Big nights on offense by Adairsville WR Tre Winters, Providence Christian WR Caleb Lee and Southwest QB Chase Dupree helped their teams pick up crucial victories in the race for the playoffs, while Kel Ikpechukwu led the Grayson defense in a dominant win over Archer that created a tie for first place in Region 4-7A.

Fourteen top-10 teams lost football games last week, and six fell out of the rankings. Most conspicuously absent is Calhoun, the previous No. 10 team in Class 5A. The Yellow Jackets lost to unranked Cass 52-29. Calhoun is out of the rankings for the first time since early 2020 and won’t be in the playoffs for the first time since 1999. They finished 6-4 overall and 2-3 in Region 7-5A, which includes top-10 teams Cartersville and Hiram.

Prince Avenue Christian’s Aaron Philo retook the lead in GHSA passing yards with a 388-yard game last week against Oglethorpe County. Philo has thrown for 2,568 yards in eight games. Wayne County’s Matthew Fuller and Loganville’s Ahmed Souare continue to lead the GHSA in rushing and receiving, respectively. Each has only one regular-season game remaining.

Numerous games around the state this weekend will determine region championships. Among them are 1-7A (Valdosta at Colquitt County), 1-6A (Lee County at Thomas County Central), 2-5A (Jones County at Warner Robins), 7-5A (Dalton at Cartersville), 2-4A (Perry at Spalding) and 2-3A (Mary Persons at Upson-Lee). Others, like Rabun County at Commerce in 8-A Division, will go a long way in deciding the champions.

With two weeks remaining in the regular season, here are GHSF Daily’s choices as the eight most intriguing region races. The preference is for multiple good plots and not a single pending showdown for the title such, as Ware County vs. Coffee in Region 1-5A or Thomas County Central vs. Lee County in Region 1-6A. If a hat draw might decide a champion among three top-10 teams, or if Calhoun or Jeff Herron isn’t certain to make the playoffs this late in the game, that’s a region that could make this list.

Kell linebacker Elijah Washington and Milton quarterback Luke Nickel put their teams in position to win region championships this weekend with big nights in Week 10, while Cairo's K.J. Spence, Lumpkin County's Cal Faulkner and Washington-Wilkes' James Danner made impacts on both sides of the ball.

A week after getting bounced from the Class 7A rankings for losing to an unranked team, Parkview re-entered the top 10 this week with a big victory its own Friday night. Parkview defeated No. 5 Newton 28-21, complicating the Region 4 standings and showing how competitive the state’s highest classification can be. Parkview, now ranked No. 9, has lost to Archer, the first-place team in Region 4, and to No. 1 Mill Creek.

Wayne County’s Matthew Fuller is the GHSA’s new leading rusher, and five other running backs took the lead in their classifications after strong performances last week. Fuller ran for 272 yards against New Hampstead and sits at 1,560 for the season. Providence Christian’s Quinton Slaughter took the Class 2A lead with a 389-yard rushing game against Union County. The 389 yards are the most for a player in a game this season.

Sole possession of first place is at stake in several regions in Week 10, including 2-7A (Westlake vs. Carrollton), 4-6A (Marist vs. North Atlanta), 6-5A (Greater Atlanta Christian vs. Kell), 2-2A (Spencer vs. Northeast), 8-A Division I (Commerce vs. Elbert County) and 6-A Division II (Manchester vs. Schley County). And Sandy Creek meets Cedar Grove in a rematch of the controversial 2022 Class 3A final.

The Georgia High School Association is waiting on Department of Education enrollment numbers before placing schools into classifications for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years. During the most recent reclassification in 2021, that news broke the first week in November. Keep in mind this is not a projection of the final classes that will start in 2024, as those will be based on enrollment statistics that will have changed significantly since 2021.