All the hype that was built leading into the season has passed, as has Week 1. But it didn’t pass without a major shakeup to the rankings. The Bremen Blue Devils officially welcomed themselves into Class AA with a 13-10 win over the No. 3-ranked and state runners-up Rabun County Wildcats with a field goal as time expired. With the win, the Blue Devils shot up from No. 9 to No. 6 in the new polls, while Rabun County fell to No. 8 and saw their 28-game regular season win streak come to an end.
Speaking of the No. 8 spot, it was previously held by the Jefferson County Warriors, who lost 14-12 to unranked Swainsboro. The loss boots them from the rankings, allowing Rockmart in at No. 10 after the Yellow Jackets shocked Cedartown — the then-No. 10 team in AAAA — with a 20-14 win.
The Thomasville Bulldogs moved up a spot to No. 4 with their incredible come-from-behind 15-14 win over Cairo in a game they trailed 14-0 with 7:25 left. Maxwell’s projections had the Bulldogs winning by one point and that’s what happened.
Other close calls include No. 2 Heard County edging AAAA’s LaGrange 10-3, and No. 7 Dodge County topping Bradwell Institute of AAAAAA by a score of 23-15.
No. 5 Brooks County (with a 43-6 win over Mitchell County)and No. 9 Fitzgerald (45-7 over Bacon County) were the only ranked teams to win convincingly, while No. 1 Hapeville Charter and No. 3 Callaway didn’t play.
Here's a glimpse at the updated rankings, with the previous week's rankings in parenthesis:
1. (1) Hapeville Charter (0-0)
2. (2) Heard County (1-0)
3. (4) Callaway (0-0)
4. (5) Thomasville (1-0)
5. (6) Brooks County (1-0)
6. (9) Bremen (1-0)
7. (7) Dodge County (1-0)
8. (8) Rabun County (0-1)
9. (9) Fitzgerald (1-0)
10. (NR) Rockmart (1-0)
Out: No. 8 Jefferson County
In brief
- No. 1 Hapeville Charter begins its title defense on Saturday, 5 p.m. against AAAAAA's River Ridge Knights, which lost 28-0 to Etowah last week in their opener.
- Callaway's Keyshawn Cameron and Tyrique Andrews were invited to compete in the Elite Raw Talent All-American Bowl.
- Bleckley County's Nykeem Farrow made WMAZ's plays of the week list with his three touchdown runs, one of which can be seen at the 44-second mark of this video.
- Bremen's Evan Fuller gives praise to his teammates for helping him kick the game-winning field goal over Rabun County.
- Model came up just short in its 28-25 loss to LaFayette in Blue Devils coach Richard Ross' debut. Ross took over when Gordon Powers retired following last season.
- Gordon Central coach Cory Nix called out his Warriors for not showing up for their opener against Haralson County, which they lost 35-7.
- Here are highlights from Douglass' 22-12 win over Washington.
- Hapeville Charter's helmet is prominently displayed at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, commemorating the Hornets' 2017 state title.
- Screven County held on to beat South Carolina's Bluffton 31-30 after Bluffton's 2-point conversion failed at the end of the game.
- Here's Pat Donahue's writeup of Thomasville's thrilling 15-14 win over Cairo for the Thomasville Times-Enterprise.
- WJBF has highlights for the games of Laney, Swainsboro-Jefferson County, Screven County, Josey, Jeff Davis-Glenn Hills, Hepzibah, Washington County and Dublin.
- Jeremy Green's rain-soaked debut as Armuchee coach was a success, as the Indians beat Murray County 28-7. Jonathan Blaylock of the Rome News-Tribune spoke to Green after the game.
- Here's an impressive interception from a Swainsboro Tigers defensive back in their win over Jefferson County. Swainsboro is understandably fired up about the win.
- WCTV's Football Friday Night features its game of the week between Thomasville and Cairo and also has highlights from games of Brooks County and Early County.
- Toombs County is picking up where they left off last season, beating Twiggs County 35-0.
- Thomas County Central at Thomasville was voted by fans to be WCTV's next game of the week.
- South Atlanta dropped a tough one to Central-Carrollton, 21-20 in overtime.
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