Georgia High School Football Daily Spotlight: RivalsHigh 100 moves Grayson to No. 2
Grayson and Newnan made big splashes Tuesday in the national rankings.
Grayson, Georgia’s No. 1-ranked team in Class AAAAA, is positioned for a possible national championship as it made an unexpected jump to No. 2 from No. 6 in the RivalsHigh 100, compiled by Dallas Jackson.
Grayson leaped four teams that won last week – Don Bosco Prep of Ramsey, N.J.; Byrnes of Duncan, S.C.; Skyline of Dallas; and DeMatha of Hyattsville, Md. The No. 1 team is St. Thomas Aquinas of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“The thought was that New Jersey is very down this season, and so Don Bosco – despite the wins over Prattville and DLS – should not be the No. 2 team,” Jackson said. “Byrnes has two ‘test games’ on their schedule. One they lost to Aquinas; the other against Dorman was an unimpressive win. Texas’ best team will probably end the season above whomever wins Georgia unless they do it impressively, and right now there isn’t a clear No. 1 in Texas so I can’t justify a No. 2 team [Skyline of Dallas] from a situation I don’t feel good about. DeMatha [of Maryland] could take that No. 2 spot eventually, but when we saw them against good counsel, they looked good but not great.”
RivalsHigh has seven Georgia teams ranked.
“There are just so many good teams in [Georgia] at the top level, and the depth is there,” Jackson said. “It is pretty easy to see a handful of good teams from the highest level, but when the state has true depth you can find elite teams in the lower classes, and Georgia has both.”
Newnan, previously unranked, landed at No. 67 after posting its fifth shutout of the season in a 26-0 victory over Pebblebrook. It was Newnan’s 13th shutout in two seasons.
Here is a look at Georgia teams in the various national rankings:
ESPN Fab 50
14. Grayson; 35. Northside (+1); 44. Lowndes
*Massey
16. Lowndes (-4)
*MaxPreps Freeman Rankings
18. Northside
MaxPreps Xcellent 25
11. Grayson (+3); 24. Northside
National Prep Poll
9. Grayson; 14. Northside
RivalsHigh 100
2. Grayson (+4); 16. Northside (+3); 25. Lowndes (+3); 45. North Gwinnett (+2); 67. Newnan (un); 69. Gainesville; 79. Stephenson (+2)
USA Today
14. Grayson (+1); 22. Lowndes (+2)
*Computer rankings
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69 comments Add your comment
grayram
October 27th, 2009
9:49 am
There are alot of great teams in Georgia this year. Maybe more teams like Grayson and Newnan or Mceachern or Stephenson or several others could start playing some top teams from other states. I know North Gwinnett beat a team from Alabama this year but maybe someone other than Central Gwinnett could play Byrnes SC. I think Camden and Lowndes play some out of state games, does anyone else?
SportsFan31313
October 27th, 2009
10:08 am
Greetings Grayram,
Yes there are a lot of GHSA Teams that play out of State and it’s not just limited to the normal Perrinial Powers in each Class. Example: I am a Fan Of Region 3-AAAAA Bradwell Institute. They have played South Carolina Schools before and have beaten them. So it’s not just limited to the Camdens, or North Gwinette, or the Valdosta’s, but they are a lot of teams in this State that play outside of the State.
AVikingFan
October 27th, 2009
11:00 am
Congratulations GREYSON!!!!!!!
GHS#22
October 27th, 2009
11:29 am
Grayson 56 MeadowCreek 0
I’m one of Grayson biggest fan and biggest critic……..
I’m not a proponate of running the score up on a defenseless team, and neither is Coach Conn of Grayson,
last Fridays win over MeadowCreek was a true test of depth. The starters were taken out of the game halfway through the 2nd quarter when the score was 34-0.
The second team and JV scored the rest. Now I have to ask myself, Should I me upset at the score? I think not this time…..Coach Conn did what he could to try and even out the match, but those boys (some getting in the game for the first time) felt differently. They played as if no team is a match to even Graysons Z team.
Grayson Student
October 27th, 2009
11:53 am
first of all byrnes actually contacted grayson about a possible matchup instead of central… conn wanted to but warner robins refused to let us out of the contract. These rankings are funny tho, i mean ya its cool to say your number 2 in the nation but lets be honest… why dos a 56-0 win over loley meadowcreek warrant the rams to jump 4 spots over great teams. dont get me wrong i think we are a great team but everyone knows that it is almost impossible to truly know whose the best team in america
Armond Williams
October 27th, 2009
12:09 pm
I think that alot of thee rankings have to do with history as well as the present. I am from Valdosta(Go VIKES)and I am stationed here in Oklahoma and I have had a chance to see Jenks out of Tulsa and a couple of AAAAAA & AAAAAA teams play and to be honest they are no where on the level of GA FOOTBALL. They look alot like our AAA schools. So you have to look at where they play at like those teams out of Sout FLA are for real. And a couple out of TX and CALI are real but every where else is suspect.
BulldawgBite
October 27th, 2009
12:17 pm
no doubt that grayson is a great team. but its sad that a 56 point win was what moved them up. any of the top 6 teams in GA would kill competition in that region. im hoping more GA teams schedule the powers out of the state like NG and Buford do.
grayram
October 27th, 2009
12:20 pm
Grayson Student:
I agree with you, there is no way to really know. It’s going to be hard enough to prove they are in the top 5 in Georgia.
do you know the status of the players who were injured like the big linemen #61 and the Tight End #20?
grayram
October 27th, 2009
12:23 pm
BulldawgBite
Did Buford play an out of state team this year? If so how did they do?
Grayson Student
October 27th, 2009
2:32 pm
grayram, 61 Joseph Champaign is rehabbing everyday and the same goes with 20 Nick Benzor. They both seem to be fine and are walking normal… Decided to delay surgery till after the season and both should be back for the playoffs.
big j
October 27th, 2009
3:30 pm
The biggest difference I see between teams is overall team speed I just don’t see it outside the south also union grove played vigor from down near mobile and they had some size but overall not athletic enough
grayram
October 27th, 2009
4:21 pm
Maybe the AJC could post a record for all Georgia teams vs out of state competition for the year or maybe last couple of years.
MikeB
October 27th, 2009
4:44 pm
I’m happy for Grayson. They have a good program and deserve their fair share of recognition. From the fans and the ranking authoritities………. The referee’s on the other hand really need to improve their accuracy.
I have seen it time and time again in Gwinnett County (I won’t name the team I support, but they did get beat by Grayson this year) where:
1. Ref’s coach the players on the field with unneccesarry bias comments, and crtiticisms……Totally unprofessional. Let them play. They don’t need that kind of distraction.
2. When close to OB plays go to the established team’s side of the field, the play nets a positive result especially when the opposing team is considered a longshot to win……..
3. Every time a long shot team gets a little momenteum or threatens to close the gap. Gwinnett Referee’s feel compelled to call a penalty to stem the tide. This is so frequent its criminal…….
If teams like Grayson are so good ( and by the way, I think they are), they do not need a ref’s help to win. Ref’s need to show some “field integrity” on the gridiron in Gwinnett County.This has been a big problem in Gwinnett County for years. Its like the White Elephant in the room.
All high school football players deserve the opportunity to compete with honor, and without a referee’s interference.
EagleNationRising
October 27th, 2009
5:22 pm
Grayson is very deserving of their high ranking. If a team is the top rated school in the state of Georgia and does not dodge competition, we should all pull for them in the national rankings. As posters from programs like Warner Robins and Lowndes County can testify, there is a certain Middle Georgia program that has made a habit of beating “supposed” National Champion contenders. Contenders usually become pretenders against the Big Blue of Northside.
Congratulations to Grayson. You, along with every team in the state will need it. It is a wonderful time of year. Georgia football will not disappoint this season. The competition appears relatively balanced and their are many rising programs. November and December are going to be fun!
The focus of all of the city of Warner Robins will be on the Big Game on Friday night. Northside against Warner Robins at the MAC. There is nothing like Spirit Week prior to the City Championship. It is great to be a Northside Eagle!
Again, congratulations Grayson. You all have to be proud of how the program has progressed in a very short period of time. I, for one, am very impressed.
BulldawgBite
October 27th, 2009
5:26 pm
grayram, im not sure about this year? but i know recently they have traveled to texas or ohio to play big time competition. i mean whether or not the even win isnt what its about. its about trying to have the best ga teams represent this great state. this year NG played prattville but we got killed by them 2 years ago in alabama. last year we almost beat the nations #1 byrnes and were ahead at halftime. all the top GA teams are as good as anyone else
goober
October 27th, 2009
5:56 pm
Georgia should be represented highly in any national rankings, so congrats to Grayson, Northside and the others for making Georgia prep football known around the country.
ENR: Peace out, bro. I’ve been lobotomized.
sick of ENR
October 27th, 2009
6:28 pm
ENR shut up for god’s sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jcwfalcon
October 27th, 2009
7:37 pm
Amen ENR. I cant wait for Friday night Eagles vs Demons. I expect a battle. How do you see it playing out? I certainly dont feel overly confident. I think it helps WR lost last week. Their morale has to be low. I see Northside having quite a bit more weaknesses this year than in previous years…and I think if the national pollsters actually watched the games, they would be hesitant to rank Northside very high on the national scale.
How is it I see several of these rankings have Lowdnes but no Grayson or Northside? Do you think they know Grayson has played great and is undefeated…and that Lowdnes has a loss to none other than Northside? If they know, and want to argue Lowdens just had one unlucky game and that if played again at a neutral site Lownes would roll, then OK, I can buy that a little. Just seems odd though…almost like they dont really pay attention. Not that any of these rankings count for squat anyway, but I guess they are fun to tout if you are in them, fun to declare if you beat a nationally ranked team, and fun to argue for us loser fans.
He Said So
October 27th, 2009
8:02 pm
Well Grayson, you are legit now, because the self-anointed great EaglesNationRising has said so. Pretty soon all his groupie bloggers will second it once their head come out of the clouds since their blogging god has written his divine words.
Seriously, this is great for Grayson as they carrying on the Gwinnett tradition.
HomeFieldAdvantage
October 27th, 2009
9:56 pm
I just made a post on Todd Holcomb’s blog in which I explained how Lowndes can still win 1st place in Regiuon 1-AAAAA. If Colquitt can beat Northside in two weeks, and score 10 or more points, Lowndes is region champs with our region’s tie breaker system. It’s a long shot, but it’s possible. The fact Northside has to play Warner Robins this week might help Colquitt next week.
Greyson, Newnan, Camden and McEachern have their regions wrapped up already. The next two games are the same as playoff games for a lot of teams!
jcwfalcon
October 27th, 2009
10:36 pm
That sounds like a pretty funky tiebreaker system. So if Colquitt beats Northside 10-7, Lowndes would win the division. But if Colquit won 7-3, Northside wins?
Sounds like the system needs some work lol.
jag count
October 27th, 2009
10:53 pm
Congrats to Grayson and all of the ranked georgia teams
68 viking
October 27th, 2009
10:53 pm
to ENR true enough your eagles got by the vikes. They played way above thair heads that night, cant take anything away from them. That being said, I cant find any eagles fans that want another shot at the vikings thisw year. prehaps we will be able to meet again in the playoffs. And I would bet my last dollar the Vikes will open a can of good ole south ga whoop ass on them. Thats my story and Im sticking to it
HomeFieldAdvantage
October 27th, 2009
11:17 pm
jcwfalcon – when three teams are tied in Region 1-AAAAA, the tie breaker is the points allowed by each team in their match ups with the other two teams. Lowndes gave up a total of 16 points to Colquitt and Northside. Northside gave up 7 to Lowndes. If Colquitt beats Northside and scores 10 points or more, Northside would have given up a total of 17, thus Lowndes is 1st place. Since Lowndes put 31 on Colquitt, they pretty much would be out of contention for 1st place,
TJ
October 27th, 2009
11:25 pm
I am happy for recognition, but there are a lot of ifs for Grayson in the playoffs. That bracket puts them in harms way early. Wonder if their run in with all the ACL injuries will hamper them going to the end. They have depth but replacing a D 1 D-end is rough. He is going to try to be back, but how back can you be from ACL tear?? ACL braces only do so much. One thing about those coaches, they will have some guys stepping up for sure. Good luck Rams!
jcwfalcon
October 28th, 2009
5:29 am
Thanks HomeField. Sounds like it makes the BCS sound kind of good. I would think margin of victory would be more important than points allowed. I guess the bottom line is dont finish tied and you dont have to argue.
yo
October 28th, 2009
8:31 am
jcwfalcon I imagine they went away from the margin of victory in order not to encourage teams running up the score. Just my guess though.
I do suppose it proves 1AAAAA is a defensive minded region.
yo
October 28th, 2009
9:45 am
Congrats!! Grayson…..question.
How heavy are those bulls eyes on your back and chest getting?
AVikingFan
October 28th, 2009
9:50 am
jcwfalcon and yo – Before this current 3-way tie breaker system in Region 1-AAAAA was used, we counted the total AAAAA wins in non region games as tie breakers. But most Region 1-AAAAA teams could not afford to pay Atlanta area AAAAA teams to come south to play non region games so the tie breaker format was changed. (BTW, Lowndes opposed the change.) Points allowed was used instead of margin of victory to discourage running up the score, as YO said.
AVikingFan
October 28th, 2009
9:54 am
Yo – Greyson seems to be handling the bulls eyes somewhat better than we did. But like Camden, one has to wonder how good their competition really has been! I bet Northside and Colquitt could give both of’em a good game!
grayram
October 28th, 2009
10:14 am
Yo:
I think South Gwinnett was the toughest game Grayson has played this year. Camden will be strong by playoff time as they always are but Grayson played them early and they had trouble moving the ball. Parkview passed the ball really well and if their QB is healthy they could be tough.
ps If you keep writing “Greyson” It’s going to be “Lowndes County High School”:)
Grayson Student
October 28th, 2009
12:19 pm
yo, id say conn does an excellent job of keeping his players focused on one game at a time without looking at rankings
goober
October 28th, 2009
12:35 pm
To AVikingFan and HomeFieldAdvantage: I don’t doubt you guys on the 1-5A tie-breaker, but there still seems to be some uncertainty about the precise method. So can you guys cite or reference the authoritative source of this info, and better yet, even document it or tell us where it is actually documented? I assume since each region has the right to determine their own tie-breaker methods, it must have been voted on and actually documented somewhere, maybe in the region secretary’s office. Just curious because the method does seem unusual, and it varies from the past method which called for best record against all class 5A competition.
goober
October 28th, 2009
12:41 pm
Grayson fans: Does Grayson have all of those big-ole country boy offensive linemen back from last year? You know, the ones that Pemberton hid behind before taking the ball and sprinting downfield like he did so well against Lowndes? That was a very good offensive scheme and fit the personnel perfectly.
SportsFan31313
October 28th, 2009
12:55 pm
Dematha Catholic School has a good football program. (For Maryland) I have seen them play in person. They wont stand a chance against a lot the Class AAAAA Teams in Georgia.
SportsFan31313
October 28th, 2009
12:56 pm
In fact, I believe a team such as Marist, South West Dekalb, Griffin, etc. in AAAA could beat Dematha.
SportsFan31313
October 28th, 2009
1:02 pm
If I had the capital, and if I could get a legitimate sponsor, I would try to schedule every ranked team from USA Today, and Massey Rankings to play against the Georgia Teams. I believe Georgia Football Teams in numbers, and Classifications will dominate Nationally.
Back From Texas
October 28th, 2009
1:47 pm
Just returned from a 5 week project in Texas. Watched a number of their AAAAA teams play and Grayson could NOT compete with most of them. It’s a whole different game and atmosphere out there. You have to see the volume of their high school talent to believe it.
Reeze
October 28th, 2009
2:21 pm
Good for Grayson I feel that they are very well coached , and deserve the ranking ,can’t think of many teams can match up with them on the offensive and defensive lines…….they’ll have their work cut out for the when the Playoffs rolls around…….Round 2 vs Lassiter , Roswell or Collins Hill ( Lassiters QB Hutson Mason could put it to them ,IF Grayson’s pass defense is really suspect , could be a shoot out) .Round 3 vs Newnan , MLK ,Valdosta or Warner robins……One hell of a semi vs either Lowndes , Northside ,Colquitt , ,Camden , MaCeachern ,NG or Pridge…..Can’t wait to see how it plays out.
randy prosen
October 28th, 2009
2:34 pm
Grayson enjoy the spotlight now. The playoffs are coming and what I’ve seen of Grayson, they won’t be there in the end.
TJ
October 28th, 2009
3:27 pm
Yes, Grayson has that big ol line for the most part. Offense is better than last year in my opinion because they have a passing game now…..beware! Defense has taken a step back however. They lost a outside linebacker to another school, and the six man rotation they had on the D Line is lacking depth they had but a few are stepping up, to include a freshman. Key area they are week is covering the spread offense. So how deep Grayson goes will depend on matchups. If Grayson faces a team like North Gwinnett, it will pose issues. Bring on teams like Lowndes! Run defense is stout. Deep passes will get picked off by D 1 prospect safety. Soft point is passes in the middle. But any given Friday, someone can win. Good year for high school football. I would not put money on any team that is on left side of bracket, rough road to the dome.
Sportsfan31313
October 28th, 2009
4:18 pm
Back From Texas,
Maybe you haven’t visited, and seen the way many of these Georgia Football Teams play. Who ever you have seen in Texas, you can, and will definitely see the same or better talent here in Georgia.
BulldawgBite
October 28th, 2009
5:24 pm
really though these ga teams can compete with anybody. i understand the arguement that texas quarterbacks are better because if you look at who they have produced recently its obivious (stafford, bradford, mccoy) but here in ga we have great athletes too.
Newton Co.
October 28th, 2009
7:58 pm
WHAT? If Grayson wins a mythical national title this year, it will be quite a story. It will be because they won the state title. Look, if this is the SECOND BEST team in America, then there going to beat my Newton Rams for the title! I haven’t seen Grayson in person, but there region is dreadful. Parkview and Brookwwod, long the flagship schools for the Gwinett dominated regions, are down. Dacula down. The best teams in Gwinnett dont play in their region. I dont understand the hype. I can’t see this team as the 2nd ranked team in America. Ive followed high school football since before I got to high school, Ive never seen a team get so much hype from accomplishing so little. All the big wins have been at home, someone give me a BIG game Grayson has won anywhere besides the Dome or at home. I don’t hate Grayson I love GAHS football. But I bet anyone in the TOP 5 thrashes Grayson in the playoffs, Stephenson too if there not in the Top 5.
Newton Co.
October 28th, 2009
8:08 pm
Back from Texas, AND so what you saw talent in Texas, WOO HOO. Anyone who visited LA, OH, CA, FL, PA, etc, etc would say the same. Didn’t Buford destroy some team from Texas last year IN TEXAS? What is your point? Weve got tremendous talent in here in GA. Matter fact Texas is like 3 times bigger than GA, their supposed to have talent. Buford is a AA school; I heard the team they beat doubled their enrollment. What a crock dude.
grayram
October 28th, 2009
8:36 pm
Newton Co
I hope Newton does well but honestly don’t think they will make it past the first round. Newton would not make the playoffs in Gwinnett.
TJ
October 28th, 2009
8:41 pm
Newton Co., I was about to argue your point about Grayson but honestly can’t convincingly do so. Who knows until the playoffs. Same thing was said about Grayson last year and they lost in double overtime in semis. If a team can pass well they can beat Grayson. You can not run on them. Then you have to stop that offense from grinding out clock and yards. Grayson would have trouble and would probably lose to 2 teams in top 5 that pass well, they can compete with other 3. It is all about matchups in the playoffs that will determine the state champs. And Georgia can compete with any state.
highschool football fan
October 28th, 2009
8:51 pm
Enter your comments here
HomeFieldAdvantage
October 28th, 2009
10:47 pm
Grayram – This Lowndes High School fan will try to spell Grayson correctly from now on. As I told Sportsfan31313, it’s the same great great team either way you spell it.
yo
October 28th, 2009
11:46 pm
“Back from Texas” that great talent you saw in Texas must have been that team from Utah beating up badly the #1 ranked team in Texas by the name of Katie. Sorry “bft” but the Utes invaded Texas and ruined all Texas is greater arguments for decades to come. Must have been something to know your #1 ranked team in Texas lost to a team from such a power house state of football. Utah….fofrofLOL
EagleNationRising
October 29th, 2009
12:39 am
Jcwfalcon: I see the game being close early and then Northside pulling away late in the 2nd quarter or into the 3rd quarter. The Eagles have too many weapons. Furthermore, Martin Van Brunt is a SIGNIFICANT improvement at quarterback. He lacks experience and some skill set pieces. However, he is a very good quarterback in the spread system.
I believe Warner Robins is going to struggle with the spread offense. I expect Van Brunt to be the difference. The Demons simply can not score. They have blown long drives in big games with turnovers (against Grayson, Valdosta, and Colquitt County). I expect Northside young defense to get a score or two. I also expect Northside to make a scoring play in the special teams. I will be nervous all the way, until Northside scores more than 14 points. I do not believe that Warner Robins can score twice against Northside. It may be a close one. However, I think Northside pulls away during the middle of the game at some point.
Northside 31, Warner Robins 7.
EagleNationRising
October 29th, 2009
12:52 am
68 Viking: The truth is both programs are going to have to make a run to the State Championship game to play one another. Either way, that is a tall order. I know that you guys have your fingers crossed that Northside will lose and Lowndes somehow wins the region. IT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Northside plays at McConnell-Talbert Stadium for the remainder of the regular season. Say what you want about Northside playing out of their minds. It was a sound beating and Nix was so superior from a coaching standpoint, it was not even close.
Camden County is going to get respected in the second round. Trust me. Any south Georgia school can lose the toss in the third round and face a challenging 3-6 hour bus ride for a road game. The same in the case for a potential 4th round (semifinal) clash.
68 Viking: We all love our Region 1-AAAAA football south of the Gnat line. I will continue to tease metro Atlanta programs. However, McEachern is every bit as athletic as Northside or Lowndes…if not more athletic – MUCH MORE athletic. Grayson is arguably better, especially at home. Stephenson is MORE athletic. NO DOUNT. Mike O’Brien has Woodstock rolling. The question will be how to these Atlanta kids respond to getting hit. If they can take the hits from our programs, they are going to compete. I guarantee you. I was blown away when I saw McEachern.
AVikingFan
October 29th, 2009
9:32 am
ENR I agree with what you said in the last post or two. Northside will NOT lose either of the next two games in my opinion. I am making my reservations to spend the night in St. Marys, GA the 2nd playoff game. That’s a long drive back home, win or lose. (I also expect us to play in the 3rd playoff round.) Hopefully Randy Mac can find a way to inspire Lowndes to play a little better on the road than we have in the past. In other posts you’ve mentioned how we’ve looked bad in road games to GrAyson, the MAC, etc. Look at Tifton in 2008. Without Greg Reid’s heroics we would have lost that game. The same as with Harrison in 06. Greg Reid as a sophomore practically won that game for us by himself. The 10-0 win over Camden in the 07 semis should have been like the 05 semis, a 30-0 blowout. The 14-0 win over Stephenson in the 05 semis should have been a blowout like the 04 win over Stephenson at Lowndes. But, the fact remains, Lowndes won most of those road games and in the process won 3 AAAAA titles, something Northside has not done YET. Maybe this is your year! Hopefully NS will decide to play “up” in the next realignemnt and stay in 1-AAAAA. Their presence is good for our region.
grayram
October 29th, 2009
9:56 am
Greg Reid was a special player. I hope if we play Lowndes again you don’t have another one like him.
grayram
October 29th, 2009
10:13 am
Found these video highlights of Buford destroying a mediocre team from Ohio
http://rivals.yahoo.com/video/recruiting-football/Buford-vs-Grove-City-29916
grayram
October 29th, 2009
10:23 am
here they are again beating Mansfield Texas fairly easily.
http://www.maxpreps.com/FanPages/maxprepstv.mxp/videoid-b6e48926-c182-47c2-9d9c-f7c5438b2e9c
grayram
October 29th, 2009
10:33 am
BTW Mansfield Timberview is a 4A school in Texas (Buford 2A)
BulldawgBite
October 30th, 2009
3:23 pm
grayram, hopefully grayson can play in some big out of state games soon. it seems like their national cred is really rising. always good to see ga teams represent
tommy
October 30th, 2009
4:40 pm
yea candem played 2 teams from out of state one bein hoover and a top team in fla. i beleave lownes played a team from fla to. includin a game on espnu. well was not realy a game. as far as play offs the teams need to take it one game at a time. lookin a head could be a trip to the house. ive seen teams all over play. and one thing i know is some times in high school with all these teams that have a run a spread are dangerous. 1 aaaaa is a very tough region. 5 of those teams deserve a shot in play offs. my team bein candem county well team i pull for. has a week region but make up for it wid our non region schedule. we have bigger boys than lownes and north side. i seen both play. but with all great teams in aaaaa ball its gonna be great to see these games wish all were on tv.
tommy
October 30th, 2009
4:42 pm
bull dawg seen them play in season opener grayson is a stout club. but your right ga has 5 schools in top 100. go ga high schools.
BulldawgBite
October 30th, 2009
7:50 pm
im with ya tommy. any team that makes the quarterfinals has a legitmate shot at winning the state championship this year. you can find on maxpreps they say this year is one of GAs strongest in high school football in a while
Kenneth Sauls
October 31st, 2009
9:18 pm
Everyones comments have been good. I have been a Lowndes Viking(PLOWBOY)for 40years. We have taken our beatings gracefully. I never want to win a game when the refs try to look good and I sure hate to loose because of the refs. As long as the kids are playing fair and are not getting out of line with personal fouls, they should be aloud to play football. We are not playing touch or flag fooseball, we are playing hard nose football. What makes me so proud of lowndes is the excel in most all the sports and they have the number 1 high school band in the nation(the Georgia Bridgemen).I would definately like one more shot at Grayson on a field that holds more then 6000 fans. If a team can’t put more than 10,000 fans in the stadium, they shoud not be aloud to host a playoff. Go Vikings and good luck to all the South Georgia football teams in every class in region 1.
CGHS Student
November 1st, 2009
1:05 am
Anyone can be Meadowcreek, Central Gwinnett beat them 34-0 Friday night and we have only won two games. I know we will loose to Grayson next week, but I have to keep hope. lol.
CGHS Student
November 1st, 2009
1:08 am
beat*
Fred
November 2nd, 2009
12:40 am
@Kenneth Sauls said “I would definately like one more shot at Grayson on a field that holds more then 6000 fans.” For what it is worth, it is not 10K in seating but Grayson Community Stadium seats 8,521 and can easily accomodate another 2K+ is standing room in a pinch. Every though it was cold and rainy, I well remember how y’all filled the stands for that playoff game. The county does not support the stadiums, at least not in the beginning. They have been know to assume some debt once things are built and the program has shown they can support the debt. Check out http://www.graysonramsfootball.com/index.php?page=stadium for more information on how far the program has come in 10 years. Not too shabby if I do say so.
I have been told that the only thing the county funded was the light towers and lights. I don’t know how accurate that info is so take it with a grain of salt. Gwinnett has 17 high schools and the capital requirements to set up 10K seating stadiums are so great it is just not going to happen.
I know everyone talks about the “rich” metro school systems. Here is an interesting statistic for you (and yes, we all know about statistics
) – there are approximately 1.6 million students in the state. Gwinnett has 160,000 or 10% of the state’s students. I find that to be an amazing number! The other issue for Gwinnett is they support so many more sports than football. I know other systems do as well and I certainly don’t mean to nor am I trying to belittle other systems. As an example, lacrosse is now getting a strong foothold and I might be willing to bet that many of the other systems in GA don’t support lacrosse. I could be wrong and again am not trying to talk down to other systems.
The other amazing thing for me is that the demographics have changed so much in Gwinnett. The system is majority minority now with a large number of cultures where American style football is not strong. Soccer is big as are other sports. I am somewhat amazed that we continue to field competitive teams in football the way we have! This could be Meadowcreek’s problem with football but that is pure specualtion on my part. I know they field competitive teams in other sports and do well academically, just not in football.
Growth continues to cause redistricting as new schools continue to open. Archer was opened this year with the majority of students coming from Grayson. Due to the way the growth occurs, there are some really screwy attendance zones. As an example, I live about 2.5 miles from South Gwinnett, 5 miles from Brookwood and about 6.5-7 miles from Grayson. My child goes to Grayson while some neighborhoods only a couple of miles from Grayson got moved to Archer. Reading some of the other posts on other blogs, I think I see where a new high school is scheduled to open in Warner Robbins soon and they are concerned about the impact on the football programs and the stadiums. Imagine going through that every 2-3 years! It make for some interesting times, let me tell you!
Fred
November 2nd, 2009
12:54 am
Oops, I lied! It is 8,021 seats at Grayson Community Stadium not 8,521. I looked at the number at the top of the web page and accepted it. When I went back and added it all up, I came up with the lower number. I don’t know if the 500 descrepancy is from taking into account the press boxes, consession workers, ticket takers, etc or where that number comes from. As Maxwell Smart might say, “Sorry about that Chief!”
DA Nut
November 3rd, 2009
10:21 am
How ’bout Gainesville HS as the class 3-A team at a minimum? They already have 4 players committed to either SEC, PAC 10 and Notre Dame. Speed is amazing; pass or run the offense is explosive.
Newton Co.
November 3rd, 2009
3:53 pm
grayram, Newton would be 2nd in your region this year. Don’t kid yourself, your region blows. Outside of you guys and South, who could beat us? You aint seen us play I understand. Keep living in the past like the rest of the bloggers. It only gets better at Newton, JR and SOPH dominated team with 3 middle schools feeding us in a 3 horse town, with 3 three playoff teams in 3 different classifications. Much respect to Grayson though; yall prove me wrong a get to the Dome again. Playing against Camden Co. first round, it don’t take a rocket scientist to figure out we are in trouble.
ronniebug
November 7th, 2009
6:23 pm
@fred I agree with kenneth about the stadiums. The game should have been played at Lowndes and the GHSA , Grayson, and Lowndes would have doubled their profits from the tickets sold. When Lowndes and Valdosta meets we put 13,000 to 16,000 fans in the stadium. That is South Georgia high school football.