A week after three top-10 teams lost on the opening weekend of the 2018 high school football season, the Class AAAAAA rankings appear headed for another major shakeup.
Four of the latest top-10 teams lost on Friday, and the damage could get worse on Saturday when four more teams take the field against top-quality opponents (see note below).
No. 2 Coffee and No. 7 Harrison were the only top-10 teams to survive Friday night’s games. Coffee beat Class AAAA Salem 23-6, and Harrison beat Class AAAAA Hiram 37-20.
The casualties from Friday included:
*No. 4 Valdosta, which moved up three spots after opening-game losses by Tucker, Mays and Allatoona, gave up 10 sacks in a 24-10 loss to Class AAAAAAA Tift County. It was Valdosta’s second consecutive loss to the Blue Devils in a series it leads 49-10.
*No. 5 Stephenson lost to Southwest DeKalb 21-14 in overtime. It was the Panthers’ first victory over Stephenson since 2005 and snapped a seven-game losing streak in the series.
*No. 9 Alpharetta lost an emotion-filled game against rival Milton (No. 8 in AAAAAAA) 37-27. Alpharetta trailed 16-14 at halftime, but Milton scored the next 21 points to break it open.
*No. 10 Lanier, which moved into the rankings after beating Peachtree Ridge 47-0 last week, is in serious danger of dropping back out after a 35-7 loss to Central Gwinnett, which had lost to South Gwinnett last week.
Here’s a recap of some of the other big stories in Class AAAAAA from Week 2:
*Coming up: Six Class AAAAAA teams will be in action on an unusually busy Saturday, and all six will have their hands full. Top-ranked Lee County will host Dr. Phillips of Orlando, the defending champion in Florida's Class 8A. No. 3 Northside-Warner will play at Mercer against Peach County, the No. 4 team in AAA. No. 6 Mays will host Central-Phenix City, which lost in Alabama's Class 7A semifinals last year. No. 8 Tucker travels to Class AAAAAAA No. 1 Grayson. River Ridge faces defending Class AA champion Hapeville Charter, and Johns Creek travels to Washington, D.C. to meet national power St. John's College High School.
*Effingham County's big night: Effingham County must have spent a little time working on the offense after beating Evans 9-6 in the season-opener. On Friday, the Rebels smashed the school record for points in a game when they beat Groves 77-14. The previous school record came in a 56-0 victory over Savannah in 2002. Desmond House ran for 154 yards, four touchdowns and three two-point conversions, according to the Savannah Morning News, which reported that the Rebels finished with 422 yards and scored on 10 of their 11 possessions. Effingham County led 16-14 at the end of the first quarter but outscored Groves 61-0 over the final three.
*Record-breaking rusher: Speaking of big nights, Bradwell Institute was on the wrong end of one when it faced rival Liberty County, which had a five-game winning streak in the series snapped last year. Liberty County running back Kris Coleman, a 5-foot-7, 153-pound senior, broke the school's single-game records for rushing yardage and touchdowns when he ran for 343 yards and five scores in the Panthers' 40-17 victory. Coleman ran for 176 yards on 16 carries in the first half and scored on a 75-yard run on his first carry of the third quarter. He scored on a 57-yard run on his final carry of the night and had touchdown runs of 34, 5 and 18 yards.
*Grabbing the early lead: Lovejoy and Morrow are in first place in Region 4 after winning the first two region games in Class AAAAAA this year. Lovejoy (1-1, 1-0) stopped a late two-point conversion attempt and held on for a 36-34 victory over Mundy's Mill (1-1, 0-1), which appears much improved this year after suffering through back-to-back 2-8 seasons. Morrow (1-1, 1-0) bounced back from a 41-0 season-opening loss to Eagle's Landing Christian with a 28-14 victory over Forest Park (0-2, 0-1). Morrow moved up from AAAAA this season, essentially replacing Jonesboro in the region, after going 5-5 and narrowly missing the playoffs in 2017.
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