Cass and Harlem won playoff games for the first time in more than 40 years Saturday night as the first round of the football playoffs in classes 7A, 5A and 3A was completed.
Classes 6A, 4A, 2A and A were finished Friday except for one Saturday holdover, and it was a good one as No. 8 Burke County defeated No. 10 LaGrange 23-20 in 4A. In the other Saturday game between ranked teams, No. 10 Westlake beat No. 8 Valdosta 28-13 in Class 7A.
Cass, a Bartow County school, got Saturday’s most outstanding win, a 27-17 victory over No. 4 Jefferson in Class 5A. It was Cass’s first state-playoff victory in history and first playoff win of any kind since 1983, when the Colonels advanced in post-season region playoffs. Cass is 5-6 while Jefferson, projected as a 30-point favorite Saturday in the computer Maxwell Ratings, finished 8-3.
Harlem beat Long County 28-0 in 3A. It was Harlem’s first state-playoff victory and first post-season win since 1981. Harlem had lost nine straight playoff games but was favored in the first round after winning its first region title, in Region 4, since 1974.
Chamblee got its first playoff victory since 2007 by beating McIntosh 62-13.
In 6A, Dalton beat No. 10 Loganville 7-3 for the Catamounts’ first playoff win since 2016. Loganville, LaGrange, Valdosta and Jefferson were the only top-10 teams to lose Saturday.
The second round will be Friday.
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