THOMASTON — The Georgia High School Association is making adjustments to the 2024 high school football season and playoffs in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
The GHSA announced Tuesday morning that “As a result of the severe damage in several areas of the State, the GHSA has decided to change the original football playoff schedule by adding a week to the regular season.”
The final Friday of the 2024 season was originally set for Nov. 1. Now, it will be Nov. 8. The state playoffs will begin the week after.
Adjusting the schedule was easier this year because of an odd quirk in the playoff schedule. Originally, the GHSA had an extra open week during Thanksgiving. The open week is being eliminated and state football quarterfinals will be that week. December dates for semifinals and finals dates will not change.
While this should help many schools, the GHSA admitted it probably won’t completely eliminate the backlog of games. “Schools affected by Hurricane Helene for two or more weeks may still have to double up and play a Thursday, Tuesday and Saturday sequence,” the league said in its announcement. “Regions will determine these scenarios with approval from the GHSA.”
Region 1-6A, consisting of Camden County, Colquitt County, Lowndes, Richmond Hill, Tift County and Valdosta, has already announced its revamped football schedule after all three conference games were canceled last week. The region considered postponing these games to the shared off week of Oct. 18, but instead opted to go with the original order of games. Oct. 18 will instead be a game day.
Other regions in the area may have to negotiate with the GHSA. Region 1-A Div. I was not able to complete its slate of games last week. Brantley County versus Worth County was initially set to be made up Monday, but postponed again because of damage in Brantley. The teams do not share an off date.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said only 16 games were played last Friday. Sixteen others had been moved up and played Wednesday. One of the moved up contests, Cairo-Bainbridge, was suspended in the third quarter because of bad weather and has not been completed.
Football is not the only sport affected by hurricane cancelations. The GHSA said it will announce other sports schedule changes this week.
If softball is moved back, it might be a relief to Region 1-6A. Valdosta and Lowndes, who were set to play each other in a three-game set, are out of school this week. Lowndes is already three games behind because of the postponement of a doubleheader against Camden County and the last game of last week’s doubleheader with Colquitt County was rained out.