GIAA announces state tournament brackets

VALDOSTA — The GIAA has announced its playoff brackets and Valwood and Georgia Christian will have first round home games.

Valwood will play Frederica Academy again in 3A while Georgia Christian hosts Westminster Christian of Watkinsville. First round games are set for Friday night.

The Valiants had been No. 1 or No. 2 most of the season in the GIAA’s power rankings, but fell to No. 3 after last week’s loss to Tiftarea Academy. Valwood (7-3), saw Frederica way back in August, winning a 48-14 contest.

Then mired in a four-game losing stretch, the Knights have turned it around to finish the regular season 5-5 and finish second in District 2, which is a combined 3A/2A conference.

In its first year as an eight-man school, Georgia Christian has been remarkable, carrying an undefeated record into its regular season finale against Sherwood Christian. Though the Eagles won, GCS (9-1) still kept a good playoff seed at No. 4.

Westminster Christian lost its last two games to finish the regular season 7-2. This is their second season of eight-man football after not playing the sport at all for 15 years.

Should the Generals win, they would likely be on the road for round two, as that first round matchup is between No. 1 Westminster (Augusta) and No. 8 David Emanuel. Sherwood Christian is No. 2 in the bracket with another district rival, Westwood No. 6.

The 3A bracket is filled with teams Valwood and District 3 know well. Tiftarea, the No. 2 seed, has played six of the other seven this year. If the Valiants win, they might have a rematch with the Panthers. The next round has the Valwood-Frederica winner against Tiftarea or John Milledge.

John Milledge, who lost to Valwood in last year’s state championship, fell to 2-8, but are the No. 7 team because of the strength of their schedule.

Westfield is No. 1, facing No. 8 Terrell Academy. No. 4 is Deerfield-Windsor, whose opponent is Lakeview Academy of Gainesville.