Jeff Hart

In a battle of ranked teams, Class 4A fourth-ranked East Hall took a slim 1-0 victory over West Hall on Friday at Spartans Field.

North Hall could not hold onto an early lead against Walnut Grove in the third place of the Region 8-4A tournament.

Tiger Woods returned to the PGA Tour and lasted only 24 holes, withdrawing Friday at the Genesis Invitational with an undisclosed illness after hitting his tee shot on the seventh hole.

An international phenomenon, the 66th running of the DAYTONA 500 on Sunday will be broadcast to fans in more than 185 countries and territories, reaching over 550 million households worldwide.

Regions 8-6A, 8-5A, and 8-4A all will hold key region matchups to highlight Friday's action around northeast Georgia.

Several northeast Georgia area teams will be heading to tournaments over the weekend. But there are several interesting non-tournament, non-region battles set for Friday as well.

North Hall swept a pair of close matches with Gainesville on Thursday.

With one upset win and a Class 4A state tournament berth already in hand, a second upset against No. 4 North Oconee in the semifinals of the Region 8-4A tournament, on the Titans home floor, was almost asking for too much, even for a surging North Hall squad.

Chestatee will get a chance to defend its Region 8-4A championship while Cherokee Bluff suffered a frustrating loss to North Oconee in the semifinals at the North Oconee gym on Thursday.

The Lakeview Academy girls started the season off strong, routing Athens Christian 9-1 at home on Thursday.