Weekend Preview: Top games of Week 13
It’s makeup week in Georgia high school football. Forty-eight games Friday and Saturday will close out the regular season. The GHSA hopes to have playoff draws posted by 8 p.m. Saturday.
This week wasn’t on the original schedule, but the GHSA added it, pushing the first round of the playoffs back a week, to accommodate dozens of games still un-played from Hurricane Helene storm damage.
Fifteen top-10 teams are playing this weekend, and four games are winner-take-all for region championships.
Here is a look at five of the more interesting games, plus a few others.
Grayson at Newton
This game will decide the Region 4-6A championship and solve the two uncertainties in the Class 6A bracket. The winner, as the No. 1 seed, will play Pebblebrook in the first round. The loser, as the No. 2, will play McEachern. Newton beat Grayson 31-27 last season after erasing a 27-10 deficit. Newton threw a 32-yard TD pass with 2:47 left, and Grayson threw incomplete into the end zone from Newton’s 10-yard line as the game ended. Newton’s Zion Johnson rushed for 116 yards. He’s back this season, now committed to Cincinnati, and ran for 347 yards last week against South Gwinnet, then 106 on four carries Tuesday against Grovetown. Grayson also played Tuesday and beat Heritage of Conyers 42-0. Grayson’s top player is linebacker Tyler Atkinson, a junior five-star recruit with more than 20 tackles for losses. Grayson rallied from that Newton loss to win the region last year. Another title would be Grayson’s third straight and ninth in 11 seasons. Newton has one region title this century, in 2015.
Carver (Atlanta) at Hapeville Charter
This game will decide the Region 5-2A championship. Both teams are in Class 2A’s top 10. Carver, seeking its first region title since 2017, was a Class 3A finalist in 2021 and semifinalist in 2022 and now playing one class lower. Hapeville has the pedigree of a 2017 Class 2A championship. Carver quarterback Montavious Banks has thrown 20 TD passes, 10 to Terrious Favors. Carver lost early season games to bigger schools Luella and Decatur, both in close games, and has clobbered every opponent since, including Lovett, a top-10 Class 3A-A private school, 47-17. Hapeville lost early to undefeated bigger schools Lee County and Cartersville and later to Class 6A Westlake only 21-14. Carver is a two-point favorite, per the computer Maxwell Ratings, and that’s without the knowledge that Hapeville’s leading rusher, Robert Henderson, was lost to a season-ending injury two weeks ago.
Thomson at Burke County
This game will decide the Region 4-2A champion. Thomson is ranked No. 10. Burke County is No. 6. In their 2023 game, which Burke County won 14-12, Burke stopped a two-point conversion with 1:53 left. These teams played in the same region from 2014 to 2021, and one or the other won five of the last seven region titles. Thomson has Anthony Jeffery, who has rushed for 941 yards despite missing two games. Jeffery is committed to Kent State. Burke’s feature back is A’merre Williams, who has rushed for 985 yards and 18 touchdowns. Both running backs are built similarly at around 5-9, 195 pounds. Burke County is an 11-point favorite.
Fitzgerald at Appling County
This is a non-region game postponed from the storm and could’ve been canceled. The coaches want the extra work for the playoffs, plus a nice gate for a game featuring two of south Georgia’s elite programs that haven’t met since 2005. Fans will have other motives. Can Appling County validate the first No. 1 ranking in school history? Is Fitzgerald still worthy of a top-10 ranking? Appling County (7-2) leaped eight positions to the top spot after a 13-6 victory over previous No. 1 Pierce County, and now Class 2A resembles sprinting racehorses approaching the wire with no clear leader. Meanwhile, Fitzgerald (6-3) is coming off a loss at Jeff Davis, an 18-point underdog, and is ranked No. 10. Fitzgerald hasn’t been outside the top 10 since 2019. Fitzgerald was a Class 2A semifinalist last season and is playing in Class A Division I this season. Of the 48 GHSA games this weekend, only two others are non-region affairs. They are Pierce County at Vidalia and Salem at Stone Mountain.
Clinch County at Charlton County
The Swamp War is Georgia’s best small-school rivalry. This game will decide the Region 2-A Division II championship, although neither team is a contender for that. If Clinch wins, Brooks County will be the champion followed by Clinch, Irwin and Charlton. If Charlton wins, Irwin will be the region champion followed by Brooks, Charlton and Clinch. But the main thing between Clinch and Charlton is the championship of each other. The series is 31-31-1. Clinch is favored by 13 points.
Other games of note
Worth County can clinch its first region title since 1989 with a victory over Brantley County in Region 1-A Division I. Worth is a 38-point favorite. ... Telfair County can win its first region title since 1993 with home victory over Wilcox County. The winner gets the No. 1 seed from Region 4-A Division II. Wilcox most recently won a region championship in 2022. Telfair is a five-point favorite. ... Lake Oconee Academy, in its fourth season of varsity football, can reach the playoffs for the first time with a home victory over Washington-Wilkes in Region 8-Division II. They are playing for the No. 4 seed. Washington-Wilkes has missed the playoffs only once (2018) in the past 25 seasons. Lake Oconee is a two-point favorite. ... Glascock County can clinch its second playoff berth in history with a victory at winless GMC Prep. Glascock, the GHSA’s smallest school with a football team with its 169 students, is a 33-point favorite. ... Lovejoy plays at Morrow for the final playoff berth out of Region 3-5A. It would be Morrow’s third playoff berth this century, but Lovejoy is favored by 16. ... Glynn Academy can clinch the final playoff berth in Region 1-5A with a victory against Evans, but there will be a three-way knot with Statesboro if Evans wins. Glynn is favored by five points. ... In classes 3A to A Division I, at-large playoff berths are determined by the GHSA’s points formula, and it’s impossible to project exactly the impact of games on those standings, but Atlanta city schools Therrell and Washington appear to be bubble teams, and only the winner of their game for fifth place in Region 5-2A Friday at Lakewood Stadium will have a chance to make the 32-team dance in Class 2A. Therrell is a six-point favorite. ... A similar do-or-die situation might be in the works for East Laurens and Southwest in their Class A Division I game in Macon. East Laurens is a two-point favorite. ... Two teams with nothing at stake but the thrill of victory are Stone Mountain and Salem. They’re not in the same region but chose to make up their game because, well, both are 1-8. Stone Mountain’s Marlon Moore and Salem’s Michael Johnson are first-year coaches trying to build something. ... Other top-10 teams in action are No. 9 Brunswick (vs. Bradwell Institute) in Class 5A; No. 1 Toombs County (vs. Swainsboro) in Class A Division I; No. 8 Greene County (vs. Warren County), No. 9 Metter (vs. ECI) and No. 10 Jenkins County (vs. Screven County) in Class A Division II; and No. 6 Calvary Day (vs. Long County) in Class 3A-A private.
