1. Change at the top: For the first time in the history of the modern AJC rankings (since 1982), the top three teams in the highest class lost on the same weekend. Previous No. 1 Marietta lost to new No. 1 Grayson 28-14; No. 2 Colquitt County lost to AAAAAA No. 1 Valdosta 50-49; and No. 3 Archer lost a rain-shortened game to Mill Creek 10-7. Grayson (by 11 points), Colquitt County (19 points) and Archer (nine points) were projected as favorites by the computer Maxwell Ratings.
2. Houston County 32, Peach County 31: Houston County, a 24-point underdog, pulled off an overtime shocker against a Peach County team that had beaten two of Houston's more highly regarded Region 1-AAAAAA rivals - Northside (Warner Robins) and Lee County - the previous two weeks. The victory propelled Houston County from unranked to No. 5 this week, producing a AAAAAA top 10 that includes all five of the Region 1 members, including Valdosta and Coffee.
3. Mount Zion (Jonesboro) 14, Stephenson 9: Mount Zion pulled off perhaps the week's most significant upset when it beat defending 4-AAAAAA champion Stephenson in the teams' region opener. Mount Zion, projected as a 28-point underdog, went 2-8 last year and finished seventh in the nine-team region. Stephenson was ranked No. 7 last week.
4. Crisp County 27, Tift County 14: Tift County (1-3) is off to its worst start since 2009 after losing to a Class AAA team that came in 1-2 and was projected as a 13-point underdog. The win boosted Crisp County to No. 9 this week. Tift opened the season with losses to Warner Robins (24-10) and Valdosta (37-0) before beating Worth County 37-13 last week.
5. Wilcox County 50, Berrien 0: Wilcox County recorded the fourth most-lopsided victory in school history when it routed Berrien, which was a 10-point favorite. Berrien beat Wilcox County 28-19 last year as part of a 5-1 start that was the school's best since 1994. Wilcox County is ranked for the first time since 2013 and 3-0 for the first time since 2011.
Worth noting: Dunwoody, which went 2-8 last year and finished in eighth place in nine-team 7-AAAAAA, is tied for first place after opening region play with a 21-19 victory over 20-point favorite Cambridge. Dunwoody went 1-7 in region play each of the past three seasons. ... Hephzibah, seeking its first region title since starting football in 1954, got its journey started on the right foot with a 35-27 win over perennial contender Screven County, a 20-point favorite. Hephzibah was the 4-AA runner-up last year. ... Lanier County broke a school-record 19-game losing streak with a 41-21 victory over Hamilton County (Fla.) in the first-ever meeting between the schools. It was the first win for the Bulldogs since beating Groves 43-6 on Sept. 7, 2017. ... Temple, a 17-point underdog, beat rival Mount Zion (Carroll) 22-16 to end a three-year losing streak in the series. Temple won more than three games in a season only once between 2007 and 2015 but is 3-0 for the third time in Scotty Ward's four seasons. ... Ware County was a 24-point favorite over Jonesboro but needed a blocked extra-point attempt in the second overtime period to come away with a 35-34 victory. Ware County won 25-7 last year in the only previous meeting between the schools.
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