Defending champions Warner Robins and Fitzgerald won in overtime last week while Dutchtown, St. Francis and Schley County made the semifinals for the first time. Fellowship Christian was the only unranked team to advance in what’s been a relatively predictable postseason.

The football quarterfinals could be called the battle of champions. The third round represents the first time that region winners can play each other, and 17 of this week’s 32 games are champion-on-champion. Those include one No. 1-vs.-No. 2 game, Cedar Grove vs. Calvary Day, and one between two of the state’s 15 undefeated teams, Rabun County vs. Swainsboro.

The quarterfinal round of the GHSA playoffs will feature the two-time defending state champion going in as an underdog against the No. 2-ranked team in Class 5A, a team that was 0-9 in 2021 matched up against a team that is 12-0 this season in Class 4A, and a meeting of the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in Class 3A. In all, 64 teams from the eight classifications will face off this weekend for a spot in next week's semifinals.

The second round of the playoffs was expected to produce more upsets and top-10 carnage, but it didn't deliver much last week. Well, Walton did beat Buford 42-35. It ended Buford’s 22-game win streak overall, 22-game win streak in second-round games, 16-game win streak in playoff games and 28-game win streak in home games against Georgia opponents. Otherwise, the favorites generally had their way.

The opening round of the playoffs was so predictable that a computer algorithm, the Maxwell Ratings, correctly picked 111 of 127 winners. No. 1-ranked teams were 8-0 by an average score of 49-8, and top-10 teams were 67-2 when not playing each other. The second round is inevitably more suspenseful. Here’s a closer look at the round of 16, which entails 64 games in the GHSA’s eight classifications this weekend.

Top-ranked Prince Avenue of Division I and Bowdon of Division II will be among the 32 teams playing this weekend in the second round of the Class A playoffs. Both will be hosting top-10 opponents. Prince Avenue Christian (10-0) will play No. 7 Elbert County, while Bowdon (9-1) will face No. 9 Manchester (7-3).

Lowndes fired football coach Zach Grage on Tuesday after a 5-6 finish, the Vikings’ first losing season since 1994. “This was an extremely hard decision and not one entered into lightly or without a lot of thought,” superintendent Shawn Haralson said in a statement from Lowndes County Schools.

J.B. Arnold, Jefferson County’s coach the past 22 years, announced his retirement Monday after 33 seasons on high school football sidelines. Arnold led Jefferson County to seven region titles, two semifinal appearances, four quarterfinals and 21 consecutive playoff berths and compiled a 168-89-3 record.

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.