The midway point of the high school football season played big Friday for seven of the top-ranked Class AAA teams in the state.
Two programs – No. 6 Appling County and No. 7 Crisp County – lost to higher-classed teams, and No. 8 Lovett fell to No. 2 Cedar Grove 41-17 in a Region 5 game.
So what did we learn? Well, there were really no surprises this week. Let's glance around the classification to see what we can see:
-- Top-ranked Peach County continued its trend of demolishing Kendrick, this time 77-14 at home. But the two touchdowns by Kendrick broke a streak of consecutive shutouts dating to 2016. Peach has only lost to Kendrick once – in 1990 – in the 14 previous games.
-- Cedar Grove scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to take control of Region 5 with a 41-17 victory against Lovett. Quarterback Austin Smith and running back Chavon Wright scored three touchdowns each.
-- Pierce County moved to 5-0 after a 42-28 victory against South Effingham, which allows the Bears to enter Region 2 competition against Brantley County next week with momentum.
-- Greater Atlanta Christian's Jackson Hardy passed for 175 yards and two touchdowns on the road as the Spartans opened 7-AAA play with an important 49-7 victory against East Hall. Hardy passed to Jake Hicks (7 yards) and Choe Bryant-Strother (30) for touchdowns. Tyler Bride had two rushing touchdowns of 15 and 7 yards. Tre Henry added touchdowns runs of 17 and 3 yards.
-- And unranked Calhoun, which fell out of the poll last week after a 31-7 loss to North Murray, beat Ringgold 48-3 and seems back on track. Four Calhoun players rushed for touchdowns. Calhoun's scoring started on an 11-yard run by quarterback Jake Morrow minutes into the game. Jerrian Hames had two rushing touchdowns -- including a 64-yarder -- and Quin Smith (51 yards) and Jake Prather (5 yards) added touchdowns. Morrow also passed for two touchdowns -- to Cole Speer for 75 yards and to Jaden Brock for 26.
Class AAA top-10 results
1. Peach County (4-1) beat Kendrick 77-14 in a Region 4 game.
2. Cedar Grove (3-2) beat No. 8 Lovett 41-17 for a Region 5 game.
3. Pierce County (5-0) beat Class AAAAA South Effingham 42-28.
4. Greater Atlanta Christian (4-1) beat East Hall 49-7 in a Region 7 game.
5. Hart County (5-0) beat Jackson County 56-13 in a Region 8 game.
6. Appling County (4-1) lost to Class AAAAA Wayne County 33-24.
7. Crisp County (3-3) lost to Class AAAAA No. 3 Bainbridge 14-9.
8. Lovett (3-2) lost to No. 2 Cedar Grove 41-17 in a Region 5 game.
9. Liberty County (2-0) beat Class AAAAAA Richmond Hill 31-23.
10. Jefferson (3-1) beat East Jackson 70-6 in a Region 8 game.
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