Teams now will start the playoffs on Nov. 8
- No impact expected on Rockmart schedule, Cedartown has extra week off
The good news? The Jackets and the Dawgs are both getting an unexpected break late in the season heading into the playoffs.
The bad news? Many teams are going to have to use that date to make up games after Hurricane Helene caused widespread damage across the southeast, including a swath from south Georgia to the Smoky Mountains that remains in recovery mode.
The Georgia High School Athletic Association (GHSA) announced the plan to make November 8 a make up date for schools whose schedules were impacted by last Friday’s passage of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Helene over the state.
Fortunately, those schedule changes won’t impact Rockmart or Cedartown’s scheduling for the season.
The Jackets were already slated to close out region play and the regular season against North Murray before they are expected to have a home playoff berth heading into the Class AA playoffs. Instead of opening on Nov. 8, they’ll instead have first round play on Nov. 15.
Cedartown’s football schedule change means the Dawgs get two weeks off before they head into the playoffs – also slated at this point to have a home game as well in Week 1. Cedartown’s final regular season game is Homecoming on Oct. 25 hosting Woodland. They already had Nov. 1 as an open date since Southeast Whitfield dropped out of region play in football for the 2024 season, and would have been the final game of the year.
November 15 will open the playoffs for state classes of football, but a date that was supposed to be off time for the Jackets and Dawgs during the middle of the playoffs is now set for quarterfinals action.
That’ll be coming up on November 29. The State Finals are still on the same date, scheduled based on availability of Mercedes Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta in heading into the holidays as college football’s SEC Championship game comes to Atlanta, plus contending with MLS soccer and the Atlanta Falcons home schedule.
