Football team wins region, others get milestone wins

Week 11 of the high school football season featured playoff-bid-clinching wins by DeKalb teams, a school record, region championships, and teams setting up a region championship game for week 12 — the final week of the regular season.

Week 11 accolades included Stephenson winning a region championship in region 6-4A, Dunwoody locking up its first playoff bid since 2009, Druid Hills achieving its highest win total since 1985 and its first win against Lakeside, and Arabia Mountain extending its school record win streak at eight games.

The win by Arabia Mountain also sets up a region 4-5A championship deciding game on Nov. 3 between the Arabia Mountain Rams and the Tucker Tigers.

In Arabia Mountain’s week 11 win over M.L. King, Jordan Miller’s pick-six opened the scoring with three minutes to play in the first half. Jayden Thomas ran for the two-point conversion to make it 8-0 for the Rams (8-1, 4-0) at the half.

Laron Jones (20 carries, 171 yards, two scores) got the first of his two touchdown runs in the third quarter when Arabia upped its lead to 14-0 with 6:55 left in the period.

The Lions (2-6, 1-3) scored with 4:00 left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 14-6. Arabia came right back on another Jones touchdown run to take a 21-6 lead into the fourth quarter.

Miller added another interception in the game and so did freshman Colin Mason.

The Rams remain tied with the Tucker Tigers (6-3, 4-0)— a 55-6 winners over Lithonia in week 11–for first place in the region 4-5A standings. The tie sets up a showdown on Nov. 3 at Adams Stadium with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. The winner gets the No. 1 seed out of 4-5A; the loser finishes as the No. 2 seed.

Druid Hills 17, Lakeside 15
The Druid Hills Red Devils improved to 7-1-1 on the season with a first ever win over DeKalb County rival Lakeside (4-5) in a 17-15 victory on Oct. 27 at Adams Stadium.

The two teams have played 14 times with the Vikings winning the first 13, including a 24-0 win in 2022. They first played in 1968 with Lakeside winning 18-0.

Druid Hills jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter on a Jaden George (20 carries, 116 yards, one touchdown) touchdown run and 29-yard field goal by Wyatt Bennett. Bennett also kicked the extra point.

Lakeside rallied to take a 15-10 lead on touchdowns by Kyle Davis and Kelly Anthony. The Red Devils blocked on Vikings’ extra point attempt but then gave up a safety on a snap through the end zone to fall behind.

Druid Hills regained the lead before the end of the half on a Kai Robinson to Zion Johnson touchdown pass with 2:25 left in the second quarter. Bennett added the extra point to make it 17-15 at the break.

Both teams were held scoreless in the second half. Taylor Hollman was key on defense for the Red Devils with 12 total tackles.

The scores from all DeKalb teams that were active in week 11 are listed below:

Oct. 26
Redan (4-6) 59, Landmark (0-9) 0
Tucker (6-3) 55, Lithonia (1-8) 0
Westminster (6-3) 37, SW DeKalb (2-7) 19
Stephenson (7-2) 21, Holy Innocent’s (7-2) 14
Dunwoody (8-1) 32, Riverwood (3-6) 18

Oct. 27
Druid Hills (7-1-1) 17, Lakeside (4-5) 15
Eagles’ Landing (3-6) 47, Towers (1-8) 24
Arabia Mountain (8-1) 21, M.L. King (2-6) 6
Hapeville (5-4) 24, Miller Grove (5-4) 21
Midtown (4-5) 21, Stone Mountain (1-8) 6

Away games
Decatur (4-5) 36, Chamblee (3-7) 34
Johnson-Gainesville (4-5) 35, Clarkston (1-8) 6
Creekside Christian (1-8) 25, Cross Keys (0-10) 0
Callaway (6-2) 51, McNair (4-5) 12

The Champion Editor Jay Phillips contributed to this article.