Three nationally ranked out-of-state opponents came to Georgia on Friday night to face some of the state’s best high school football teams.
It was Milton – the least heralded of the Georgia three – that salvaged state pride. The Eagles, a team that entered the top 10 in Georgia’ s rankings for the first time since 2014 after a 2-0 start, scored a 42-17 victory over Cardinal Gibbons of Fort Lauderdale, the No. 1-ranked team in Florida’s Class 5A per MaxPreps.
Milton is playing host to a six-game, two-day event called the Freedom Bowl that concludes with four games Saturday. There are six nationally ranked teams playing. North Gwinnett is the other Georgia team participating.
Meanwhile, two other blockbuster inter-state games took place Friday at Buford. It was called Gwinnett vs. The World. The World won, 2-0.
In the opener, Bergen Catholic of New Jersey defeated Grayson 34-22, and Deerfield Beach then beat host Buford 19-14.
Bergen, a winner of 17 state titles in Jersey, is ranked No. 8 in MaxPreps’ poll. Grayson is ranked No. 1 in Georgia’s Class AAAAAAA and as highly as No. 4 nationally by MaxPreps. Grayson finished with more total yards, but Bergen cashed a Grayson fumble and returned a blocked punt for a touchdown and was never in real danger.
Buford appeared to have its game won when the Wolves went ahead 14-13 with 3:01 left on Derrian Brown’s 1-yard TD run, but Deerfield came up with a 79-yard TD pass with 1:49 left to retake the lead. Deerfield , a school about 10 miles north of Fort Lauderdale, is Florida's No. 1-ranked Class 8A team in MaxPreps.
Another big inter-state matchup takes place Saturday night when North Gwinnett, Georgia’s defending AAAAAAA champion, plays playing Wekiva, Fla., in the 8:30 p.m. game of the Freedom Bowl at Milton.
It’s been a good weekend for Georgia’s champions so far. Four of them played ranked opponents Friday, and each won handily.
Lee County of AAAAAA beat No. 3 Peach County of AAA 33-0.
Blessed Trinity of AAAA beat No. 10 Woodward Academy 43-21. Blessed Trinity has played two ranked teams from its classification this season and beaten each by 22 points. St. Pius was the other.
Hapeville Charter of AA defeated No. 2 Heard County 33-3. Hapeville beat Heard 28-21 in last year’s semifinals.
Clinch County, the defending Class A public-school champion, routed No. 5 Brooks County of AA 37-7.
Here are some other interesting results from the third Friday night of the season:
*No. 7 Parkview defeated No. 5 Lowndes 39-27. Parkview had lost to Lowndes 35-34 and 64-38 the past two seasons but pulled this one out at home in the Big Orange Jungle. That’s Parkview’s first victory over a ranked opponent since beating No. 8 West Forsyth in the 2012 playoffs. (Parkview also beat No. 1 Grayson that year.)
*No. 2 Colquitt County, perhaps the presumptive No. 1 team after Grayson’s loss, defeated Thomasville 50-3. Thomasville is ranked No. 4 in AA. The Packers were up 29-0 at halftime. They’ve out-scored their opponents – all three of which entered ranked – 133-24.
*Unranked but undefeated Monroe Area routed No. 6 Pace Academy 36-15 in a AAA game. Pace was coming off a victory over Eagle’s Landing Christian that ended ELCA’s state-best 37-game winning streak. For Monroe Area, it was the first victory over a ranked opponent since defeated No. 8 Morgan County in 2003. Monroe Area had lost 14 straight to ranked opponents.
*No. 5 St. Pius of AAAA defeated No. 4 Westminster of AAA 35-9. St. Pius had opened with a 35-13 loss to defending AAAA champion Blessed Trinity while Westminster was 2-0 with wins over Greater Atlanta Christian and Woodward Academy.
*No. 2 Coffee of AAAAAA beat No. 8 Ware County of AAAA 21-14.
* No. 9 Jones County of AAAAA defeated No. 8 Northside-Warner Robins of AAAAAA 35-27. Northside is 1-2 for the first time since 1997. Jones County is 2-1 against Northside since Justin Rogers became Jones County’s head coach in 2014.
*Irwin County, the No. 2 Class A public-school team, defeated Mount Paran Christian, the No. 4 Class A private-school team, 40-20.
*No. 7 Wayne County of AAAAA beat No. 6 Richmond Hill of AAAAAA 23-21. Richmond Hill is the ninth team in the second-highest classification to lose a game while ranked in three weeks this season.
About the Author
