Benedictine and Clinch County are new No. 1 teams in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution high school football rankings, but just as important was the No. 1 team that held its ground with a victory over No. 2 last week.
Eagle’s Landing Christian, the top-ranked team and defending champion in the Class A private-school division, defeated No. 2 Wesleyan 34-31 in one of the better games of the season.
It was only the 15th time in the past 30 years that No. 1 had played No. 2 in the same classification in the regular season. It also was a Region 5-A game, which gives ELCA a leg up in that race. The No. 3 team, Landmark Christian, also plays in Region 5 and has faced neither yet.
Meanwhile, Benedictine became No. 1 in Class AA after previous No. 1 Fitzgerald lost to Tift County 35-28. Tift is a AAAAAA school, so it was no real upset, but Benedictine claims a win over Glynn Academy, a ranked team in AAAAAA.
In the Class A public division, Clinch swaps places with Macon County, the previous No. 1. Macon County lost to Northside-Warner Robins, the No. 2 team in AAAAAA, 45-6 and fell to 3-2. Clinch began the season No. 1 and is 5-1, its only loss to Brooks County of AA.
Two highly ranked teams fell out of the rankings. No. 4 Griffin of AAAAA (which lost to Starr's Mill) and No. 3 Sandy Creek of AAAA (which lost to Troup). Their losses were penalized more than others because their opponents were unranked teams in the same region and classification.
Class AAAAAAA
1. (1) Roswell (5-0)
2. (2) Mill Creek (6-0)
3. (3) Grayson (4-1)
4. (4) McEachern (4-1)
5. (5) Norcross (6-0)
6. (6) Lassiter (5-0)
7. (7) Lowndes (6-1)
8. (9) Colquitt County (3-4)
9. (NR) North Cobb (4-1)
10. (NR) North Paulding (5-0)
Out: No. 8 Parkview (3-2), No. 10 South Gwinnett (4-2)
Class AAAAAA
1. (1) Houston County (6-0)
2. (2) Northside-Warner Robins (6-0)
3. (3) Lee County (5-0)
4. (6) Harrison (5-0)
5. (4) Valdosta (5-1)
6. (7) Dalton (5-0)
7. (10) Alexander (5-0)
8. (9) Tucker (5-1)
9. (8) Glynn Academy (5-1)
10. (NR) Mays (4-1)
Out: No. 5 Northgate (5-1)
Class AAAAA
1. (1) Buford (4-1)
2. (2) Stockbridge (5-0)
3. (4) Kell (5-1)
4. (6) Rome (3-2)
5. (3) Carrollton (4-1)
6. (7) Ware County (2-3)
7. (8) Grady (5-1)
8. (9) Thomas County Central (4-2)
9. (10) Arabia Mountain (4-1)
10. (NR) Woodland, Stockbridge (5-1)
Out: No. 4 Griffin (5-1)
Class AAAA
1. (1) Cartersville (6-0)
2. (2) Thomson (5-0)
3. (4) Woodward Academy (5-1)
4. (5) Jefferson (5-1)
5. (6) Cairo (5-1)
6. (7) Blessed Trinity (4-2)
7. (8) Mary Persons (4-2)
8. (9) Burke County (5-1)
9. (NR) Ridgeland (4-0)
10. (NR) Marist (4-2)
Out: No. 3 Sandy Creek (3-2), No. 10 Spalding (3-3)
Class AAA
1. (1) Greater Atlanta Christian (5-1)
2. (2) Pace Academy (4-1)
3. (3) Peach County (4-1)
4. (5) Westminster (3-2)
5. (6) Calhoun (4-2)
6. (7) Lovett (3-2)
7. (8) Crisp County (6-0)
8. (4) Liberty County (4-1)
9. (9) Cedar Grove (3-2)
10. (10) Appling County (3-1)
Class AA
1. (2) Benedictine (6-0)
2. (1) Fitzgerald (4-1)
3. (4) Jefferson County (6-0)
4. (5) Callaway (5-0)
5. (6) Rabun County (4-0)
6. (3) Brooks County (4-1)
7. (8) Dublin (6-0)
8. (9) Vidalia (4-2)
9. (10) Screven County (5-1)
10. (NR) Heard County
Out: No. 7 Model (5-1)
Class A (private)
1. (1) Eagle's Landing Christian (6-0)
2. (2) Wesleyan (5-1)
3. (3) Landmark Christian (6-0)
4. (4) Prince Avenue Christian (6-0)
5. (5) Calvary Day (5-0)
6. (7) Stratford Academy (4-1)
7. (9) Fellowship Christian (5-0)
8. (10) Athens Academy (5-0)
9. (NR) Mount Paran Christian (4-1)
10. (6) Darlington (4-2)
Out: No. 8 First Presbyterian (4-1)
Class A (public)
1. (2) Clinch County (5-1)
2. (1) Macon County (3-2)
3. (3) Emanuel County Institute (6-0)
4. (4) Manchester (6-0)
5. (5) Mount Zion (5-0)
6. (6) Lincoln County (3-1-1)
7. (7) Bowdon (4-2)
8. (8) McIntosh County Academy (4-1)
9. (10) Twiggs County (4-1)
10. (9) Commerce (3-2)
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