With four weeks left in the 2005 regular season, few region races have clear frontrunner.
Lincoln County's own Region 7-A seemingly has a team out front in Washington-Wilkes but the folks in Warrenton would argue that. Both schools are 5-1 overall and 1-0 in region play. Warren County should be 7-1 when they visit Lincolnton October 21. The Tigers host our Red Devils October 14 and then travel to Warrenton October 28. The winner between Aquinas and Hancock Central should finish fourth in 7-A.
Region 7-A will match-up against Region 8-A in the first round of the playoffs. Athens Academy, Commerce, and Social Circle look to fight it out for the top 3 spots, with Jefferson the probabe fourth team but a possible spoiler.
Looking at the other 6 regions, Clinch County again looks to win Region 1-A. Turner, Miller, Lanier, and Atkinson will contend for the other 3 spots.
Randolph-Clay appeared headed to a perfect regular season but Seminole County from 1-A surprised those Red Devils 21-14 last Friday. R-C and Terrell County (5-1) will decide the top 2 spots in 2-A on October 28. Pacelli and Brookstone, Columbus private schools, hope to ruin the R-C/Terrell party.
In Region 3-A, Portal's closest game so far has been 17 points. The Panthers will host McIntosh County Academy october 21 in a big showdown between Top 10 teams. MCA returns to Class AA after this season. Calvary Day and Savannah Country Day will decide the third and fourth spots.
Everyone expected Hawkinsville to repeat as 4-A champs, but that looks somewhat unlikely at this point. Johnson County is 5-0 in the region and has defeated Dooly County and Hawkinsville. Johnson's only loss was to Dublin the first week of the season, and some are saying Class AA Dublin may have the best team in the state in all classes. Those Irish have outscored their 7 opponents 391-0. (No typo - they haven't allowed a point yet and haven't been stopped at less than 45!).
Back to 4-A. After Johnson, everyone else already has at least two region losses. Second through fourth will come from this group of five: Hawkinsville, Dooly, Wilcox, Wilkinson, and Twiggs.
If Region 3 and Region 4 are two of the strongest Class A regions, 5-A would have to be considered one of the weakest in 2005. Landmark should get the region trophy.
And then there's Region 6-A. Undefeated Bremen is ranked #1 in some polls. Bowdon, with a single loss to a AAA powerhouse, is just biding its time until October 21 then the Western Red Devils travel to Bremen to take on their blue cousins. Trion and Gordon Lee will take the final two spots.
There's still a tremendous amount of football left to play this regular season. Some teams are finally getting healthy, and others have their youngsters gelling at the right time.
And you never know what surprises are left to be unveiled.