State playoff spots up for grabs in local regions during final two weeks of regular season
REGION 5-AAAA
Cartersville (9-0, 5-0) will host Troup for the region title Friday, November 4 at Weinman Stadium. The Tigers (7-1, 4-0) have a game at Central-Carroll this Friday before traveling to Cartersville, but even with a loss to Central could overtake the Canes for the region championship in a head-to-head tie-breaker. The Canes can finish no worse than second in the region and will host an opening round game in the Class AAAA state playoffs November 11.
Cartersville is unanimously the top-ranked team in Class AAAA among six statewide ratings and polls. The Canes are the defending state champions in Class AAAA and are currently riding a 24 game winning streak. Troup remains unranked, but could crack some of the polls prior to visiting Cartersville.
Sandy Creek (5-3, 2-2) plays at Cedartown (5-3, 2-2) this week to settle the No. 3 seed from this region. The Sandy Creek/Cedartown loser could need a win in their final week to lock up the No. 4 seed. Sandy Creek closes the regular season at home against Central-Carroll. Cedartown plays at Chapel Hill in the final week.
Region 5-AAAA is paired with Region 7-AAAA in the first round of the state playoffs this season.
Blessed Trinity will be the top-seed from Region 7-AAAA and play the Region 5-AAAA 4-seed. Marist is in position for the No. 2 seed, while West Hall, Chestatee, and White County have key games to decide the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds.
REGION 6-AAA
Region 6-AAA uses its tenth regular season game as a region crossover to determine its four state playoff qualifiers.
The region is divided into a North and South sub-region containing five teams each.
This season, the South sub-region will host all the playoff qualifying games on November 4. In 2017, the state qualifying games will shift to all North sub-region sites.
The top four teams from each sub-region will play one another with a state playoff berth on the line. The first place teams from each sub-region play the fourth place teams from the opposite subdivision. The second and third place teams also play one another. The fifth place teams from each sub-region face off in what is essentially a season-ending consolation game.
This Friday, October 28, the two sub-regions wrap up their games with one another prior to the November 4 crossovers.
In the North sub-region, North Murray (5-3, 2-1) will be the top team with an expected win this week at Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe (1-7, 1-2) and would slip to third with a loss if Ringgold wins this week. Murray County (6-3, 3-1) will be the top team if North Murray falters, but is more likely the second place team. Ringgold (4-4, 2-1) plays at Coahulla Creek and will be third in a three-way tie or second with a win this week and a loss by North Murray.
The three-way tiebreaker in the North is the result of all Region 6-AAA games — including the early season crossover games with the South sub-region.
North Murray defeated Haralson County, but lost to Calhoun in those crossover games to go 1-1. Meanwhile, Murray County and Ringgold were 0-2 in those crossover games. Murray County lost to both Bremen and Adairsville, while Ringgold had losses to Sonoraville and Adairsville.
In the South sub-region, Calhoun has secured the top spot heading into the region playoff crossover and will host Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe who is fourth in the North sub-region. Sonoraville, second in the South sub-region, will most likely host Ringgold November 4 for a spot in the state playoffs. Bremen, who sealed up third in the South sub-region with their win over Adairsville last week, will most likely host Murray County.
That leaves only the fourth position in the South sub-region, which will be determined when Adairsville hosts Haralson County this Friday night.
The Adairsville/Haralson winner will most likely host North Murray for a chance to advance to the Class AAA state playoffs. The Adairsville/Haralson loser will host Coahulla Creek in a final regular season game with neither team eligible for the state playoffs.
Looking ahead to the opening round of the Class AAA state playoffs, Region 6-AAA is paired with Region 8-AAA.
The current leaders in Region 8-AAA include Morgan County, Franklin County, and Jackson County followed by Hart County and Monroe Area.
REGION 7-AAAAA
Carrollton (7-1, 5-1), Rome (6-2, 5-1), and Kell (6-2, 5-1) will battle for the top spot over the final two weeks of the regular season, but they have already played one another. The three teams, all unanimously ranked in the top eight of six recognized statewide polls, have one win and one loss against the other two teams. In the composite of all polls, they ranked No. 3 through No. 5. Carrollton plays at Paulding County this week and will host Cass November 4. Rome entertains East Paulding this week and plays at Woodland November 4. Kell hosts Woodland this Friday night and travels to Hiram November 4.
Provided all three region title contenders (Rome, Carrollton, and Kell) win their remaining regular season games, Rome holds a head-to-head point differential tie-breaker over the other two and would secure the No. 1 seed. Carrollton, who defeated Kell 34-14, would be the No. 2 seed, leaving Kell third. (Note: the region point differential tie-breaker has a 17-point cap.)
Cass (3-5, 2-4) was officially eliminated from playoff contention last Friday with a home 30-24 loss to Paulding County. It was the Colonels fourth consecutive loss after a 3-1 start. Cass has road games at Villa Rica and Carrollton. Cass could even its overall and region marks with two wins, but either Paulding County or East Paulding would hold a head-to-head tie-breaker for the final playoff slot in that scenario.
Woodland (0-8, 0-6) was mathematically eliminated two weeks earlier.
In the battle for the Region 7-AAAAA fourth-seed, Villa Rica holds a tie-breaker advantage over challengers Paulding County and East Paulding. Villa Rica could lock down the No. 4 spot with a win over visiting Cass this Friday, but would be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss. Meanwhile, Paulding County (4-4, 3-3) and East Paulding (3-5, 3-3) could leap-frog Villa Rica for the fourth spot if either wins its final two games. Paulding and East Paulding play each other November 4, but both play contenders for the region title this Friday. Paulding County hosts Carrollton and East Paulding travels to Rome.
Region 7-AAAAA’s four state playoff teams will play teams from Region 5-AAAAA in the first round.
Arabia Mountain, Southwest DeKalb, and Lithonia have games with one another over the final two weeks to determine the Region 5-AAAAA top three positions. Miller Grove is in position for the final spot from 5-AAAAA.
