Football teams placed higher on the playoff bracket will play at home when same-seeded opponents meet in the quarterfinals next week, the Georgia High School Association determined Monday with a universal coin toss.

Unranked Collins Hill, Camden County, Cass, Dalton and Monroe Area defeated top-10 teams, reigning champion Sandy Creek lost, and Bryan County and Lumpkin County won their first playoff games in history in the first round of the GHSA playoffs. Cass, Jenkins, Gilmer and Lovejoy beat No. 1 seeds, and Savannah Christian won in four overtimes, the last one with controversy.

The Georgia High School Association placed its 457 member schools into regions for the 2024-26 academic years Thursday, pushing reclassification one big step closer to completion. The GHSA approved the appeals of six schools to move out of Class 6A, which will be the highest classification, and into Class 5A. Winning those appeals were Arabia Mountain, Houston County, Kennesaw Mountain, New Manchester, Newnan and Shiloh.

Prince Avenue Christian’s Aaron Philo retook the lead in GHSA passing yards with a 388-yard game last week against Oglethorpe County. Philo has thrown for 2,568 yards in eight games. Wayne County’s Matthew Fuller and Loganville’s Ahmed Souare continue to lead the GHSA in rushing and receiving, respectively. Each has only one regular-season game remaining.

Parkview visits Colquitt County for a Class 7A game Friday night in what is perhaps the marquee matchup of the first round, a north-south Georgia battle between an undefeated blue blood and a Gwinnett County team that played for a region title last week. The question is whether Parkview has fuel in the tank after losing to Grayson 41-14.

Arabia Mountain's Daniel Turpin, Bainbridge's Cam Sanders, Stephenson's Devin Ingram and Trion's Toby Maddux produced big numbers in their teams' championship-clinching victories in the final weekend of the regular season, and Marcus Calwise helped Newton break a two-game losing streak and grab the No. 2 seed in Region 4-7A.

Four defending champions and three teams that have never won state titles will enter the playoffs with No. 1 rankings. The defending champions are Mill Creek in Class 7A, Benedictine in 4A, Thomson in 2A and Prince Avenue Christian in A Division I. Coffee in 5A, Calvary Day in 3A and Schley County in A Division II are No. 1. They have never won state titles. Gainesville, in 6A, is the final No. 1 team.

The playoffs kick off this week as 255 GHSA teams, 36 GIAA teams and six GAPPS teams begin the road to the championships. Champions will be crowned by the GAPPS on Nov. 24, by the GIAA on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at Mercer's Five Star Stadium, and by the GHSA Dec. 11-13 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Each week this season, scores compiled from online scoreboards and social media will be posted on the Scores & Schedules page late Friday night. GHSF Daily will begin reconciling and verifying the scores Saturday morning. Here is the updated version from Week 12. If you have additional corrections, please contact us.