Plenty left unsettled as Region 1-5A heads down the stretch

As Region 1-5A gets set for the final week of region play, there is still plenty left unsettled in the playoff picture.

Northside and Columbus are locked in a battle for first place, and No. 3 Harris County is still alive in the chase for a home playoff series despite being two back of both in the loss column.

Any one of Harris County, LaGrange and Hardaway could end up being the odd team out at the end of the regular season — or they could pass the Blue Devils for second place.

It’s a confusing set of scenarios, but we’ll make some sense of what’s left on the table.

The current standings are as follows: 1. Northside, 12-3; 2. Columbus, 11-3; 3. Harris County, 8-5; 4. LaGrange, 7-6; 5. Hardaway, 7-6; 6. Shaw, 3-12; 7. Carver, 0-13.

Both Shaw and Carver have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. With a total of 18 region games, the best Shaw could finish is 6-12 and Carver 5-13. Each of the other five teams has already won seven or more.

Four of the remaining five will make the playoffs, though the order in which they will finish is still very much up in the air.

Here are the scenarios for each team:

Northside

At 12-3, the Patriots have clinched a playoff berth.

They own a tiebreaker over Harris County, which means they can clinch home field for the first round of the playoffs with one more win or one more Harris County loss.

Furthermore, Northside can clinch the Region 1-5A title if it can defeat Columbus on both Thursday and Friday.

Columbus

Like Northside, the Blue Devils control their own destiny. Unlike Northside, they don’t hold tiebreakers over all the other playoff contenders.

At 11-3, Columbus has not officially clinched a playoff berth, though the remaining schedule between other contending teams makes that a virtual certainty. The Blue Devils have four games left, two against Northside and two against Hardaway.

Winning two of their remaining four games would give the Blue Devils a top-2 finish in the region and home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Winning any three of their remaining four would earn them another region championship.

Harris County

While Harris County is only two games back in the loss column of both Northside and Columbus, the remaining games between each of the three teams makes it impossible for the Tigers to catch either for the region championship.

With that said, the Tigers could still earn home-field advantage in the playoffs should they finish out the regular season strong. Northside and Columbus both own head-to-head tiebreakers over Harris County, so the Tigers would need to win out and have either Northside or Columbus to fall to six region losses. The worst Northside can finish in region play is 12-6, while Columbus could drop to 11-7.

The Tigers are still in danger of missing the playoffs, but do own a head-to-head tiebreaker with Hardaway. They have one game against the Hawks and two against LaGrange remaining.

LaGrange

Despite being 7-6 and sitting precariously in the playoff picture, the Grangers aren’t in a bad spot. They own a head-to-head tiebreaker with Columbus, and their remaining schedule includes two games each against Harris County and Hardaway and one against winless Carver.

LaGrange controls its own destiny for a playoff berth and, with just a little bit of help, could finish as high as No. 2 in the region.

Hardaway

At 7-6, Hardaway is tied with LaGrange for the final playoff spot and has two big games with the Grangers coming up. Needless to say, it will be vital for the Hawks to take at least one of those two games to have a realistic shot at making the playoffs.

On paper, the Hawks’ remaining schedule after those two games looks to be considerably more difficult than the Grangers’. Hardaway will finish with a game against Harris County and two against Columbus, while LaGrange gets Carver and two against Harris County.

Elsewhere...

In Region 2-3A, Kendrick and Jordan are battling it out for the final playoff spot out of the region.

Currently, the Cherokees are 8-5, while the Red Jackets are 7-6. Jordan finishes against Jackson this week and twice against Southwest Macon next week. Kendrick plays Spencer once and Peach County twice.

If the two teams finish tied, Jordan holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Plenty left unsettled as Region 1-5A heads down the stretch."