WEEK 5 LOOKAHEAD: Westover, Dougherty face key region games

With a third of the high school football regular season complete, a couple of region races are starting to develop.

In GHSA Region 1-4A, four teams still have a shot at running the table, with Cairo, Americus-Sumter, Carver-Columbus and Columbus High winning their region openers.

The race in GHSA Region 1-1A has developed a bit more by virtue of a nine-game region schedule. Pelham and Mitchell County are again out in front, two of the three teams sitting at 2-0. The third 2-0 team, Seminole County, won’t face either one of the other two until an Oct. 12 date at Mitchell County.

The area’s other regions are still a few weeks away from beginning in-region action.

Here’s a look at this week’s games (all 7:30 p.m. kickoffs Friday, unless noted):

The big one: Northside-Columbus (2-1, 1-1 GHSA Region 1-4A) at Westover (1-2, 0-1).

While there’s still a lot of football to be played, the loser of Friday’s game at Hugh Mills Stadium likely will have an uphill climb to claim a postseason berth out of the nine-team region.

Both teams lost last week. Northside fell 38-0 at home to Cairo, considered one of the region’s preseason favorites. Westover, meanwhile, lost 46-26 Thursday at Columbus High, a team Westover beat last year.

Second on the list: Dougherty (0-3, 0-2 GHSA Region 1-4A) vs. Carver-Columbus (3-0, 1-0), at Columbus Memorial Stadium.

Former Dougherty head coach Corey Joyner is off to a strong start in his first season as the Carver-Columbus head coach, leading the Tigers to wins over Harris County, Spencer and Hardaway.

Dougherty, meanwhile, is still working to develop its offense while starting the season against high-level opponents. The Trojans opened with losses to Class 6A No. 1 Lee County and defending Region 1-4A champion Americus-Sumter, then they fell 32-12 last Thursday at Shaw.

Another one to watch: Rutland (0-3) at Worth County (0-4).

One of these teams will snap a long losing streak when they meet in Sylvester on Friday.

Worth County has a 15-game losing streak, dating back to the 2016 GHSA Class 3A playoffs, that spans three different head coaches. Rutland, meanwhile, has a 16-game losing streak, all under head coach Mark Daniel.

Also of note: Lee County (4-0) hosts Southwest-Macon (2-1) in the Trojans’ final non-region home game of the regular season … Americus-Sumter (1-2, 1-0 GHSA Region 1-4A) returns to region play with a home game against Shaw (2-1, 1-1) … Monroe (2-2) heads to Thomas County Central (2-1) for an 8 p.m. contest, with TCC coming off a 44-18 win over Cook … With important wins over Chattahoochee County and Miller County in the books, Mitchell County (2-1, 2-0 GHSA Region 1-1A) hosts Baconton Charter (1-2, 0-2) … Pelham (3-0, 2-0 GHSA Region 1-1A), which has outscored opponents 161-0 in three games, hosts Terrell County (0-3, 0-2).

Also, Calhoun County (1-2, 1-1 GHSA Region 1-1A) travels to Chattahoochee County (1-2, 1-1) … Pataula Charter (0-3) hosts Pacelli (1-2), which snapped an 11-game losing streak Aug. 24 when it beat Crawford County 37-34 … Deerfield-Windsor (2-1) heads to McDonough to take on Creekside Christian (0-4) … Southland (3-0) heads to Duluth to take on Notre Dame Academy (0-4) … Terrell Academy (1-3) is at Piedmont (2-0-1) … Westwood (1-3) hosts Trinity Christian-Dublin (1-2) at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at Centennial Stadium.