Georgia high school football playoff brackets; Scores, Analysis, GHSL Updates

Follow the 2024 GHSL high school football playoffs live; in-game scores, finals and instant bracket updates

Savannah Christian is the top seed in the newly created 23-team Private Schools state tournament field. / Hunter D. Cone/For Savannahnow.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Georgia high school state playoffs are set to kick off this Friday, and it will have a much different look and feel than that of last season. 

Class AAAAAAA is a thing of the past, an all-private school playoff bracket is in play, and predetermined brackets are gone for four different classifications. 

All of the usual suspects are in a playoff bracket this fall with most of the heavy hitters competing out of Class AAAAAA or Class AAAAA. Class AAAAAA features two nationally ranked teams in Carrollton and Buford while Class AAAAA features nationally ranked Milton. 

Class AAA, AA, A Division 1 and the 23-team All-private bracket all used GHSA computer rankings to determine seedings for the first time, while Class AAAAAA, AAAAA, AAAA, and Class A Division II all used the normal predetermined brackets by region affiliation. 

With this being the first use of a computer rankings system to determine seedings in the state of Georgia, it will be interesting to see how that plays out for the four classifications using it. 

We wish the best of luck to every team competing for a state championship this fall! May the best teams win! 

Here are the Georgia high school football playoff brackets, with matchups and game times for every classification. To access the bracket for each classification, click on the hyperlinks below.

Class AAAAAA 

If you’re one of the team’s that’s positioned on the left side of the 32-team bracket, you’re jumping for joy. 

Those positioned on the right side, not so much. 

There’s no denying that a path to a state championship is much easier if you’re one of the 16 teams on the left side. Four of the Top 7 teams in Class 6A are all positioned on the right side, including the Top 3 teams Carrollton, Buford and North Gwinnett. 

No. 2 Carrollton will begin its big for a Class 6A state championship when it hosts Dacula in an opening round playoff game on Friday. / John David Mercer-Imagn Images

The right side also features a red-hot Lowndes, who is 9-1, and Valdosta, who sports one of the best quarterbacks in the classification. 

On the right side, you have No. 4 Collins Hill, No. 5 Grayson and No. 6 Colquitt County, all of whom are licking their chops. North Cobb is also in the mix, as well as Mill Creek and Douglas County. 

Out of those six teams just named on the left side, at least one will be sent packing after the first round. After stumbling down the stretch, Mill Creek, who ended the season ranked No. 8 in the classification, will travel to face No. 9 Douglas County in the first round. 

In the top left quadrant, it’s hard to imagine a world where Grayson isn’t cruising into the quarterfinals, where it would await the winner of Collins Hill and Colquitt County for a spot in the Final 4. 

In the bottom left quadrant, North Cobb, and the winner of Mill Creek-Douglas County are the three teams with the best chance to earn a spot in the Final 4. 

In the Top right quadrant, Carrollton is the heavy favorite. They’re undefeated and have looked dominant in the process. Anything short of a semifinals appearance for the Trojans would be a major failure. 

In the bottom right quadrant, it’s sure to be chaos. 

The quadrant features both Buford and North Gwinnett, as well Lowndes. Buford has to be the favorite, but the Wolves will have to beat Lowndes in the second round, and then potentially North Gwinnett in the quarterfinals to do it. 

Class AAAAA

As good as Class AAAAAA is, Class AAAAA might be a tick better. 

The Classification features the top-ranked team in the state, Milton, as well as the state’s No. 4 ranked team in Lee County. Both teams are undefeated and are the two heavy favorites to win the Class AAAAA state championship. 

Top-ranked Milton headlines a deep and talented field in Class AAAAA. / Cecil Copeland

What makes Class AAAAA so good is how deep the classification is. While there might be a fairly big dropoff in talent after Milton and Lee County, there’s still a ton of talented teams that will all have a great opportunity to make a run to the finals.

Much like the Class AAAAAA bracket, teams that are on the left side have a major advantage. 

Whoever advances to the state championship game on the left side will have avoided both Milton and Lee County. That in itself is a massive win. 

In the Top left quadrant, the three best teams on paper are Gainesville, Coffee and Woodward Academy. The only issue with that is both the Red Elephants and the Trojans are three seeds, which make their roads that much more difficult. 

It’s hard to imagine a world where one of those three teams doesn't advance to the semifinals. 

In the bottom left quadrant, all bets are off. 

While you’d much rather be on the left side of the bracket to avoid Milton and Lee County, the bottom left quadrant will by far be the toughest to navigate. Of the eight teams, four have a legitimate argument to be the team to advance out of that quadrant, Thomas County Central, Langston Hughes, Roswell and Rome. 

Of those four, the Yellow Jackets have to be the favorites. They are the defending Class AAAAAA state champs, and they’re very battle tested. In order to advance to the semifinals, they’d have to beat Rome on the road in Round 2, and then beat the winner of Langston Hughes and Roswell. 

In the top right quadrant, Lee County is going to trounce anyone standing in their way. It would be a failure of epic proportions if the Trojans aren’t earning a spot in the AAAAA semifinals. 

The bottom right quadrant’s overwhelming favorite is Milton. That should come as no surprise. It’s the easiest quadrant, just beating out the top right quadrant. Pencil in the Eagles to be in the semifinals. 

What that would do is set up a massive showdown between Milton and Lee County in the semifinals. It’s a shame these two teams aren’t on opposite sides of the bracket so that they could meet in Mercedes-Benz Stadium for a state championship. 

Whoever wins that game will be the heavy favorite to win it all. 

Class AAAA 

Class AAAA has one of the more intriguing brackets. That’s due in large part to how nicely spread out, and how evenly ranked the top teams are across the classification. 

In the Top left quadrant, Eastside, Perry and Creekside are the three favorites to earn a spot in the state semifinals. The Panthers are the defending Class AAAA state champs, but they aren’t the favorites to repeat. 

After falling in last year's AAAAA state championship game, Creekside will make a run at the AAAA title in 2024. / Photo by Cecil Copeland, SBLive

The Eagles have looked very good this season with their only loss coming to one of the tournament favorites, North Oconee. Creekside hasn’t lost to a team from the state of Georgia, but they haven’t played anyone of note, either. The Panthers lost three games, but can’t be counted out. They will likely host Eastside in Round 2. 

The bottom left quadrant is Marist’s to lose. 

Cedartown is very talented. Their only loss came against Cartersville by five points. Those are likely the two teams with the best opportunity to advance out of that quadrant. But you can never count out a team like Warner Robins, who always seems to find ways to win playoff games they shouldn’t. 

The favorite to win the top right quadrant is Blessed Trinity, who’s only loss this season came against Milton. Ola, who is having their best season in program history, could potentially throw a wrench into Blessed Trinity’s plans, and so could Benedictine, who has a lot of experience winning state championships. 

But the favorite, on paper, has to be the Titans. 

The bottom right quadrant is easily the toughest. It features both Cartersville and North Oconee, two undefeated teams with state championship aspirations. Crazier things have happened, but a matchup between the Purple Hurricanes and Titans in the quarterfinals seems highly likely.  

Class AAA 

In Class AAA, things get interesting. The always controversial predetermined brackets are gone in this classification, and they’ve been replaced by a playoff points system generated by the GHSA. 

The Top 4 teams in each region all still earned an automatic bid into the Class AAA state playoffs, but have since been ranked 1-32 to determine seedings. 

Jefferson, who won Region 8 by the slimmest of margins over Cherokee Bluff and Oconee County, has been awarded the classification’s No. 1 seed. Cherokee Bluff was awarded the 8th overall seed, while Oconee County was awarded the 17th. 

Jefferson is lined up as the favorite in Class AAA after earning the top seed in the 32-team field. / Jefferson Football Instagram

With the predetermined bracket that the GHSA is using for the higher classifications this year, and has used in Class 3A for many years, would have Jefferson, Cherokee Bluff and Oconee County all in different quadrants. 

Instead, this new playoff seeding format has all three teams in one quadrant, which should make for some exciting matchups. 

The Dragons will in all likelihood face off against the Warriors in Round 2, after having just played two weeks ago. The Warriors beat the Dragons 32-30 in that game. 

And while all three of those teams will have a chance to come out of that quadrant, Westover, the classification’s No. 9 seed, will have just as good a chance. They went 9-1 during the regular season, losing only to Peach County, one of the favorites to win it all. 

Sandy Creek has the highest seeding (4) in the bottom left quadrant, and they’re the favorites to advance into the state semifinals. 

In the top right quadrant, Peach County and Calhoun are the two favorites. Douglas-Atlanta is also in that quadrant, and the winner of their game against Calhoun in the Sweet 16 could set up a showdown against Peach County in the quarterfinals. 

Harlem was awarded the classification’s No. 2 overall seed despite not being ranked in the Top 10 by any publication. They find themselves in the bottom right quadrant, one that appears to be wide open. Your guess is as good as ours as to who the favorite is to come out of that quadrant. 

Class AA 

Class AA is another classification that had its playoff seeds determined by computer rankings. 

As a result, Rockmart, who won Region 2-AA, was awarded the classification’s top seed despite being ranked towards the bottom half of the Top 10 for the entire season. Carver-Columbus, who has been ranked anywhere between 1-3 by many of the pollsters, was awarded the classifcation’s No. 2 overall seed. 

In the top left quadrant, a spot in the state semifinals will likely come down to Morgan County, Sumter County and Rockmart, which all happen to be the highest ranked teams. 

The bottom left quadrant is likely favored by Burke County, the classification’s No. 4 seed. They went 9-1 during the regular season and beat Thomson, who is also in the bottom left quadrant, 47-35 for the Region 4 championship last Friday. 

Hapeville Charter, the No. 5 seed, will also have a say in who advances out of that quadrant. They beat Carver-Atlanta 15-12 last Friday to win the Region 5 championship. 

Only three teams from Region 8-AA advanced into the Class AA playoffs due to the region champs and region runner-ups Prince Avenue Christian and Hebron Christian getting moved to play in the All-Private classification. 

The team that finished third in the region, Stephens County, earned a spot in the Class AA state playoffs, as did Hart County and East Jackson. The Eagles would have been out of the playoffs in last year’s format. 

Callaway, the classification’s No. 3 seed and Appling County, the classification’s No. 5 seed are the two heavy favorites to come out of the top right quadrant. They both won their respective regions and have a great chance of meeting in the quarterfinals. 

In the bottom right quadrant, Carver-Columbus, the classification’s No. 2 seed, and Pierce County, the classification’s No. 10 seed are likely to battle it out for a spot in the semifinals. 

Class A Division 1 

Toombs County, who has been ranked No. 1 in the classification by virtually all pollsters from Week 1, and is the favorite to win the Class A Division 1 state championship, will enter the state tournament as the No. 6 seed. 

Their only loss this season came against Savannah Christian, who is another private school ditching the Class A Division 1 state playoffs for the All-Private school playoffs. 

The Bulldogs will be the tournament favorite despite their No. 6 ranking, but No. 1 Fannin County and No. 2 Dublin will have great opportunities as well to hoist the state championship trophy in Mercedes-Benz Stadium next month.

Other teams to look out for in this classification are Northeast, the classification’s No. 7 seed and Thomasville, the classification’s No. 8 seed.  

Class A Division II 

We’re back to predetermined brackets for the Class A Division II state playoffs, and the tournament favorite is Manchester, who finished as the state runner up to Bowdon last season. 

Bowdon is the No. 2 ranked team in the classification by most pollsters. They lost to Manchester during the regular season, but could meet again in the state championship. 

The two powers are on opposite sides of the bracket for a second straight year. 

Also in the hunt is Lincoln County, Greene County, Irwin County, Clinch County and Early County. The Red Devils of Lincoln County could face off against Manchester in the quarterfinals in the bottom right quadrant. 

Bowdon could meet Clinch County in the quarterfinals of their quadrant, and the winner of Greene County and Irwin County could make a run to the state semifinals out of the top left quadrant. 

Brooks County is the likely favorite to win the top right quadrant. 

Private

Many public schools clamored in recent years to move private schools back to their own classification, and the GHSA has listened. 

The new classification brings private schools from several different classifications together to play in a 23-team field. With state playoffs in the state of Georgia traditionally having 32-team fields, the top nine teams were awarded byes. 

Savannah Christian is the field’s top overall seed after going a perfect 9-0 during the regular season. Fellowship Christian, the field’s No. 2 overall seed, lost to Savannah Christian 28-7 earlier this season, but has wins against five of the 23 teams. 

In the top left quadrant, Savannah Christian is the heavy favorite to advance to the state semifinals. In the bottom left quadrant, Prince Avenue Christian is the heavy favorite, which could set up a showdown between the Wolverines and Raiders in the semifinals. 

But the Wolverines will have to get past Calvary Day, the tournament’s No. 4 seed. Those two will likely meet in the quarterfinals. 

In the top right quadrant, the team to advance will likely come down to Athens Academy, the tournament’s No. 3 seed, and Hebron Christian, the tournament’s No. 6 seed. Both teams received a bye in that quadrant and are already through to the Sweet 16. 

In the bottom right quadrant, Fellowship Christian is the heavy favorite. They’ll likely face Christian Heritage in the quarterfinals, who went 9-1 during the regular season. Or Wesleyan, who they already beat 42-17 earlier this season.