Carrollton, Milton and Lowndes came out as big winners Friday on a night when two No. 1s and four No. 2s lost their final regular-season games.
Carrollton, the No. 1 football team in Class 6A, beat No. 4 Douglas County 49-28 to win Region 2 while Milton, No. 1 in 5A, beat No. 5 Roswell 35-20 to win Region 7. Carrollton and Milton are 10-0 with a week off before starting the playoffs.
Lowndes, unranked in Class 6A, beat No. 9 Valdosta 30-20 in the state’s most historic rivalry game. Lowndes is 9-1 after two losing seasons and finished in second place in Region 1 behind Colquitt County. Valdosta would have won its first region title since 2016 with a victory.
In another key Class 6A game, No. 2 Buford beat No. 8 Mill Creek 32-7. Buford clinched Region 8 with the win.
Friday’s beaten No. 1 teams were Pierce County of Class 2A and Toombs County of Class A Division I.
Pierce County, a defending state champion, lost to No. 9 Appling County 13-6 in a game that decided the Region 3-2A title. The loss ended Pierce’s 18-game win streak. Appling also beat Pierce in the regular season last season, but Pierce didn’t lose again.
In a game between two No. 1 teams, Savannah Christian beat Toombs County 14-7 to win Region 3-A Division I. Toombs was Class A Division I’s top-ranked team. Savannah Christian, also an A Division I team, is ranked in the Class 3A-A private division that it will enter during the playoffs. Toombs County and Savannah Christian each came into the game undefeated.
The No. 2 teams that lost Friday were Jefferson, Morgan County, Brooks County and Hebron Christian.
Oconee County, a ninth-ranked Class 3A team, beat Jefferson 32-30 in overtime. Jefferson still won Region 8 in a tiebreaker with Oconee and Cherokee Bluff on points differential, but the loss likely will cost Jefferson the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs.
In Class 2A, Morgan County lost to sixth-ranked Callaway 33-26, which made Callaway the Region 2 champion. Morgan County was seeking its first 10-0 regular season in 50 years. Like Jefferson, Morgan County was projected to get the No. 1 overall playoff seed until the loss.
Irwin County beat Brooks County, the No. 2 Class A Division II team, 17-14. The Region 2 race remains undecided.
In a game between Class 3A-A private teams, No. 3 Prince Avenue Christian beat No. 2 Hebron Christian 34-31. That gave Prince Avenue Christian the Region 8-2A championship, which means a much higher state seed.
Six unranked teams, including Lowndes, defeated top-10 opponents. That’s the most since August.
Stephenson beat No. 3 Douglass 15-9 to win Region 5-3A. Stephenson was a 15-point underdog, according to the computer Maxwell Ratings.
Warner Robins beat defending Class 4A champion and eighth-ranked Perry 30-20. Perry remains the champion of Region 1, the toughest in the classification.
Upson-Lee beat No. 6 LaGrange 18-14 to secure the No. 2 seed out of Region 2-3A. LaGrange fell to third.
Jeff Davis, an 18-point underdog, beat No. 5 Fitzgerald 26-20 in Class A Division I. That put Worth County in first place in Region 1 and in position to win its first region title since 1989.
Elbert County beat No. 10 Rabun County 28-21 in Class A Division I. Rabun County’s streak of 169 weeks in the top 10, dating to 2015, is in danger.
In a near upset, third-ranked Blessed Trinity of Class 4A beat Cambridge 27-24 in overtime. Blessed Trinity won Region 6.
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