Friday Game Night

​The Panthers finished the 2016 season 3-8 but still fought their way into the state playoffs for just the third time in program history, finishing with the No. 3 seed from Region 8-AAA. Now they hope to take another step forward...

Habersham Central was another program that had a breakout season in 2016. However, they play in one of the toughest regions (8-AAAAAA) in Class AAAAAA...

The Red Elephants made the state playoffs for the 17th straight season in 2016 -- but also experienced their first losing final record since that streak began in 2000. Gainesville is looking to show that was but a blip...

After missing out on the playoffs for a third consecutive season, the longest streak for the Falcons since their first three seasons as a program, Ben Hall was lured from powerhouse Jefferson in the offseason to try and turn things around for the largest school in the Hall County system...

The Rebels were just a few points away from making the state playoffs in each of coach Jim Pavao's first two seasons in Blue Ridge, but last season saw injuries and a wicked schedule combine to drop Fannin to a 2-8 record...

East Jackson was one of the big surprises in northeast Georgia in the 2016 season. The Eagles won as many games (4) last season under Christian Hunnicutt and his staff as they had in the previous four campaigns combined...

After five straight seasons of improvement and two straight state playoff appearances, the Vikings slipped to a 3-7 mark in 2016. This summer, coach Bryan Gray says his squad is focusing on replacing key playmakers on offense and getting back to basics on defense...

Tigers coach Sid Maxwell, now in his third season, said they should be better equipped in 2017 to overcome key losses on both sides of the ball. And having senior quarterback Coey Watson returning won’t hurt either...

The Tigers are coming off yet another state playoff run after reaching the Class A Public quarterfinals in 2016 -- following up on back-to-back state semifinal appearances in 2014-15. That said, the Tigers have several holes to fill as they enter 2017 after graduating a number of playmakers...

The War Eagles, behind quarterback Storm Yarbrough and running back Nick Lyles, showed they could score against anyone. However, they will have to replace several key guys on the offensive line and try to rebuild a defense that was porous at times in 2016...