North Atlanta, Walnut Grove and Lanier County won their first playoff games in history last weekend, while Cass and Harlem broke droughts of longer than 40 years. s expected in the first round, top-10 teams were dominant, going 72-7. Five of the seven that lost – Brooks County, Brunswick, LaGrange, Whitewater and Valdosta – were beaten by other ranked teams.

Nick Woodford of Northeast, Aaron Philo of Prince Avenue Christian and Jaden Gibson of Rabun County are the GHSA’s regular-season yardage champions. Woodford finished with a 242-yard rushing effort in his final game, a 51-13 victory over Rutland, and had 2,262 yards for the regular season. Philo had 3,143 yards passing, and Gibson had 1,576 yards receiving.

The GHSA playoffs begin this weekend with 127 games around the state. Among the best of those games are three high-profile matchups between teams from regions 1 and 2 in Class 7A (East Coweta at Camden County, Lowndes at Carrollton, Valdosta at Westlake) and regions 3 and 4 in Class 4A (Burke County at LaGrange, Trinity Christian at Wayne County and Whitewater at Benedictine).

The first of five rounds of the playoffs begin this week with 127 games, five of them matching top-10 teams. More than 60% of the GHSA’s 412 football-playing schools are alive, so the first round provides safe passage for most elite teams. Here’s a closer look at the playoffs, which will be played this weekend in 73 of Georgia’s 159 counties and cover every region of the state.

Swainsboro’s Demello Jones and Brunswick’s Terry Mitchell turn in big nights in their teams’ region-clinching victories, and John Milledge Academy’s Briggs Eady did it all on both sides of the ball as the Trojans tied Buford’s state record for consecutive wins with 47.

Buford, Hughes, Cedar Grove and Prince Avenue Christian have maintained their top rankings since preseason, and Ware County, Cedartown, Fitzgerald and Bowdon will join them as No. 1 teams entering the playoffs this week. It’s about to get dangerous, though. In 2021, only three No. 1 teams from the end of the regular season went on to win state championships, and that’s typical attrition across five playoff rounds.

Keyjuan Brown of South Atlanta and Keegan Stover and Jaden Gibson of Rabun County are the GHSA’s leaders in rushing, passing and receiving yards through week 11, but while they sit this week out, others are poised to make a move on the final week of the regular season.

Region champions, playoff berths and playoff seeding will be at stake in every classification this weekend in the final week of the regular season. In Class 3A, Cedar Grove and Carver of Atlanta will face off in a rematch of the 2021 state championship game.

Claxton this week is playing its final regular-season game at the Pecan Grove, a 76-year-old stadium that is one of Georgia’s most charming and unusual venues. The stadium was built on a pecan grove, and trees rise above the bleachers on both sides. Six pecan trees are growing up through the concrete stands on the home side. 

Decatur quarterback Harrison Hannah and Gainesville wide receiver put up big numbers in their teams’ region-clinching victories, and South Atlanta running back Keyjuan Brown rushed for 327 yards and three touchdowns in a 46-12 victory over Washington to put him at 2,139 yards for the regular season.

Top-10 football teams were 55-1 against unranked opponents last week, creating little movement in the rankings entering the final weekend of the regular season. The only top-10 upset, a minor one, took place Thursday, when Jenkins County defeated No. 9 Emanuel County Institute of Class A Division II. No. 7 Jones County in 5A and No. 8 Dougherty in 3A also dropped out after losing to other ranked teams.

Keegan Stover of Rabun County is the state’s new passing leader and closing in on 3,000 yards while Nick Woodford of Northeast in Macon is poised to become the GHSA’s first 2,000-yard rusher this season. Stover passed for 301 yards, his average output, in a 52-7 victory over Athens Christian last week and raised his season total to 2,701. Woodford is the state’s rushing leader with 1,865 yards.

The winners of the games between North Forsyth and Gainesville in Class 6A and Chamblee and Decatur in Class 5A will be guaranteed to win region titles, but more teams are in position to lock down championships as well with victories in the next-to-last weekend of the regular season.

The Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame inducted its first class of 45 players Saturday in Atlanta. The Hall of Fame hasn’t determined how many it will induct next year, but expect it to reload with little talent drop-off. For a sampling, here are 10 players the GHSF Daily endorses for 2023.

Friday was a big night for the rushers as Callaway’s Qua Whitfield, Hebron Christian’s Gavin Hall, Calhoun’s Caden Williams and Jefferson’s Sammy Brown all topped the 200-yard mark in Week 10 victories.

Jefferson and Thomasville are back in the top 10 after victories over ranked opponents Friday, and Bowdon is No. 1 for the first time since 2006 after the 10th weekend of high school football. Bowdon, which didn’t play last week, moved into the top spot in Class A Division II after previous No. 1 Early County lost to Eufaula, Ala., 31-28. Bowdon (8-1) has lost only to Central-Carrollton, a Class 4A school. Early (6-2) has lost consecutive games, although to strong teams.

Nick Woodford of Northeast in Macon, Tate Morris of McIntosh and Jaden Gibson of Rabun County maintained their leads in rushing, passing and receiving yards this week, although several epic performances last week shook up the standings.

Several games around the state this weekend will determine likely region champions. Among them are Eagle’s Landing Christian at Callaway, Irwin County at Brooks County, Loganville at Jefferson, Putnam County at Thomson and Thomasville at Dougherty.

Below are the computer Maxwell Ratings’ projected first-round matchups in classes 3A through A. With three weeks left in the regular season, not all predictions will come true, of course, but the bracket itself – showing which regions match up against each other in the first round and beyond – is set in stone.

Buford’s Justice Haynes, Fannin County’s Corbin Davenport and Upson-Lee’s Ja’Quan Bentley rushed for a combined 882 yards, Alpharetta’s Ben Guthrie passed for 420 yards and seven touchdowns, and McIntosh’s Marcus Malone had 413 all-purpose yards in Week 9 games.