Earlier this month, the GHSA released the playoff brackets for the 2022 football season.
This years pairings will feature Region 5 schools playing Region 6 Schools and Region 7 S
For the Northwest Georgia coverage area, some of these matchups look favorable, some however do not.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the potential Schools that our local teams could face this season.
Local schools Christian Heritage, Bowdon, and Mt. Zion will represent Region 7 DivisionII when they match up with Region 8A Division II in the first round of the playoffs.
Region 8A Division II is a 10-team Region with only seven of the member schools playing football. This Region includes four schools who made the playoffs last season including: Aquinas (A-Private), Lincoln County, Warren County, & Washington-Wilkes.
The three other teams in the Region, Towns County, Greene County, and Lake Oconee Academy failed to reach the playoffs last season.
Greene County has not reached the postseason since their 7-A Region Title season in 2018.
Towns County has not qualified for the playoffs since their only appearance in 2017.
Lake Oconee Academy will begin their second season of playing Football after a respectable 2-4 opening campaign.
Last season, Aquinas had an early exit from the postseason with a first round 21-14 loss to First Presbyterian. The First Presbyterian Vikings avenged a regular season 27-2 loss to Aquinas. The Vikings would run out of luck soon after and fell to soon-to-be runner up Prince Avenue Christian.
Washington-Wilkes advanced to the second round with a 28-7 win over Gordon Lee. The Tigers bowed out the next round in a 61-28 loss to eventual Champion Brooks County.
Warren County made the longest playoff run making it to the Elite-8 before also falling to eventual Champion Brooks County 51-30.
Local schools Armuchee, Chattooga, Coosa, Dade County, Darlington, Pepperell, and Trion make up Region 7A DivisionI. They will have a first round meeting with Region 8.
Region 8A DivisionI is a six-team Region with 4 member schools participating in football.
Although this Region may only have four teams, the four teams they have are pretty good.
Athens Christian, Elbert County, Rabun County, and Commerce are all perennial playoff teams.
Elbert County lost in the first round 26-14 to Columbia last season.
Commerce also had a first round exit last season when they lost to Bowdon 35-0.
Athens Christian made it to round two of the A-Private playoffs last season.
The Eagles downed St.Francis 42-39 before falling to Trinity Christian 48-14.
Rabun County enjoyed the longest playoff run of the current Region 8 teams.
The Wildcats Exited in the quarterfinals to a tough Thomasville team 49-24.
With the GHSA voting to end the separate Private and Public classifications, this years playoffs will be especially interesting.