AA in brief: Week 9 finally in books

Thanks to Hurricane Michael wreaking havoc across the southeast, Week 9 for Class AA’s ranked teams bled into Week 10, with its final games taking place on Monday.

First, we'll take a look at Saturday's games. No. 2 Callaway beat Spencer 30-7. The Cavaliers improved to 7-1, 5-0 in 5-AA in what The LaGrange Daily News' Kevin Eckleberry describes as an emotional game following a death in the Cavs' family.

Later, the unranked Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane beat the No. 10 Thomasville Bulldogs with a 36-21 win. Pat Donahue of the Thomasville Times-Enterprise writes that the Purple Hurricane scored 26 unanswered points to win the 1-AA contest. It was the third consecutive loss for Bulldogs who drop to 4-4 and 0-2 in 1-AA. Fitzgerald improved to 6-2, 2-0.

On Monday, the Dodge County Indians beat the No. 6 Washington County Golden Hawks 20-6 in 3-AA action. The Golden Hawks dropped to 6-1, 2-1, while the Indians improved to 7-1, 3-1. That leaves Dublin atop the region standings by itself at 4-0.

Finally, No. 8 Brooks County disposed of Early County 39-20 to improve to 6-2, 2-0 in 1-AA to move into a first-place tie with Fitzgerald. WTXL has highlights.

For a recap of Friday's games, go here.

Because the weekly polls are released on Sunday, Monday’s games were not factored into the rankings. Therefore, Washington County keeps its No. 6 spot for now, while Dodge County moved into the No. 10 spot based on Thomasville’s loss on Saturday.

As expected, Hapeville Charter maintained its top spot despite losing to Allatoona, ranked No. 9 in AAAAAA.

Below are the updated rankings, with the team's previous week's ranking in parenthesis.

1. (1) Hapeville Charter (6-1)

2. (2) Callaway (7-1)

3. (3) Rockmart (7-0)

4. (4) Bremen (6-1)

5. (5) Rabun County (6-1)

6. (6) Washington County (6-0)

7. (7) Vidalia (7-0)

8. (8) Brooks County (5-2)

9. (9) Dublin (7-1)

10. (NR) Dodge County (6-1)

Out: No. 10 Thomasville

In brief:

• A number of AA players were named to GHSF Daily's "best of the rest" for top performances in Week 9, including Dublin's Rodriguez Martin (115 passing yards, three touchdowns; interception returned for TD), Harlem's A.J. Brown (238 rushing yards, game-tying and game-winning touchdowns), Hephzibah's Rayquan Riley (165 yards, five touchdowns on 18 carries), Putnam County's Zac Waller (204 rushing yards, three touchdowns), Rabun County's Jackson Webb (4.5 tackles for loss totaling 24 yards), Screven County's Gary Hawkins (218 yards, two touchdowns on 27 carries) and Swainsboro's Kade Youmans (19-of-28 passing for 273 yards and four touchdowns).
• In Monday night action, the Bleckley County Royals defeated East Laurens 56-21, with WMAZ providing highlights. The Royals won despite going with their No. 3 option at quarterback, earning their first 3-AA victory to improve to 3-5, 1-3.
• Union County stayed unbeaten with a 49-17 win over Banks County. AccessWDUN has details. Quarterback Pierson Allison totaled six touchdowns and receiver Sawyer Drake earned North Georgia Scoreboard's player of the week honors. Five of Allison's touchdowns came in the first half.
• Callaway's Jacob Freeman wore No. 28 to offer his condolences to the family of Cavs teammate Jalin Shephard, who lost his father recently.
• Hephzibah beat Westside-Augusta 43-0 to improve to 6-2, 5-1 in 5-AA. Brandon Johnson has the writeup for The Augusta Chronicle. and WJBF has highlights.
• WJBF also has highlights of Harlem's 27-20 overtime win over Screven County. The Bulldogs are now 5-3, 4-2 in 4-AA.
• Speaking of Harlem, Bulldogs running back A.J. Brown is gunning for a 2,000-yard rushing season.
• It was that kind of night for Thomasville in its Saturday loss to Fitzgerald.
• The Jefferson County Warriors beat Glenn Hills 34-19 to improve to 6-2, 6-0 in 4-AA. More importantly, their thoughts are with teammate JaQues Lewis, who was recovering in the hospital.
• Check out this impressive, reversal-of-field running by Bremen's Jalen Dallas in the Blue Devils' 49-7 win over Temple.
• The Swainsboro Tigers beat Bryan County 41-0 to improve to 5-2, 3-0 in 2-AA, setting the stage for a region showdown next week with No. 7 Vidalia. The Tigers now have three consecutive shutouts including Metter and Bacon County and have outscored the competition 96-0 in that span.
• The Heard County Braves are 5-2, 3-0 in 5-AA after beating Temple 49-7. The Heard Citizen has details.
• WTOC highlights include Vidalia-Toombs County, Bacon-County-Metter, Byan County-Swainsboro and Harlem-Screven County.
• WJCL also has highlights of Vidalia's win over Toombs County.
• Blitz has highlights of Rabun County's lopsided win over Elbert County.
• Speaking of Rabun County, former Wildcats quarterback Bailey Fisher is doing big things as a true freshman for Tennessee Tech.
• Here's a look at the SportalSpace Week 8 coaches poll.