First place will be on the line in Week 9 when undefeated teams in region play match up in Friday night in eight regions across the state. Among those are four games featuring two top-10 teams - 1-2A (Carver-Columbus at Sumter County); 2-A Division II (Clinch County at Brooks County); 7-5A (Gainesville at Milton); and 6-3A (North Hall at Greater Atlanta Christian).

Five football teams from Class 6A’s Region 1 would’ve earned top-12 seeds and played at home in the first round last season under the GHSA’s new playoff model approved Monday. Playing at home – all against metro Atlanta opponents – would’ve been Camden County, Colquitt County, Lowndes, Richmond Hill and Valdosta. In 2024, only Colquitt and Lowndes played at home, and Richmond Hill missed the playoffs despite a 7-3 record.

Quarterbacks Hudson Hulett of North Murray, Cayden Benson of Creekside and Justin Murphy of North Clayton and linebackers McKenzie Graham of Colquitt County and Jaylon Deal of Richmond Hill put up big numbers in their teams' important region victories in Week 8 of the regular season.

Kell, Thomson and Bleckley County entered the football rankings this week after victories over top-10 teams in a weekend of limited upsets. Kell of Class 4A beat No. 8 Blessed Trinity 3-0 and moved into the top 10 at No. 9. Also in 4A, No. 10 Cass (6-2) fell out of the rankings after losing to No. 3 Cartersville 56-28. In Class 2A, Thomson beat previous No. 7 Burke County 24-14. Thomson (4-3) is now No. 10.

Rockmart’s Gavin Green became the state’s leading receiver this week while Whitefield Academy’s Mason Hollingsworth and Dalton’s Caine Woods maintained their leads in rushing and passing, respectively. Green, a sophomore, had only three receptions in a 50-28 victory over Sonoraville last week, but those three went for three touchdowns and 148 yards. Green is averaging 25.7 yards per reception for a total of 746 yards.

Although it's still relatively early in the region portion of the 2025 season, front-runner status will be at stake in several regions across the state in Week 8. Among those are 4-2A (Burke County at Thomson), 7-4A (Cartersville at Cass), 7-6A (North Gwinnett at Peachtree Ridge) and 1-A Division I (Thomasville at Worth County).

The Georgia High School Association uses an in-house ratings model that it calls the Post Season Rankings to help select and seed playoff teams in classes 3A, 2A, A Division I and 3A-A Private. Below are those rankings through seven weeks for the classes that use them. The top four finishers in each region are guaranteed playoff berths, but lower-finishing teams are eligible for at-large playoff berths.

Ty Cummings' record-setting rushing night stole the headlines in Week 7, but there were other outstanding all-around efforts around the state. Among the best were Athens Academy's Keyon Standifer and Baldwin's Kam Patterson, who were each responsible for five touchdowns, along with North Clayton's Justin Murphy (113 yards passing, 237 yards rushing) and Thomas County Central's Deuce Lawrence (210 yards rushing, 54 yards receiving).

Lowndes and Valdosta — county rivals that are 6-0 simultaneously for the first time since 1996 — jumped inside the top five of the Class 6A rankings after beating top-10 opponents in region play last week. Lowndes moved up one place to No. 4 after beating No. 9 Colquitt County 31-14 in a Region 1-6A game. Hillgrove is new to the Class 6A ratings after a 5-0 start, replacing Camden County.

Whitefield Academy’s Mason Hollingsworth and Aquinas’ Jack Rhodes are the new leaders in rushing yards and receiving yards, respectively, through six weeks of the regular season. Hollingsworth rushed for a Cobb County record 426 yards last week in a victory over St. Anne-Pacelli. That gave him 1,247 yards rushing in five games. Winder-Barrow’s M.J. Dowdy also broke 1,000 yards last week.

South Georgia matchups headline the schedule for Week 7 of the regular season. Four top-10 teams from Region 1-6A will go to head-to-head when Colquitt County travels to Lowndes and Valdosta visits Camden County. Lee County will face Thomas County Central in a matchup of top-10 teams in Region 2-5A, and Benedictine will visit Ware County for front-runner status in Region 1-4A.