Here’s a recap of the big stories in Class AAAAA from Week 2:
*No. 1 Creekside falls: Defending state champion and No. 1-ranked Creekside had its 16-game winning streak come to an end when a late rally fell short in a 21-20 loss to Fairburn rival Hughes, the seventh-ranked team in Class AAAAAA. Creekside trailed 21-0 late in the third quarter but got two touchdowns from Julian Gibbs and one by Bricen Terry to cut the lead to 21-20. The Seminoles missed their last extra-point attempt with about two minutes remaining when they had to try a 35-yard kick after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Creekside was playing without Super 11 receiver Jayson Stanley (committed to Georgia), who will miss the rest of the season after suffering an ACL tear.
*It's tough without Watson: Gainesville averaged 46 points per game over the past two seasons and won a state championship while Deshaun Watson was breaking the state's career passing record. But Watson's a freshman at Clemson now. The post-Watson era began on Friday with a 39-0 loss to Class AAAAAA Grayson. New Gainesville quarterback Mikey Gonzalez was 26-for-33 for 146 yards with two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. It marked the first time Gainesville had been shut out since a 49-0 loss to Buford to open the 2011 season.
*Big plays propel Gators: Ware County trailed 7-3 with less than six minutes to play before breaking the game open and beating Manatee (Fla.) 23-7 in the opener of the South Georgia Classic Doubleheader at Lowndes. Ware County took the lead on a 56-yard pass from Xavier Hollman to Quayshawn Taylor with 5:07 remaining, and Sammy Burley returned two interceptions for touchdowns to put the game away, according to a report by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Manatee had won 29 consecutive regular-season games.
*Life is good at Cambridge, at least for now: Cambridge, the third-year program from Milton, improved to 2-0 for the first time in the school's short history with a 42-12 victory against Chapel Hill. The Bears were 4-16 in their first two seasons. But it gets tougher from here. After taking next weekend off, Cambridge will travel to Rome before visiting sixth-ranked Kell on the road to open play in Region 7-AAAAA Division B. Kell beat the Bears 49-6 in the region play-in game last season.
*Ready to play somebody else: LaGrange probably has seen enough of its neighbors. The Grangers, who moved up from Class AAAA this season, fell to 0-2 this season against county rivals when they lost to Troup 36-14. It was LaGrange's most-lopsided loss in the history of the series, which LaGrange leads 19-8 despite losing four of the past five. In the opener last weekend, LaGrange lost to Callaway for the first time in three all-time meetings.
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