Nearly half of AA's ranked teams have a bye in Week 3, but that doesn't mean there's a shortage of competitive football coming on Friday. This week features bang for your buck with three of the six ranked teams facing off against ranked teams from different classifications, and all three AA teams hit the road.
We'll start with the No. 2 Benedictine Cadets (1-0), who travel to play the St. Pius X Golden Lions (0-1), AAAA's No. 6 team. The Savannah-based Cadets will make the 264-mile trek to Atlanta for a matchup quintessential to the north-south discussion about which part of the Peach State has the best football. When it comes to this particular series, the Golden Lions have a 2-0 edge, winning at Savannah 35-0 in 2011 and 42-19 at home in 2010. St. Pius' 2011 win came in Cadets coach Danny Britt's first season at Benedictine. Longtime Golden Lions coach Paul Standard has been at St. Pius since 2001.
Obviously, no players from the previous games will be on the field for this contest, so all bets are off. It's worth noting that Benedictine hasn't fared well against metro Atlanta Catholic schools. It's also worth noting that Benedictine is a 7-point favorite according to the Maxwell Projections.
Benedictine will be rested coming off a bye week, which was preceded by a 24-7 win over AAAAAA's No. 2 Glynn Academy. St. Pius is also coming off a bye, but lost its opener 22-18 to AAAA's No. 2 Blessed Trinity.
The No. 4 Brooks County Trojans (1-0) travel to the Clinch County (2-0) Panthers, A-public's No. 1 team. The Trojans are coming off a bye and edged Cook 21-14 in overtime in their season opener. They hold a 10-7 series edge over Clinch County, but lost 33-20 to them last season. The rivalry dates back to 1959 and was renewed in 2005 after a nine-year layoff.
The Panthers are off to a strong start, outscoring their first two opponents by a combined score of 79-14.
The No. 9 Dodge County Indians (0-1) travel to play the West Laurens Raiders, AAAA's No. 9 team. The Indians represent the lone ranked team with a loss under its belt, which came in their opener to No. 3 Vidalia, 24-20. They're coming off a bye week to face another tough, ranked opponent but will likely need to win this one to stay in the rankings, as a close loss probably won't cut it this time around.
The Indians hold a 16-5 edge, but the teams haven't played each other since 2005, when West Laurens won 20-14. The Raiders finished 8-4 last season and 9-4 in 2014, which marked their first winning seasons since 2005. The Indians also aiming for three consecutive winning seasons, finishing 11-1 last year and 9-3 the year before.
Other matchups involving ranked AA teams: AAAA's Madison County (1-0) at No. 7 Elbert County (1-0-1); AAAA's Stephens County (1-0) at No. 8 Rabun County; AAA's Adairsville (0-2) at No. 10 Model (1-0).
AA ranked teams with a bye this week: No. 1 Fitzgerald; No. 3 Vidalia, No. 5 Jefferson County, No. 6 Callaway.
Follow the AJC’s Class AA coverage on Twitter.
