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(Rankings are from Georgia High School Football Daily composite polls)

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Thanks to ACE, Dublin, and Jones County for sending postgame information Friday night.

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CENTRAL GEORGIA’S BEST HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COVERAGE

This week
* Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
* Maxwell Predictions
* Who’s going to win this week’s games?
* Central Georgia state composite rankings
* Central Georgia’s rankings
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week
* Monday Morning QB: A really good - not epic - win in Austin, with silliness; weekly CFB playoff sermon; Loughdmouthings: Dumb Ho orn (this week) fans, really good HS slate, Falcons are fine, but …
* The schedule

Last week
* Roundup: Perry gets the ‘upset’, HoCo blanked, Baldwin wins on the road; big nights for Upson-Lee, West Laurens, Dublin, Northeast, Stratford, Brentwood; Jasper County gets 3-OT W
* Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games, coming Friday
* Maxwell Predictions
* Who’s going to win this week’s games
* Central Georgia state composite rankings
* A breakdown of the playoff pictures, the power ratings for A-AAA and others
* Central Georgia rankings
* Monday Morning Quarterback: Which Nation is the most absurd this week?; HS stat stuff, playoffs sermon; Loughdmouthings galore: stats, QB shoving, tackling, Falcons,and Jerry’s happy-for-us birthday
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week

Two weeks ago
* Roundup: Dublin holds off Northeast, Tattnall handles Stratford; ACE outlasts East Laurens, routs for Baldwin, West Laurens, Lamar County, Taylor County, Westfield; who had big nights?
* Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
* Maxwell Predictions
* Central Georgia state composite rankings
* Central Georgia rankings
* Monday Morning Quarterback: A Saturday like most others (really); the new Falcons? They still need O; Loughdmouthings galore (the wit, the wisdom, the sarcasm …)
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week

Class 5A

No. 2 Lee County 63, No. 9 Houston County 48
So much for the teams with their playoff statuses set not having much energy. A 27-point third quarter pulled the Bears (6-4/2-3) within 36-34 entering the fourth quarter. Standout running back Ousmane Kromah went in from 16 yards out inside the first two minutes of the fourth for a 9-point lead, and then his long run after a quick Houston County possession set up a 14-yard score a few minutes later. The Trojans (10-0/5-0) sealed it with another rushing score midway through the quarter for a 56-34 lead.

Veterans 17, Northside 0
The Warhawks (1-9/1-4) avoided their first winless season in program history with their highest point total since a 35-27 loss on Aug. 30. Veterans recorded its first shutout since stuffing Griffin 35-0 in the second game of the 2023 season. Northside (2-8/0-5) won only two games for the first time since 1970, went winless in region play for the second time in program history (0-8-1/0-9-1 under Matt Arthur in 1965, and suffered its first shutout to a Houston County team since falling 47-0 and 39-0 to Warner Robins in 2020 and 2019. Veterans did what Houston County has yet to do against Northside, with a shutout. Little did Veterans believe that Brayden Black’s 36-yard field goal in the final minute of the third quarter would be enough. The Warhawks added pick-6s from Joshua Chavous pick-6 and Cole Hooks – covering 102 yards – in a three-minute span in the fourth quarter

Class 4A

Jones County 48, Locust Grove 13
Locust Grove (3-6/3-5) ran for 133 yards and passed for 191, but Jones County’s defense didn’t let the yards turn into points. Jones County (8-2/7-2) led 21-0 after one, and both teams scored 13 points in the second quarter. Jones County put it away with two scores in the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Greyhounds got a 308-yard passing night from Devin Edmonds, who completed 18 of 26 with 2 touchdowns, one to Zacarri Thomas, who ran for 90 yards and 3 touchdowns. Jaivon Solomon caught 5 passes for 140 yards and a score.

No. 12, Warner Robins 27, No. 6 Perry 24
The teams certainly made the most of their first meeting since 1965, Warner Robins (7-3/3-2) ruining Perry’s perfect region mark in a tight-from-the-start game. Each team had a field goal and touchdown in the first half for a 10-10 tie. They traded touchdowns – Perry (7-3/4-1) on an 18-yard pass from Cullen McDaniel to Kiel Sparks and Warner Robins on Skyler Williams’ run to end 99-yard drive – in the third quarter. Perry took the lead on a 25-yard pass to Sparks, and Warner Robins tied it on a pass to two-way standout Rasean Dinkins a few minutes later. The Demons had a touchdown run by Dinkins nullified by a hold, but a defensive pass interference on fourth and 11 right after put Warner Robins on the 18, and Jabez Htoo’s 33-yard wobbler found its way over the crossbar with four-tenths of a second left for the win. Perry, which extended the game for 35 seconds on the lateral-filled final play, can win the region outright if New Hampstead upsets Ware County next week.

Class 3A

Upson-Lee 18, No. 5 LaGrange 15
The Knights (7-3/6-2) held on through a harrowing fourth quarter to knock off a ranked team and take second in Region 2. Upson-Lee would’ve taken first had Troup been able to knock off Sandy Creek, which survived 55-48. Upson-Lee went up on Caleb Beverly’s 25-yard field goal late in the second quarter, but gave up the lead on LaGrange’s short TD pass in the third quarter. Amari Fletcher’s short run and Malachi Character’s conversion put Upson-Lee ahead 11-7 midway through the third quarter. Cleveland Nicholas’ strip and Marcus Williams’ recovery set up Akeondre Chaney’s short run early in the fourth for an 18-7 lead, but the Grangers (7-3/6-2) rallied within 5 minutes and got the conversion to make it a 3-point game. Upson-Lee turned it over on downs at LaGrange’s 28 with 3:11 left. The Knights defense stood up and a fourth-and-20 pass was broke up by Ali Foster to seal it.

Whitewater 38, Mary Persons 27

No. 1 Peach County 44, Monroe 7
The Trojans (9-1/5-0) captured the outright region title to go with the top seed by rolling to a 31-7 halftime lead, after trailing 7-3. That was until D.J. Hudson’ss rushing touchdown late in the first quarter got the Trojans going. He ran it in again, and then threw a TD pass to Zion Hudson, Ashton Barton adding a late second-quarter rushing score for the big halftime lead.

Class AA

Pike County 35, Rutland 18

Westside 29, Jackson 23
Spoon Risper became Bibb County public schools winningest coach since integration with 115 wins passing Tom Simonton, who went 114-83-1 in 19 seasons (1979-97) with Central, which played in Class 4A during that span. The Seminoles took third place in Region 2, improving to 5-5 and 3-2, and avoiding the second losing regular season in program history, holding on after taking a 29-7 lead. Jackson was up 7-0 lead, but Westside took a 14-7 halftime lead and extended it with a rushing touchdown and conversion about five minutes into the third quarter. Jackson came back and got within six on a field goal midway through the fourth quarter.

Class A/Division I

No. 2 Dublin 50, No. 8 Dodge County 33
Apparently the halftime chat in the Dublin locker room was simply “enough is enough” because the Irish went from down 18-15 at intermission to up by two touchdowns with a 21-7 third quarter, scoring three times after Darrell Johnson went 83 yards in the first minute of the third quarter for a 25-15 Dodge County lead. The Irish then got touchdowns from Willie Batts and Micah O’Neal (two) in less than four minutes for a 36-25 lead with 5:16 left in the third quarter. O’Neal scored again early in the fourth for a 17-point lead, Dodge County countering three minutes later on Kain Mincey’s 1-yard run, pulling the Indians within 42-33. The Irish sealed it five minutes later on Batts’ third touchdown. Xavier Bostic went for 112 yards on 16 carries for Dublin, Batts adding 96 on 14 to bolster the 403-yard run night on a whopping 56 carries. Johnson ran for 118 yards and 3 scores on only 7 carries. Mincey was 11 of 21 for 219 yards and a score, J.J. Dean catching 4 passes for 146 yards. Dublin recorded its fifth perfect regular season in 103 seasons, and 19th region title, 10th under head coach Roger Holmes.

No. 11T Lamar County 28, Jasper County 6
The Trojans led 14-0 at halftime on touchdowns from Kenya Barnes and JahNizae, adding a Kaden Carter score five minutes into the third. Jasper County got a 34-yard pass at the 3:24 mark of the third, but Lamar County all but sealed it with a 28-yard Carter run with 19 seconds left in the third. Carer had 18 caries for 109 yards and 2 scores, while the Trojan defense held Lamar County to 114 yards total offense. Lamar County (8-2/5-1) took second place and Jasper County (6-3/3-2) fourth place.

Southwest 26, Jefferson County 7 (For more, click here)
The Patriots (3-6/3-5) kept alive their postseason hopes by rolling and setting in sixth place.

No. 5 Northeast 32, East Laurens 7
The Raiders (8-2/8-1) clinched second in the region by taking care of business on the road. It took awhile to get going, and Northeast led only 14-7 at halftime, getting a rushing TD from Reginald Glover and a TD pass to Nick Woodford from Glover, East Laurens (3-6/2-6) QB Tylan Snead countering with one. They converted a fumble recovery into a Woodford score five minutes into the third quarter. He added another touchdown, and Kortnei Williams closed the scoring late in the third with a punt return for a touchdown.

Washington County 17, ACE 14 (For full game story, click here)

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Class A/Division II

Crawford County 17, Chattahoochee County 7
The Eagles (4-6/1-4) avoided a winless region season with the win.

Johnson County over GMC Prep 41-0, still no final score reported as of noon Saturday

Hancock Central 46, Glascock County 32
The Bulldogs (5-5/3-2) clinched third place in Region 5 with the win.

Hawkinsville 36, Dooly County 13
The Red Devils (7-3/4-2) stayed alive for third by avoiding the upset.

Macon County 20, Taylor County 3
The Bulldogs (6-4/5-1) bowed up late to take the top seed in Region 6, tying with Schley County at 5-1 one, Macon County’s 44-29 win over Schley County putting the Bulldogs on top of the region. It was a 7-3 game entering the fourth quarter when Macon County held Taylor County on downs, and then scored on a pass midway through the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs added a rushing touchdown a few minutes later. Taylor County (7-3/4-2) is the third-place team.

Wilkinson County 40, Twiggs County 0
The Warriors (6-4/4-1) locked down second place with their second straight shutout.

GIAA

Friday
Class AAAA playoff
St. Anne-Pacelli 31, over Mount de Sales 3
The Cavs (3-8) broke the shutout against the 2023 state champs in the fourth quarter.

Class AA (regular season)
Gatewood 48, Thomas Jefferson 8
The Gators (4-5/1-3)scored two touchdowns in each of the first three quarters, and lost the shutout in the fourth quarter