Five of the nine regions in the Georgia High School Association, GIAA, and GAPPS that contain Northeast Georgia teams are now underway to determine playoff spots.
Another new weekly feature we are breaking out at AccessWDUN is the Region Recap, where we look at each region after the week’s games to see who is making moves, up and down, and which teams have established themselves as contenders and which teams have work to do to get out of the pretender status.
Regions 8-5A and 7-3A in the GHSA and GAPPS joined Region 8-6A and 8-4A on Friday.
No region has been as interesting as Region 8-4A to this point. Upsets have prevailed in the first three weeks so we’ll start there.
REGION 8-4A
On Thursday, Region 8-4A looked like it was beginning to take shape at the top with North Oconee and Cherokee Bluff situated at the top with East Forsyth right behind, all undefeated in region play, and everyone else chasing.
By the end of Friday night, North Hall and Walnut Grove had thrown a huge monkey wrench into the mix. The Trojans stunned Bluff, 14-12, while Walnut Grove held off the Broncos, 7-6, as both games came down to last-second missed field goals.
That left No. 2-ranked North Oconee (4-0, 2-0 Region 8-4A) as the only unbeaten team with Walnut Grove, Cedar Shoals, Cherokee Bluff, and North Hall all sitting at 2-1. To make it even more interesting, the tiebreaker may require a slide-rule before it’s all over.
So far in the early going, Walnut Grove has beaten East Forsyth, who beat Cedar Shoals, which beat Walnut Grove, who beat North Hall, who then beat Bluff.
Yikes!
Stay turned...
REGION 8-6A
This was another region that on Thursday, looked poised to play out as expected as both Gainesville and North Forsyth, the top two projected teams, opened with road wins last week.
Not much changed on Friday in spite of, and because of, some late rallies. The Raiders were on the ropes against Shiloh before rallying for a 42-34 win to improve to 2-0 and take the early lead. Lanier rallied past Habersham Central 25-21 with 14 fourth-quarter points to join idle Gainesville at 1-0. Jackson County rebounded from its loss last week with a 28-10 over Apalachee on the road to move to 1-1. Everyone else is winless after the first two weeks.
Gainesville heads to Lanier next week with the winner joining North Forsyth atop the standings. North Forsyth has the week off next week.
REGION 8-5A
This region was stout during non-region going 18-11. Things began on Thursday with Flowery Branch falling to Eastside, 34-14. But preseason favorite and ninth-ranked Jefferson made a quick statement holding off three-time region champ Clarke Central 17-7 on the road on Friday.
However, Class 5A No. 6 Loganville, projected sixth in the seven-team league, continued to establish itself as the front-runner, moving to 2-0 after crushing Heritage-Conyers, 62-8. Jefferson and Eastside both are 1-0 with the rest of the region -- Winder-Barrow, Flowery Branch, Heritage-Conyers, Clarke Central -- all sitting at 0-1.
There are two huge and key matchups next week. Clarke Central travels to Flowery Branch with the loser starrig at an almost win-out scenario while Loganville plays host to Eastside with the winner having the early control in the region.
REGION 7-3A
Dawson County was an overwhelming preseason favorite to win this region. Norcross private school Wesleyan was picked second with Pickens picked fourth.
The emergence of Lumpkin County, even before the Indians’ 42-7 thumping of Pickens on Friday, and now Gilmer, who beat Wesleyan 35-20 on Friday, has already thrown things into turmoil. Both of those teams were projected to not make the playoffs.
The Indians are 5-0 for the first time since 1988 and Gilmer is off to its best start at 4-1 since 2014. And both appear as if they are contenders for the region title.
Dawson County opened strong with a 56-7 win over West Hall. Pickens and Wesleyan now stand at 0-1 right out of the gate with White County, another preseason pick to make the playoffs, opening its region schedule next week.
GAPPS Region 1-2A
Lanier Christian, the highest scoring team in GAPPS, is a heavy-favorite to win the region and got off to a solid start on Friday The Lightning rebounded from their first loss with a 69-7 destruction of Pinecrest Academy at home.
NEXT WEEK
Regions 8-2A, 8-A Division 1 and Division 2, and the GIAA with Lakeview Academy and Riverside Military Academy all get started next week.
Region 8-2A may be a region to keep an eye on. That region went 19-10 during the non-region portion of the season. Banks County, picked fifth in the six-team field, is off to its best start at 4-1 in more than 30 years. Union County is 4-1, East Jackson is 3-2, with all three teams already matching or equalling their 2021 win totals. Fellowship Christian, a state semifinalist in 2021, may be in rebuilding mode sitting at 2-2. It will be interesting to see how things develop.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER. 23 SCORES
Buford 14, Marietta 0
Cedar Shoals 49, East Hall 21*
Commerce 17, Banks County 14
Dawson County 56, West Hall 7*
East Jackson 45, Johnson 0
Jackson County 28, Apalachee 10*
Jefferson 17, Clarke Central 7*
Lakeview Academy 27, Strong Rock Christian 19
Lanier 25, Habersham Central 21*
Lanier Christian 69, Pinecrest Academy 7*
Lumpkin County 42, Pickens 7*
North Forsyth 42, Shiloh 34*
North Hall 14, Cherokee Bluff 12*
North Oconee 52, Chestatee 7*
Oglethorpe County 63, Riverside Military 12
Rabun County 28, Whitefield Academy 14
Walnut Grove 7, East Forsyth 6*
THURSDAY, SEPT. 22, SCORES
Eastside 34, Flowery Branch 14*
(Gainesville, Towns County, Union County, and White County all were off.)
SEPTEMBER 30 SCHEDULE
Banks County at East Jackson*
Cedar Shoals at Cherokee Bluff*
Chestatee at Madison County*
Clarke Central at Flowery Branch*
Collins Hill at Buford*
Commerce at First Presbyterian
Dawson County at White County*
Druid Hills at Riverside Military
East Forsyth at East Hall*
Gainesville at Lanier*
Gilmer at West Hall*
Greene County at Towns County*
Habersham Central at Jackson County*
Johnson at Lakeside-DeKalb
Lakeview Academy at Bethlehem Christian*
Lanier Christian at Notre Dame Academy
Lumpkin County at Wesleyan*
North Hall at North Oconee*
Rabun County at Fellowship Christian*
Winder-Barrow at Jefferson*
(North Forsyth and Union County are off)
(* -- denotes region contest)
