Second-ranked Lee County of Region 1 and No. 3 Hughes of Region 4 have clinched region championships in Class 6A, but the other six titles won’t be decided until the regular-season finales this weekend.
Three of those championships will be settled in showdowns between the top two teams in regions 2, 3 and 8. Here’s a look at those de facto championship games, as well as a recap of the other three titles that are still up for grabs.
*Region 2 – Brunswick at Effingham County: Brunswick has led Region 2 from the start and is looking to complete a 10-0 regular season, but a victory by Effingham County, just one game back, would give the region title to the Rebels based on the head-to-head tiebreaker. First-year Effingham coach John Ford, formerly at Roswell at Buford, has engineered a quick turnaround in the program, inheriting a team that went 3-7 last year and leading it to a 6-2 start. The Rebels will be making their firs playoff appearance since 2018. Brunswick is seeking its first region championship since 2009 and first 10-win season since 1999. The Pirates have rolled through their first nine games, with only two – a 20-13 win over defending Class 3A champ Pierce County in the opener and a 17-14 overtime win against rival Glynn Academy – being closer than 21 points.
*Region 3 – Evans at Alcovy: Evans and Alcovy, who play Saturday night in Covington, are the only remaining unbeaten teams in the region and have a two-game lead on the rest of the pack, so the winner will be the region champion and the loser will be the runner-up. Alcovy, which opened in 2006, has never won a region title. The Tigers were in the same position last year, needing a win over Evans in the final game of the season to claim the title, but they lost 40-30. But Alcovy’s steady climb under third-year coach Jason Dukes has been impressive. Alcovy is 6-1 in region games over the past two season after going 2-28 in region play from 2014 to 2019. Evans, in its first season under coach Barrett Davis, is seeking its fourth region title in five years. The Knights are 24-3 in region games since 2016 and will be making their sixth consecutive playoff appearance.
*Region 8 – Buford at Dacula: Dacula had won four consecutive region titles and 20 straight region games until Buford moved into the region from Class 5A last year. Although the Falcons would go on to increase the winning streak to 25 in region play, the streak ended when they ran into Buford, which won 35-0 to clinch the 2020 region title. The Wolves went on to claim the Class 6A championship, their 12th state title since 2000 and their 13th overall. Buford is 35-3 since the start of the 2019 season, with the losses coming against Clarke Central (2019), North Cobb (2020) and Chaminade-Madonna of Florida (2021). Dacula, under first-year coach Casey Vogt, started the season 1-3 with losses to Class 7A playoff teams Brookwood, Mill Creek and Mountain View but has since won five straight in region play, with no game closer than 16 points.
*Elsewhere: The other three regions in which the championship hasn’t been settled are regions 5, 6 and 7, all of which go into the final weekend with three-way ties for first place.
Carrollton, Rome and South Paulding have one loss each in Region 5 play and are 1-1 against the other two. Rome has the best point differential in games among those three and has the most winnable game this weekend, facing Paulding County (3-6). Carrollton, which lost to Rome, faces a Douglas County team that is headed to the playoffs but coming off a 42-6 loss to Rome last week. South Paulding beat Rome and lost to Carrollton and faces fifth-place Alexander this week.
In Region 6, Kennesaw Mountain can claim the first region championship in school history with a victory over last-place Osborne. If Kennesaw Mountain loses, the title will go to the winner of the Allatoona-Pope game. Allatoona is the defending region champion. Kennesaw Mountain, Allatoona and Pope have one loss each in region play, but the Mustangs beat the other two, thus holding the tiebreaker advantage.
Riverwood, Johns Creek and Cambridge are tied for first place in Region 7 with one loss each and 1-1 records against each other. Johns Creek would hold the point-differential tiebreaker advantage if they all win this weekend. If one of the three loses, leaving two teams tied for first, Riverwood holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Cambridge, which has the advantage over Johns Creek, which would get the nod over Riverwood.
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