovejoy and Tucker would produce a three-way tie for third place.
*Region 5: Carrollton (5-1) lost to Alexander last week with a chance to secure the region title, but the Trojans can still clinch this week if they beat Douglas County (4-2). If Douglas County wins, the title would go to Rome, provided it beats Paulding County (1-5). Carrollton, Rome and Douglas County have clinched playoff berths. The winner of the game between Alexander (4-2) and South Paulding (3-3) gets the other one. That will be the case even if Alexander, South Paulding and Douglas County finish in a tie for third.
*Region 6: Allatoona (7-0) clinched the region championship with a victory over Lassiter last week. Kell (5-1) can secure the No. 2 seed with a victory against Lassiter (2-5). Sprayberry (4-2) is in fourth place but has clinched a playoff berth. Pope (4-1), which closes the regular season Friday against Allatoona, also appears to be in good shape for a playoff berth, although the Greyhounds' situation is a little less clear because games against Sprayberry and fifth-place Kennesaw Mountain (3-3) were canceled over COVID-19 issues.
*Region 7: River Ridge (5-0), Creekview (4-1) and Johns Creek (4-1) have clinched berths. River Ridge (opened in 2009) can win its first region title with a victory this week against Cambridge, while Creekview and Johns Creek face off in a battle for seeding. River Ridge could’ve clinched the title last week, but its game against Johns Creek was canceled. Cambridge (4-2) is in fourth place, but unless the Bears upset River Ridge or Sequoyah (3-3) loses to last-place Centennial (0-5), Sequoyah will take the final playoff berth.
*Region 8: Buford and Dacula will play this week for the region championship and top seed for the playoffs. The loser will be the No. 2 seed. It gets murky beyond that. Habersham Central (2-2) has two games this week (Tuesday vs. Central Gwinnett and Saturday at Shiloh) but can clinch the No. 3 seed by winning both. Winder-Barrow (2-3) and Shiloh (2-3) are tied for fourth place, although Winder-Barrow beat Shiloh on Oct. 23 and holds the advantage if they end up tied. Lanier (1-4) has to win and get a lot of help.
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