The second week of the high school season is in the books, and there weren’t any real big surprises in the high class Friday. Here are some of the developments:
*Fourth-ranked Walton came from 12 points down in the fourth quarter to clip unranked Collins Hill 29-25. Walton trailed 19-7 after three quarters and 25-22 with 4:28 left.
*Eighth-ranked Marietta of Class AAAAAAA played host to Good Counsel of Maryland, a team ranked No. 7 in one national poll, and lost 40-28 after trailing 21-0. It was Marietta's second straight loss to a nationally ranked program. The Blue Devils lost their opener 51-41 to two-time Georgia AAAAA champion Rome. Marietta is a junior-heavy team that is good already, but should be even better next season with good health and should not be counted out of making a deep run in the state playoffs this season.
*Tift County, beaten last week by Warner Robins 40-29, bounced back with a redeeming 24-10 victory over No. 4 Valdosta of AAAAAA. Tift returned many key players from its 11-2 team of 2017 and should be a factor in the playoffs again this year.
*Berkmar ended the state's longest losing streak, 47 games, with a 44-0 victory over Cross Keys. It was as much a scheduling victory as anything, considering that Cross Keys is not only a smaller team, but that is playing its first full varsity season since 2013. No reason to apologize, though. New coach Willie Gary, a former NFL player who was the program's defensive coordinator, doesn't need that monkey on his back as he's attempts to rebuild a program that last had a winning season in 2007.
*Several teams played opponents from lower classifications. Some did it better than others. Congrats in particular to Central Gwinnett (35-7 winner over No. 10 Lanier of AAAAAA); Milton (37-27 winner over No. 9 Alpharetta of AAAAAA); Mountain View (27-7 winner over Hughes); and Mill Creek (49-21 winner over Dacula). Some didn't do so well, notably Woodstock (38-14 loser to Creekview) and Cherokee (21-6 loser to Sequoyah). East Coweta's 32-27 loss to Carrollton isn't so bad, really.
*And finally, there were two games between 2017 playoff teams from the high class (although you probably forgot all these teams made the playoffs). North Cobb beat Etowah 15-13 (tough night for the bigger Cherokee County schools); Roswell beat Campbell 42-14; and Hillgrove beat Pebblebrook 24-7.
About the Author
