Tucker is No. 1 in AAAA; Georgia is No. 1 in GA vs. AL
First full-week observations:
So how does Georgia football compare to that in Alabama? North Gwinnett was impressive in its victory over Prattville. Hold on just a minute … . Nevermind, that was just Sam Gibson being sacked again. Now if Camden County can just whoop Hoover again on Sept. 11, Georgia will turn westward and thump its chest for a good year.
North Gwinnett coach Bob Sphire tells me that Peachtree Ridge is the best team in the state. (Of course, you don’t want to say Grayson or Lowndes is the best when P’Ridge is the one in your region, but I think the coach was sincere.). I’d love to see P’Ridge at Lowndes this week. It will be hard not to rank the winner No. 1 next week, especially if it’s decisive.
Southwest DeKalb’s Buck Godfrey says he still thinks SWD will win state. He told Chip Towers that after SWD’s loss to MLK. Remember that MLK is a Class AAAAA team, and SWD’s quarterback went down on the first play. If it were me, I’d still guess SWD or Griffin will win state.
Having said that, Tucker is the new No. 1 in AAAA. I agree with Franklin Stephens that Tucker right now is not the best team in AAAA. But with no obvious successor, let’s let the defending champions stay put. Tucker wasn’t the best AAAA team in the state this time last year, either.
What were the most surprising things you saw this weekend? Here are mine:
Roswell 42, Tift County 7
St. Pius 28, Marist 3
Charlton County 38, Clinch County 0
Worth County 39, Turner County 0
South Gwinnett 49, Norcross 28
And I probably should’ve ranked Charlton County.
Todd Holcomb publishes a free weekly email newsletter called Georgia High School Football Daily. To sign up, go here.
CLASS AAAAA
1. Lowndes (1-0)
2. Grayson (1-0)
3. Peachtree Ridge (1-0)
4. North Gwinnett (1-0)
5. Camden County (0-1)
6. Stephenson (1-0)
7. Northside, Warner Robins (1-0)
8. M.L. King (1-0)
9. Newnan (1-0)
10. Etowah (1-0)
CLASS AAAA
1. Tucker (1-0)
2. Griffin (1-0)
3. Southwest DeKalb (0-1)
4. Westside, Macon (1-0)
5. Statesboro (1-0)
6. Sequoyah (1-0)
7. Rome (0-1)
8. North Clayton (1-0)
9. Banneker (1-0)
10. Hillgrove (1-0)
CLASS AAA
1. Carver, Columbus (1-0)
2. Gainesville (1-0)
3. Flowery Branch (1-0)
4. Baldwin (1-0)
5. Peach County (1-0)
6. St. Pius (1-0)
7. Carrollton (1-0)
8. LaGrange (0-1)
9. Cairo (0-1)
10. Washington County (1-0)
CLASS AA
1. Buford (1-0)
2. Calhoun (1-0)
3. Thomasville (1-0)
4. Fitzgerald (1-0)
5. Jefferson County (1-0)
6. Pepperell (1-0)
7. Lovett (1-0)
8. Brooks County (0-0)
9. Callaway (0-1)
10. Jefferson (1-0)
CLASS A
1. Wesleyan (1-0)
2. Wilcox County (1-0)
3. Lincoln County (1-0)
4. Wilkinson County (1-0)
5. Emanuel County Institute (1-0)
6. Brookstone (1-0)
7. Savannah Christian (1-0)
8. Miller County (1-0)
9. Johnson County (1-0)
10. Bowdon (1-0)
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226 comments Add your comment
In The Trenches
August 31st, 2009
12:32 pm
Hoya Chuck – I see Harrison more in the role of spoiler this year. Much like Kennesaw Mtn has been the last few years. Should play everyone tough, and will have homefield revenge(Etowah blew them out last year), in mind when they play Etowah last game of the year. That game should mean a lot for both teams, wether it be seeding or just plain making the playoffs.
In The Trenches
August 31st, 2009
12:36 pm
Head East – Did your pal Homet graduate or drop out? We have not heard a single countdown, tick, tick, tick… this year. I kind of miss that?
HeadEast
August 31st, 2009
12:40 pm
Viking Fans – Please show some class for your classless team and cowardly coach and try to avoid the bragging until you actually beat someone. Last two performances were that disgrace at Grayson and now running up the score on a hapless opponent. BTW, P’Ridge took a knee at Harrison instead of running it up.
HeadEast
August 31st, 2009
12:44 pm
Trenches – I think he flunked out! After putting up 54 he should be ticking like crazy. I’m afraid Etowah is the beast this year until proven otherwise, but they’re a pretty good bunch. McEachern looked very fast so it might be a good power vs speed matchup.
RockSolid
August 31st, 2009
12:50 pm
Watched the Harrison-P’Tree Ridge game in person very objectively. Harrison didn’t necessarily play bad (hurt by a couple of key penalties), but they were totally out-manned. Just don’t see PR losing unless they turn the ball over excessively. Defense good (not dominating), but offense will just wear folks out over 4 qtrs. Huge OL, speed to burn at skill positions, experienced QB who makes good reads/decisions. Can’t coach size & speed. But if you can combine speed & size with discipline & technique (and it looks like PR coaches have), you’ve got a lethal combination.
Fred Flinstone
August 31st, 2009
1:13 pm
How about a little love for Pike Co.? They went 9-2 last year, barely lost out on a region title. They’re returning virtually all of their top talent. Plus they have a kicker with a monster leg who is gonna make a huge difference this year.
Also can’t leave out Charlton, they’re just too consistent to leave out of the top 10.
bee shabazz
August 31st, 2009
1:21 pm
I love South Atlanta but it’s hard to build a good football team when your best players go to Doug(James Davis) and Washington(Nick Turner). There was a kid at Crawford Long Middle last Year that was really good probaly the best player on that team but he’s at Washington not S.ATL. This has been going on since we changed the name to South Atl. My potna’ Reese coached at Therrell and he said Ben Hill Rec. and Bunche middle would be loaded with players up and down Campbellton Rd. that would end up at Mays an never step foot inside of Therrell. I ain’t mad at them Doug, Wash., and Mays have better programs, get more support and the kids wanna rep Atl. but they wanna win. Oyeah Decatur 4 life if you were from the CITY OF ATLANTA and not THE SUBURBS you would know about SOUTH ATLANTA BASKETBALL!
AVikingFan
August 31st, 2009
1:23 pm
Hoya Chuck, PeaRidge was one of the best teams we played all last season. I’m sure they are even better this year. It should be a good game. Last year they were good running AND throwing. Is that true this year? Is their line as HUGE as it was last year?
sonjrobe
August 31st, 2009
1:39 pm
MLK has always been underrated. People have to know that this school has only been in existence for about give or take ten years. The football team has one of the best records for a school just starting. All this talk about swd! We won baby! Please recognize MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR HIGH SCHOOL! IT’S ABOUT TIME!
John
August 31st, 2009
1:40 pm
A couple of comments about posts I have seen:
1. Will people forget about those pre-season scrimmages when comparing teams? They are meaningless. Teams show little or nothing of their offense, there is no real special team play allowed, everybody on the team plas, and I could go on. They are no indication of how a team will do once the real games start.
2. The Chattooga fan saying his team could stay with Buford and Calhoun based on the win over Darlington is absurd. This is probably the worst team Darlington has fielded in 25 or 30 years and is a team that probably wins no more than three games. Chattooga beat a far better Darlington team by almost the same margin a year ago and still went on to win only six games. Come back on here afteryou have played Armuchee, Gordon Central, and Calhoun.
3. Mays is an unproven quantity. They’ve got top beat somebody of substance first to earn any respect.
MLK Band Mom
August 31st, 2009
1:45 pm
Sonjrobe don’t let a little non recognition worry you; it very satisfying to watch people back peddle while eating their words…great game lions. Anticipating more exciting wins this season; Go MLK LIONS!
Jim
August 31st, 2009
2:09 pm
The University of Buford marches on without peer. Why are they still in AA? Buford is the only school in Gwinnett County that is not AAAAA. Good players drive to go there with over 500,000 people within 10 miles of Buford High School when most other AA schools in Georgia may not have 500,000 within 100 miles. That ain’t right folks!!! Unfair advantage!!!
AVikingFan
August 31st, 2009
2:18 pm
Head East Lowndes also “took a knee” when it could have scored before half time last Friday. The starters and backups played one series of the second half, then turned it over to the B team and the Freshman team. And I haven’t read where any of us – except band supporters -were bragging in this colume. We know all too well what we have in store for us this week. PeaRidge is really good.
Big Man From SWD
August 31st, 2009
2:38 pm
First lets congratulate the lions on winning a game which was hard fought between both teams. It was not a blowout and me being a player on SWD I know personally that losing our QB took away a lot of our gameplan but I will let you speculators speulate thats all you all are good for as for SWD we putting our hats and shoulder pads back on and playing some football because its more football left to play. The AJC can flip on us every week for all we care but we gon be alright.
Ed
August 31st, 2009
2:51 pm
No question Pius played better than Marist, and the better team (right now) won. Win the game for 25 years straight and Pius will even up the series.
rwdekalbfan
August 31st, 2009
3:05 pm
OK. MLK fans lets calm down and put things in perspective. You beat a team who lost their starting quarterback on the first play after he picked up a first down. Most high school teams are not that deep where they can bring in the a second string quarterback and still not miss a beat with their offensive scheme, not against a good team like MLK. With your whole team in tact, Mack Brown, the best back in the state was basically shut down even with your starting quarterback in there doing a great job passing, supposedly keeping SWD defense off balance. Not a good sign. The game counted only for neighborhood bragging rights. Wont help your playoff hopes one bit, yet coaches were celebrating victory more enthusiastically than the players. It was a good win for MLK, but SWD will get their quarterback back and be prepared to do what they need to to make a state title run. Can MLK honestly say they think from their performanc on Friday they are ready to do battle with Grayson, Pridge, Lowndes, or Stephensen or Camden County. I dont think so but if the coaches dont bring some focus to MLK, this could be one of the worst seasons ever for MLK.
Hoya Chuck
August 31st, 2009
3:38 pm
AVikingFan, Rock Solid has it right. P-Ridge OL is huge, and it wore Harrison out toward the end. However, Harrison’s defense was on the field for most of three quarters due to turnovers and several 3-and-outs. I feel that Harrison will win it’s next three games and build confidence in doing so. The Harrison/Woodstock game should be outstanding! I’m glad it’s at Harrison this year!
HeadEast
August 31st, 2009
3:40 pm
I was at the Harrison game and the P’Ridge O line was huge, they just wore Harrison down after a couple of series and started running right through them. Their QB ran very well and threw pretty well too. On D they were more athletic than gigantic, closed very well, got a lot of pressure on Harrison’s QB and stepped in front of receivers for a couple of nice picks. Harrison did bust one big run, unfortunately it was called back by a holding penalty. Pretty sure the Pea will make teams look bad this year, but my guess is Harrison is down and will go 5-5. It doesn’t look like they have much after Turnipseed.
HeadEast
August 31st, 2009
3:49 pm
We heard this MLK stuff last year until they were humbled by a team that couldn’t make the playoffs in out region! You beat a AAAA team whose QB went out early, that’s all. Reminds me of the trash talk we heard from Mays the year before until they went to the Boneyard and got whipped bad in the playoffs. As pointed out above, they get a lot of the good players leaving most of their competition pretty poor. I doubt they’d beat any of the better teams from 1-AAAAA, 5-AAAAA, or Gwinnett.
AVikingFan
August 31st, 2009
4:06 pm
Sounds like Lowndes really has its work cut out for us this week. Our O-line only averages about 240, and we only have 8 players on the entire roster over 250. Against most teams we have to rely on our quickness, but last year PeaRidge was just as quick.
Observer
August 31st, 2009
4:39 pm
Ed – They can’t win 25 games at once. They can only win them one at a time – a task they have done quite well each of the past two years. When I was in school back in the early 70’s, we said the same thing about Marist – win 15 in a row… – since we dominated the series. Well, Marist did just that, and more, by winning one game at a time. Hopefully, Pius has returned the rivalry into a truly competitive situation once again. Time will tell.
6AAAA FAN
August 31st, 2009
4:42 pm
To All Bloggers, SWD could still be one of the Best Teams in the State regardless of classification. Just ask Peachtree Ridge.
Valdosta Dawg
August 31st, 2009
4:49 pm
I have a feeling Pea Ridge will have a long bus ride home Friday night! I would like to tell ya Todd do not let our Valdosta Wildcats slip up on ya, I think Coach Tomberlin has turned the corner. We will be in the playoffs, GO WILDCATS!
On a side note what does Bainbridge have to do to get a little love, beat ranked Cairo to open up the year and beat Early county to go 2-0. Todd you show South Georgia very little love. Of course you do write for the Atlanta Journal Constipation!
Lioness 30097
August 31st, 2009
4:51 pm
The 5-A would GLADLY welcome Buford HS to play a REAL team.
Rooting for the Peachtree Ridge Lions to go all the way again this year. Gwinnett is PROUD, even though you don’t often get the due you deserve. GWINNETT LOVES PEACHTREE RIDGE!
Lioness 30097
August 31st, 2009
5:00 pm
Peachtree Ridge hasn’t beat Lowndes in three years and still managed to fight their way back to the dome last year. Win or lose it will be of no consequence, and will be a looooong ride for all of us either way.
Ed
August 31st, 2009
5:08 pm
Ed your a troll who has nothing better to do than post. Two years in a row is a start.
28-3, BUTT WHOOPING AND IT WOULD HAPPEN IN NOVEMBER! COME DOWN TO AAA AND PLAY SOME REAL FOOTBALL
Ed
August 31st, 2009
5:14 pm
Observer — You are absolutely right. I think the series may be more competitive for the next several years, which ultimately is a good thing.
Ed No. 2 — get a life!
SuperCat Fan
August 31st, 2009
5:18 pm
Go Wildcats!! Time to turn things around. Go Cats Go!!
GO DEMONS!!!!!!!!!
August 31st, 2009
5:44 pm
Warner robins smoked wheeler last week 44-6 and we scored those points only in the 1,2,and a few minutes into the 3.We would have hung 70 on if we didnt put our 2,3,and 4 string in. Northside has a young and inexperenced QB. Warner robins QB is fast and he has a cannon. Don`t be suprised if you see Warner Robins in the dome this year having beat Northside and Grason etc.thy are they suprise team in AAAAA in 2009
SERIOUS GRAYSON HATER
August 31st, 2009
5:51 pm
Maybe Warner Robins can get the job done this week and bring the overrated hillbillies down a notch or two!
PeachtreeRidge
August 31st, 2009
6:05 pm
thanks for everyones support! hopefully we can beat lowndes if we dont we will probably still make it to State again!
gaboy
August 31st, 2009
6:08 pm
@ Pius Grad. i too am a Pius Grad..but the game wasnt always played at the end of the season.. when I was there (and played QB) it was either the 2nd or 3rd game of the season…
Yo
August 31st, 2009
7:20 pm
The truth comes out Friday night at Martin Stadium, otherwise known as the Concrete Palace.
newbie
August 31st, 2009
7:20 pm
MHS2010… Sorry about your loss kid, but you need to stop drinking the Marist kool-aid. That fly-over was a Marist parent’s idea. Pius parents wouldn’t have wasted the gas going over your field. We would have flown that 21-10 sign over our own players. I’m sure a 28-3 loss is hard for the Marist-faithful to handle, especially coming from an unranked Pius team. We wish you the best of luck next year, but the trophy belongs at Pius in 2009!
fdbfb
August 31st, 2009
7:27 pm
Enter your comments here
SouthGARules
August 31st, 2009
7:32 pm
Go Demons: Yes, I know WR smoked Wheeler last week, but really, Wheeler was 0-10 last year. Last year when they played WR won 28-0 & did not look impressive. They scored 21 points in the 4th Qtr off of Wheeler turnovers. I know it’s nice to be optimistic, but let’s see what they do against Grayson. If the new QB has a cannon for an arm, that would be highly unusual for the Demons. The last time they had a prolific passer was Bob Davis 30 years ago. I take it you will be in Grayson Friday night?
drock09
August 31st, 2009
8:30 pm
I want to welcome chapel hill faithfuls to drake stadium on Friday. I’m a big fan of The panthers well coached football team. It should be a real battle between chapel offense and Newnan defense
SouthGARules
August 31st, 2009
8:33 pm
Black Panther: Comparing Cecil Flowe to Buck Godfrey is absurd. Cecil Flowe has won 4 state titles. Buck Godfrey has won 1. The only person who has done less with more is Ron Gartrell at Stephenson.
Tons of talent & flame out in the playoffs every year. Don’t bring race into it. Facts are facts.
Yo
August 31st, 2009
8:37 pm
Slalom….I thought you would appreciate this quote from the coach of Peachtree Ridge. If you don’t like it, argue with him, not me.
Of course he is just a coach of a state champ caliber team so he probably doesn’t have a clue as to what he is talking about.
“The goal here is to be competitive every year and play for a state championship,” Ballard said. “We have a lot of students to choose from – there are 3,000 – so the numbers help us get a lot of players on the team.”
Buddy El
August 31st, 2009
8:46 pm
Why do you show Lincoln County being 1-0? The AJC reported the score as Lincoln County losing.
Trey
August 31st, 2009
8:59 pm
This is the best team mays has had in a long time……Much better than last years 9-2 team.
#3
August 31st, 2009
9:17 pm
SWD will win state… Give credit where credit is due.. MLK won..We lost.. My injury is not to blame.. But we still got 14 games ahead of us
Reeze
August 31st, 2009
9:18 pm
T
Golden Lion
August 31st, 2009
9:23 pm
There is no doubt, Marist has had an impressive run in this series under the leadership of Coach Chadwick. And one I thing I definitely noticed over the years prior to becoming a Golden Lion (a recent event) was that Marist always improved as a team over the course of a season. That is the sign of a well coached football team/program.
But I do think it’s interesting how many of the Marist posters imply that Pius values the game more than Marist, or that Pius flew the plane/sign over Marist (give me a break, that’s classic reverse psychology to fire up a team at it’s best), or fall back on the old “win 25″ before you speak hyperbole. In truth, the silence in the home stands, and the fans going home early while your team was still on the field spoke volumes.
Football is a simple game. Play with determination, block and tackle, execute your game plan and more often that not, you go home a winner. Last year, I saw a determined Pius squad surprise Marist, get the early lead and execute a good game plan for the victory. This year was a different story. Marist was soundly beaten on both lines of scrimmage, outplayed at the QB position, outrun on the flanks at the skill positions, and really had no answers for Pius – all night.
Sometimes a turn of the tide is a slow thing. It creeps up on you. Over time, Coach Standard and his staff have turned this game back into a rivalry. I have no doubt Marist will come back stronger next week, and that both teams will play good football this season.
But one things for sure – this game is a rivalry again.
rwdekalbfan
August 31st, 2009
9:28 pm
Dont we hear this talk about Mays every year. Mays usually has a good team but always seems to be lacking what it takes to get to the next level.
rwdekalbfan
August 31st, 2009
9:32 pm
Hey #3, you gonna play this week?
?
August 31st, 2009
9:58 pm
Yo- what are you trying to get at?
Todd Holcomb
September 1st, 2009
12:17 am
Re: Jackson: St. Pius moved into the Top 10 for its domination of Marist, so somebody that didn’t lose had to fall out, which was Jackson.
Re: Washington-Wilkes: Didn’t have a good season in ’08. They’ve got to earn their way back into the Top 10.
Re: SWD quarterback. All I know is that he will not start next week, or at least that’s what the coaches were saying after the game.
Re: Etowah: Etowah dropped because I now think Newnan is better than Etowah. Don’t take it as an insult. Those Top 10 spots are hard to come by in AAAAA. No. 10 is a compliment to most anybody, IMO.
Re: Fried Oysters. There is no place I’d rather be, but I’ve got an assignment that will keep me in metro Atlanta this week.
Re: WaCo: “Why in the the world is washington county ranked #10 behind two teams that lost their first game and we won our game?Plus the fact the fact that we played a 4A team and we are 3A.”
The reason WaCo is behind two 0-1 teams because I think WaCo would be 0-1 had it played against Newnan or Bainbridge instead of Cross Creek. Remember that WaCo beat Cross Creek last year even worse and didn’t finish in the Top 10. Faith puts WaCo at No. 10, not anything they’ve done lately.
Re: ‘’How about a little love for Pike Co.? They went 9-2 last year, barely lost out on a region title.’’ … Pike County probably would need to go 10-0 to be ranked. Just being honest.
Re: Good games this week. In metro Atlanta, I’d go see North Gwinnett and Brookwood.
Re: ‘’MLK has always been underrated.’’ I don’t know about that. Seems MLK was ranked No. 1 a couple of years ago and didn’t finish in the Top 10. They’ve been underrated at times, but overrated, too.
Re: “what does Bainbridge have to do to get a little love, beat ranked Cairo to open up the year and beat Early county to go 2-0. Todd you show South Georgia very little love. Of course you do write for the Atlanta Journal Constipation!”
South Georgia did get the slight in AAAA this week. I really expected to hear more from Ware County fans than Brunswick. Ware probably would be my No. 11 team this week, especially since they plucked a coach out of North Georgia. : )
Good games this week –
Banneker at North Clayton
Brooks County at Tift County
Brookwood at North Gwinnett
Buford at North Hall
Calhoun at Ridgeland
Callaway at Lovett
Cedartown at Pepperell
Chapel Hill at Newnan
Colquitt County at Thomasville
Dacula at Collins Hill
Douglass at Mays
ECI at Savannah Christian
Etowah at McEachern
Hillgrove at Rome
Parkview at Chattahoochee
Peachtree Ridge at Lowndes
Thomas Co. Central at Cairo
Walton at Kell
Warner Robins at Grayson
Westminster at Woodward Academy
Krazywheel
September 1st, 2009
12:35 am
It seems to me we had are 3rd string in at lowndes,when we ran up the score.
Yo
September 1st, 2009
4:05 am
?….an old debate…Slalom will understand.