McEachern, Woodward Academy, Pierce County and South Atlanta were among 15 teams that won what amounted to region championship games on the final Friday night of the Georgia high school football regular season.
Meanwhile, Kennesaw Mountain and Denmark won their first-ever region titles as favorites against region also-rans.
The biggest upset came when Sandy Creek defeated No. 1 Cedar Grove in Class 3A, but Cedar Grove still got the No. 1 seed out of Region 5.
McEachern defeated No. 10 Pebblebrook 33-20 in Class 7A’s Region 2. It marks the 19th region title for McEachern (6-4, 4-0) and ended hopes of an undefeated regular season for Pebblebrook (8-1-1, 3-1), which could’ve won its first region title since 2006. Both teams advanced to the playoffs with home games next week.
In Class 5A, third-ranked Woodward Academy beat second-ranked Creekside 21-14 for the Region 3 championship. Woodward Academy (10-0, 7-0) had lost to Creekside 42-17 last year in a similar winner-take-all match, but the two south Fulton County teams were unranked in 2020.
Piece County, the defending Class 3A champion, beat No. 2 Appling County 21-0 to win Region 1-3A. Pierce County (8-2, 4-0) has won four consecutive region titles. Appling County fell to 9-1 and missed out on its first region title since 2013 and first 10-0 regular season since 1999.
South Atlanta (9-1, 7-0) successfully defending its title in Region 6-2A with a 36-32 victory over Columbia, which was seeking its first championship since 1981.
The winners of other de facto championship games were Archer (7-7A), Brunswick (2-6A), Buford (8-6A), Jones County (4-5A), Riverdale (5-4A), Marist (6-4A), Rockmart (3-3A), Fannin County (7-2A), Trinity Christian (4-A Private) and Metter (3-A Public).
Kennesaw Mountain (8-1, 6-1) clinched the first region title in its history, 6-6A, after beating Osborne 47-0. Kennesaw Mountain, a Cobb County school, opened in 2000.
Denmark has been around since only 2018 in Forsyth County and earned its first championship with 21-7 victory over West Forsyth. Denmark had a chance to clinch last week but was upset by Gainesville in Region 6-7A.
Other region titles were decided in more complicated ways.
Cedar Grove lost to Sandy Creek 40-35 but still finished on top of Region 5-3A. Cedar Grove, Sandy Creek and Carver of Atlanta finished tied for first with one region loss apiece. Cedar Grove had won 34 consecutive region games not counting three that were forfeited in 2020.
Rome, Carrollton and South Paulding wound up tied for first in Region 5-6A, each winning Friday, but Rome – which won a 46-34 shootout with Paulding County on Friday - is the No. 1 seed because of a points-differential tiebreaker in games among the three.
Riverwood (9-1, 6-1) won Region 7-6A when No. 8 Johns Creek (7-3, 5-2) was upset by Creekview 28-20. Johns Creek wound up the No. 4 seed, which means a first-round road game at No. 6 Rome. Riverwood beat Chattahoochee 45-6.
Commerce would’ve won Region 8-A public with a victory, but Lincoln County won 35-7, handing the title to Washington-Wilkes, which Commerce had beaten the previous week.
More was at stake than championships. Marietta routed No. 5 Walton in a Region 3-7A game. Marietta gets a home first-round game. Walton is now on the road.
The first round of the playoffs will take place Friday and Saturday.
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