This week in AA featured the season debut of the state's top-ranked team, the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane, who opened with the challenge of playing a ranked opponent in the Irwin County Indians, the No. 5 team from A-public. As it turned out, the on-the-surface appeal of a top-10 matchup wore off rather quickly as the Purple Hurricane ran away with a 56-19 victory.
The win could have been anticipated given that the Purple Hurricane have dominated the series, now 16-0-1 over the Indians since the turn of the century. But the high margin of victory wasn't as easy to predict and solidifies the notion that Fitzgerald is the state's best team.
AJC Super 11 running back JD King got off to a start expected from one of the state's top players, rushing for more than 100 yards on just nine carries and adding two scores according to FitzgeraldAthletics.com.
In other games, we'll most certainly have a new team at the No. 10 spot for the second week in a row as this week's 10th-ranked team, the Washington County Golden Hawks, lost 43-21 to Jones County - the No. 9 team from AAAAA. Perhaps the Golden Hawks would have caught a break from pollsters had this been a close contest, but that wasn't the case.
It's possible the Heard County Braves reclaim the No. 10 ranking they had coming into the season after a convincing 47-6 win over Greenville on Friday. The Braves are now 2-0, having lost their spot in the rankings by narrowly beating South Atlanta in their opener.
The No. 6 Callaway Cavaliers held their own in a battle-of-the-borders contest with Handley (Ala.), winning 42-28. LaGrange Daily News sports reporter Kevin Eckleberry reports the Cavs trailed 28-21 heading into the fourth quarter before losing the game with three unanswered scores.
Here's how the rest of the top 10 fared:
- No. 3 Vidalia 23, Appling County 20: The Indians took care of business at home against an AAA school. WJCL 22 in Savannah has the game's highlights (skip to the 8-minute mark).
- No. 5 Jefferson County won 24-7 over Lakeside-Evans of AAAAA.
- No. 7 Elbert County, new to AA, defeated A-public's Washington-Wilkes, formerly of AA, 21-7.
- No. 8 Rabun County was leading A-private's Mt. Pisgah 21-14 just before halftime when lighting led to the game being called off, according to Rabun County football's twitter account.
On bye: No. 2 Benedictine; No. 4 Brooks County; No. 9 Dodge County.
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