There's always a smirk when high school football fans talk about the lower classes being able to play with the bigger classifications in the state. That smirk is the same one that Class AAA is collectively looking to wipe off a bunch of faces.
Last weekend, it began to do just that.
This battle-tested class already has shined in a nationally televised game, seen rivalries between perennially ranked teams intensify, watched championship-caliber football overtake the seemingly bigger and better teams and, overall, has made the state take a second glance.
“I think AAA is loaded,” said Calhoun coach Hal Lamb, whose team won the state title last season. “I think there are more teams that could win the state championship in AAA than in any other classification, in my opinion. There are easily eight to 10 teams that probably can win the state championship.”
Calhoun, ranked No. 1 in the class, opened its season by overpowering Class AAAA Ridgeland 45-21 in the Corky Kell Classic. Then other teams in the classification went on a tear.
No. 3 Peach County made waves with its statement-making opening schedule: Class AAAAAA Northside-Warner Robins; Class AAAAAA Lee County on the road; Class AAAAAA Houston County and Class AAAA Mary Persons at home. The statement: “We want to see how we match up with anyone in the state."
Then, when the Trojan’s defeated then-No. 4 Northside 24-21 in the Georgia Showcase at Mercer in Macon, Peach’s first victory against the Eagles since 1997, the state took notice.
No. 3 Greater Atlanta Christian lost to then-No. 6 Westminster in a display of playoff-quality football in Week 2. In Week 1, Westminster ran all over Class AAAA Woodward Academy, 56-31. Westside-Macon, which will continue to hover as one of the best 15 teams in the class, defeated Class AAAAA Harris County 27-24 in overtime on the road.
No. 6 Pace Academy, which was previously unranked, came from behind for a 17-16 victory against Eagle’s Landing Christian and ended ELCA’s 37-game winning streak. ELCA, a private school, easily could compete in Class AAA or Class AAAA.
“This is a classification that, from top-to-bottom, if it’s not the best, it is one of the best,” said Pace Academy coach Chris Slade. “Any of those teams from our classification could compete against most of the teams in the state. It’s scary how good the talent is in AAA.”
Pace’s next opponent? Region 8-AAA Monroe Area which focused its energy on Class AAAAAA Apalachee (37-5) and Class AAAAA Loganville (52-24) in the first two weeks of the year. All of this after the purple Hurricane enjoyed beating Class AAAAAAA Grayson in the Corky Kell 7-on-7 this summer. Sure, it’s a fun 7-on-7 tournament, but it’s still a form of the Grayson Rams.
There's No. 9 Liberty County taking down Class AAAAAA Bradwell Institute 40-17 in its opener. The Panthers relied on a large performance from back Kris Coleman. To find more on his exploits this past week go here.
But -- in saving the best for last-- there's more.
Cedar Grove spent its first two weeks on the road beating some of the best teams in the Southeast -- Summerville (S.C.) 21-7 and Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.) 34-30. The takedown of Hewitt-Trussville on ESPN could be viewed as a snapshot of the entire classification.
“I watched them on TV Saturday, and they are as good as they’ve ever been,” Lamb said of Cedar Grove. “I think coach (Jimmy) Smith is doing a good job with those guys. They’ve got talent all over the field, and they’re well-coached. To go over to Alabama and beat probably a top-3 team in the whole state of Alabama, from what I was told, that says a lot about the team they have.”
After losing to Calhoun in the semifinals last season, Cedar Grove has the classification and state paying attention. There are D-1 recruits all across the lineup but the second-ranked Saints, as usual, are focused on themselves.
''Honesty, I'm not really focused on that right now; I'm more focused on getting better every practice every day,” said Cedar Grove's Smith. “But I'm not surprised. All of those teams are very well-coached, and they play well every year. I don't expect this year to be any different.”
The caliber of competition has not gone unnoticed by the recruiting services. Ten athletes from Class AAA are listed on Scout's top 100 list, and two of those -- Cedar Grove's Jadon Haselwood and GAC's Chris Hinton -- are listed in the top 25 on most national lists.
There have been outstanding performances across the board. For example: Westminster's Parks Harber, who's committed to UGA for baseball, passed for five touchdowns in their opener. Calhoun has D-1 recruits all over the field including linebacker Davis Allen (Clemson). Monroe Area's dual-style quarterback, Chandler Byron, made the AJC preseason all-state team. Peach County linebacker Sergio Allen (Clemson) will join Calhoun's Allen as a future-Tiger.
“I think it’s a really deep classification this year,” he said. “The team that comes out on top is really going to earn it this year."
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