First place, or a least a share of it, will be on the line in four regions Friday in what might be the most important weekend of the high school football regular season in Class 5A.
Two of those regions will feature teams ranked in the top six battling each other to be the front-runners heading down the stretch.
The Region 2 showdown between No. 2 Lee County and No. 3 Coffee will showcase the top offense in the classification against the top defense. Lee County is averaging 51.7 points per game and has scored at least 35 in all six victories, topping 60 points twice. Coffee is giving up just 9.3 points per game, with no more than 16 in any game.
Both teams are 6-0 overall and 1-0 in Region 2. Eighth-ranked Houston County (5-1) is 2-0 in region play and has this week off, so the Lee County-Coffee winner will be tied with the Bears for first place. Houston County plays Coffee next week and Lee County on Nov. 1.
Lee County can become the second team in GHSA history to end two 20-game winning streaks in one season, and in this case both were held by reigning state champions. Lee County ended Thomas County Central’s 20-game winning streak with a 35-23 victory two weeks ago. Thomas County Central was the Class 6A champion in 2023. Coffee is the defending Class 5A champion and has won 21 consecutive games.
“It’s actually been pretty similar [preparing for Thomas County Central and Coffee],” Lee County quarterback Weston Bryan told GHSF Daily’s Ansley Gavlak last week. “Both defenses are very stout. They’ve got very stout D-lines, secondary as well. I think the biggest thing is just different looks. Teams are a little bit different. It’s going to be a very good game. Just know to stick to the plan and do what we’re coached to do. I know they’re going to play very hard. We’re excited. Ready to go.”
Milton and Gainesville of Region 7 spent the early part of the season holding the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the Class 5A rankings, but
Gainesville currently sits at No. 6 after losing to Class 6A No. 1 Carrollton 45-16 on Sept. 13. The 16 points were the fewest the Red Elephants (6-1, 3-0) have scored in Josh Niblett’s three seasons as head coach.
The loss to Carrollton ended Gainesville’s 23-game winning streak in regular-season games, but the Red Elephants have bounce back with a vengeance, defeating Lanier, Johns Creek and Seckinger in region play by a combined score of 139-14. Gainesville has allowed just 31 total points in its six victories.
Milton (7-0, 3-0) remains No. 1 in 5A and has climbed into the top five of five national polls. The Eagles have nine seniors committed to Power 4 conference schools, including QB Luke Nickel (committed to Miami), WR C.J. Wiley (Florida State), TE Ethan Barbour (Georgia), DL Caleb Bell (Arkansas) and CB Tyler Redmond (Tennessee).
The winner of this game will have sole possession of first place but won’t be in the clear just yet. Seventh-ranked Roswell (5-1, 2-0) is just a half-game behind them and will play both teams in the final two weeks of the regular season.
Newnan and fifth-ranked Hughes are the only remaining unbeaten teams in Region 3, so the winner of their game Friday night in Newnan will go a long way toward determining the region champion. The teams have met eight times, all as region rivals, and Hughes holds a 5-3 lead in the series. They were in Region 5-6A together the past two seasons. Hughes won those two meetings by a combined score of 88-14. But this is a different Newnan team. The Cougars have five wins through the first six games for just the second time since 2009. Lovejoy is the only other team with fewer than two region losses. The Wildcats will have a chance to determine their own fate when they play Hughes and Newnan in the next three weeks.
The Region 6 race is the most wide open one in Class 5A. River Ridge is the only remaining unbeaten team and can seize firm control of first place with a victory this week. But lurking behind the Knights is a group of three one-loss teams (Sprayberry, Woodstock and Sequoyah), and their opponent this week, Sprayberry, might be the hottest of them all. Since losing their region opener against Pope, the Yellow Jackets have knocked off Sequoyah, Riverwood and Creekview. The computer Maxwell Ratings in preseason had pegged Sequoyah and Creekview as the two favorites to win the region. If Sprayberry beats River Ridge, it will create a three-way tie for first place among those two teams and the winner of this week’s Woodstock-Sequoyah game.
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