Here’s what to look for this weekend in Class AAAAA:
- Mays is one of the best unranked teams in AAAAA, and the Raiders will have a chance to impress the pollsters with a two-game stretch that begins Saturday. Mays will face Class AAAAAA No. 10 Lovejoy at Lakewood Stadium and then begin subregion play in Region 6 at No. 2 Creekside, the defending state champion. Mays opened the season with a 27-7 loss to AAAAAA No. 6 Hughes before consecutive victories again Glenn Hills, M.L. King and Southwest DeKalb in which it allowed just eight points.
- Cambridge, a third-year program from Milton, is 3-0 this year after winning just four games in its first two seasons. But we’ll find out if the Bears are for real when they open play in Region 7-AAAAA Div. B against third-ranked Kell. Cambridge is averaging 40.7 points per game, the fourth-best average in Class AAAAA, but its three victories came against Holy Innocents’, Chapel Hill and Rome, who have a combined record of 1-9. Kell won 49-6 last November when the teams met in the region play-in game.
- Region 5 is one of just two in the state that has at least four undefeated teams (1-AAAAAA has six). One of those teams, ninth-ranked Allatoona, can take the drama out of the region title race if it takes care of business the next three weeks. The Buccaneers will play the other three undefeated teams in the region in consecutive games, beginning Friday against South Paulding. Allatoona travels to Alexander next week before hosting New Manchester on Oct. 10. South Paulding beat Allatoona 48-45 in overtime last season.
- Jones County and Houston County will try to avoid a letdown after huge victories last weekend when they return to Region 3-AAAAA play on Friday. Jones County (4-0, 3-0), which climbed to No. 5 in the rankings after knocking off previous No. 1 Northside-Warner Robins 45-37 last week, will host Grovetown (2-2, 1-2). Tenth-ranked Houston County (4-0, 3-0) routed Warner Robins 62-30 last weekend and will play at Lakeside-Evans (1-3, 1-2). Jones and Houston are the two highest-scoring teams in Class AAAAA.
- Six teams in Region 3 are tied for second place at 1-1, one game behind top-ranked Ware County. Four of those six teams will be matched up this weekend as the region begins to sort out the order for the state playoffs. Fourth-ranked Coffee will play at Effingham County, which lost to Brunswick 40-19 last week. Richmond Hill travels to Glynn Academy, which lost to Coffee 28-7 last week. Ware County hosts winless Bradwell Institute before taking the week off on Oct. 3.
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