On Friday, the No. 4 Pierce County Bears beat the No. 5 Toombs County Bulldogs 17-14 to force a three-way tie with the No. 3 Appling County Pirates in the Region 3 standings. Now the question is how many tiebreakers will be needed to separate the three teams?
The Bulldogs are 3-1 in league play with a bye remaining, and the Bears and Pirates are 2-1.
The first tiebreaker would have been point differential amongst the tied teams. However, Appling County beat Pierce County 17-14, and Toombs County beat Appling County 31-28, so all games were decided by the same three points. The next tiebreaker is point differential against the other 3-2A teams, however there’s a 13-point cap.
If the Bears, Bulldogs and Pirates win their three remaining league games by at least 13 points, the region champion could be drawn from a hat.
It’s a lot to keep up with for Pierce County coach Ryan Herring, whose Bears are in their third region in five years.
“What’s weird about Georgia is every region has its own tiebreaker,” Herring said. “In Alabama, there’s a statewide tiebreaker for all regions...We’ve got three more games, so something could happen before then. Someone could only win by 10.”
In the event that one of the tied teams does not win all three games by 13, that team is eliminated from the three-way tie, then the head-to-head matchup of the remaining tied two teams will win the tiebreaker.
There is also a scenario where none of the Bears, Bulldogs or Pirates win the region. As of now, the three are actually tied for second place. Unranked Vidalia (5-2, 3-0) is the wild card in all of this, and has yet to play either of the three.
“That’s going to be the game everyone has to watch out for,” Herring said. “Vidalia has some good players.”
Against Toombs County, the Bears were able to overcome a number of turnovers, including an interception returned for a touchdown, to come away with the win. Junior quarterback Caden McGatha rushed for 215 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 164 yards.
The Bears defense held Toombs County to just 12 yards rushing.
“We had a great defensive night,” Herring said. “We knew we had to stop the inside zone and the RPOs. They had once glance route that went 70 yards, and that was their touchdown. That was their only big play, so we limited their explosiveness.”
This week, the Bears host Windsor Forest (2-6, 0-4), and Appling County travels to Vidalia. Toombs County is on bye.
Callaway closing in on Region 5
The No. 6 Callaway Cavaliers beat Towers 47-12 on Thursday, improving to 4-2, 3-0 in Region 5. On Friday they travel to McDonough to face ELCA (2-5, 2-1) and a win would go a long way in securing them their second straight 5-2A title, and their fourth in five years.
Cavs quarterback Blake Harrington was 4 of 5 passing for 96 yards and two touchdowns, with D’Arcy Harris catching two passes for touchdowns totaling 79 yards. Harrington also had 52 yards and a touchdown on four carries to lead the team in rushing.
Cam Tucker led the Cavs’ defense with eight tackles, and Jonathan Freeman returned an interception for a touchdown.
Though ELCA is having a down year so far, they have a winning league record and Cavs coach Pete Wiggins knows not to count the Chargers out.
“Very solid team,” Wiggins said. “They had a very difficult schedule leading up to region play. They have good players that are coached up. The program is one of the most successful in the state. They have guys that have played in a lot of big games. It will be a tough game on the road Friday.”
Sources: Georgia High School Football Historians Association, MaxPreps, GHSF Daily
About the Author
