East Coweta, Milton, West Forsyth and Norcross came out on top of winner-take-all games in the highest classification Friday night while New Manchester, South Atlanta and Christian Heritage won their first-ever region championships on the final weekend of the Georgia high school football regular season.
East Coweta, ranked No. 5, won its first region title since 2001 with a 27-26 victory over No. 7 Newnan in Region 2-7A. It might’ve been the biggest regular-season game in Coweta County history as it decided a title between ranked teams in the season finale. It came down to a blocked extra-point attempt in the final two minutes.
In another cross-county game, West Forsyth claimed Region 6-7A with a 20-10 victory over Denmark in another cross-county rivalry. It represents West Forsyth’s first region title since 2012.
In Gwinnett County, No. 3 Norcross beat No. 8 Archer 31-14 for the Region 7-7A title. It completed a 10-0 regular season for the Blue Devils.
No. 10 Milton knocked off Cherokee 41-29 in 5-7A to repeat as a region champion. Milton (9-0) finishes unbeaten in the regular season for the first time since 1952.
Other teams winning de facto region-championship games Friday were Evans in 3-6A (over Alcovy 40-30), No. 2 Buford in 8-6A (over No. 5 Dacula 35-0), Creekside in 3-5A (over Woodward Academy 42-17), New Manchester in 6-5A (over Chapel Hill 33-16), No. 8 St. Pius in 5-5A (over Decatur 28-9), Perry in 4-4A (over No. 9 Baldwin 23-20), No. 8 Pierce County in 1-3A (over No. 5 Appling County 28-21), No. 5 Wesleyan in 5-1A Private (24-0 over Mount Vernon), No. 6 Christian Heritage in 7-1A Private (28-13 over No. 7 North Cobb Christian) and No. 6 Macon County in 5-1A Public (19-12 over No. 8 Chattahoochee County).
The titles were the first for New Manchester, a Douglas County school that opened in 2011, and Christian Heritage, a Dalton private school that played its first full varsity schedule in 2012.
South Atlanta, a city school that opened in 1994, broke through with a 12-0 win over Columbia that clinched Region 6-2A.
South Atlanta was among 11 teams that either needed help to clinch, or whose opponent also was not in contention. The others were Glynn Academy (2-6A), Carrollton (5-6A), Jones County (4-5A), Riverdale (5-4A), Callaway (5-2A), First Presbyterian Day (1-1A Private), Savannah Christian (3-1A Private), Trinity Christian (4-1A Private), Irwin County (2-1A Public) and Commerce (8-1A Public).
Riverdale’s title was the Clayton County school’s first since 1998. Commerce hadn’t won a region title since 2003. The titles for First Presbyterian and Trinity were the firsts in the GHSA for former GISA members.
Two more region championships will be decided Saturday. Carver of Columbus and Troup will play for the 2-4A title while River Ridge can clinch 7-6A with a victory over Cambridge.
