Not too often in high school football is the season opener a rematch of the state championship game. Yet for Class AA's Benedictine Cadets and Greater Atlanta Christian Spartans, that's exactly the case.
As discussed here, the two teams will meet on Friday at Savannah State's T.A. Wright Stadium. Benedictine beat GAC 45-21 in the championship game and enters the season as the No. 1 team in AA. The Spartans enter the season No. 3, so right off the bat we know the AA top five will experience a shakeup after the first week.
Speaking of the shakeup, No. 2 Fitzgerald could find themselves in the top spot if they can take care of business at home against AAAA's Worth County, a team that finished 6-4 last year. Fitzgerald went 12-2 in 2014 and narrowly lost to GAC 44-41 in the AA semifinals. The Purple Hurricanes have posted double-digit win totals in 11 of the last 12 seasons.
There's another matchup of top 10 AA teams this week: No. 7 Lovett and No. 10 Pace Academy. The top 10 ranking could be short-lived for Pace - Lovett won last year's meeting 38-3. It was the first time the two teams met. But don't count out Pace should it lose in the opener - the Knights started 2-5 last season then rode a five-game win streak into the quarterfinals.
On the other end of the state in Northeast Georgia, AA's No. 8 team, Rabun County, takes on Jefferson County, the No. 5 team in AAA. Rabun County coach Lee Shaw continues his job of turning around the program, as the team has improved in each of his first three seasons. The Wildcats' senior class were only freshman in Shaw's first year at Rabun, so the players should be comfortable in Shaw's up-tempo, spread offense.
No. 5 Brooks County will host Ware County, AAAAA's No. 9 team. Fans of AA football might be familiar with Ware County's coach, Franklin Stephens, who left Lamar County after the 2013 season. Brooks County lost to host Ware County last season, 31-6.
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