Seven Class AAAAAA schools will be facing out-of-state competition Friday and Saturday as the 2018 high school football season hits its second weekend.
None will face a tougher task than Johns Creek, which goes to Washington, D.C., on Saturday for a 2 p.m. game against St. John’s College High School, which is ranked in the top 10 nationally in six polls, as high as No. 2 by Prep Force.
St. John’s has seven seniors rated as four- or three-star recruits, led by running back Keilan Robinson (committed to Alabama) and safety Quinten Johnson (committed to Michigan). Robinson was one of four players offered scholarships by Alabama early this summer. The school’s junior class is just as loaded, with seven more players rated as at least three-star recruits. The best is Mekhail Sherman, a five-star player ranked the No. 2 outside linebacker among juniors. He has 30 offers, including Georgia, Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Penn State.
St. John’s was 9-2 in 2017 and won the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship.
Johns Creek won a region championship in 2016 but fell off to 3-7 last year. The Gladiators are off to a better start this season, beating Fairfield Central of South Carolina 48-21 last weekend. Fairfield Central and St. John’s are the first out-of-state teams Johns Creek has played in the program’s 10-year history.
Other games this weekend matching Class AAAAAA teams against out-of-state competition are:
- Dr. Phillips, Fla. at Lee County (Saturday)
- Brunswick at Bartram Trail, Fla. (Friday)
- Lakeside-Evans at South Aiken, S.C. (Friday)
- North Augusta, S.C. at Evans (Friday)
- Grovetown at Midland Valley, S.C. (Friday)
- Central-Phenix City, Ala. at Mays (Saturday)
And here are five other games a little closer to home involving AAAAAA teams to keep an eye on this weekend:
*Milton at Alpharetta (Friday): Defending Region 7 champion Alpharetta opens its season against a Milton team that moved into the Class AAAAAAA top 10 with a 21-19 upset of third-ranked Archer last week. Milton beat Alpharetta 31-9 in last year's opener, Alpharetta's only loss until reaching the state quarterfinals. This is the first game between ranked north Fulton teams since 1984.
*Mundy's Mill at Lovejoy (Friday at Twelve Oaks Stadium): Region play begins early in 4-AAAAA, with Mundy's Mill taking on Lovejoy and Morrow facing Forest Park. Mundy's Mill went 2-8 overall last year, 1-6 in region play, but began the new season on a promising note, beating McIntosh 32-18. Lovejoy, the region's third-place team a year ago, lost its opener to Banneker 40-16.
*Northside-Warner Robins vs. Peach County (Saturday at Mercer): Northside's offense, which averaged just 19.6 points per game last season, showed signs of life in its 38-14 season-opening victory against Centennial. Northside and Peach County have been regular scrimmage partners in recent years but haven't met in a game that counted since 2005. Northside leads the all-time series 11-3.
*Southwest DeKalb vs. Stephenson (Friday at Hallford Stadium): The DeKalb County rivals will meet for the 15th time, with Stephenson leading the series 9-5 after winning the past five meetings. Both teams won their season-openers last week – Stephenson 39-12 over Columbia and Southwest DeKalb 18-0 over Woodland-Stockbridge. Stephenson was the Region 4 runner-up last season.
*Tucker at Grayson (Saturday): Tucker lost its opener to Buford 40-14 in the Corky Kell Classic, and the task may be even tougher this week against a Grayson team ranked No. 1 in AAAAAAA and among the top 10 in most national polls. The Tigers have started a season 0-2 only once since 1991. The game will be televised by ESPNU as part of the Geico ESPN High School Football Kickoff.
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