Final rankings blog: We agree on No. 1
Metro Atlanta teams won four state titles for the first time since 1970. As recently as 2005, metro teams didn’t win any.
What does this mean? Probably that metro Atlanta won’t win any in 2015. The South will rise again. But metro Atlanta is only getting bigger.
Also, Camden County, Northside and Charlton County aren’t ranked. The last time that’s happened – with all three unranked in the end – was 1993.
I doubt that means anything either, unless we should do a better job in preseason rankings. All started No. 1.
The final rankings are very difficult to settle on this season, especially in AAAAA and AAAA, when so many top teams got toppled unexpectedly.
Congrats to Brookwood, Chattahoochee, Sandy Creek, Buford and Clinch County.
Let the criticism begin …
CLASS AAAAA
- Brookwood (14-1)
- Colquitt County (9-6)
- Grayson (10-4)
- North Gwinnett (11-1)
- Collins Hill (10-4)
- Valdosta (11-2)
- Lowndes (10-3)
- McEachern (10-2)
- Hillgrove (10-3)
- M.L. King (8-4)
CLASS AAAA
- Chattahoochee (15-0)
- Starr’s Mill (14-1)
- Tucker (13-1)
- Statesboro (11-3)
- Kell (12-1)
- Brunswick (8-4)
- Ware County (10-3)
- Griffin (10-2)
- Dutchtown (11-2)
- East Paulding (10-3)
CLASS AAA
- Sandy Creek (15-0)
- Carrollton (14-1)
- Peach County (13-1)
- Cairo (12-1)
- Burke County (11-3)
- Grady (11-2)
- St. Pius (9-3)
- Baldwin (10-2)
- Cedar Grove (8-5)
- Gainesville (10-2)
CLASS AA
- Buford (14-1)
- Calhoun (14-1)
- Carver (13-1)
- Cook (12-1)
- Westminster (8-4)
- Fitzgerald (10-3)
- Thomasville (9-4)
- Lovett (10-4)
- Brooks County (7-6)
- Swainsboro (10-1)
Class A
- Clinch County (15-0)
- Eagle’s Landing Christian (12-1)
- Savannah Christian (13-2)
- Wesleyan (12-2)
- Wilcox County (11-2)
- Johnson County (11-1)
- Wilkinson County (11-3)
- Lincoln County (10-3)
- Emanuel County Institute (10-3)
- Darlington (10-2)
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
224 comments Add your comment
Jon
December 12th, 2010
11:10 pm
If you didn’t win the whole thing, does it really matter?
WHAT??
December 12th, 2010
11:15 pm
Financially, YES!!!
Bill30078
December 12th, 2010
11:17 pm
Congrats on my Brookwood Broncos!!! There were other years when I expected our boys to contend for the title but this wasn’t the year. I am so proud of you! I believe the lost to Dacula helped in the long run along with tough games against Grayson, Collins Hills, and South Gwinnett. Great championship game and win against a Colquitt County team that played well with lots of speed. I am somewhat suprised that Camden County and South Gwinnett did not make the final rankings. I will be hoping for a repeat next year with many players returning but I will be watching the usual powerhouses (Lowdnes, Camden, North Gwinnett, and Grayson) as well as an impressive upstart (Hillgrove). Congrats to all the teams and their fans.
Hairy05
December 13th, 2010
12:10 am
Another nit picky thing, but I question why Statesboro is #4 instead of #3 or #2 in AAAA. Chattahoochee beat them on a last second, awful looking, lucky to get through the uprights FG to win by 1 point. (I was at the game but have no real connection to either team). Then the Hooch whips SM by 24 for the title. I would suggest that Statesboro be ranked higher than SM even though the panthers only lost 1 game. Another jab at a south georgia school? (haha, just kidding, I like to stir the pot). Was this ranking only based on W-L then?
ARdawg
December 13th, 2010
12:11 am
There’s #1 and then there’s everybody else. The hair splitting over ELCA and SCLA being 2 or 3 means you guys really have no debate or anything to discuss. It’s a moot point. Those were two fine teams but neither was #1
BcS2010
December 13th, 2010
12:29 am
Its time 4 Tucker to start preparing for a 2011 championship!!
wolfbait67
December 13th, 2010
12:32 am
B-Town Wolves5Peat….has a nice ring to it, as Dale Earnhardt would say looking out his rear view mirror, “here come the 1st losers” as he crosses the finish line……V Peat does have a nice ring to it…Does Carver come to Tom Riden next year?
Blue and Old Gold
December 13th, 2010
1:01 am
Not if SWD has anything to say about it BcSS2010. And so the new season begins
EricMann
December 13th, 2010
1:21 am
Where’s Bremen? C’mon, they at least deserve to be in the freaking top 10!!! Go Big Blue…
Ron Hyatt
December 13th, 2010
1:26 am
Now if you morons would only pay so much attention to what is being done to you by your Goobermint. Bread and Circuses.
A panther fan with a lot of respect.
December 13th, 2010
5:42 am
Granted SC and ELC were both tough teams. Bobby Bowden said it best you can’t win championships without a little luck. Clinch had a little luck with ELC and SC, one bad break in both games and a lot of things could have changed. Last year Clinch had Wilcox beat and with a little luck and talent they pulled out a victory in the closing minutes of the game, otherwise I feel Clinch would have been repeating as state champs. Look at Clinch’s region this year: Charlton preseason No 1, (never count out a Mcworter team and will be tough next year), Wilcox is loaded for next year! Region 2A this year and the same for next will be class A’s equivilant to class AAAAA’s region 1AAAAA. Charlton, Clinch and Wilcox will beat one another up. Tough to say the state Championship will come from here. Class A has had an emergence of talented teams the past couple of years and expect it to be tough again next year. ELC and SC were two programs that carried themselves with a lot of class and will be back at it next year.
jimb
December 13th, 2010
7:12 am
Millcreek number eight,beat etowah and south, played Colquitt great and held them to 27 points. they earned the right.
Ocee
December 13th, 2010
7:15 am
I believe the Byerly kids is going to ARMY.
Tucker rules
December 13th, 2010
7:34 am
Its all over and people are still crying about rankings, It really does not matter 2nd place is just the first loser. I think Burke County ranking is about right they played well this year and every player on there roster lives in Burke County No other team can say that.
Panther Dad
December 13th, 2010
7:35 am
Great Season of Football. With Regards to the Class A rankings, SC and ELCA are both fine programs. Both played Clinch tough. But my opinion and i saw both games against Clinch, ELCA was tougher. I honestly thought Clinch was gonna lose when the score was 7-0 ELCA. I agree, if Clinch was to have a rematch i doubt seriously if they would want to play ELCA. Really, if Dorsey passes were a little more on target in the first half, Clinch would have killed SC in a air show. Clinch’s receivers are too fast.
Fred
December 13th, 2010
8:11 am
@iTiSi , It is fair to call them Atlanta teams based on the Metropolitan Statistical Area. See http://www.atlantaregional.com/File%20Library/Info%20Center/gis/GIS%20Maps/rs_ARC_Regions_Map_11×17_032409.pdf if you have questions about the included counties. Two teams are from Gwinnett, one from North Fulton and one from Fayetteville/Tyrone. So far, I’ve only seen one person from Sandy Creek that did not want to be associated with Atlanta.
KD
December 13th, 2010
8:47 am
In your AAA rankings,Monroe Area finished in the final eight, a team that can beat St.Pius,Burke,& Cedar Grove(5losses?)overall GREAT team speed, on both sides of the ball, and was beaten by SC on a wet soggy field, the offense just couldn’t get going. Yes, they didn’t play a tough schedule, but they can’t help that almost everyone in their region was just down this year, they played them and beat them convinceably, just like Gainesville did. I just don’t see a team with 5 losses in the top 10, by the way what was Monroe’s final ranking ? 11th, no justice a ALL to a great team that should have been in the top 8 in the state of Georgia, picked by a bunch of people(putting it nicely) that probably never played the game in high school, and most of you if not all probably never saw Monroe play this year, just look at the stats !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike
December 13th, 2010
8:51 am
I told you way back that Stephenson wasn’t that good but they stayed highly ranked until they fell in the playoffs. Surprise, surprise they didn’t make the final top 10.
Vegasjs
December 13th, 2010
8:52 am
4A rankings from the perspective of a Hooch Fan:
1. Hooch
2. Marist (Gave Hooch Best Game)
3. Statesboro (Close Game – But Should Have Been a Wider Margin)
4. Starrs Mill (Off Day in Finals)
5. Tucker (Could Have Been a Shootout)
6. Kell (Also Could Have Been a Shootout)
7. Dutchtown (Showed Some Life Late)
Thats All I Have – The rest would be a SWAG.
Patriot Power
December 13th, 2010
8:56 am
I know about 7000 (the population of Tyrone) from Sandy Creek who do not want to be associated with Atlanta. The whole North/South thing is really about Camden, Lowndes, and Valdosta vs. the Gwinnett schools in AAAAA. Schools who are not in either of those groups nor in AAAAA don’t really care about it. There are great schools and not-so-great schools found in all areas of Georgia.
If you look at the RESA divisions of the state (http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/findaschool.aspx), regions 6 & 7 make up the area I would consider West Central Georgia. The metro area is Region 4.
Cloud 9
December 13th, 2010
9:06 am
What has Michael Carvell been drinking?
Camden County, Clark Central, Northside, Marist, Charlton Cty, etc. not ranked in final poll. Crazy! The fair thing– if you are going to do it this way, only rank after the play-offs. Maybe during the season in alphabetical (mis-spelled) order just say, these are the teams AJC believes are the best teams in each classification without ranking them.
HoochFan
December 13th, 2010
9:31 am
Chattahoochee played a fantastic game!! Never in doubt! Defense stepped up BIG!
Surprisingly, I believe that Byerly only has offers from Air Force, Furman and mayber Navy. I imagine that there will be much more interest, and he will be playing at the next level.
Freshman RB Chase Nelson is a beast! Would have been interesting seeing him play behind this year’s O-Line! It won’t be as easy next year, but he should be able to run all over Lambert!
(jk Lambert – I appreciate all the support throughout the play-offs–I saw several Lambert folks down at the dome)
I think that Marist should be ranked instead of Dutchtown (and Brunswick, but who really knows, because now we’re just speculating again. Without actually playing each other, it’s all guesswork. Before the games were played, both Marist & Statesboro were “supposed” to be better than Hooch, mainly because of their prior play-off success.
What an awesome season!! Now I’m ready for some Hooch Basketball!!
GO HOOCH!!
Jim
December 13th, 2010
9:37 am
In hard eonomic times the season is much too long. A region champ in ten games should not play a number 4 or 3 seed where there is an obvious lack of motivation. Eliminate at least two rounds. In the state championship game if the teams are from Macon or deep in Georgia let them decide on the neutral site and not be required to go to the dome unless they agree and want to go to the dome. For instance if Camden and Valdosta were playing let them play it within reasonable driving distance or do a coin flip and not be required to play in the dome. It is a clear advantage for metro teams to play there versus the rest of the state in travel time, wear and tear on bus machinery, gasoline expense as well as on players, coaches and fans and their cars. This isn’t the NFL. In this tough economy people need to conserve their resources.
Tiger4Life
December 13th, 2010
9:41 am
@Tucker rules
Your’re right!!! If your’re not in 1st you’re losing and nobody remembers who finished second. It’s time to get over it and start getting ready for next season.
Laughing out Loud
December 13th, 2010
9:47 am
Why on God’s green earth do you care where your ranked if you didn’t win the Championship lol!!! I mean going after #10 ranked MLK and #8 ranked Ceder Grove is simply retarded do you really wanna be ranked 10 that bad lol!! And you obviously don’t watch college football or you would know that even though Michegan State went 10-1 the same as Wis. and OSU why they are not beefing about a BCS birth.. Goodness people its one number 1 argure about which state champ is number one in the state not why your possible #10 team got slighted lol!!
Recruiter
December 13th, 2010
9:49 am
Why don’t we play several more games and have a true state champion? I believe the two 5A teams would beat all comers and would play again to annoint a true state champion, but it would be more interesting than what we have now.
Jim
December 13th, 2010
10:07 am
Recruiter. You must have a ton of money.
AAA Rankings???? WTF
December 13th, 2010
10:10 am
If a team plays in the quarterfinals, should not that team be ranked in the final poll? Monroe Area played and lost to Sandy Creek in the quarterfinals but they were left out of the final rankings. WTF!!!!
Douglas Patterson
December 13th, 2010
10:15 am
Go UG:
Do you know how many yards rushing Clinch had against SCPS? Less than 50! How many yards rushing did ELC give up against Clinch? Fact is, Savannah Christian played Clinch in the championship. ELC did not. In every other class the runnerup was awarded #2 ranking. That’s the fact. All other comments are irrelevant. Again, putting ELC above Savannah Christian is only because it is 30 miles south of Atlanta!!
pmuckle
December 13th, 2010
10:15 am
Who gives a crap! I’M SO HAPPY THAT CHEATERS COLQUITT COUNTY DID NOT WIN THE STATE TITLE!!!! CAN’T BRING YA OWN REFS TO THE DOME FOOLS!!!
GO UG!
December 13th, 2010
10:16 am
Panther Dad, I was thinking this morning that Dorsey was much more accurate with his passes against ELCA than he was against SC. Clinch has some very good receivers who can catch. Conversely, the ELCA QB was more accurate against Wesleyan than he was against Clinch. ELCA’s receiver Reeves is a great receiver but the QB just couldn’t get the ball to him against Clinch. I kept thinking during the championship game that SC was lucky that Dorsey was overthrowing his receivers. He was spot on against ELCA. That #23 for Clinch is one scrappy, fighting runner. Anyway, congratulations to everyone who even made the playoffs.
pmuckle
December 13th, 2010
10:17 am
YES COLQUITT COUNTY LOST!!!!! CHEATERS
Hawk Fan
December 13th, 2010
10:20 am
pmuckle – What game or games are you saying Colquitt County cheated in?
Douglas Patterson
December 13th, 2010
10:25 am
Go UG:
Savannah Christian wasn’t “lucky.” Their defense pressured and confused the excellent Clinch quarterback to cause those overthrows.
KD
December 13th, 2010
10:28 am
This is the CORRECT rankings in AAA
1-Sandy Creek
2-Carrollton
3-Peach
4-Cairo(tie)
4-Monroe Area(tie)
6-Grady
7-Gainesville
8-Burke County
9-Baldwin
10-????
Also, in Class A, you did George Walton an injustice, I guess if these two schools GWA & Monroe were in the shadows of downtown they would get more respect.I also believe that Monroe would have given Carrollton and Peach a run for their money if they would have played each other.
KD
December 13th, 2010
10:32 am
To GHSF, does the rankings stop at #10, I remember when you use to have a Top 15 or 20, what was the final ranking of Monroe Area, since you did them a gravely injustice and left them out of the Top 10.
georgiaboi
December 13th, 2010
10:34 am
is hooch and sandy creek going to be loaded next year
GO UG!
December 13th, 2010
10:40 am
Doug, there is no doubt that SC has a great team or they would not have been in the State Playoffs. ELCA pressured him as well but he was more accurate against them. Make no mistake, ELCA has a fine football team and will be back in the hunt next year. Did you you read the 7:35 AM post by Panther Dad? I realize that SC is your team and you should support, cheer and defend them but they did have another loss. Congratulations on making the big game two years in a row.
Buzz
December 13th, 2010
10:43 am
Monroe area was a joke!! They got blown off the field by SANDY CREEK!!! GO CREEEEEEEKKKKK!!!! Back to Back!!! Way to go Coach Walker and your coaching staff!!!!!
GooeyCake
December 13th, 2010
10:46 am
Really must SUCK to be a Calhoun fan. In my opinion the GHSSA needs to look hard at Region 7 AA and make some changes. Calhoun needs some competition to help make them a better team. Maybe they should step down to Class A or maybe find a head coach that can win the big game?
I’m filling Coach Lamb’s stocking with Lunesta and Ambien for Christmas cause he’s going to need it. Instead of counting sheep as he sleeps he counts Buford players scoring touchdowns. LMAO
Laughing out Loud
December 13th, 2010
10:59 am
If you lose in the quarterfinals and everybody else ranked in the top 10 didn’t please shut up!! You had your chance you choke had an off day whatever you are simply Boise State going to the Las Vegas bowl lol!! You CAN lose all your respect with one lost Monroe Area get over it and try again next year lol!!
Douglas Patterson
December 13th, 2010
11:04 am
I care less about what Panther Dad said. Who knows? The fact is that SC played Clinch in the championship, not ELC. In every other class the runnerup was awarded #2, except in Class A. Neither ELC or SC beat Clinch. But SC and Clinch played in the championship.
WarEagle
December 13th, 2010
11:08 am
@georgiaboi: Hooch is losing key senior starters at QB; WR; 4-5 offensive lineman; nose tackle; linebacker; kicker; and a few other spots. I’d be impressed if they can replicate their success in 2011.
georgiaboi
December 13th, 2010
11:14 am
is sandy creek going to be loaded next year
KD
December 13th, 2010
11:16 am
To Buzz, 2 fumbles inside the 20, a long punt return, and a long pass to the 2, right before half, you take away those situations and it would have been a blow away, but I wasn’t talking about SC, you were the one that brought it up.
NYCDAWGFAN
December 13th, 2010
11:27 am
Purist: You have lost your mind. Look at Burke County’s record, strength of regular season schedule, and playoff run. ‘Nuff said…. Leave the Bears alone or you will get bitten
Buzz
December 13th, 2010
11:30 am
KD any more excuses????? The game wasn’t even close and they called off the dogs in the 3rd and 4th quarter!!! KD you must be related to the Peach County fans!!!!!
NYCDAWGFAN
December 13th, 2010
11:32 am
KD: Same to you kid.
Buzz
December 13th, 2010
11:33 am
KD look back at your 8:47 post and then you tell me who started making excuses????
GooeyCake
December 13th, 2010
11:45 am
Poor ole Lambert………I feel sorry for you being so ignorant about Buford HS football. Buford can compete at any classification level. Ask Clarke Central whom Buford spanked in the preseason scrimmage. Ask Gainesville as well. Buford could line up and beat the State Champ from any classification that won in the dome this past weekend. Marist couldn’t hold Buford’s dirty jock. Bring it…….you moron.