From Staff Reports
The final week of the Georgia High School Association football regular season already included some big opportunities for area teams.
It also includes what can now be billed as a top 10 matchup.
When Dalton hosts Hiram in the Region 7-4A championship game on Friday at Harmon Field — Hiram (9-0) beat Sprayberry 28-27 to win the Sub-region 7B-4A title last Friday, while Dalton won the 7A-4A crown with a 35-11 victory at Northwest Whitfield and the sub-region margin of victory tiebreaker — both will be ranked in at least one top 10 poll.
Hiram is ranked fifth in Georgia High School Football Daily’s Class 4A state top 10, while Dalton cracked the lineup at No. 10 on Monday when the e-mail newsletter’s latest rankings were released.
“Definitely, we’re glad we’re in the top 10,” said Dalton junior offensive lineman Watts Dantzler. “We’ve worked hard all offseason and in the summer and during preseason, trying to be as good as we could be, so that means a lot to be in the top 10.”
The Associated Press’ newest top 10 poll will be released today.
On the line for Dalton and Hiram is a No. 1 seed in the Class 4A state playoffs bracket. Both are already guaranteed a home game in the first round when the state playoffs begin on Nov. 13 and Region 7 matches up with Region 6.
This Friday will also feature what may or may not be the final game of the season for Northwest (6-3), which needs a win against Paulding County (4-5) in its Region 7-4A playoff game to secure one of the final two state playoff berths remaining for the league. The Bruins advanced to state in 2006 and 2007 but missed last year by finishing out of the top three in their sub-region.
This year, Northwest is the No. 2 seed from 7A-4A for the region playoffs, while Paulding County — which had just one win through its first six games before ripping off consecutive victories against South Paulding, Osborne and Sprayberry by a total of eight points — is the No. 3 seed from 7B-4A. The winner will advance to state and travel in the first round, while the loser is done for 2009.
Sequoyah (6-3), No. 3 in 7A-4A, hosts Sprayberry (6-3), No. 2 in 7A-4A, in the other region playoff game.
Southeast (4-5) was eliminated from contention for one of Region 6-3A’s state playoff berths with a 17-14 loss to Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe last week, but has a chance to end a frustrating streak on Friday in its region crossover game at Cedartown (2-7). A win would put the Raiders at .500 for the year and give them their first non-losing season — they last had a winning record in 1986, which was also their last postseason appearance — since 1992.
While Murray County (1-8) has been eliminated from the race for state for weeks, the Indians can send off their senior class with a win this Friday as they host Allatoona (4-5) in another Region 7-4A crossover game.
The visiting Buccaneers, a second-year varsity program, aren’t yet a full member of the region for football but are aligned with 7-4A for other sports and so will participate in the region crossover games to finish the regular season for a second straight year. In 2008, Allatoona beat Murray County 40-21 in Acworth.
