By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Some Central Georgia football staffs are doing double duty this week: Preparing a game plan for Friday night’s opponent, and working on one for the week after.

          That’s because a few region championships were decided last week, and a few general playoff scenarios were somewhat decided.

Note to coaches/teams: Please send any corrections or clarifications to centralgasports@gmail.com, or message on Twitter or Facebook.

Cover photo: Matthew and Aimee Blank, Photography by the Blanks

          Then there are situations where scores and margins of victory will come in to play. And there’s always the chance of an epic, head-scratching, season-making upset.

          Warner Robins, Jones County, Mary Persons, Upson-Lee, and Bleckley County are locked into their region positions, championships for Warner Robins, Mary Persons, and Bleckley County, and No. 2 for Jones County and Upson-Lee.

          Others have qualified for the playoffs, but where they are in region standings is still unsettled. Multiple attempts last week to get tiebreaker scenarios from several area region secretaries were unsuccessful, except for Jody Dean in Region 1-6A.

          Houston County and Northside are tied in 1-6A, but the Bears – if both win – get third, having beaten the Eagles. Northside is set for fourth.

          Spalding is the Region 2-4A champ, and Perry gets second, win or lose against last-place West Laurens, because of tiebreaking wins over Westside, Baldwin, and Howard.

          Now, for third and fourth, it’s complicated. Westside is in, third, and Baldwin and Howard are tied for fourth, Baldwin getting the tiebreaker from its 20-19 win over Howard.

          Westside and Baldwin are in with wins over Howard and Griffin. Howard gets in with a win over Westside and a Baldwin loss to Griffin. That would put Westside and Howard at 3-3 and Baldwin 2-4.

          If Howard and Baldwin win for a three-way tie, points allowed among those three is the first tiebreaker

          Peach County plays Jackson for third in 2-AAA, behind champ Mary Persons and runner-up Upson-Lee.

First-round region matchups
6A – Region 1 vs. 4
5A – Region 2 vs. 3
4A – Region 2 vs. 3
3A – Region 2 vs. 3
2A – Region 2 vs. 3; Region 4 vs. 1
A/I – Region 2 vs. 3; Region 4 vs. 1
A/II – Region 4 vs. Region 1; Region  5 vs. Region 8; Region 6 vs. Region 7

          Region 2-AA is fairly settled, but not officially.

          Spencer is the top seed (6-0), Northeast is second (5-1, loss to Spencer), Southwest third (4-2, losses to Northeast and Spencer), and ACE fourth (4-2, losses to Northeast and Southwest).

          ACE can only move up with a win over Spencer and a Southwest loss to Central. A Northeast loss to Rutland would put the Raiders in a tie with another other two-loss teams standings-wise, but the Raiders win head-to-head tiebreakers with wins over ACE and Southwest.

          In 4-AA, Putnam County and Washington County play Friday in Eatonton for third place.

          In 2-A/I, Swainsboro welcomes Dublin to play for second place, and East Laurens welcomes Jefferson County for fourth, behind champ Bleckley County.

          In 4-A/I, Lamar County hosts Heard County for first, and Crawford County is at Temple for fourth. It’s a four-team region.

          In 5-A/I, another four-team region, Jasper County visits Oglethorpe County for third.

          In 4-A/II, Hawkinsville is in, third with a win over region leader Dooly County and fourth with a loss. The Red Devils win all tiebreakers for third.

          In 5-A/II, Wilkinson County is in, second with a win over Glascock County, which is a game behind, and third with a loss. Hancock Central is tied with Glascock County for third, and faces leader Johnson County. The Bulldogs win a tiebreaker with Glascock County and with fifth-place GMC.

          In 6-A/II, it’s a headache, with conflicting records among teams on MaxPreps, GHSA, and Georgia High School Football Historians Association. Second-place Manchester and fifth-place Greenville may not have played the same number of region games as others.

          Macon County and Taylor County are 4-2, the Bulldogs taking any tiebreaker over the Vikings. Manchester is listed as 4-1, Greenville 2-3.

          Taylor County plays Manchester, and Greenville faces top-ranked Schley County. Macon County has sixth-place (2-4) Marion County.

          In the GIAA, more than 80 percent of all football-playing schools make the playoffs. Teams are in a Class AAA for the season, but split into AAA and AAAA for the playoffs.

          The GIAA uses primarily MaxPreps rankings for its 10-team 4A, 3A, and 2A brackets, and six-team Class A playoff.

          The top six seeds get the first week off as 8 plays 9 and 7 plays 10.

          As of Sunday afternoon, FPD is No. 1 in 4A, with Tattnall fourth. Stratford eighth, Westfield 10th, and Mount de Sales 11th. John Milledge is the lone 3A team.

          In AA, Gatewood is No. 2, Central Fellowship No. 4, Brentwood No.6, followed by No. 7 Piedmont and No. 8 Trinity Christian. MaxPreps has rankings for only 10 AA teams, excluding Notre Dame and St. Mary’s from Region/District 1.

          The GIAA website lists St. Mary’s as a football team in 1-AA, but the schedule doesn’t list St. Mary’s as having a team.  The school’s website doesn’t list a schedule, but does have three coaches and an 18-player roster.

          Notre Dame isn’t playing a region/district schedule.

          So, all 10 participating teams in AA make the playoffs.