In a pivotal Region 3 game, the No. 4 Bleckley County Royals were stunned by the unranked Northeast Raiders, losing 37-34 on the road Thursday night.
Montezz Allen has highlights for WMGT, Dave Whitaker has a writeup for The Bleckley Progress and the game can be watched in its entirety on the Bleckley County Royals Football YouTube channel.
According to Whitaker’s game story, the Raiders won on a touchdown pass with 19 seconds remaining.
The Raiders, who were 12-point underdogs according to Maxwell’s projections, are now in the driver’s seat for the Region 3 title, improving to 5-1 and 3-0 in league play. Led by third-year coach Jeremy Wiggins, they’re seeking their first region championship since 2009 and their first winning season since 2013. The Raiders last won a playoff game in 2002 are 0-8 in the playoffs since then, last qualifying in 2018 — Wiggins' first season at Northeast.
The Royals fall to 6-2 and 3-1. To win their first region title in a program history that dates back to 1977, they’ll need to win their two remaining league games and have the Raiders lose at least two of their remaining three.
The Raiders' remaining games are against Dodge County (1-1 region record) next week, Monticello (1-2) on Nov. 13 and Lamar County (1-2) on Nov. 20. The Royals’ remaining games are Washington County (1-1) next week and Southwest (0-3) on Nov. 12.
Here’s how the rest of the top 10 faired:
- The top-ranked Callaway Cavaliers started slow and actually trailed the Bremen Blue Devils early in their Region 5 opener, but rallied to win 26-16 to improve to 5-0. Kevin Eckleberry has the writeup for The LaGrange Daily News. They play at No. 5 Haralson County on Nov. 10. The Blue Devils (4-3, 0-1) will host Temple next week.
- The No. 2 Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane made easy work of the Worth County Rams in Region 2 play, winning 55-7 to improve to 8-0, 3-0. Up next is No. 6 Thomasville on the road. The Rams fall to 3-5, 0-3 and will play Berrien.
- The No. 3 Rabun County Wildcats (6-1) had their Region 8 opener against the Banks County Leopards (1-5, 0-1 in league play) postponed until 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
- In Region 5, the No. 5 Haralson County Rebels needed three overtimes to beat the Temple Tigers 31-23 and improve to 6-0, 1-0. They’ll play Heard County on Thursday and the Tigers (5-3, 1-1) will play Bremen on Friday.
- In Region 1, the No. 6 Thomasville Bulldogs easily beat the No. 8 Cook Hornets 42-6 in a pivotal region game. Tim Morse has a game story for the Thomasville Times-Enterprise. The Bulldogs (5-3, 3-0) will play No. 2 Fitzgerald next week. The Hornets (5-3, 2-1), will likely drop from the top 10 — and possibly be replaced by Northeast — and play Early County next week.
- The No. 7 Toombs County Bulldogs were upended by the Jeff Davis Yellow Jackets, who beat them 35-13 in Region 2 action. The Bulldogs (5-2, 1-1) play Vidalia next week and the Jackets (6-1, 2-1) play Swainsboro.
- The No. 9 Lovett Lions beat the Towers Titans 51-6 in Region 6. They improve to 5-2, 5-1 and will play Columbia next week. The Titans (1-3, 1-3) play Pace Academy next week.
- On bye: No. 10 Putnam County
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