Sandy Creek’s Travis Franklin scored on a 1-yard run with 50 seconds remaining to give the Patriots a 21-17 victory over defending champion Cedar Grove in the Class 3A championship game Saturday afternoon at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium.

Top-ranked Hughes scored two touchdowns in a 14-second span late in the second quarter to create some separation from Gainesville and then held on for a 35-28 victory in the Class 6A championship game Saturday night at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium.

Benedictine stuffed Cedartown on four consecutive running plays inside 2-yard line in the last minute of the game, including a fourth-and-goal from the 1 on the final play, to preserve a 14-13 victory in the Class 4A championship game Friday at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium.

Thomson’s Jontavis Curry had two of his four touchdown runs in the final nine minutes of the game after Fitzgerald had taken its only lead, rallying the Bulldogs to a 32-27 victory in the Class 2A championship game Friday at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium.

Prince Avenue Christian trailed 20-7 in the first half and 27-17 midway in the third quarter but scored touchdowns on five straight second-half drives that totaled 356 yards on 20 plays, and Swainsboro couldn't keep pace. Aaron Philo set state-finals records with 477 yards passing and six touchdowns.

Bowdon scored touchdowns on its first six full drives and used the seventh to ice the game with a 4-minute, 9-second drive to the Schley County 17 with 13 seconds left. Schley's final chance never got past midfield.

Four defending champions and four teams that never have won state titles are among the16 playing in the GHSA finals this week at Center Parc Stadium. No real underdogs remain. Every finalist was ranked in the top five after the regular season except Warner Robins, which ironically is Class 5A’s two-time defending champion.

The championship games will be played in all eight GHSA classifications Thursday through Saturday at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium. Here’s a preview of the games in 7A (Carrollton vs. Mill Creek), 6A (Hughes vs. Gainesville), 5A (Ware County vs. Warner Robins) and 4A (Cedartown vs. Benedictine).

The championship games will be played in all eight GHSA classifications Thursday through Saturday at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium. Here’s a preview of the games in 3A (Sandy Creek vs. Cedar Grove), 2A (Fitzgerald vs. Thomson), A Division I (Prince Avenue Christian vs. Swainsboro) and A Division II (Bowdon vs. Schley County).

The championship games will be played in all eight GHSA classifications Thursday through Saturday at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium. Here’s a recap of last week’s 16 semifinals and the significance of the results for both the winning and losing teams.

It’s all big-boy football from now to the end of the playoffs, which resume today with 16 semifinals games in eight classifications. Cinderella didn’t get an invitation. Thirty-one of the 32 semifinals teams are ranked. Fellowship Christian of Class 2A is the top-10 exception, but the Paladins were a 2021 semifinals team that started No. 5 in preseason and now carry an eight-game win streak to Fitzgerald to challenge the defending champion.

Three teams from Region 5 - Cedar Grove, Sandy Creek and Carver of Atlanta - will be joined by Region 8 No. 3 seed Oconee County in the Class 3A football semifinals Friday night. In Class 2A, top-ranked Fitzgerald will face unranked Fellowship Christian in one semifinal, while Appling County will take on Thomson in a rematch of a 2021 quarterfinal game.

The semifinals of the GHSA playoffs this week will feature a rematch of a 2021 quarterfinal game between Cartersville at Warner Robins in Class 5A and a matchup of No. 1 and No. 2 in Class 4A beteween Cedartown and North Oconee. Top-ranked Ware County will host Dutchtown in the other 5A game, while defending champion Benedictine will take on Troup in the other 4A game.

Chad Campbell, who led Peach County to a state championship, three runner-up finishes and 10 region titles in 16 seasons as its football coach, told his players Wednesday that he is retiring after 30 seasons at the middle Georgia school.

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.