With the regular season in the rear-view mirror, it is now time to turn the page over to the playoffs.
Three county-area teams (Eastside, Newton and Social Circle) qualified for spots in the postseason and each team is set to host as either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed.
Eastside Eagles vs Hampton Hornets — Class AAAA playoffs
Eastside finished as the No. 2 seed in Region 8-AAAA as the program notched its 10th consecutive berth with a 9-1 record.
In the first round, the Eagles matched up with the Hampton Hornets, who finished third in Region 2-AAAA with a 8-2 record.
On paper, these are two teams that play different styles of football.
Hampton’s offense has seen a fair balance of run and pass, while the Eagles have built their successful season on the back of a strong run game that works with an efficient pass game.
In four of their last five games, the Hornets have thrown the ball at least 24 times and have eclipsed 125 yards through the air.
Despite this, the run game has also got its shine in this Hampton offense.
In their last game, the Hornets rushed 43 times for 198 yards on their way to a 26-16 win over Eagles Landing Christian Academy.
For the Eagles, it all starts in the run game.
This season, Eastside has over 1,000 more rushing yards than Hampton on only 30 more carries.
It's been a three-headed monster in the backfield for Eastside — consisting of Jayden Barr, Myles Mims and Tyler Solomon.
The trio has totaled 33 touchdowns and over 2,000 yards on the ground just amongst themselves in 2024.
Even with the run game as the focus, Eastside has managed to get it done through the air, too.
The Eagles only have 78 passing attempts on the year to Hampton’s 224, but the Hornets only have 300 more passing yards on the year than Eastside.
Eagles’ quarterback Payton Shaw has been efficient through the air.
Through Eatsside’s 10 games, Shaw has thrown for 16 touchdowns and has yet to throw an interception. Another key piece of Shaw’s game is his ability to get the ball to multiple receivers.
Of the 16 passing touchdowns, they have been thrown to eight different Eagles.
Another factor in this first round matchup is time off.
Both teams will enter the game with at least two weeks of rest minimum.
The Hornets wrapped up the regular season against ELCA on Nov. 1, but the Eagles have not played since their season finale win of Cedar Shoals on Oct. 24.
Eastside and Hampton will battle it out on eFriday, Nov. 15 at Sharp Stadium.
Newton Rams vs McEachern Indians — Class AAAAAA playoffs
The Rams were on a tear in region play until suffering a crushing loss to Grayson in the Region 4-AAAAAA title game on Saturday.
This set up for Newton to take on McEachern in the first round of the Class AAAAAA playoffs.
The Indians finished third in Region 3-AAAAAA with a 6-4 record after winning the region a year prior.
Despite the record and placement in region play, the Indains will enter the first round on the back of back-to-back blowout wins over South Cobb (58-0) and Osborne (42-6).
Throughout the regular season, the Indians’ offense has been well-balanced with 1,916 passing yards and 1,954 rushing yards.
In McEachern’s last two games over South Cobb and Osborne, the run game has been the focus. In those two games, the Indians only completed 11 passes while the run game totaled 364 yards in that two-week span.
For the Rams, the offensive discussion begins with one person — Zion Johnson.
Johnson has been the fuel that has powered Newton’s offense as the Cincinnati commit already has over 1,600 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on the year. However, Johnson has not been the only one moving the ball for the Rams on the ground.
The emergence of freshman Kevin Hartsfield has provided extra life to the Newton offense.
Hartsifled has totaled over 600 yards and eight touchdowns in his first full season of high school ball in Class AAAAAA.
Newton will also be looking to bounce back from their region title loss to Grayson.
Prior to the region championship, the Rams were bulldozing their way through region play as the team averaged 51 points on offense and won every region game via rout.
However, Grayson put a stop to Newton’s momentum and held it to only 13 points while scoring 43.
The Rams will host this first round matchup over the Indians as they look to avoid a first round defeat for the third consecutive season.
Newton and McEachern will battle it out on Saturday, Nov. 16 at Sharp Stadium.
Social Circle vs Bleckley County — Class A-Division I playoffs
It is feeling like 2005 in Social Circle as the Redskins enter the playoffs as a region champion for the first time in 19 years.
A 5-1 finish in Region 4A-Division I allowed Social Circle to sit atop the standings at the end of the season as the Redskins get set to host a first round matchup for the third consecutive season.
What awaits Social Circle is Bleckley County, who finished the season 4-6 with a 3-6 record in Region 2A-Division I.
The two teams do not share any opponents this season, but the Royals are coming off back-to-back blowout wins after going through a five-game losing streak in the middle of the year.
For the Redskins, they have seen the offense elevate since the start of region play.
Since Social Circle’s first region game on Sept. 20, Redskins quarterback Luke Cross has been perfect.
Cross has thrown for 13 touchdowns and one interception in region play and totaled 827 passing yards in that span.
Another aspect of the Redskins' offense — and the most consistent — is the ground game.
Led by senior Jaylen Victor, the rushing yards have been there for the Redskins.
Social Circle has only rushed for less than 100 yards once this season, and it came in the team’s 27-6 win over Lamar County, where Cross had 305 yards in the air.
Victor is closing in on 700 rushing yards for the year and has nine touchdowns.
On the defensive side, Social Circle is looking to build off back-to-back games of only allowing six points.
The Redskins will take on the Royals in the first round at home on Friday, Nov. 15.
