Georgia high school teams ranked in the top four went 24-1 last week, which meant little change in at the high end of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution rankings. The only top-four team to lose was Class AAAAA No. 4 Dutchtown, beaten 27-22 by No. 3 Jones County. Dutchtown dropped to No. 5.
Seven new teams entered the rankings, though. Most interesting was Bleckley County, which hadn’t been ranked since 1992. Bleckley defeated No. 9 Washington County 21-18 in a Region 3-AA game. It was the Royals’ first victory over a top-10 team since 2014, when Bleckley defeated Dublin.
This season, Bleckley (5-2) has lost only to ranked teams Dublin and Veterans. Bleckley is coached by Von Lassiter, who was Jake Fromm’s head coach at Houston County.
Also ranked this week are Camden County for the first time since the preseason of 2016, Union County for the first time since 2015 and Johns Creek in AAAAAA for the third time overall in its history, first time since last season.
The waters won’t be so calm next week as there are several matchups between highly ranked teams.
Among them are No. 2 McEachern at No. 5 Marietta and No. 3 Colquitt County at No. 10 Camden in AAAAAAA, No. 2 Valdosta at No. 6 Coffee in AAAAAA, No. 2 Carrollton at No. 7 Kell in AAAAA and No. 4 Sandy Creek at No. 2 Cartersville in AAAA.
Class AAAAAAA
- (1) Lowndes (7-0)
- (2) McEachern (6-0)
- (3) Colquitt County (6-1)
- (4) Grayson (5-1)
- (5) Marietta (5-1)
- (7) North Gwinnett (6-1)
- (6) Hillgrove (5-1)
- (10) Parkview (5-1)
- (9) Archer (4-2)
- (NR) Camden County (6-0)
Out: No. 8 Mill Creek
Class AAAAAA
- (1) Dacula (6-0)
- (2) Valdosta (6-1)
- (3) Harrison (7-0)
- (4) Lee County (5-1)
- (6) Lanier (6-0)
- (7) Coffee (6-1)
- (5) Allatoona (4-2)
- (8) Dalton (6-1)
- (10) South Paulding (5-1)
- (NR) Johns Creek (5-1)
Out: No. 9 Houston County
Class AAAAA
- (1) Buford (7-0)
- (2) Carrollton (7-0)
- (3) Jones County (7-0)
- (5) Warner Robins (6-1)
- (4) Dutchtown (6-1)
- (7) Rome (5-2)
- (9) Kell (5-1)
- (10) Wayne County (5-1)
- (NR) Veterans (6-1)
- (NR) Ware County (3-3)
Out: No. 6 Stockbridge, No. 8 Bainbridge
Class AAAA
- (1) Marist (7-0)
- (2) Cartersville (7-0)
- (3) Woodward Academy (6-0)
- (4) Sandy Creek (6-0)
- (5) Blessed Trinity (5-1)
- (7) Flowery Branch (6-0)
- (8) Burke County (6-1)
- (9) North Oconee (7-0)
- (10) Denmark (5-1)
- (NR) Oconee County (6-1)
Out: No. 6 Cairo
Class AAA
- (1) Peach County (5-1)
- (2) Cedar Grove (5-2)
- (3) Pierce County (6-0)
- (4) Greater Atlanta Christian (6-1)
- (6) Liberty County (4-0)
- (7) Appling County (5-1)
- (8) Crisp County (4-3)
- (9) Lovett (5-2)
- (10) Jefferson (5-1)
- (5) Hart County (5-1)
Class AA
- (1) Rockmart (6-0)
- (2) Hapeville Charter (5-1)
- (3) Callaway (6-1)
- (4) Dublin (6-0)
- (5) Rabun County (6-0)
- (6) Swainsboro (5-1)
- (7) Fitzgerald (6-1)
- (NR) Bleckley County (5-2)
- (NR) Union County (6-0)
- (9) Washington County (4-2)
Out: No. 8 Brooks County, No. 10 Jefferson County
Class A (Public)
- (1) Irwin County (5-0)
- (2) Clinch County (5-1)
- (3) Pelham (6-0)
- (4) Bowdon (6-0)
- (5) Mitchell County (5-1)
- (6) Commerce (5-1)
- (7) Wilcox County (5-1)
- (8) Manchester (5-1)
- (9) Lincoln County (4-2)
- (10) Turner County (5-1)
Class A (Private)
- (1) Athens Academy (6-0)
- (2) Holy Innocents (7-0)
- (3) Eagle's Landing Christian (6-1)
- (4) Darlington (6-0)
- (5) Fellowship Christian (6-0)
- (6) Aquinas (6-0)
- (7) Wesleyan (5-2)
- (8) Prince Avenue Christian (5-2)
- (9) North Cobb Christian (5-1)
- (10) Christian Heritage (5-1)
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