The chill of fall could not cool down a number of northeast Georgia high school football programs on Friday night, as Week 6 provided some eye-opening results for the 2016 campaign.
(NOTE: Visit our Friday Game Night page for game stories and video highlights from contests throughout northeast Georgia. See a round-up of statewide football scores by clicking here.)
Dawson County and Mill Creek each pulled away with key victories in Regions 7-AAA and 6-AAAAAAA, respectively, while Jefferson fended off Madison County 28-7 in Region 8-AAAA.
Region 7-AAA produced perhaps the game of the night across the entire state -- but it wasn't at The Brickyard. This one came in Blairsville, as Union County watched East Hall storm back to take a late lead before the Panthers responded themselves and nabbed a 51-46 win to bounce back from last week's loss to Greater Atlanta Christian. GAC also won big over Fannin County on Friday, 52-10. In Gainesville, the Tigers traded punches with North Hall in the first half before landing some haymakers in the second to take a 45-27 win at The Brickyard and move to 1-0 in 7-AAA and hand the Trojans their first region defeat.
Similarly, Mill Creek needed some time to separate itself from North Gwinnett but did so with authority in the second half en route to a 44-17 victory.
In Region 8-A, Commerce gave Prince Avenue Christian all it could handle before falling 21-14 on a last-minute touchdown. Lakeview Academy also put up a strong battle before succumbing to Athens Christian 28-21. Athens Academy also bowled over Riverside Miltary. Towns County also fell to Hebron Christian.
In Region 8-AAAAA Clarke Central made several people double-take on their Twitter accounts, taking a 13-6 lead over Buford -- but the Wolves responded to win comfortably, 44-13. Also in 8-AAAAA, Flowery Branch stonewalled Cedar Shoals 33-0, while Johnson fell to Walnut Grove.
In the only region game of the night in 8-AAAAAA, Winder-Barrow outlasted Apalachee 28-21 to notch an important win. Fellow 8-AAAAAA team Gainesville fell to Marist, 24-10.
In 8-AAA, Jackson County put up an offensive explosion in a 41-21 win over Monroe Area to open the region campaign in style, while East Jackson crashed to earth in a 42-6 loss to Morgan County.
In 8-AA, Rabun County crushed Banks County 46-3 to move to 4-0 and 1-0 in region play.
Also, in a non-region make-up game Lumpkin County fought back to take out White County 20-14.
WEEK 6 AREA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCORES, Sept. 30
Athens Academy 42, Riverside Military Academy 0
Athens Christian 28, Lakeview Academy 21
Buford 44, Clarke Central 13
Dawson County 45, North Hall 27
Flowery Branch 33, Cedar Shoals 0
Greater Atlanta Christian 52, Fannin County 10
Hebron Christian Academy 31, Towns County 13
Jackson County 41, Monroe Area 21
Jefferson 28, Madison County 7
Lumpkin County 20, White County 14
Marist 24, Gainesville 10
Mill Creek 44, North Gwinnett 17
Morgan County 42, East Jackson 6
Prince Avenue Christian 21, Commerce 14
Rabun County 46, Banks County 3
Union County 51, East Hall 46
Walnut Grove 28, Johnson 0
Winder-Barrow 28, Apalachee 21
