The first round of the Class 2A playoffs kicks off Friday, with the championship 4 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Here are the final rankings before a champion is crowned. Below are this year’s playoff predictions.

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Credit: Predictions by Adam Krohn

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Credit: Predictions by Adam Krohn

According to the future, the Hapeville Charter Hornets win their second title for a program that debuted in 2011, their other title coming when they won Class 2A in 2017. The Hornets started 0-2 and 1-3, losing to Lee County, Cartersville and Westlake before closing the season on a 6-0 run, all against 5-2A opponents, including a 15-12 win over Carver-Atlanta last week for the region championship.

The new playoff format means all the private schools in 2A leave for the 3A-A Private playoffs, and Region 8 champions Prince Avenue Christian, North Cobb Christian, Hebron Christian, Lovett and Holy Innocents’ all branch off for that tournament.

As a result, teams in the 2A tournament are no longer seeded by region. That creates some interesting first-round matchups, including Spencer-Westside (Macon), Sumter County-Union County, Laney-South Atlanta, Ringgold-Hart County and North Murray-Stephens County. However, Crisp County and Appling County, both of Region 3, meet in Round 1 in a less-than-ideal consequence of the new format.

On Thursday, some of the aforementioned Round 1 matchups will be previewed.