Sequoyah, Cambridge and Luella were the biggest upset winners in Friday’s first round of the high school football playoffs, and their glory came at the expense of top-10 teams Gainesville, Cedartown and Westover.
In marquee games between top-10 teams, No. 4 Douglas County beat No. 9 Mill Creek 27-18 in Class 6A, and No. 1 Marist beat No. 9 Warner Robins 47-25 in Class 4A.
In the most striking upset, Sequoyah defeated No. 6 Gainesville 38-28 in Class 5A by scoring two touchdowns in the final six minutes after Gainesville took a 28-24 lead.
Sequoyah was 9-1 in the regular season, its only loss to Sprayberry, a region champion, but had not faced a top-10 team, so the computer Maxwell Ratings pegged the Chiefs as a 13-point underdog. Gainesville, the preseason No. 2 team, had lost to No. 1 teams Carrollton and Milton and to No. 5 Roswell and finished third in Region 7, forcing the road trip to Cherokee County.
Gainesville is the highest-ranked team that Sequoyah has beaten since No. 5 Dalton in 2018 and best playoff win since the Chiefs beat No. 5 Lanier in 2014.
In Class 4A, Cambridge defeated No. 6 Cedartown 51-44, rallying from a 44-30 deficit in the fourth quarter.
Cambridge, a north Fulton County school, started the season 8-0 but lost its final two regular-season games to Kell and Blessed Trinity and fell out of the rankings. Cedartown entered 9-1, its only loss to No. 2 Cartersville.
The playoff victory was Cambridge’s fourth in history and first against a top-10 opponent.
In Class 3A, Luella of Henry County beat No. 6 Westover of Albany 25-24. This is the second straight season that Luella has won a first-round road game despite a 5-5 regular-season record, but this one came on the road and represented Luella’s first win over a top-10 opponent 2008 (Stephenson).
Top-10 teams went 52-6 overall, but a few barely got through.
No. 10 Woodward Academy of Class 4A beat Lovejoy 21-20 on a touchdown pass in the final minute.
No. 6 Morgan County of Class 2A beat East Jackson, an at-large playoff team, 52-49 on Evan Johnson’s 32-yard field goal with 14 seconds left.
No. 8 Lovett of Class 3A-A beat Trinity Christian 38-35 by running out the clock after Trinity got within three points with about five minutes left.
The first round concludes Saturday with 20 games.
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