GHSF Daily's Chip Saye ranks the most surprising and notable games of the weekend:
1. Lakeside (Evans) 24, Houston County 20: Houston County had a bit of a letdown after routing Warner Robins 62-30 in its previous game and missed on its opportunity to reach 5-0 for the first time since 1997. Lakeside, which was 1-3 coming into the game, has won all three meetings between the teams (all since 2012) by a total of seven points.
2. Kell 28, Cambridge 27: Kell extended its regular-season winning streak to 22 games, but it took a 40-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the game to do it. Cambridge, a third-year program, is 3-1 after going 4-16 in its first two seasons. Kell, which fell two spots to No. 5 in the AAAAA rankings, beat Cambridge 49-6 in the region play-in game last season.
3. Mays 40, Lovejoy 35: Mays (4-1) jumped into the Class AAAAA rankings at No. 6 after knocking off a Lovejoy team that was No. 10 in AAAAAA last week. "Our kids know now they can play with programs that are considered top-notch," said Mays coach Corey Jarvis, whose team was considered a 17-point underdog by the computer Maxwell Ratings.
4. Luella 7, Stockbridge 6: All three of the weekend's games in Region 4-AAAAA Div. B were upsets, according to Maxwell, but this one was the biggest. Luella came in at 3-1 but was still a 15-point underdog against a Stockbridge team that was a favorite to win the region title after going 11-2 and reaching the state quarterfinals in Class AAAA last season.
5. South Gwinnett 44, Brookwood 14: South Gwinnett won just four of the first 28 meetings with Brookwood, but the Comets have now won three consecutive games in the series for the first time. This was the Comets' first win of 2014 and dropped Brookwood to 1-4 for the second straight year, although the Broncos rebounded to reach the playoffs in 2013.
6. Forsyth Central 41, Riverwood 13: Forsyth Central showed it could play a little bit when it hung tough with Kell last week before losing 28-14. But the Bulldogs left no doubt by crushing a Riverwood team that won its first four games by an average score of 38-6. Forsyth Central, 3-2, is above .500 at the halfway point of the season for the first time since 2001.
7. Hapeville Charter 37, Holy Innocents' 29: Hapeville Charter began playing football in 2011 but had never won a region game until this victory. The Hornets, who were 1-8-1 in 2013, are 2-3 overall and 1-1 in Region 6-A this year and need two more victories to break the school single-season record. Holy Innocents' fell to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the region.
8. Brunswick 28, Statesboro 7: Brunswick (3-2) was projected as a 19-point favorite by the Maxwell computers, which turned out to be pretty accurate. What was significant, however, was that the loss dropped Statesboro to 0-4 for the first time since 1986. Statesboro went 10-2 and reached the second round of the playoffs in Class AAAA last season.
9. St. Francis 28, Walker 7: It's becoming harder to ignore St. Francis, the fifth-year program from Alpharetta. The Knights (4-0) have won 11 consecutive games going back to last season, when they were 8-2 against a non-region schedule. St. Francis will face its biggest test this year when it meets Mount Pisgah on Friday in its first-ever region game.
10. Washington 28, Decatur 21: Washington (2-3) continues to show that it is one of the best teams in Class AAA that has a losing record, beating a Decatur team that came in at 3-1. The Bulldogs have won two consecutive games after losing their first three against AAAA Grady, AAAAA Carver of Atlanta and Jackson of Atlanta by a combined 11 points.
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