A closer look at six of the most intriguing results Friday in Class 7A.
-Colquitt County 54, Brookwood 12: Brookwood, the seventh-ranked team, is routed by an 0-4 unranked team and it’s not shocking. Colquitt, after all, is the two-time defending champion of the highest class. Its four losses are to teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2, plus a nationally ranked team, and to Tucker by one. Should Colquitt be ranked this week? Are there 10 teams better? Colquitt had 29 first downs and never punted.
-Grayson 39, Deerfield Beach 14: Grayson found its offense. That’s after scoring just two touchdowns in its first two games, albeit against top-10 nationally ranked opponents IMG Academy and Roswell. Deerfield and Grayson both field eight seniors who are rated three-star recruits or better by Scout.com. Chase Brice, the Clemson-bound quarterback, threw three TD passes, two longer than 40 yards.
McEachern 6, Westlake 2: Unlike Grayson, McEachern has not found its offense The Indians are ranked in the top five and have a Florida State-bound quarterback, Bailey Hockman, but haven’t scored a touchdown on offense in two games this season. Giovanni Dominguez kicked two field goals in this one. Against Grayson, a 16-13 loss, McEachern scored touchdowns on punt and interception returns.
Parkview 34, Tift County 15: Parkview rolled a respectable Tift County team. The Panthers’ only loss is against Lowndes 35-34. With Tift and Camden County showing some weakness, Region 1 is going to struggle to get all four of its teams in the playoffs. Parkview trailed in this one 9-7 at halftime but overwhelmed the Blue Devils in the second half.
Lowndes 42, Newnan 34: Pretty similar to the Parkview game, which Lowndes won 35-34 after nearly blowing a 35-13 lead. This time, Lowndes was up 35-14. Newton got within 35-34. If Lowndes can protect the ball better, the Vikings can be a real factor, maybe the region champion. If not, they are a first-round liability.
Norcross 35, Archer 16: Norcross is clearly playing better than the lower-half of the top 10, which has yet to establish itself. Can it play with Roswell, Mill Creek and Grayson? To be determined. Norcross scored on its first three possessions to lead 21-0 and held Archer to less than 200 yards.
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