Basketball
Region 7-AAA Girls
Today at East Hall
5 p.m., West Forsyth (4B) vs. North Hall (5A)
6:30 p.m., Pickens (3A) vs. Johnson (6B)
8 p.m., East Hall (2B) vs. White County (7A)
Today at Chestatee
6 p.m., Creekview (4A) vs. West Hall (5B)
7:30 p.m., Flowery Branch (3B) vs. Lumpkin (6A)
Wednesday at Gilmer
6 p.m., East Hall/White Co. winner vs. Pickens/Johnson winner
7:30 p.m., Gilmer (1A) vs. West Forsyth/North Hall winner
Wednesday at Gainesville
6 p.m. Chestatee (2A) vs. Flowery Branch/Lumpkin winner
7:30 p.m., Gainesville (1B) vs. Creekview/West Hall winner
Region 7-AAA Boys
Tuesday at West Hall
5 p.m., East Hall (4B) vs. Pickens (5A)
6:30 p.m., Chestatee (3A) vs. West Forsyth (6B)
8 p.m., West Hall (2B) vs. Gilmer (7A)
Tuesday at Lumpkin County
6 p.m., Creekview (4A) vs. Johnson (5B)
7:30 p.m., Flowery Branch (3B) vs. White County (6A)
Thursday at Gainesville
6 p.m., Lumpkin County (2A) vs. Flowery Branch/White Co. winner
7:30 p.m., Gainesville (1B) vs. Creekview/Johnson winner
Thursday at North Hall
6 p.m., West Hall/Gilmer winner vs. Chestatee/West Forsyth winner
7:30 p.m., North Hall (1A) vs. East Hall/Pickens winner
The semifinals and finals of will take place at Chestatee High School. The semifinals will begin at 4 p.m. Friday and the finals will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Region 8-A boys
Tuesday at Lakeview Academy
5:30 p.m., Lakeview Academy boys vs. Towns County
Region 8-A girls
Wednesday at Lakeview
7 p.m., Lakeview Academy girls vs. Athens Academy
The semifinals and finals of the Region 8-A tournament will take place at Social Circle High.
Region 8-AA boys
Tuesday at North Oconee
5:30 p.m., Riverside Military vs. Oglethorpe/North Oconee winner
Region 6-AA
Tuesday at GAC
5:30 p.m., Buford boys vs. Westminster
7 p.m., Buford girls vs. Cross Keys
Wrestling
State tournament
Where: Arena at Gwinnett Center, Duluth
When: Thursday-Saturday
Cost: $7 Thursday, $10 Friday and Saturday; $24 for ticket pass for all three days available at the Arena box office.
Contact: 800-224-6422
There’s no shortness of excitement in high school sports this week.
In basketball, Regions 7-AAA, 8-A, 8-AA and 6-AA are all going to hold tournaments this week and crown an eventual champion. Each region will qualify four boys and girls teams for the state playoffs.
In wrestling, the traditional state championships begin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Gwinnett Arena in Duluth, with the finals Saturday night. Jefferson High is looking to earn its ninth consecutive traditional team title to go along with the duals state title it already earned this season.
In Region 7-AAA girls basketball, Gilmer and Gainesville both earned the No. 1 spots in their respective subregions. Gilmer opens against the West Forsyth/North Hall winner at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Ellijay.
The Lady Red Elephants play host to the Creekview/West Hall winner at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Chestatee girls also earned a first-round bye in the tournament.
The North Hall (7A-AAA) and Gainesville (7B-AAA) boys both emerged with the No. 1 spots for the tournament after winning their respective subregions. The Trojans play host to the East Hall/Pickens winner at 7:30 p.m.Thursday. The Red Elephants play host to the Creekview/Johnson winner at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The Lumpkin County boys also earned a first-round bye.
In Region 6-AA, the top-ranked Lady Wolves face Cross Keys at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Greater Atlanta Christian. Buford’s boys face Westminster at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday also at GAC.
Lakeview Academy’s boys play host to Towns County at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Lady Lions girls play host to Athens Academy at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
In wrestling, the Dragons enter the state tournament as the clear favorite to win another team title after qualifying 13 of 14 wrestlers at the Class AA east state sectionals. Cason Thurmond (103 pounds), Cutler Finch (125), Cam Thurmond (135), Jay Fowler (152) and Zac Crosby (171) all finished in first place at the east sectionals for the Dragons. Fowler is looking to leave Jefferson’s program as only the third four-time state champion in school history.
Area 7-AAA will also be well represented at the state tournament. Flowery Branch qualified six of seven sectional qualifiers for state. Danny Bell (119) finished first for the Falcons in the Class AAA sectionals. Brandon Dyer (130) finished third, and Nick Lankford (103) and Ben Yu (152) each finished fourth for Flowery Branch last Saturday at Eagle’s Landing High.
West Forsyth secured spots for nine wrestlers to state, including defending heavyweight state champion Dane Magnussen. Area 7-AAA traditional team champions Gilmer secured a spot for seven of its grapplers to the state championships. White County’s Caleb Morris (103) heads to state as a No. 1 seed after finishing first in the sectionals.
The round of 16 for the state wrestling meet starts at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Gwinnett Arena. Semifinals start at 7 p.m. Friday. Finals are slated for 5 p.m. on Saturday.