Region play began in 8-4A, but it was the non-region results in other area regions that drew much of the attention Friday night.
Here are five things we learned in Week 4:
1. Behind Gainesville, Region 8-6A looks to be wide open
The only thing in Region 8-6A that has looked concrete through the first month of the season is Gainesville. The Red Elephants have taken no time under first-year head coach Josh Niblett to establish themselves as the region favorite, running out to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2009 and picking up big wins over quality programs like Marist and Monroe Area as well as blowout home wins over Mountain View and Clarke Central. If you're looking to predict who will finish in the remaining three playoff spots, however -- good luck. Many expected North Forsyth to be the top contender to Gainesville in the preseason, but the Raiders suffered a head-scratching blowout loss at previously winless Creekview Friday night. Habersham Central and Jackson County both showed early promise, but both lost recently to upstart Central Gwinnett. Shiloh had a strong 2021 campaign, but has started 1-2, as is Lanier. Apalachee has struggled the most of anybody in the new-look region, but between them and Gainesville, there appears to be little to no separation between the rest of the teams. That should make for plenty of exciting and meaningful games down the stretch, and it means that almost every team in the region could be right in the thick of the playoff hunt up until the last two or three weeks of the season.
2. Region 7-3A looks very different than the "experts" predicted
Before the season began, AccessWDUN conducted its first-ever preseason media poll for area regions. When it comes to Region 7-3A, some of those voters may want their ballots back, because things look very different heading into region play than polls would have led you to believe. The poster child for that is Lumpkin County, which is currently the only unbeaten team in the region at 4-0 for the first time since 1988 in their first season under head coach Heath Webb. The Indians were picked sixth out of seven teams in the region by the media. Pickens was expected to be a playoff team, but they have yet to win a game. Gilmer wasn't picked to make the postseason, yet they currently have the second-best record in the region at 3-1. All of this comes with the caveat that region play has not yet begun. Any of these trends could reverse themselves in a matter of weeks, but so far, 7-3A's landscape looks completely different than it did a month ago, and it's shaping up to be a wild ride. While all eyes so far have been on Dahlonega and Ellijay, there is still plenty of time for Dawson County, White County and Wesleyan to have their say in the region title race.
3. Shockley leading a resurgence at Banks County
Banks County has been very quietly putting together an outstanding start to the 2022 season. Well, quiet except for Andrew Shockley that is. The senior running back has been anything but quiet so far this season, emerging as the most productive running back in Northeast Georgia in the first month. He started the season with a 398 yard and six touchdown performance against Johnson in Homer and has followed that up with more big numbers. He did it again Friday night, racking up 200 yards on 21 carries with three rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown in a 43-6 blowout of Franklin County. It's translated to team success as well, as the Leopards are 3-0 for the first time since 1997 and will have a chance to move to 4-0 for the first time since 1991 if they can get past George Walton Academy this week. They've already won as many games this year as they did in the previous two seasons combined and one more win would tie the most wins in a season under fifth-year head coach Jay Reid. They're also looking like a potential factor in Region 8-2A. There's more excitement around Homer now than there has been in a long time.
4. It's not just a cliche - turnovers can change games quickly
If you've listened to interviews with football coaches at all, you've likely heard them beat the drum of the importance of turnovers. In case you thought that was just a coach-speak cliche, a couple of games Friday night proved that they are still just as important as they've always been. Chestatee blew out East Hall in both teams' Region 8-4A opener Friday night 44-12, and they largely did it with turnovers. The War Eagles led just 14-12 at halftime before forcing five Vikings turnovers, with two of them being returned by Chestatee for touchdowns to blow the game open. Meanwhile, Gainesville used turnovers to their advantage over at City Park Stadium. The Red Elephants were tied with Clarke Central at 3-3 in the second quarter before forcing a pair of Gladiator fumbles on back-to-back possessions and turning both into quick touchdowns. All of a sudden, a low-scoring slugfest was a comfortable 17-3 Big Red lead that they would never relinquish en route to a 43-20 rout. Habersham Central was on the bad end the turnover bug Friday, as three interceptions contributed to a 28-14 loss to Central Gwinnett in Mt. Airy. So the next time you hear a coach talk about the importance of taking care of the football, know that they're telling the truth.
5. Lanier Christian is having no trouble with the move back to 11-man football
Lanier Christian saw major success in their first year under head coach Bruce Miller in 2021. The Lightning went 9-3 with a deep run in the GAPPS playoffs. However, the season came in the GAPPS 8-man league, as the small private school in Chestnut Mountain was still looking to build numbers. They did that this offseason and made the jump back to the GAPPS 11-man league. If you were expecting that to lead to a drop-off in performance, you were wrong. If anything, LCA looks more impressive so far this year than last, as they've raced out to a 3-0 start and are putting up monstrous numbers along the way. The Lightning are averaging 59 points per game while giving up just 4.5 on average. That's an average scoring margin of plus-55. The most recent victim was Rock Springs Christian, who LCA blew out 62-8 Friday night. Quarterback C.J. Britt threw six touchdown passes to five different receivers in the effort while sophomore running back Zeke Clanton has been putting up big numbers as well. With a new campus on the way, things are looking up for Hall County's smallest school.
SCHEDULE FOR Sept. 16
Banks County at George Walton Academy
Calvary Christian at Lanier Christian
Carver-Atlanta at Buford
Chestatee at Cherokee Bluff*
East Forsyth at Johnson
Franklin County at East Jackson
Gainesville at Apalachee*
Habersham Central at Forsyth Central
Lambert at Flowery Branch
Lincoln County at Commerce
North Forsyth at Jackson County*
North Hall at East Hall*
Rabun County at Heard County
Riverside Military at Georgia Military
Towns County at Coosa
West Hall at Union County
White County at Stephens County
(Dawson County, Jefferson, Lakeview Academy, and Lumpkin County are off this week.)
(* -- denotes region contest)
