Three teams from Region 5 - Cedar Grove, Sandy Creek and Carver of Atlanta - will be joined by Region 8 No. 3 seed Oconee County in the Class 3A football semifinals Friday night. In Class 2A, top-ranked Fitzgerald will face unranked Fellowship Christian in one semifinal, while Appling County will take on Thomson in a rematch of a 2021 quarterfinal game.

The semifinals of the GHSA playoffs this week will feature a rematch of a 2021 quarterfinal game between Cartersville at Warner Robins in Class 5A and a matchup of No. 1 and No. 2 in Class 4A beteween Cedartown and North Oconee. Top-ranked Ware County will host Dutchtown in the other 5A game, while defending champion Benedictine will take on Troup in the other 4A game.

Chad Campbell, who led Peach County to a state championship, three runner-up finishes and 10 region titles in 16 seasons as its football coach, told his players Wednesday that he is retiring after 30 seasons at the middle Georgia school.

Defending champions Warner Robins and Fitzgerald won in overtime last week while Dutchtown, St. Francis and Schley County made the semifinals for the first time. Fellowship Christian was the only unranked team to advance in what’s been a relatively predictable postseason.

The football quarterfinals could be called the battle of champions. The third round represents the first time that region winners can play each other, and 17 of this week’s 32 games are champion-on-champion. Those include one No. 1-vs.-No. 2 game, Cedar Grove vs. Calvary Day, and one between two of the state’s 15 undefeated teams, Rabun County vs. Swainsboro.

The quarterfinal round of the GHSA playoffs will feature the two-time defending state champion going in as an underdog against the No. 2-ranked team in Class 5A, a team that was 0-9 in 2021 matched up against a team that is 12-0 this season in Class 4A, and a meeting of the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in Class 3A. In all, 64 teams from the eight classifications will face off this weekend for a spot in next week's semifinals.