Shiloh clinched its first winning season since 2003 on Friday with a 42-7 victory over Rockdale County.
Shiloh is under the guidance of first-year coach Tino Ierulli, who came from Florida. Read this week's interview with Ierulli published on AJC.com for more on that story. He believes a state title is realistic.
Next week’s game against Grayson might shed more light on that ambition, but for now, Shiloh - 2-8 last season - is easily Class AAAAAAA’s most improved team.
Here are four other observations from Friday night’s games:
*Camden County (6-0) is relevant again. That might not became apparent until region play begins and the Wildcats face No. 1 Lowndes or No. 3 Colquitt County, but they defeated a pretty good Glynn Academy team 51-17 last week. The program is being rebuilt by Bob Sphire, who transformed North Gwinnett beginning around 2005.
*Tift County, despite a 1-4 start, hasn’t given up on making the playoffs, either. The Blue Devils defeated defending AAAAA champion Bainbridge 24-6 on Friday. Tift has lost to four top-10 teams, albeit three of them from lower classes, but should be competitive now in Region 1. Tift didn’t schedule as strategically as, say, Camden as thus probably would not get the at-large playoff berth were it to finish fourth in that rugged region.
*Marietta defeated previously unbeaten Edgewater of Orlando 39-24. Edgewater is ranked No. 2 in Florida’s Class 7A. That’s a big win for Georgia, but also the Blue Devils. Despite that loss to Grayson, Marietta is still lurking as a major state contender.
*Parkview edged Norcross 31-24. It’s always a good win to beat Norcross, but Mill Creek, North Gwinnett and Archer each beat the Blue Devils much more handily.
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