Wesleyan replaces Buford as state’s most likely to go 15-0
Now that Buford is beaten, which Georgia team has the best shot of going undefeated?
My first thought is Lowndes, but it’s pretty tough going unbeaten in Class AAAAA. Much depends on home-field advantage and coin tosses. There’s so much depth. Plus, the No. 2 team, Grayson, beat Lowndes the last time they played.
In AAAA, there’s no clear-cut favorite yet, so I wouldn’t pick any of those teams to go 15-0.
Gainesville is No. 1 in AAA, but the Elephants have never gone undefeated. Plus, many would say once-beaten Carver of Columbus remains the team to beat.
In AA, nobody would be surprised if Buford went 14-1, so it’s tough picking any of those, although Calhoun and Fitzgerald look awfully good. And don’t forget Lovett, the team that ended Buford’s 32-game winning streak last week.
My choice would probably be Wesleyan. A friend asked me last week if Wesleyan is unbeatable in Class A, and the answer is no. Wesleyan was not a dominant state champion last year, although the 2009 team is better than last year’s team that peaked at the right time.
Here are the 11 teams that I think are most likely to go undefeated, and their chances. Note that I don’t think any team has a better than 50-50 chance of going undefeated looking at it this early in the season. Let me post this before I change my vote to Lowndes.
Wesleyan (40 percent)
Lowndes (35 percent)
Calhoun (30 percent)
Fitzgerald (30 percent)
Gainesville (25 percent)
Grayson (25 percent)
Westside, Macon (20 percent)
Griffin (20 percent)
Peach County (20 percent)
North Gwinnett (12 percent)
Lovett (10 percent)
Todd Holcomb is co-publisher of Georgia High School Football Daily, a free email newsletter. To join his mailing list, go here.
This week’s rankings:
CLASS AAAAA
1. Lowndes (3-0)
2. Grayson (3-0)
3. North Gwinnett (3-0)
4. Northside, Warner Robins (2-0)
5. Stephenson (2-0)
6. M.L. King (3-0)
7. Newnan (3-0)
8. Peachtree Ridge (2-1)
9. McEachern (3-0)
10. Camden County (1-2)
CLASS AAAA
1. Tucker (3-0)
2. Griffin (3-0)
3. Southwest DeKalb (2-1)
4. Westside, Macon (3-0)
5. Hillgrove (3-0)
6. North Clayton (3-0)
7. Sandy Creek (2-1)
8. Clarke Central (3-0)
9. Bainbridge (3-0)
10. Mount Zion, Jonesboro (3-0)
CLASS AAA
1. Gainesville (3-0)
2. Peach County (3-0)
3. St. Pius (3-0)
4. Carver, Columbus (2-1)
5. Carrollton (3-0)
6. LaGrange (2-1)
7. Washington County (3-0)
8. Burke County (3-0)
9. Creekview (2-0)
10. Flowery Branch (2-1)
CLASS AA
1. Calhoun (3-0)
2. Fitzgerald (3-0)
3. Lovett (3-0)
4. Buford (2-1)
5. Jefferson County (3-0)
6. Pepperell (3-0)
7. Brooks County (2-0)
8. Dublin (2-0)
9. Jefferson (3-0)
10. Charlton County (2-0-1)
CLASS A
1. Wesleyan (3-0)
2. Lincoln County (3-0)
3. Wilkinson County (3-0)
4. Savannah Christian (3-0)
5. Wilcox County (2-1)
6. Johnson County (3-0)
7. Bowdon (3-0)
8. Chattahoochee County (3-0)
9. Treutlen (3-0)
10. Twiggs County (2-1)
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
195 comments Add your comment
TRUE BLUE
September 14th, 2009
8:11 am
RWDEKALBFAN, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT BECAUSE LAST I HEARD WAS THAT TUCKER, WESLEYAN,AND BUFORD WAS IN METRO ATLANTA.ALSO,GRAYSON, MARIST,LOVETT,AND PEACHTREE RIDGE ARE IN THE METRO ATLANTA. THESE SCHOOLS WERE IN THE FINALS OR SEMI-FINALS LAST YEARS WITH METRO ATLANTA TAKIG 3 OUT 5 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP.
SouthGARules
September 14th, 2009
8:19 am
rwdekalbfan: Very good point.
TJ: Agreed.
TruFan: Very good point about Lincoln Co. Being a A team & not a ton of D-1 talent (with the exception of Garrison Hearst), they tend to get overlooked.
Suwanee Ownz: Thanks. You are right about North Gwinnett, even though its more than 5 min away. Suwanee Dam Rd can get congested, but I understand your point. Also, not having to travel hours to games in more spread out regions helps, too. However, don’t sleep on Norcross. I know you beat them last year in a tremendous comeback at home but they are not as bad as they have shown. I know they are 1-2, but a 1 pt OT loss to Walton was one of the losses. We will find out about South Friday night @Grayson.
roswellfan
September 14th, 2009
8:39 am
Wheres the love for Roswell football? I know its early in the season, but why would a 1 or 2 loss team still be ranked in the top 10 ? Roswell deserves to be ranked somewhere in the 6-10 category. They beat pope on the road last week after beating Centenial handily and should get to 5-0 at the by week.
chad
September 14th, 2009
8:46 am
Calhoun is going to be a monster no one is going to want to play by the end of the season. They have just gotten started. They waxed Rome in a preseason game, beat a very good Dalton team and Ridgleland team. Those are 3A and 4A teams. Look out for the yellow jackets this year.
shankit
September 14th, 2009
9:00 am
Tickets available for the AAAAA State Championship game.
played early this year in November
Lowndes vs. Valdostta
TJ
September 14th, 2009
9:08 am
Some food for thought, Warner Robins only allowed their opponent 1 yard of rushing this week. They beat Beach 49 to 6. Beach is no power house team but it was tell tale of their stout defense and ability to score on teams. Where does Warner Robins rank now in their region, playoff caliber? Think Grayson beat a good team when they played Warner Robins and won 10 to 0. Grayson put up 44 points and shut out on Dacula, which says they have ability on their offense. South Gwinnett and Grayson should be game of the week? Will see.
fan
September 14th, 2009
9:12 am
mays do not worry about ranking we the city want championships that is better than ranking as for stephenson & swd & mlk i do not see them winning any thing because it is all about having your team prepare when it it time for the playoff you will see the same teams winning because there coach take time to perpare.
Waltonfan
September 14th, 2009
9:21 am
Todd –
from what I’ve read in the past, you don’t have much love for Region 6-AAAAA teams…especially Walton.
but considering their schedule, I think they have a decent shot at 10-0. Undefeated all the way? Hell no, but regular season is possible.
Yes, Roswell & Lassiter are tough, but both those games are at home.
They already beat a pretty good Norcross team in the Dome.
9-1 is more likely, but you can’t rule out 10-0 based on what they’ve done do far & who/where they have coming up.
APS Football Fan
September 14th, 2009
9:26 am
To all the APS Football Teams: Congratulations. I know you want to be recognized in the Top 10. You have to remember that this newspaper will never recognize any of you. It has nothing to do with making the plays.
Pops
September 14th, 2009
9:27 am
The way it has been going East Paulding will beat Mc Ceachern and we will have our 4th region 5AAAAA team ranked in the top ten. We have talked before about how balanced this region is at the top. What happens then if Etowah beats East after East beats McCeachern? We will have gone full circle?
Don’t worry Wolverine Fan – I haven’t forgotten about you.
The Cannon Rules!
September 14th, 2009
9:47 am
Pops…
GOOD QUESTION…East plays Etowah, and Woodstock both as away games this year…while EAST plays GREAT on the road and takes (as you know) a HUGE crowd that fills the visitors section, both of these games are going to be TOUGH wins!
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…the Battle continues this friday as EAST goes to McEachern, to answer your question…AFTER EAST beats McEachern it would be up to Etowah to TAKE its spot atop the division but they also have to take care of business between now and the EAST match-up!
But Friday night should be FUN to say the least…I saw em’ building some kinda barricade looking contraption around the big Injun’ on their stadium, that want help though…”THE CANNON” will still find him!!! (or her???…maybe that Injun’s a “SQUAW”)…
CLOCK’S TICKING MCEACHERN…105 HOURS AND COUNTING TICK…TICK…TICK…BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
GO RAIDERS!!!!!
drock09
September 14th, 2009
9:56 am
Will be looking forward to see creekside defense vs tay willis this friday. The amey kid from creekside and willis from east coweta are the real deal. Union grove will give stephenson and mlk all they can handle. I predict they will win the region. Mt zion will upset griffin
Wolverine2Blazer
September 14th, 2009
10:03 am
Hmmm, I’m going to predict that the week after the Woodstock-Etowah game there will be 3 region 5 teams in the top 10. And to Waltonfan, I wouldn’t be showing much love to region 6 either after ya’ll almost got swept in the first round by region 5. The first seed getting man handled by our fourth.
STOP WORRYING
September 14th, 2009
10:13 am
drock09, Why are you worrying about Stephenson and MLK. You forgot that we are overrated by the AJC COMPUTER RANKING.They say we want make it past the quarterfinals. Plus ,they say Stephenson Coaches want prepare the players for play-off.Thats the STATE of GEORGIA prediction,but who cares what they think cause the BLACK AND BLUE JAAAAAAAAAAAGUARS ARE BACK TO MAKE A STATEMENT STARTING FRIDAY AT WARE COUNTY.
Panola's Finest
September 14th, 2009
10:21 am
TRUE BLUE I AM PRETTY SURE SWD WOULD HAVE PLAYED STEPHENSON AS WELL AS TUCKER AND OTHER OF THOSE TEAMS IN GWINNETT LOOKING FOR THE COME UP.
Excuses, Excuses. There are plenty of good teams other than Columbia and Mcnair that will play you guys. Say what you want but those were scrimmages with JV teams at best.
Hawkflying high
September 14th, 2009
10:25 am
Hillgrove has one of the strongest defenses out there. The true litmus test will be Hiram on their schedule! I thought it would of been Rome or Squoyah, but I guess not! LOL. The only reason Harlison scored 14 is because Hillgrove doesn’t believe in kicking someone when there down. Can you say JV in the 4th quarter?
R.W. Gweed
September 14th, 2009
10:38 am
Jackson was ranked #10 in your preseason AAA poll. They have won all of their games convivcingly, yet have dropped out of the top ten. It’s obvious that you have an ax to grind with the Jackson people, stemming back from last year. Thus, you only teased us with that #10 ranking and never intended to keep us there, no matter what. Vengeance is mine, says Todd.
Cane-66
September 14th, 2009
10:51 am
Not only is Fitzgerald undefeated, but also UNSCORED upon in three regular season games, plus the scrimmage game against AAAAA Coffee Co….
titletown
September 14th, 2009
10:58 am
NSWR has to get past Valdosta friday i think everyone is overlooking valdosta. Has anyone took a look at this team this year, they have a qb that is almost like vick take notice. NSRW has to come to death valley friday can they escape Valdosta 24 NSWR 10
HeadEast
September 14th, 2009
11:00 am
After Friday EP, Etowah, and Woodstock will be battling it out for 2nd place and at least one home game in the playoffs. Based on the East D that showed up last Friday MAC will continue to light up the scoreboard. Even a weak team like S Cobb moved well enough to have a field goal try. We’re just too small and too slow this year.
KIR
September 14th, 2009
11:14 am
I saw SWD against MLK and you guys shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence with Stephenson.
wolverine fan
September 14th, 2009
11:30 am
HeadEast……..McEarchern is fast…We held them until the 3rd quarter then their speed took over. Our passs defense could not contain them.
CKDawg65
September 14th, 2009
11:31 am
Glad to see Creekview finally getting some love outside of Cherokee Co. Beating a then top 10 AAAA Sequoyah and going to Flowery Branch and beating a then top 3 AAA team will do it for you. Not having to play Gainesville in the regular season will help, but W Forsyth and N Hall will be challenges.
Tell The Truth
September 14th, 2009
11:34 am
I don’t think Grady is getting a snubbed, they haven’t beaten anybody. They are 3-0 against teams with a combined 2-6 record and the two wins for their opponents have came against North Atlanta and Cross Keys. Unfortunately, the only test that Grady will face in the regular season is against St. Pius in late October. The Grey Knights should come into that contest with a 7-0 record. This Friday against might give some indication of where Grady and Washington stand when they play each other. Anything short of a two touchdown victory for Grady will certainly prove they are not as strong as their record indicates. Nothing against the city teams, because there have certainly been some good ones, but on the state level they fail to prove themselves on the field.
Reeze
September 14th, 2009
11:42 am
Titletown………..We heard the same in 2008 ,at half time you could hear a pin drop on the Cat side .You guys might win if this years team found speed on offense ,or maybe Tomberlin trashed his offensive play book with the lame and predictable plays that we were chuckling at in the stands or coach and play the game with intensity like your’re in it to win it. In other words a complete turn around
Wolverine2Blazer
September 14th, 2009
12:00 pm
Creekview’s been a good team sense they opened. Last year they took Saquoyah to 3OT at the Cheif’s place. I think they’re this year’s Woodstock.
Head Bear
September 14th, 2009
12:02 pm
The Bears will be ready Go Bears
Golden Lion
September 14th, 2009
12:04 pm
Need to pay more respect to St. Pius in AAA, They lost to gainesville last year only because of a QB named Donovan Tate. This years team is senior led and have the determination and strength
Jefferson
September 14th, 2009
12:32 pm
5-0 in the playoffs trumps an undefeated regular season. It ain’t over till its over. Buford and their chop blocking center needs a rematch.
Go Jackets.
fitzgerald
September 14th, 2009
12:34 pm
I am no fan of Buford. However, it is a long road until the playoffs and Buford will improve by then. So, who knows what will happen. Those very long (5-6 hours) road games do take a toll of the visiting teams. Particularly if they have to do it more than one time. It is too bad that neutral sites are not used in the playoffs. Supporting fans do and will travel during the playoffs. Check playoff game attendance in other states.
Grayson Student
September 14th, 2009
12:59 pm
For all the south supporters… Theres only so much stats can tell you about a player. Is there any film on the internet of this season, I would like to see kent rollins and his offensive line.
Matt
September 14th, 2009
1:00 pm
Bowdon #7 in class A what a joke! look at who they have played! more cupcakes than at a bakery!
The Cannon Rules!!
September 14th, 2009
1:06 pm
Hawkflying high…
Good comment, I agree the true test for BOTH Hiram and Hillgrove appears to be the game they have against EACH other. I would predict you both will be in a fight that night and NEITHER team will be playing their J.V. team by the 4th.
Don’t overlook Rome showing up later in the year, they were tough against EAST in our first game 3 weeks ago. They are just not LOADED 2 and 3 deep like in years past, but they are still fielding a VERY GOOD team.
va 7
September 14th, 2009
1:25 pm
Thanks whoa, SWD did not want to play Stephenson anymore, great gwinnett/cobb county schools were scared and could not find anyone out of state. People for get that despite playoff success this program is known throughout the whole United States. Over the last few years that Comcast broadcast games Stephenson is the biggest draw for them.
Etowah Fan
September 14th, 2009
1:30 pm
Head East – I agree with your assessment. MAC at home will be too much for EP as much as Cannon will hope! MAC is red hot and deserving of their ranking… Leaving EP, Etowah, and Woodstock to fight it out for 2nd. Thank goodness that Etowah has EP and Woodstock at home.
Wolverine2Blazer – you are definitely drinking some spike’ed Kool-Aid if you think there is any scenario that gets three teams from Region 5-AAAAA in the top 10 before the end of September. While MAC will have played the “meat” of their region schedule after Friday (Etowah, Woodstock, EP), I expect them to still be undefeated and staying ranked near the bottom of the Top 10.
The only very remote chance for a second team from Region 5-AAAAA to creep in by early October is if Etowah easily handles both Woodstock and EP (and I don’t see that happening). I am fairly confident that Woodstock won’t creep back into the Top 10 with a sound victory at Etowah (I don’t see that happening either!) without some very strange things happening to the rest of the current Top 10.
Everybody else in the Top 10 will not have played each other within their respective regions to knock each other out of the Top 10. Besides Todd (per your Region 6 comment) does not generally give any close calls to the North/Northwest side of Atlanta. At least Todd has kept a Region 5-AAAAA team in the Top 10 so I don’t think we can complain too much.
I like your Region 5-AAAAA spirit though… just trying to be realistic.
down south fan
September 14th, 2009
1:44 pm
valdosta28-nswr10
objective observer
September 14th, 2009
1:57 pm
Don’t worry about Lincoln County going undefeated after this week. Abbeville will beat them by at least two touchdowns. LC is extremely small up front and they only give the ball to #25. That’s why Wesleyan beat them last year is because they only had to key in on one player.
Dekalb til I die
September 14th, 2009
2:16 pm
Man if I hear some
RedandBlack
September 14th, 2009
2:35 pm
Check out Roswell next time they play. Coach Barker has the Hornets buzzn. Great plays for high school ball. Look out North Fulton county.
VIKING DAD
September 14th, 2009
2:35 pm
HEY Titletown, the only way the cats will beat Northside is if they don’t show. I have seen the cats play. Your cats are 3-0 only because they’ve not played anyone. Remember last year,3-0 start, 2-5 finish. And don’t even think about beating the Vikings this year, because it’s not going to happen.
VIKING DAD
September 14th, 2009
2:38 pm
Congrats to Lovett for beating Buford.
HeadEast
September 14th, 2009
2:40 pm
wolverine – I’ve seen MAC, Etowah, Harrison, and EP play in person and MAC looks like the best team and Harrison the worst. They just have so many offensive weapons and special teams scored on a fake punt and a punt return when I saw them. East will need to be able to run some clock on offense and go about +2 in turnovers to keep it close. Heart and good coaching have a hard time overcoming pure speed and talent.
Dekalb CO.
September 14th, 2009
3:01 pm
When I read this blog, its clear the road to respectability goes through Dekalb, even though we, as I always hear, we don’t win anything. Tucker don’t deserve to be ranked NO.1. SWD didn’t. Stephenson and MLK don’t deserve to be ranked at all. Stephenson don’t play nobody. Playoff history. Blah, blah blah. Region 5 seems like the ones in search for the most respect, but yall aint going to get it by mentioning Stephenson and MLK. Id like to focus on those two teams for a minute. I went to Stone Mtn HS and we haven’t been really good for years. Lithonia and Redan neither. SWD has been decent, not as bad as the other 3. When Stephenson(1996) and MLK(2001) opened, they took attendance from those four aforementioned schools. Lokk at what they have done since they opened. Im willing to bet that the no team from Region 5 can match winning %, playoff wins or players that have gone on to have major college success that Stephenson/MLK have had since Stephenson opened. And I had to make sure I knew who was in Region 5 before I typed this so I wouldn’t look stupid. Only teams I saw with any tradition or success was Mareitta and McEachern, please Cherokee Co. and EP get your lifetime winning % at 500. before you call out the giants of 2-AAAAA and more importantly, encourage your AD to schedule us in the future because we aint scared. Oh and to those who think Union Grove will win region 2-AAAAA be for real. What basis do you have for such a prediction when you know you haven’t beaten BOTH Dekalb CO schools in the same season, EVER? Hope, yeah thats a good one lol
Coach
September 14th, 2009
3:04 pm
REGION 6AAAA is by far the roughest, toughest region of them all. Don’t expect any of their teams to go undefeated, but expect one, or two, to play for the State Championship. Check the football history of that region over the last few years. And FYI that region won 15 total State Championships for the 2008-2009 school year. No other region came close.
The Cannon Rules!!
September 14th, 2009
3:10 pm
Let’s just hope we have a CONSISTENT game called by the referee crew as I would HATE for a game this big to be cost by a bad call (in either direction)…the game needs to be played and WON on the field. The other night against South Cobb we again experienced several missed calls and one call on the EAST sideline after the EAST “D” had stopped South Cobb with a legal hit that “LAID OUT” the South Cobb player a penalty was called against EAST because the “D” player was giving and receiving high fives off the field on the sideline!!! These are high school kids, let em’ play…sure they get excited…he had just made a terrific stop / play and was celebrating with his teammates!!!
The calls I am referring to here had nothing to do with the overall outcome OF THIS GAME but they could have, and that would be a shame to hang a loss on a team from bad calls.
vikingsrule
September 14th, 2009
3:20 pm
Titletown, you are right on the money. I’ve tried telling Todd Holcomb that Valdosta is for real this year. Dont listen to Viking Dad either. I know a good football team when I see one. Valdosta will beat NSWR and they will give my Vikings a good game too. The Wildcats will be the only team this year to give LHS a scare. Lowndes goes 15-0 Mr. Holcomb and you can increase these odds up to about 70%. Also, Valdosta ends up in your top ten at the end of the year with two losses. Mark it down!!
slalom1
September 14th, 2009
3:53 pm
TODD, Do not under rate the Newnan Cougars. My prediction after game 1 was that NO ONE will put up double digits against the Cougars during regular season. I stand behind that prediction,(but I should have said “against the starters”) The Cougars are going to have one blow-out after another during the regular season, therefore someone may put up 12 or so against the JV. The defense is better than in 2008. The offense may be even more talented but still needs game time. By season’s end, I believe the Cougars have a better shot than in 2008. The Ogletree brothers along with the Ransby kid are simply amazing.
The Cannon Rules!!
September 14th, 2009
3:58 pm
Dekalb CO. …
It’s true several of the schools in 5A AAAAA don’t have “winning traditions” that go back 20 or 30 years like many Dekalb schools. Most of these schools are fairly new, 10 to 15 years old in some cases and what they are showing is RECENT winning trends. You are talking like many of the South Ga. posters who like to brag about the Championships they won back in the 60’s, the 70’s & 80’s.
Well welcome to the FUTURE!!!…Many of our 5A – AAAAA teams can play with ANY of your Dekalb schools ANY friday night!…The reality / logistics is that this can’t happen until playoff time but I’ll give you a recent history lesson you can go look up…Mays (I know before you tell me they are not a Dekalb School) came out to “THE BONEYARD” year before last for a playoff game and was sent back to the ATL with a new outlook on outside 285 football!
Sure you got good teams at MLK, Stephenson but go the other direction and you got Grayson & the Gwinnett powerhouses that are fairly new schools.
But I’ll give you this stat to “CHEW ON”…since 2005 East Paulding has gone 33-6 finishing 2008 (1st year in AAAAA play) going to the 2nd round of State Playoffs before losing to Grayson 17/7 (who beat “mighty Lowndes”). EAST had an UNDEFEATED (10-0) regular season in 2007, winning the Region and going to the State Quarter finals. They reached the State Semifinals in 2006 before losing to Marist in the DOME. Traditions START somewhere and this type play is what gets you there.
Washington high fan
September 14th, 2009
4:15 pm
Tell The Truth u think Grady beating Washington this friday u crazy.
SanityRules
September 14th, 2009
4:16 pm
Slalom1, I couldn’t agree with you more. This Newnan team has the potential of being the best ever. The defense has everything you could ask for. We don’t need any publicity right now ,so let them talk about Grayson, Lowdnes and all the rest, we will be there in the end.