The regular season for the Georgia High School Association doesn’t end until next week for teams in the northeast Georgia area. Officially it won’t end until Nov. 8 due to scores of teams around the state having to push games back a week due to Hurricane Helene.
But for all intents and purposes, the battle for the Region 8-A Division 1 title will be staged on Friday. And the possible long-term playoff fates of both Commerce and Rabun County, as well as the rest of the public schools in the region, are in the hands of the Wildcats.
Athens Academy, Commerce, and Rabun County currently are locked in a tight battle for the title. As we come into Week 11, Athens Academy leads the region with 5-0 record while both Commerce and Rabun County sit with 3-1 records. Athens Academy narrowly escaped with a 29-28 win over Commerce earlier in the season while the Tigers held off Rabun County, 42-38.
And with the Power Rankings System in play for Class A D1, not letting a private school win the region could have huge implications on seeding for both the Tigers and Wildcats. Both teams could go from possibly being in the bottom half of the 32-team field in the playoff bracket, as it sits now, to being in the top 16.
But that will only happen if Rabun County (6-2, 3-1 Region 8-A D1) can take down the unbeaten Spartans (9-0, 5-0 Region 8-A D1) on the road.
“We kind of control our own destiny from that standpoint,” Rabun County coach Michael Davis said. “But, you know, in my opinion, it’s kind of screwy with this whole power rankings thing. It could really hurt our seeding from a power ranking standpoint.
“You've got a private school who could actually win your region, which could affect the public schools that are in it. Whereas there's a lot of regions in the state that don't have private schools in them.”
In Class A D1, Commerce (.57473 PSR) is currently 19th, down one spot from last week. However, taking the private schools out of the rankings, Commerce would be No. 12. Rabun County (.53802 PSR), who was off last week, dropped seven spots to No. 30 but is the 19th highest-ranked public school.
A Rabun County win, however, could push either the Wildcats or the Tigers automatically into the top 8 and the other no worse than the top 16 in the final seedings.
There are several equations that work for both Commerce and Rabun County to claim the title, assuming they can win out over the final two weeks. But all three teams have to finish tied for the tiebreaker to come into effect.
As it sits in a +12/-12 tiebreaker point system, Commerce sits at +3 after its two games with both the Spartans and Wildcats. Athens Academy is +1 while Rabun is at -4 coming into Friday.
However, based on their head-to-head win over Commerce, the Spartans can claim the region title outright with a win. From there, there are several possibilities.
The Wildcats can claim the title, again assuming they win out, with a win by 8 or more points over Athens Academy. That would put Commerce 2nd and the Spartans third. But a Rabun win by 3 to 7 points would make Commerce the region winner with the Wildcats 2nd and the Spartans third. A Rabun win by just 1 or 2 points would give Commerce the region title with the Spartans 2nd and the Wildcats third.
Davis said they will pull out all the stops. And knowing what point-total is needed to jump into the top spot will play a factor.
“Absolutely it will,” he said. “If we’re tied and score late and we know we need to win by 8 to win the region, of course we’re going to go for two. A 6 or 7 point win are the same. But 8 is the magic number and we’ll do what we need to do to get there.”
While the Spartans are unbeaten, they own a pair of skinny 1-point wins inside the region, beating Commerce 29-28 and then Elbert County 35-34 last week on a blocked PAT in the final minute. Could a third time be the charm for someone to finish the drill?
“We've got a tall task. They’re a really, really good football team,” Davis said of the Spartans. “They're loaded. They've got a really heavy senior class with 18 seniors.
“When you play in these big games, you can't make mistakes, and you’ve got to run the ball and you have to stop the run. That was the difference in the Commerce game, we couldn't stop the run. It could end up being another track meet like the Commerce game was.”
But the Wildcats will have one thing in this one they didn’t have against the Tigers. Junior quarterback Ty Truelove is 100-percent for the first time this season. Truelove passed for 187 yards last week while the offense is averaging over 260 yards/game rushing.
“Ty is healthy. He's back to being Ty, and he's back to 100-percent now,” Davis said. “Our freshman quarterback Colton Cannon has done a great job for us this year. But having an experienced guy like Ty probably gives us a little better chance.
“We’re definitely looking forward to this one and hopefully we set ourselves up for a long playoff run.”
It looks like things will be tense this week in Watkinsville. Expect both teams to bring the kitchen sink with them, just in case.
RABUN COUNTY at ATHENS ACADEMY
Records: Wildcats (6-2, 3-1 Region 8-A D1); Spartans (9-0, 5-0 Region 8-A D1)
Last week: Rabun County was off; Athens Academy beat Elbert County, 35-34
Where: Slaughter Field, Watkinsville
Time: 7:30 p.m.
The Statisticals: Rabun County leads series 3-2. This is the first meeting since 1998, a 21-14 Wildcats’ win in the 2nd round of the Class A playoffs that year. All 5 previous meetings came between 1994-98. This is the season-finale for the Spartans, who had a scheduled off week on what was supposed to be the final week of the regular season. Now they’ll have to wait 3 weeks for their next game in the playoffs. The Spartans survived a wild finish last week when Keyon Standifer blocked a PAT with 44 seconds left.
What to watch for: The Rabun County offense vs. the Spartans defense. Athens Academy had allowed just 50 points (12.5 ppg) outside of region play but has yielded 102 points (20.4 ppg) in region play. The Wildcats have scored 167 points (41.75 ppg) in region play behind a ground game that is averaging 260 yards/game.
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