AA in brief: 3 top 5 losses lead to rankings reshuffling

The new polls were released over the holiday weekend and, not surprisingly, there was some shuffling to them in Class AA after three top five teams lost.

For a review of last weekend's ranked AA games, revisit the Friday night recap for Week 3.

As discussed in the recap, No. 2 Heard County, No. 4 Thomasville and No. 5 Brooks County lost. Despite Thomasville losing 50-3 to Colquitt County — which moved into the No. 1 spot in AAAAAAA with the win — the Bulldogs keep their spot in the rankings. Heard County drops a spot to No. 3 after top-ranked Hapeville Charter beat the Braves 33-3. Brooks County paid the price for losing 37-7 to the No. 1 team in A-public, Clinch County, by falling out of the rankings altogether.

Here's a look at the updated rankings, with the previous week's rankings in parenthesis.

1. (1) Hapeville Charter (2-0)

2. (3) Callaway (2-0)

3. (2) Heard County (1-1)

4. (4) Thomasville (2-1)

5. (6) Bremen (2-0)

6. (7) Dodge County (2-0)

7. (8) Rabun County (1-1)

8. (9) Rockmart (2-0)

9. (10) Dublin (3-0)

10. (NR) Washington County (2-0)

Out: No. 5 Brooks County

In brief

• The South Atlanta Hornets beat Clarkston 55-0 on Friday to move to 2-1 on the year. The Hornets, under third-year coach Brad Stephens, are aiming for the program's first winning season since 1995.
• The Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane beat A-public's No. 6 team, Dooly County, 27-26, to improve to 2-1. Their lone loss was 16-10 to A-public's No. 2 Irwin County, at which time they were ranked No. 9. With all of the top 10 losses over the weekend, and given the Purple Hurricane's strength of schedule, the begging question is why isn't this team ranked?
• There is a coaches poll conducted by SportalTV that releases rankings midweek. It had Fitzgerald ranked even before the Dooly County win.
• The Temple Tigers notched their first win of the year with a 38-12 win over Kendrick.
• The Heard Citizen has details of Hapeville Charter's win over Heard County.
• The Union County Panthers, who returned to AA after a two-year stint in AAA, defeated Towns County 45-7, improving to 2-0. They've won their first two games by a combined score of 80-13. Friday's win gave coach Brian Allison his 100th career win for the program. Todd Forrest has a writeup on the game for NGN Sports.
• The Chattooga Indians are 2-1 after a 55-20 win over Heritage-Ringgold, which follows up a 17-0 win over Wesleyan. They've won two straight after Adairsville edged the 21-20 in their opener.
• Even though Thomasville lost to Colquitt County in blowout fashion, it wasn't all bad for the Bulldogs. Freshman quarterback Chad Moscoe's long completion to Ricardo Johnson was a WCTV Play of the Week nominee. WTXL has highlights from the game. Earlier in the week, WALB profiled Moscoe, who already has offers from Georgia, Florida State and Miami among others.
• In No. 9 Dublin's 20-13 win over Swainsboro, Jermain Cooley rushed nine times for 65 yards, followed by quarterback Rodriguez Martin (9-63) and Corteveyas Mitchell (14-60). Martin accounted for all three of Dublin's touchdowns, throwing for one and running for two, as Rick Nolte reported for The Courier Herald.
• Hawaiian outfit day worked for the Vidalia Indians, who defeated A-public's then-No. 10 Emanuel County Institute, 28-14, knocking it from the rankings in the process. Nyshun Bell scored two long touchdowns to lead the Indians.
• Callaway quarterback Jacob Freeman was taken off the field in a stretcher during the fourth quarter of the Cavaliers' 14-0 win over LaGrange. Players from both teams gathered on the field to pray for Freeman, who returned to the sidelines on his own accord before the game ended. His status moving forward is unclear.
• Earlier in the week, Kevin Eckleberry of The LaGrange Daily News profiled Freeman and running back Tank Bigsby.
• The Early County Bobcats are 2-1 after shutting out Cook, 17-0, for their first shutout since 2015, when they had three. It was in 2015 when they finished 7-4-1 was their last winning season. After losing their opener 33-7 to Thomas County Central, they've outscored Eufaula (Ala.) and Cook a combined 45-3.
• The Jeff Davis Yellow Jackets are 3-0 after defeating East Laurens 20-14. They're seeking their first winning season since 2011.
• The Social Circle Redskins are 2-0 after beating Cross Keys 62-0, their second straight shutout. They also beat Stone Mountain 31-0. Brett Fowler has the writeup for The Walton Tribune. The Redskins haven't had a winning season since 2006.
• Callaway has released a hype video.
• Thomasville second-year coach Zach Grage has the Bulldogs community so passionate about the team that they're starting to impersonate him at games.