On Friday, the Westside Patriots earned a signature win under first-year coach Lee Hutto, beating the Jefferson County Warriors 14-12.
With the victory, the Patriots locked up the No. 2 seed in Region 4, improving to 7-2, 5-1 in league play. As a result, the Patriots will host a playoff game at The Battlefield for the first time. Their win total is tied for the most since 2006, when they went 7-3 but missed the playoffs.
The Patriots have one regular season game remaining against Oglethorpe County (3-6, 3-3), and if they win it will be their most victories since 2002, when they went 9-2. That was also the last year they won a playoff game.
The Patriots’ win over Warriors, who are winners of the last three Region 4 titles, was their first in the series since 2003. The Patriots began turning the tide last year under second-year coach Jon Wiley, when they finished 6-5 for their first winning season 2006, and first playoff appearance since 2014.
Under first-year coach Lee Hutto, the Patriots have taken winning a step further.
Hutto said the Jefferson County win was huge for the program.
“It’s been a long time,” Hutto said. “Jefferson County, for so long in this region, has just been dominant. They’re well-coached. Coach (JB) Arnold does a tremendous job over there. A lot of history, a lot of tradition. Lot of great players, great coaching staff. So it means a lot for our kids and our program to win a game like that because our kids aren’t used to winning those kind of games. So, hopefully that put us over the hump.”
A huge contributor to the Patriots’ success is Xzavier Green, one of the state’s leading rushers with 1,312 yards and 15 touchdowns on 193 carries. Kaleb Hutchinson leads the team with 42 tackles, three interceptions and four pass deflections. Against Jefferson County, Hutchinson had 14 tackles, two for loss, an interception and four receptions for 58 yards, earning him GHSF Daily’s Top Five Performances honors.
Hutto’s arrival at Westside comes more than a decade after his last head coaching job, which was in 2010 at Washington-Wilkes. In the time between, he served as an assistant for numerous programs — most recently as defensive coordinator at Richmond County last season.
Hutto talks about the reason for stepping away from head coaching for so long, why he returned with Westside, and the Patriots’ success thus far in Episode 37 of The Class 2A Blogcast.
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Heading into the final week of the regular season, here is a look at the region standings and potential tiebreaker scenarios, with region records in parenthesis.
Region 1 — 1. Thomasville (5-0), 2. Fitzgerald (4-1), 3. Cook (2-3), 4. Early County (2-3)
Outlook: Seeding is set.
Region 2 — 1. Swainsboro (4-0), 2. Jeff Davis (4-1), 3. Toombs County (2-2), Vidalia (2-2)
Outlook: Vidalia, which lost to Toombs County, will need an upset win over Swainsboro, and for East Laurens (1-3) to upset Toombs County, in order to take the No. 3 seed. Otherwise, the seeding is set.
Region 3 — 1. Bleckley County (6-0), 2. Northeast (4-1), 3. Dodge County (3-2), 4T. Washington County 2-3, 4T. Lamar County (2-3)
Outlook: The top three seeds are locked in, as Dodge County has already beaten Lamar County and Washington County. To make the playoffs, Lamar County — which already lost to Washington County — would need to upset Northeast, and Jasper County (0-5) would need to upset Washington County. In other words, the top four is likely set, with Lamar County out.
Region 4 — 1. Putnam County (6-0), 2. Westside (5-1), 3. Laney (4-2), 4. Jefferson County (4-2)
Outlook: The top two seeds are locked in and Jefferson County will play Laney Friday to determine the No. 3 seed.
Region 5 — 1. Haralson County (3-0), 2. Callaway (2-1), 3). Heard County (2-1), 4. (Bremen 1-2)
Outlook: Haralson County is region champion. Callaway and Heard County Friday play for second place. Bremen is locked into the No. 4 seed.
Region 6 — 1. South Atlanta (7-0), 2. Columbia (6-1), 3. Lovett (6-2), 4. Pace Academy (5-2)
Outlook: South Atlanta and Columbia play Friday for the region championship. If South Atlanta loses, it is the No. 2 seed, Pace Academy is the No. 3 seed, and Lovett is the No. 4 seed. If Columbia loses, there will be a three-way tie for second place with Lovett and Pace Academy, assuming Pace Academy beats KIPP (1-5) Friday. The tiebreaker procedure for Region 6 is a plus-minus 15 points system that’s applied only to the three teams tied. Using that, Lovett would take the No. 2 seed. From there, the head-to-head matchup for the remaining two teams determines the No. 3 seed. Columbia beat Pace Academy, so it would take the No. 3 seed, with Pace Academy No. 4.*
*Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly had Pace Academy taking the No. 3 seed in the event of a three-way tie.
Region 7 — 1. Fannin County (5-0), 2. Dade County (4-1), 3. Chattooga (4-2), 4 Pepperell (3-2)
Outlook: Fannin County and Dade County play Friday for the region championship. If Dade County loses and Pepperell beats Coosa (1-4), there will be a three-way tie for second place. The tiebreaker procedure for Region 7 is the number of total victories for non-region opponents each team defeated. Using that, Dade County would take the No. 2 seed with nine points. From there, Pepperell would take the No. 3 seed because it beat Chattooga head-to-head.
Region 8 — 1. Rabun County (3-0), 2. Elbert County (2-1), 3. Union County (2-2), 4. Banks County (1-2)
Outlook: Rabun County is region champion. If Elbert County beats Banks County Friday, it is the No. 2 seed and Banks County is the No. 4 seed. If Banks County wins, there will be a three-way tie for second-place between Banks County, Elbert County and Union County. The tiebreaker procedure for Region 8 is a plus-minus 12 points system applied to the three teams tied. Heading into Friday, the current standings have Elbert County at plus-12, Union County at 0 and Banks County at minus-12. Union County’s region schedule is complete, so its points standing won’t change. Banks County and Elbert County play Friday, so Banks County would need to win by 12 or more points, otherwise it is the No. 4 seed, with Union County taking the No. 3 seed. If Banks County wins by 12 or more, all three teams would have 0 points. The next tiebreaker would be to apply plus-minus 12 rule to all region games, which would still have all teams even — the three tied teams beat Riverside by by more than 12 and lost to Rabun County by more than 12. A coin toss would then decide the seeding. The tiebreaker procedure doesn’t address how three teams would participate in the coin toss. Elbert County athletic director Brian Turner said a Zoom call has been tentatively scheduled for Saturday should that be the circumstance.
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Here are the latest rankings, with each team’s record and previous week’s ranking in parenthesis:
1. (1) Rabun County (9-1)
2. (2) Thomasville (9-1)
3. (3) Bleckley County (10-0)
4. (4) Fitzgerald (8-2)
5. (5) Northeast (7-2)
6. (6) Putnam County (9-0)
7. (7) Haralson County (8-1)
8. (8) Callaway (6-2)
9. (9) Dodge County (6-3)
10. (NR) Swainsboro (7-2)
Out: No. 10 Washington County
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Big news — the GHSA reclassified its schools and announced it Tuesday. I’ll write plenty more on this in the future, but for now, here are the additions/subtractions from 2A:
- IN: Thomson, Rockmart, Bryan County, Savannah, Social Circle, Brantley County, Redan, Rutland
- OUT: Thomasville, Vidalia, Pace Academy, Lovett, Bremen, Early County, Riverside Military, Columbia, Westside, Therrell
The reclassification is not official, as schools will have an opportunity to file an appeal with the GHSA. Appeals will be heard Nov. 10.
In brief:
Region 1:
- With their 54-31 win over Worth County, the Early County Bobcats are in the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year, which ties them for their longest postseason streak in school history, first set from 2000-03. WTVY has highlights of the Bobcats’ win.
- Thomasville coach Zach Grage was recently a guest on GPB Sports’ Football Friday in Georgia podcast.
Region 2:
- Vidalia kept its streak of playoff appearances alive by clinching a spot with a 43-3 win over Bacon County. The school’s official website has details. The Indians have made the playoffs every year since 2012.
- Vidalia’s win marked the final time longtime Indians announcer John Koon called a game. He was the Indians’ play-by-play man for 41 seasons.
- Jeff Davis posted its third shutout of the season, beating East Laurens 43-0 to close out the regular season. That’s the most shutouts the Yellow Jackets have had in a season since 1997.
Region 3:
- The Dodge County-Southwest game has been moved from Henderson Stadium to Ed Defore Sports Complex.
Region 4:
- Westside’s win over Jefferson County gave the Patriots Richmond County bragging rights.
- The Augusta Chronicle’s Wynston Wilcox covered Westside’s win.
- WRDW recently profiled Westside.
Region 5:
- Temple coach Scotty Ward is stepping down. He was 25-34 in six seasons.
- Heard County coach Shane Lassiter spoke with Team FYN Sports following the Braves’ 25-23 win over Bremen.
- WRBL has highlights of Callaway’s 56-19 win over Temple.
Region 6:
- South Atlanta beat KIPP 59-0 for its first shutout of the season.
- With their season on the line, the Pace Academy Knights clinched a playoff spot with a 31-30 overtime win over Washington. Stats can be found on Digital Scout.
Region 7:
- With playoff seeding at stake, Pepperell beat Chattooga 35-14. The Rome News-Tribune has details.
- Check out this 65-yard field goal from Fannin County’s Hayden Lynch during a recent practice.
Region 8:
- Hard to argue with Union County when you see a picture like this.
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