The first round of the Georgia High School Association playoffs is in the books, and six of the 13 northeast Georgia teams involved advanced to the Sweet 16 in their respective classifications.
And five of the six teams will have familiar surroundings playing host in the second round.
All four region champs from the northeast Georgia area not only advanced, but did so in emphatic fashion in the first round. Buford, Jackson County, Jefferson, and North Hall all dominated their first-round opponents, winning by an average of 41.5 points/game, and will look to do so again at home on Friday.
But as for regions as a whole in northeast Georgia, it wasn’t a great night overall, though Regions 7-5A with Gainesville, and 8-3A, with Jefferson, did have three advance. Only one team in Region 8-6A (Buford) advanced). Two in 8-5A moved on, only one in Region 8-4A (North Oconee), and only one in Region 6-3A (North Hall) made the Sweet 16. In Region 8-2A, which had all six teams advance to the postseason, only one public school (Stephens County) survived.
With that, here is a Region Rundown of where things stand in the AccessWDUN and Friday Game Night coverage area heading into the second round of the GHSA playoffs:
CLASS 6A
In a recent survey, the Class 6A playoffs bracket in Georgia was deemed the second-hardest IN THE NATION. And this year, Class 6A figured to be a Battle Royale of behemoths and the first round did not disappoint.
Nine of the top 10 teams in the final AccessWDUN/Friday Game Night composite poll and 7 of the 8 region champs in Class 6A advanced to the Sweet 16. Only Region 3-6A champ McEachern failed to advance, falling to fellow Cobb County powerhouse Walton. Regions 1 and 2 each had three teams move on while Regions 6 and 8 only managed to get their region champs through in West Forsyth and Buford.
Three massive showdowns will highlight the second round. No. 1-ranked Grayson will play host to No. 9 Colquitt County and No. 10 Harrison heads to No. 3 Carrollton. No. 6 North Gwinnett has No. 7 Lowndes coming to Tom Robinson Memorial Stadium in Suwanee. The Bulldogs could be a slight underdog at home but are 6-1 (Douglas County) vs. Class 6A playoff teams in 2025.
Buford takes on unranked Newton out of Region 4. In an interesting tidbit, only one of the eight matchups will not have either a ranked team or a region champion involved. Region 2 No. 3 seed East Coweta, who knocked off Denmark, plays host to Walton, the No. 4 seed out of Region 5, in a battle of unranked teams.
CLASS 5A
If Class 6A is the second-hardest playoff bracket in the nation, this classification can’t be far behind. Half of the MaxPreps top 10 all classes in Georgia are in Class 5A. It’s also a brutal playoff bracket.
All 10 of the ranked teams in the final AccessWDUN/Friday Game Night composite poll advanced, as did all eight region champs. The cream of the bracket also rose to the top as six No. 3 seeds, two of which were ranked in the top 10, advanced to the second round.
But the bracket also is not balanced as 7 of the top 10 ranked teams are on the same side. And six of them will play each other, which includes Jackson County.
The 10th-ranked Panthers have perhaps the biggest home game in their history on Friday, playing host to two-time defending champ Milton, which was ranked 6th in the poll. No. 9 Lee County heads to No. 1 Hughes and No. 7 Rome plays host to No. 5 Houston County.
No. 4 Gainesville travels to unranked and Region 1-5A champion Brunswick.
Regions 7 (with Gainesville, Roswell, Milton) and 2 (Thomas County Central, Houston County, Lee County) all pushed three into the 2nd round and could see two head-to-head matchups in the quarterfinals.
Class 3A
This is also a powerhouse-packed classification. All 8 of the top seeds in the Postseason Rankings (PSR) advanced, as did all 8 region champions, and all 10 of the top ranked teams in the final AccessWDUN/Friday Game Night composite poll.
All of those numbers include Region 8 champion Jefferson, the state runner-up in 2024, and Region 6 champion North Hall. The Dragons came in as No. 1 overall and the Trojans are the No. 2 seed.
Jefferson may have the easiest 2nd round matchup, taking on No. 17 seed Harlem at Memorial Stadium, although the Bulldogs were the No. 2 overall seed in 2024. Meanwhile, North Hall will be one of three matchups involving ranked teams in the Sweet 16, and one of two that will be rematches from last year.
The Trojans, ranked 4th in the final poll, get No. 15 seed and 6th-ranked LaGrange at The Brickyard. The Grangers knocked out the Trojans last year in the quarterfinals.
Defending state champion Calhoun, the No. 6 seed, plays host to No. 11 Douglass-Atlanta in a rematch of a 2nd round game last year.
No. 8 seed Cairo (ranked 10th) takes on No. 9 seed Troup (ranked 5th) and No. 5 seed Jenkins (ranked 7th) and No. 12 seed Peach County (ranked 9th) tangle in Savannah in the second round.
Class Division 1
Five of the six public region champions, seven of the eight top seeds, and nine of the top 10 ranked teams all advanced. Only No. 2 seed and Region 4 champion Lamar County did not push through, falling to Berrien 7-0 in one of the biggest upsets in the state in any classification last week.
But four of the ranked teams will be gone after Friday’s action as four of the eight Sweet 16 matchups will involve ranked teams.
Lamar County’s loss was a major development for Rabun County. The No. 15-seeded Wildcats now will get another home game in the Sweet 16, playing host to Berrien (4-7) which had dropped 40 straight games to ranked teams going back to a victory over Clinch County in 2014.
But the Wildcats, who are the lowest-seeded team left on their side of the bracket, will be on the road the rest of the playoffs if they can get past the second round.
GHSA 2nd ROUND PLAYOFFS, NOV. 21
CLASS 6A
Newton (Region 4, Seed 2) at Buford (R8, S1), 7:30 p.m.
CLASS 5A
Gainesville (R7, S2) at Brunswick (R1, S1), 7:30 p.m.
Milton (R7, S3) at Jackson County (R8, S1), 7:30 p.m.
CLASS 3A
LaGrange (15) at North Hall (2), 7:30 p.m.
Harlem (17) at Jefferson (1), 7:30 p.m.
CLASS A D1
Berrien (31) at Rabun County (15), 7:30 p.m.
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