COVINGTON, Ga. - Two out of four area teams, including Eastside and Social Circle, are preparing for the first round of the GHSA state playoffs this week, while Alcovy already has a spot in the second round locked up. Newton, however, was bumped from postseason contention after a 13-6 loss to South Gwinnett.

Even so, each squad finds themselves in unique positions. 

Eastside

Eastside’s appearance marks six straight postseasons the Eagles have qualified for. On top of that, they will face a familiar playoff foe. 

The Eagles will travel to New Manchester High School in Douglasville to take on the Jaguars. These two teams faced each other last year in the second round of the playoffs where Eastside won 37-7. 

New Manchester heads into the matchup as the second seed from Region 6-AAAAA. Eastside, on the other hand, enters as the No. 3 seed from 8-AAAAA. 

Social Circle

For the second straight year, the Social Circle Redskins earned a playoff spot. Going into last week, they were just looking to get the fourth seed. However, when the night concluded, Social Circle jumped Commerce, thanks to the tiebreaker, to claim the No. 3 seed in Region 8A-Public. 

Now, they’ll be on the road to Trion High School. 

It’ll be a tough matchup for the Redskins. 

Trion comes into the matchup as the No. 2 seed from Region 6A-Public having only lost one game all season. 

Social Circle, however, enters with a 6-4 record and a 3-2 region record. 

Alcovy

While the Alcovy Tigers enter as the top seed from Region 3-AAAAAA, they won’t play this week. 

They would’ve faced the fourth seed from Region 1-AAAAAA but, due to Valdosta High School’s playoff violations last year, it is deemed ineligible. 

So, the Tigers are guaranteed to advance to the second round. The cherry top is the fact that Alcovy will host round two on Friday, Nov. 19. 

It’ll face the winner between Carrollton and Creekview High Schools that’ll take place this Saturday. 

Newton 

The Newton Rams are the only area team that didn’t make it to the playoffs. 

By losing 13-6 to South Gwinnett, the Rams found themselves in a 3-way tie for the bottom three spots in Region 4-AAAAAA. 

The three teams in question were Parkview, South Gwinnett and Newton. 

Region 4-AAAAAA’s No. 3 seed was determined by point differential. 

Parkview defeated South Gwinnett by nine points while Newton downed Parkview by just three points. 

So, Parkview received the third seed. 

After that, the fourth and final playoff spot came down to the head-to-head matchup between South Gwinnett and Newton. 

And, with South Gwinnett defeating Newton, the Rams were the odd man out. 

Newton’s season ends at 4-5 overall with a 1-3 region record.