Northside of Warner Robins, Warner Robins and Veterans are projected to fall outside the GHSA football playoff field with two weeks remaining in the regular season, despite all three ranking among their classifications’ 25 strongest teams in the Maxwell Ratings. The projections highlight differences between Maxwell’s assessments of team strength and the postseason rankings that determine qualification.
In the Class 6A standings presented in the update, Northside sits 31st but is expected to finish 33rd, one position outside the top 32. Veterans is projected to drop from 28th to 34th. In Class 5A, Warner Robins also stands 28th and is forecast to finish 34th. Maxwell has projected the final order of the GHSA’s Post Season Rankings since preseason, with those forecasts becoming more stable as the season nears its end.
Northside has a 3-5 record but ranks as Maxwell’s 17th-best Class 6A team, making it the strongest team in that classification projected to miss the playoffs. Lanier, Sumter County, Morgan County and Irwin County join the three Warner Robins teams among Maxwell’s top-25 teams expected to finish outside their classifications’ qualifying positions.
Tift County illustrates another gap between team strength and projected qualification. Maxwell rates it 19th in Class 6A and expects it to rise from 33rd in the postseason standings to 29th. That would put Tift County in the playoff field despite its loss to Northside, which is forecast to finish outside it.
Across the classifications, 30 teams are expected to qualify despite finishing below fourth place in their regions. That total excludes smaller private schools, whose playoff places are guaranteed. Bainbridge, Berrien, Brooks County, Howard, Loganville, Norcross and Richmond Hill are among those projected qualifiers. Historically, region finishes determined entry, with only the top four advancing. A central aim of the computer rankings is to select the best 32 teams regardless of region position.
The projections also point to a relatively low seed for Buford, the 2025 champion that holds several top-10 national rankings. Although Buford leads AJC Varsity’s Class 7A rankings, it stands sixth in the postseason rankings and is projected to finish 10th. Thomas County Central, Toombs County and Heard County are the only leaders in AJC Varsity’s composite rankings forecast to secure No. 1 playoff seeds.
Meanwhile, an audit by AJC Varsity and Maxwell Ratings found substantial inaccuracies in the GHSA’s published postseason standings. Of 413 football teams, 82 had incorrect records, resulting in incorrect opponents’ winning percentages for 304 teams and incorrect final calculations for 401. The source attributed those problems to school athletic directors failing to report scores promptly.
