It’s been mentioned a couple times in the high-class blog that six teams have separated themselves as clearly deserving of Top 10 rankings. Doesn’t mean they’ll stay there, or that they’ll even contend for a title when all is done, but as of Aug. 30, there is little debate about whether they should be ranked.
That was supported this week, when those six – Mill Creek, Roswell, Grayson, McEachern, Colquitt County and Norcross – were the only ones in Class 7A ranked in all six polls used for the GHSF Daily composite rankings (to be published Wednesday).
Now, for the discussion. Which of the others are to be taken seriously as a contender?
And did anyone notice the number of former high-class teams now in the 6A rankings. I know these weren’t all in the highest class last season, but they’ve all been factors in recent years – No. 2 Northside, No. 3 Valdosta, No. 4 Dacula, No. 5 Lee County, No. 6 Coffee and No. 10 Tucker.
So one answer could be: "None of them. Class 7A's depth has been sucked away by reclassification.''
Which of these do you think can compete with the Roswells, the Graysons, the Mill Creeks, etc. ? Any of them?
-Brookwood – Coming off consecutive losing seasons, the Broncos are 2-0 under second-year coach Philip Jones, an alumnus with lots of experience in Brookwood tradition. North Gwinnett and Walton aren't great this year, but still two pretty good victories out of the chute. Brookwood plays South Gwinnett in a big one this week.
-South Gwinnett – The Comets were 2-8 last season, their worst finish in John Small's 11 seasons. But they've just beaten two round-of-16 playoff teams in back-to-back weeks – Central Gwinnett and Lanier.
-Parkview – Eric Godfree inherited a team that finished 3-7 in Cecil Flowe's last season, 2013. The Panthers were 6-5 last season and are 2-0 now after wins over Tennessee power Christ Presbyterian and up-and-coming Shiloh, which had beaten Parkview a year ago. Parkview plays Lowndes, a team that got some top-10 votes, this week.
-Archer – Archer suffered huge losses to its 11-2 team of a year ago. The Tigers lost 27-14 without their starting QB against No. 3 McEachern, then won 20-19 against Peachtree Ridge, which was ranked at the time. Archer has Mll Creek, Norcross and Roswell on the pre-region schedule, so a 3-2 record would be a great accomplishment.
-North Cobb – The Warriors are 2-0 with wins over Cherokee and Etowah. North Cobb has actually been trending down the past few seasons from 11-3 to 9-3 to 7-4 to 5-6. It appears to be headed back up and was better than it's a record a year ago, when the Warriors lost five games by four points or less. North Cobb is about to play Harrison, which got some top-10 votes this week in 6A, this week.
-Hillgrove – The Hawks opened with a 27-14 victory over South Forsyth, a 2015 quarterfinalist that began ranked. A game this week against North Gwinnett (1-1) should be telling. North lost to Brookwood 37-23, but beat a pretty decent Milton team 43-29.
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