Friday Game Night

North Hall moved down to No. 8, while four other area teams maintained their positions in the latest Georgia Sports Writers Association Prep Football poll, released Tuesday.

Texas high school coach Tim Buchanan benched his starters after only 21 plays, kept to a conservative ground game and even allowed the clock to run uninterrupted after halftime to hasten the final whistle. Still, his Bearcats won 91-0.

The playoff race in Region 7-AAA took an interesting twist last week, and the battle for seeding will in 7-AAA -- and 8-AAAAA -- will feature this Friday on the Jacobs Media family of radio stations.

Here's a look at five things we learned from week eight of the high school football season...

White County pulled off the biggest win of the Bill Ballard era and made for an intriguing playoff sprint in Region 7-AAA, while Chestatee pulled off another thriller. Meanwhile, Region 8-AAAAA now looks very much a two-team race after an action-packed week 8 of high school football...

It was grinding, gritty and physical -- everything that White County wanted in a football game -- including the outcome.

Just when things looked their darkest, Chestatee was able to find just enough light to keep its Region 8-AAAA title hopes alive.

Gainesville passed its biggest test in weeks with relative ease on Friday, bouncing back from an early Clarke Central touchdown to knock out the Gladiators 56-28 in Athens. Video included

West Hall held East Hall to minus-6 yards rushing and 30 points below its season average in taking a 27-7 win over the Vikings at Spartan Stadium Friday night in a Region 7-AAA matchup. Video included