VALDOSTA — With the Lowndes Vikings assured of their seed going into the Class 6A state tournament, they can start paying more attention to the goings on in Region 5, whom they will be matched up against in the first round.

Etowah, defending Class 6A sate champion to Lowndes’ defending Class 7A, has clinched Region 5. The Eagles were 15-1 in the region (23-2) as of Thursday. They had two region games remaining, a Friday doubleheader at Cherokee.

The Vikings would not see Etowah, of course, until much deeper into the playoffs. The No. 4 seed of Region 5 will be visiting. And that team is still up in the air.

Walton, North Paulding and Cherokee are assured of state tournament berths. Cherokee has nine region wins to Marietta’s six, but Cherokee won the regular season series and even if Marietta swept Walton next week and the Warriors lost all five of their remaining region games, Cherokee cannot be caught.

Through Thursday, Walton is 11-4, North Paulding 10-5 and Cherokee 9-4 in the region. Cherokee has two with Etowah and three with North Paulding to go. Walton’s remaining series is against Marietta; North Paulding’s against Cherokee.

In case of tiebreakers, Walton won all three earlier this year over North Paulding and two of three from Cherokee. The Raiders seem to have the edge to be the No. 2 seed. Who Lowndes faces will quite possibly be the team who loses the Cherokee-North Paulding series.

Overall, North Paulding is 18-6 and Cherokee is 14-11.

Likewise, Region 1 is still sorting out its first-round seeding. Tift County won 13-5 over Camden County on Wednesday. The Blue Devils need to sweep Camden Friday and have Colquitt County and Richmond Hill split to be the No. 2 seed.

If either Colquitt or Richmond Hill sweep the games in Moultrie, they will be No. 2.

The first round of state is set for April 23-24. Round 2 is April 29-30.  If Lowndes wins their opening series, they would host the second round as well.