Friday Game Night

This is one stacked region -- at least at the top. Milton is the defending Class 7A state champion. Gainesville played for the Class 6A title in 2022. Roswell has won 33 games since 2021.

Region 8-5A should be wide-open as only Habersham Central and Loganville made the 2023 playoffs and the new seven team region as a whole was just 27-45 overall in 2023 and no team posted a winning record.

Most of the teams in the region will be in flux with roster turnover due to graduation. But three-time defending champ North Oconee always seem to reload and has a solid mix of upper and underclassmen on the roster.

This was a fierce battle in 2023 with five of the six teams all finishing within two games of each other. The four playoff teams were separated by just one game and the Nos. 2-4 seeds were decided by tiebreakers.

Balance is the word that will define this region as the season goes along. Several teams will be rebuilding elements of their offense with others hoping to improve on that side of the ball with growth of some young talent.

While Rockmart was a clear favorite by the panel, repeating as champion with a loaded North Cobb Christian, picked second, will be a challenge.

Basically, the GHSA took the old Region 8-3A, dropped most of it down to Class 2A, and then kept one holdover and added a behemoth from Class A.

This should be one of the most competitive regions in the state, top to bottom, in any classification It already may be the toughest in Class A Division 1. And it may very well come down to the final week.

For the past seven years Dr. Robin Hines was front-and-center while guiding the Georgia High School Association from his Executive Director position down in Thomaston.

Kickoff 2024, Jacobs Media's annual full-color magazine dedicated exclusively to high school football in North Georgia, is now available, the company announced today.