Region 1 was expected to be one of the toughest, if not the best, in the new Class AAAAAA this season, and it did not fail to live up to those expectations as the five teams all recorded impressive victories on opening weekend.
Houston County and Lee County helped usher in the new season with victories on Thursday at the Corky Kell Classic in Macon. Houston County beat Mary Persons 26-14, and Lee County followed up with a 20-13 win over Jones County. On Friday, Coffee opened the season with a 41-13 win over former region rival Effingham County.
The most impressive wins, however, were posted by Valdosta and Northside-Warner Robins, which routed their cross-town rivals. Northside’s 55-3 victory over Warner Robins was the most-lopsided game in a series that dates to 1964. Valdosta took care of Lowndes 38-13 for its first three-game winning streak in the series since 1996.
The region’s strong showing was rewarded in the Georgia High School Football Daily/AJC rankings, as all five teams are in the top six. Houston County is No. 1, followed by No. 2 Northside, No. 3 Valdosta, No. 5 Lee County and No. 6 Coffee. Only fourth-ranked Dacula was able to break in among the Region 1 teams.
Here’s a recap of some of the other big stories in Class AAAAAA from Week 1:
*Region struggles: Other regions did not fare as well as Region 1. Although five of the eight regions finished with losing records in Week 1, none had a tougher start than Region 7, which was 0-6 record and had only one close game. Region 7 teams that started 0-1 were Alpharetta (lost to Milton 14-12), Chattahoochee (Pickens, 49-19), Dunwoody (Lakeside-DeKalb, 36-22), Johns Creek (Lassiter 27-13), North Atlanta (Grady 53-0), and Northview (Lanier 34-13). Cambridge, Centennial and Pope open their seasons this week.
*Champion falls: Allatoona lost its opener to Cartersville 30-14 in a battle of reigning state champions. Allatoona won the Class AAAAA title last season, while Cartersville won AAAA and is the current No. 1-ranked team. Allatoona shouldn't be overly concerned – it lost to East Paulding in the 2015 opener and rebounded to win 14 consecutive games. And the Buccaneers verified that their running game is in good hands despite the loss of leading rusher Russell Halimon to graduation. Charles Anderson, who rushed for 405 yards in the playoffs last season after an injury to Halimon, had 225 yards on 34 carries against Cartersville. Glynn Academy, the runner-up in AAAAA in 2015, also lost its opener, 24-7 to Benedictine.
*Taking the early lead: Mount Zion-Jonesboro finds itself alone in first place in Region 4 after upsetting Jonesboro 9-7 in the only Class AAAAAA region game played on opening weekend. Mount Zion went 2-8 last season and lost 31-6 to Jonesboro, which finished 11-2 and reached the Class AAAA quarterfinals. The Bulldogs blocked a punt for a safety and held Jonesboro to 13 yards of total offense in the first half, according to the Clayton News Daily. Jonesboro had won five consecutive games in the series.
*Drought ends: Forest Park ended a 21-game losing streak with a 6-2 victory over Towers. It was the first win for the Panthers since beating Mount Zion-Jonesboro 22-13 on Nov. 1, 2013. Forest Park, which has not won more than two games in a season since the 2002 team finished 3-7, opted to play a non-region schedule this year. The current longest losing streak by any Class AAAAAA team is Bradwell Institute with 20.
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