With one week to go in the regular season, some things became clear, while others became really murky.
Here are five things we learned from Week 11 of high school football.
1. Region 8-5A comes down to what we have thought for a while.
Jackson County and Habersham Central have done what they needed to do. Keep winning and get to Week 12. Now, here we are, and this has the makings of being the best game in the area on Friday. Both teams are extremely balanced offensively and have stout defenses. The only difference on paper is that the game is in Hoschton, but Habersham Central has played well on the road. This one will be a blast.
2. Region 6-3A got really weird.
North Hall won the region title. We knew that would happen. But what happened elsewhere in the region was what made it weird. So here’s what could happen this week. Pickens could beat Lumpkin, Dawson could lose to North Hall, and White County could beat Chestatee. What does that equal? A three-way tie for fourth place in the region. Oh, by the way, everyone in that cluster beat each other. What we thought might be a clear picture heading into the final week of the regular season is anything but that now.
3. Gainesville is still a team to beat in the Class 5A playoffs.
If Big Red can punch it in from the 1-yard line on fourth down late, they probably beat Roswell Friday night and are the region champions. Instead, Gainesville has to sit at home for three weeks before playing again with a bad taste in its mouth. This shouldn’t affect the Red Elephants in the playoff picture, because regardless of how the seedings fall, Gainesville will still be highly favored in at least the first two rounds. And sometimes, a tough loss like this is the beginning of a big playoff push.
4. Rabun’s playoff picture is fuzzy.
So Rabun can’t get to the top seed in Region 8-A Division I as Athens Academy finished the regular season unbeaten in region play after winning the shootout against the Wildcats. That just made the playoff picture fuzzier, though. Although Rabun has officially clinched a spot, there’s still a lot of uncertainty about where they fall in the seedings. A win over Elbert, coupled with an Oglethorpe win over Banks County, and you have a three-way tie at 4-2. More tiebreakers have to be broken there, but that loss to the Patriots a couple of weeks ago looms large for the team out of Tiger.
5. North Forsyth still has life in the Class 6A playoff hunt.
The Raiders are clinging to playoff aspirations after taking down Alpharetta to eliminate them from playoff contention. Now, NoFo has to beat 1-8 Forsyth Central, who just got their first win of the season on Friday. Not only that, the Raiders need Denmark to beat defending region champion North Atlanta, who just knocked off West Forsyth, which was leading the pack coming into Friday’s games. North Forsyth is a team that deserves a playoff berth, but the PSR system is still months away, so they have to get the top-4 seed to get in, and they need help to do it.
BONUS (because we can): Buford-Mill Creek is going to be a blast.
When these regions were formed almost two years ago, and we saw Buford and Mill Creek in the same region, we started licking our lips, knowing this rivalry game would have huge implications every time. It’s no different this go around as the region title is on the line in 8-6A at Buford next week. If there’s a better game than Jackson County and Habersham Central in the state next week, this is it, and it is sure to live up to the hype.
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