New HS rankings and what Kell did Saturday

Just how much difference is there between the five classifications in Georgia high school football any more?

Cook (AA) beat Colquitt County, the preseason #5 in AAAAA. Fitzgerald blew away Tift in another Region 1-AA vs. 1-AAAAA game.

But for symbolism, there was a more significant upset:

Kell over Grayson, the #10 team in AAAAA.

It really wasn’t much of an upset as far as a surprise goes. Grayson suffered heavy graduation losses, and Kell was a AAAAAplayoff team in 2009 that returned an AJC Super 11 player in Brian Randolph.

But this is what’s significant: Kell is one of 54 schools that dropped in classification this year.

Several major programs – from Northside to Warner Robins to Carver to Dalton to Sandy Creek to Charlton County – moved down.

With less fanfare, several more solid programs also went down: Kell, Pope, East Paulding, Union Grove, Chapel Hill, Chattahoochee.

In doing preseason all-state teams for GHSF Daily last week, I noted that the AAAA all-star team would beat the AAAAA all-star team. AAAA has more major college prospects. It also has more teams – about 85 to 60.

IMO, AAAAA is still the best class, and the depth of AAAAA’s top 10 still will be a little better in the end than in AAAA. But the gap has shrunk.

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Class AAAAA
1. Camden County (0-0)
2. Lowndes (1-0)
3. North Gwinnett (1-0)
4. Peachtree Ridge (1-0)
5. Newnan (0-0)
6. Stephenson (0-0)
7. McEachern (0-1)
8. Roswell (0-0)
9. Valdosta (0-0)
10. Brookwood (1-0)

Class AAAA
1. Northside-Warner Robins (0-0)
2. Griffin (0-0)
3. Clarke Central (0-0)
4. Tucker (0-0)
5. Thomas County Central (0-0)
6. Warner Robins (0-0)
7. Hiram (0-0)
8. Marist (0-0)
9. Apalachee (0-0)
10. Kell (1-0)

Class AAA
1. Sandy Creek (0-0)
2. Peach County (0-0)
3. Cairo (0-0)
4. St. Pius (0-0)
5. Washington County (0-0)
6. Westside-Macon (0-0)
7. Baldwin (0-0)
8. North Hall (0-0)
9. Eastside (0-0)
10. Gainesville (0-0)

Class AA
1. Buford (0-0)
2. Carver-Columbus (0-0)
3. Calhoun (0-0)
4. Fitzgerald (1-0)
5. Dublin (0-0)
6. Westminster (0-0)
7. Cook (1-0)
8. Thomasville (1-0)
9. Hart County
10. Lovett (0-1)

Class A
1. Charlton County (0-0)
2. Wilcox County (0-0)
3. Wesleyan (0-0)
4. Clinch County (0-0)
5. Lincoln County (0-0)
6. Emanuel County Institute (0-0)
7. Savannah Christian (0-0)
8. Bowdon (0-0)
9. Eagle’s Landing Christian (0-0)
10. Greenville (0-0)