Two more of the eight Class 5A regions began full league play last week, bringing the total to seven, and the classification’s smallest region, Region 2, will get under way Friday night in Week 7 of the high school football season.
In Region 7, which includes three teams in the top 10, the favorites won convincingly in their opening games. Things appear more wide open in Region 8, where Clarke Central and Winder-Barrow earned victories last week.
Here’s a look at the two regions that got going last week.
Region 7
Top-ranked Milton, No. 6 Gainesville and No. 7 Roswell won their games last week by a combined score of 139-24, and those three victories came against the three next-best teams. If they play as expected the rest of the way, they’re almost certain to take the top three spots from the region for the playoffs.
The battle for fourth place should be a good one. Chattahoochee and Seckinger, projected by the computer Maxwell Ratings in the preseason to finish in the bottom two spots in the standings, were undefeated coming into region play but had a rough time last week. Chattahoochee ran up against Milton, which is ranked as high as No. 3 in several national polls, and lost 47-0. Seckinger, a third-year Gwinnett County school playing a region schedule for the first time, lost to Roswell 42-10. And things won’t get easier for the Jaguars any time soon, as they face Milton and Gainesville in the next two games. Seckinger’s game at Chattahoochee on Oct. 25 could loom large in the playoff picture.
Not to be overlooked is Lanier, which was Maxwell’s preseason pick to finish fourth in the region. The Longhorns went 2-2 in non-region games, all of which came against Class 6A schools. Lanier lost to Gainesville 50-14 last week but still controls its playoff fate. The Longhorns host Chattahoochee this week and plays at Seckinger in the regular-season, with Milton, Johns Creek and Roswell in between.
Johns Creek went 0-4 in non-region games and had a bye last week, and the Gladiators face a tough road with games against Gainesville and Roswell the next two weekends. Johns Creek was a state quarterfinalist in 2021 but has struggled since coach Matt Helmerich’s departure, going 3-21 since the start of the 2022 season.
Region 8
Habersham Central and Loganville got a jump on the rest of the region when they met on Sept. 13. Habersham Central won 56-21 to take the early lead in the seven-team league. Preseason favorite Clarke Central and Winder-Barrow joined the Raiders in first place with victories last week.
Clarke Central came into region play with a 2-2 record against a challenging schedule, defeating Cedar Shoals and Oconee County before losing to Jefferson and North Oconee. Last week, the Gladiators opened region play with a 27-11 victory over Jackson County, which came into region play at 3-1.
Maxwell’s current projections heavily favor Clarke Central, Winder-Barrow, Habersham Central and Jackson County for the region’s four playoff spots. Alcovy, Apalachee and Loganville, with a combined overall of 1-12, appear to be long shots. The only victory in the group came from Alcovy, which defeated Class 6A Rockdale County 12-9 on Sept. 6.
Apalachee had a non-region game against Monroe Area and region contests against Winder-Barrow and Loganville cancelled in the aftermath of the shooting at the school on Sept. 4. The Wildcats returned to the practice field last week and their game this week against Clarke Central is still listed on the GHSA schedule, but the status of that game remains uncertain.
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