Mary Persons ended Prince Avenue Christian’s 20-game win streak, the longest in the state, and Newton, Lee County, Cartersville and Appling County won big games Friday night on the seventh weekend of the Georgia high school football regular season.
Mary Persons, ranked No. 5 in Class 3A, defeated No. 1 Prince Avenue (6-1) of A Division I 45-28. The Wolverines had had not lost since their 2021 opener, winning 34 of the next 35 games, including the A-II championship last year. Mary Persons is 5-1.
Newton, the No. 6 team in Class 7A, got a fourth-and-goal stop from the 9-yard line in the final seconds to beat No. 7 Grayson 31-27 in Region 4. Grayson led 27-10 with 10:37 left before Newton scored the game’s final three touchdowns. Newton – previously 0-7 all-time against Grayson – is 6-0 overall for the first time in history.
No. 6 Lee County beat No. 3 Houston County 44-35 in Region 1-6A. Lee County improved to 10-0 all-time in the series, although the computer Maxwell Ratings had Houston County as an 11-point favorite Friday as the Bears were 5-0, averaging 50 points per game. Lee County is 5-1, its only loss to No. 4 Colquitt County of Class 7A.
No. 4 Cartersville defeated No. 7 Calhoun 21-17 in Region 7-5A. Calhoun won this northwest Georgia rivalry game last season to end Cartersville’s 62-game winning streak in region play.
No. 2 Appling County defeated No. 3 Pierce County 17-14 in their Region 3-2A opener. The schools each made the Class 2A semifinals last season.
There were four other region games between top-10 teams.
Warner Robins, the No. 10 team in Class 5A, edged No. 9 Ola 28-27 in Region 2. Ola entered 4-0 while Warner Robins was 2-3, but Warner Robins started 1-4 last season and still reached the 5A championship game.
No. 2 North Oconee of Class 4A beat No. 10 North Hall 52-7 in a game between unbeaten teams in Region 8. North Oconee has won 19 consecutive region games.
No. 6 Burke County beat No. 9 Wayne County 32-27 in their Region 3-4A opener. Burke County is 6-0 under new coach Franklin Stephens, who was at McEachern last season.
No. 3 Manchester defeated No. 4 Macon County in Region 6 of Class A Division II. Also in this region is No. 1 Schley County.
Unranked Westminster (4-2) beat No. 5 Holy Innocents’ (5-1) 9-3 in the Region 6-4A opener for both teams.
Unranked Harris County of Class 4A beat defending 3A champion Sandy Creek 28-19. Harris County (5-1) was 2-9 in 2022 but has won five consecutive this season. Sandy Creek (4-2) entered ranked No. 3, with its only previous loss to East Coweta, a 7A team.
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