VALDOSTA —
It’s the last week of the regular season, and for several local high school football teams, Friday’s games will be important ones.
Some teams are battling for playoff seeds, while others are just trying to make the playoffs.
Valdosta (6-3, 3-2) can guarantee a third-place finish in Region 1-6A with a win Friday night against Coffee in Douglas.
The Wildcats are currently tied for third with Colquitt County with a 3-2 region record, but they hold the tiebreaker with the Packers, who they beat 38-36 on Oct. 26 at Cleveland Field.
The Valdosta-Coffee game will be very important for the playoff hopes of three different teams, including the two involved. Coffee (5-4, 2-3 in the region) must win the game to have a chance to make the playoffs.
Colquitt County will also be paying attention to the game between the Wildcats and the Trojans. If Valdosta wins, the Packers would be guaranteed the fourth seed in the playoffs. If Coffee wins and Colquitt upsets No. 1 Camden County, the Packers would get the third seed in the playoffs with a 4-2 region record (Valdosta and Coffee would be tied for fourth, and the Trojans would get the fourth seed, knocking the Wildcats out of the playoffs).
Things could get real interesting if Coffee beats Valdosta and Camden beats Colquitt, because then there would be a three-way tie for third in the region. At that point, a tiebreaker would decide which team would be the third seed, which team would be the fourth seed and which team would get left out of the playoffs.
Lowndes, meanwhile, knows where it will finish in the region. The Vikings (9-1, 5-1 in region) lost to Camden County last Friday (24-7), so they will finish second (undefeated Camden is the region champion). Lowndes is off this week.
In Region 1-AA, Cook (7-2) will battle Early County (6-3) on Friday in Blakely. The two teams have matching 3-2 region records and are tied for third in the region. The winner of the game will get third place and the loser will finish fourth.
Clinch County is fighting to make the playoffs, and probably needs a win Friday night to get in. The top 16 public schools in Class A will make it to the public school playoffs. The Panthers (4-5) were No. 16 in last week’s GHSA Power Rankings for Class A public schools, which were released before Clinch defeated Lanier County 3-0. The Panthers’ opponent this week is the No. 17 team, Turner County (5-4). The winner of that game will probably make the playoffs, while the loser will likely miss out. Clinch and Turner will play at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in Ashburn.
Brooks County wrapped up the Region 1-AA championship on Oct. 26. The Trojans (9-0, 5-0 region) will try to complete an undefeated regular season on Friday, when they travel to Nashville to face Berrien (3-6, 1-4 region).
Like Brooks, Valwood has also already won its region title. The Valiants wrapped up first place with a 48-7 victory over Southwest Georgia Academy last Friday in Damascus. Valwood (10-0) will start the playoffs this Friday, when it hosts Central Fellowship at Goddard Field at 7:30 p.m.
Berrien and Lanier County (2-8) have already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Lanier’s season ended last Friday, while Berrien’s will end this week.
Local Sports
Area football teams battling for playoff spots
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