Valdosta was ranked No. 1 this week for the first time since the end of the 2016.
On Friday, the Wildcats made their ranking stick with a 50-49 victory over Colquitt County on a night when two No. 1 teams lost, two survived by one point and lightning delays postponed, canceled or truncated more than 25 high school football games around the state.
Valdosta, the No. 1 team in Class AAAAAA, scored the game’s 14th touchdown with 1:03 left and went for two and made it for the final margin. Colquitt, ranked No. 2 in the highest classification, missed a 41-yard field goal with 11 seconds left. With that, Valdosta ended a six-game losing streak in the series.
Other No. 1 teams were not so fortunate. Marietta of AAAAAAA and Peach County of AAA were beaten.
Marietta – ranked in the top 10 of five national polls – lost to Grayson 28-14 in a game delayed by lightning and finishing after midnight. Grayson, the home team, entered ranked No. 5. (See Stan Awtrey's Grayson-Marietta game story.)
Peach County lost to Houston County 32-31 in overtime. Houston County is unranked in AAAAAA but 4-0. Peach was trying to open the season 3-0 against AAAAAA opponents. The Trojans had beaten Northside-Warner Robins and Lee County, both ranked at the time.
A third No. 1 team, Bainbridge, barely escaped. The defending AAAAA champion Bearcats beat Brooks County 27-26. Brooks is ranked No. 7 in AA.
Archer, the No. 4 team in AAAAAAA, lost to Mill Creek 10-7 in a game that made it only until the 8:31 mark in the second quarter. Archer declined to make up the non-region game and essentially accepted a loss over the alternative, which might’ve meant two games in five days next week.
Those were outcomes that would’ve stood out on as noteworthy on any Friday night in Georgia but especially this one as the weather kept nearly in one in five scheduled games from playing out as scheduled. Most will be started or concluded Saturday, but the full schedule remains unsettled.
The most notable of the postponements was No. 2 Cedar Grove of AAA at No. 7 McEachern of AAAAAAA. McEachern led 14-0 in the first half. The game be resumed on Saturday.
Four games between ranked teams did reach a conclusion.
No. 7 Rome beat No. 10 Kell 21-20 in AAAAA. Their Region 7 also includes No. 3 Carrollton, Rome’s opponent next week.
No. 5 Blessed Trinity of AAAA beat No. 7 Benedictine of AAA 28-7. Blessed Trinity, the defending champion in its class, bounced back from a loss last week to Woodward Academy.
No. 2 Marist of AAAA beat No. 10 Westminster of AAA 14-0. The game was stopped with 8:14 left but won’t be completed and counts as a complete game on agreement of both teams.
No. 9 Appling County of AAA beat No. 10 Dodge County of AA 42-7.
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