The North Hall boys cross country squad enters Thursday’s Region 7-AAA meet in Helen on quite a high note. The Trojans, ranked No. 2 in Class AAA, won the Last Chance Invitational on Saturday in Carrollton, and already have the Hall County Championship to their name this season.

On Saturday, North Hall showed its depth with three of the top four runners to cross the finish line from its squad.

Witt Nix won the meet for the Trojans with a time of 16 minutes, 58.99 seconds, followed by third-place finisher Tucker LoCicero (17:16.75) and fourth by Bryce Shuebert (17:19.99).

The only other runner out of Region 7-AAA to place in the top 10 at the Last Chance was Buford’s Josh Thompson (10th, 17:47.67).

White County’s Jenna Gearing won the Last Chance Invitational on the girls side with a time of 19:41.34, and will also be the runner to beat on the girls side at the region meet.

The Lady Warriors enter the region meet ranked third in Class AAA, North Hall is No. 7 and West Hall is ranked ninth.

The Dawson County boys, who will challenge North Hall in Helen, are No. 8 in the state.

In Class AAAAA, Flowery Branch enters ranked No. 1 for Saturday’s Region 8-AAAAA meet in Conyers. The Lady Falcons are ranked No. 4 in Class AAAAA.

In Class AAAA, Chestatee enters region ranked No. 4 on the girls side and the boys are currently ranked No. 7.

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Two Hall County teams can clinch a region championship this week. Already with a home game to open the playoffs secured, North Hall (7-1, 5-0 Region 7-AAA) can secure its first region championship since 2007 with a win against Banks County on Friday at The Brickyard.

In Region 8-AAAA, Chestatee (7-1, 5-0 Region 8-AAAA) can clinch the school’s first region championship with a victory against Monroe Area (8-0, 5-0) on Friday at War Eagle Stadium. The War Eagles are already secured their first playoff berth since 2006.

Chestatee can still secure its first home playoff game in school history, even with a loss to Monroe Area, with a victory against Madison County (0-8, 0-5) in the regular season finale on Nov. 9.

The Region 8-AAAAA title will be decided between Flowery Branch (7-2, 7-0) and Gainesville (7-1, 6-0) when they face off Nov. 9 in Flowery Branch.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: The University of Georgia controls its own destiny to earn the Southeastern Conference’s Eastern Division title. However, the Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1) still need to win out in conference games to secure a return trip to the SEC Championship game in Atlanta.

On Saturday, Georgia plays host to Mississippi in Athens, followed by a trip to one-win Auburn on Nov. 10.
Meanwhile, Georgia Tech (3-5, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) is looking to bounce back after a meltdown in a 41-17 loss to Brigham Young University on Saturday.

The Yellow Jackets jump back into conference play against Maryland at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in College Park, Md.