Camden County, Northside-Warner Robins, Jefferson and Thomasville are proud football programs that found themselves outside the top 10 this week. They issued reminder notices Friday night, beating four highly ranked teams with combined records of 30-1.
Others with outstanding victories in the 10th weekend of the regular season included Spencer, Thomas County Central, Irwin County and Cedar Grove.
Camden County, a three-time state champion this century, defeated No. 3 Valdosta 17-14 in Class 7A. Valdosta entered 8-0 while Camden County, struggling for a decide to find its old magic, was 5-3 and presumed a non-factor after a season-opening loss to Columbia, an unranked Class 2A team.
Now, Camden County is positioned to finish second in Region 1, which also contains No. 2 Colquitt County and No. 8 Lowndes. Jeff Herron, the coach who made Camden County great the first time, is in his second season back in Kingsland after an eight-year absence.
Northside-Warner Robins, another Georgia blue-blood program that has lost a little luster in recent seasons, beat No. 2 Lee County 23-20 on a fumble return in the final seconds. Northside entered 4-3 but now is a contender to win its first region title since 2015 in Region 1-6A. Lee County fell to 6-2.
In Class 5A, Jefferson defeated No. 4 Loganville 42-6, bursting for now the bubble of one of the state’s best underdog stories. Loganville had its highest ranking and best start (8-0) in history, but Jefferson, despite a 5-2 record and a rare slippage out of the top 10, is the more established program. It was Jefferson’s first home game since the Oct. 5 shooting death of its star wide receiver, Elijah DeWitt.
Thomasville beat No. 4 Dougherty 35-20 to clinch the Region 1-2A title. Dougherty was 8-0 and ranked in the top five for the first time since 2005. Thomasville was the 2021 2A runner-up but started the season 1-3 under new coach Jonathan DeLay. The Bulldogs have won five consecutive and are assured first place even if they lose their regular-season finale to Crisp County next week.
Another Thomasville team, Thomas County Central, also had a big night. The Yellow Jackets improved to 8-0 for the first time since 2007 and beat No. 10 Houston County 42-21 in a Region 1-6A game. Ranked No. 8, Thomas Central can win its first region title since 2016 if it can beat No. 2 Lee County next week.
Spencer of Columbus scored one of the night’s bigger upsets when the Owls beat No. 8 Northeast-Macon 14-13. Spencer, now alone in first place in Region 2-2A, has not won a region title since joining the GHSA, or since winning a state title in the Georgia Interscholastic Association in 1967.
Cedar Grove and Irwin County, teams with multiple state titles in recent years, won games between top-five teams.
No. 1 Cedar Grove beat No. 3 Sandy Creek 49-34 in Class 3A. Sandy Creek was the only 3A team to beat eventual champion Cedar Grove last season.
No. 5 Irwin County defeated No. 4 Brooks County 19-7 in a rematch of the 2021 Class A Public championship game. Irwin County has beaten Brooks County four times in five meetings during the past three seasons, all when both teams were in the top five. The rivals are in Class A Division I this season.
Early County, the No. 1 team in Georgia’s Class A Division II, lost to Eufaula, Ala., 31-28.
There were six other games between top-10 teams. The winners were No. 2 Colquitt County over No. 8 Lowndes 42-14 in 7A; No. 5 Benedictine over No. 9 Wayne County 31-10 in 4A; No. 10 Oconee County over No. 8 Monroe Area 28-19 in 3A; No. 10 Callaway over No. 7 ELCA 49-20 in 2A; No. 6 Schley County over No. 9 Manchester 28-6 in Class A Division II; and No. 8 McIntosh County Academy over No. 10 ECI 28-21 in A Division II.
Three other unranked teams beat ranked ones. They were LaGrange (28-10 over No. 8 Trinity Christian in 4A), Dodge County (47-37 over No. 3 Cook in 2A), St. Francis (14-0 over No. 8 Whitefield Academy in A Division I) and Wilcox County (53-21 over No. 7 Dooly County in A Division II).
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