Region One, Class AAAAAA and Class AAAAAAA, continued their relentless pursuit of respect in the Georgia High School football playoffs last Friday night with huge wins over second round foes. Region 1-AAAAAA has three of the remaining Elite Eight teams headed for the quarterfinals, while Region 1-AAAAAAA has defending Champion Colquitt County and the state’s highest-scoring team, the Lowndes Vikings still in the hunt for a Georgia Dome visit in early December.

Region 1-AAAAAA flexed its’ muscle with three wins last weekend. Valdosta shut out Northgate 35-0; Northside-Warner Robins topped Hughes, 38-10 and Coffee, the number four team from that Region, beat Alexander, 42-34 in an offensive showcase. Meanwhile, the Colquitt County Packers rolled to their eighth straight win after opening the season with four losses in a row, downing Brookwood for the second time this season, 66-35. Lowndes picked up their tenth win of the season by topping the Norcross Blue Devils, 57-21. The Vikings are the state’s highest-scoring team in 2016, averaging almost fifty points per game.

In other games of note from round two of the statewide playoffs, In Class AAAAA, Ware County beat Loganville, 35-19 and Rome shut out Bainbridge, 45-0. In Class AAAA, the Thomson Bulldogs rolled past West Hall, 42-14 for their 12th win of the season and Spalding surprised Ridgeland, 38-21. In Class AAA, Crisp County remained undefeated at 12-0, with a narrow 30-29 win over perennial power Lovett, while Pierce County topped Bremen, 49-27.

Class AA’s top teams continued to roll, Benedictine Military topped Banks County, 49-0, Fitzgerald beat Rockmart, 48-21, and Rabun County eliminated Vidalia, 42-7. Screven County bounced Douglas-Atlanta from the playoffs, 28-20, to join that classification’s Elite Eight teams.

In Class A Public division play, Emanuel County Institute beat Miller County 49-14 to set up a rematch with Irwin County, the team that eliminated the Bulldogs from post season play a year ago, while Macon County won as well, topping Turner County, 47-37, and will meet Manchester again for the second time in three weeks. The Bulldogs won that first meeting, 55-13.

Class A Private powers, Eagles Landing Christian Academy, Landmark Christian and Calvary Day School continued to roll toward key matchups this week. Eagles Landing topped First Presbyterian Day, 59-7, Landmark eliminated Darlington, 13-12, and Calvary Day School beat cross town rival Savannah Christian Prep School, 10-7 in a defensive battle.

Week three of the five week trip to the Georgia Dome features some interesting games this Thanksgiving weekend. In Class AAAAAAA, Grayson travels to Moultrie to meet Colquitt County and Lowndes returns to Metro Atlanta, this time to meet Westlake. In other Class AAAAAAA games, North Cobb is at Roswell and Mill Creek motors to Powder Springs to take on McEachern. In Class AAAAAA, Northside-Warner Robins meets Glynn Academy, Stephenson is at Valdosta; Tucker is at Mays and Coffee makes the long trip to Dalton.

In other games of note this Thanksgiving Day weekend, Ware County is at Rome in Class AAAAA and Carrollton plays at Buford. Class AAAA finds Spalding at Thomson and Cartersville at Woodward Academy. In Class AAA, top games find Pierce County at unbeaten Crisp County in Cordele, Peach County at Westminster and Greater Atlanta Christian at Liberty County.

In a couple of Class AA’s top games, it’s Rabun County at Fitzgerald and Callaway traveling to Sylvania to meet Screven County. Commerce is at defending Class A Public Champion Clinch County in Homerville, and in the Private division of Class A, top games are Tattnall Square at Calvary Day in Savannah, and Wesleyan at top-ranked Eagles Landing Christian.

It’s Thanksgiving week, if your prep football team is still playing…it’s been a great football season!