Week 4 in AA kicks off tonight and hopefully this time around weather doesn't get in the way of scheduled games. At least not more than it already has.
For example, the No. 1 Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane (1-0) at A-public's No. 1 Macon County Bulldogs (2-0) matchup has already been affected by weather. As GHSF Daily pointed out in its Top 10 games of Week 4 capsules, the game was moved from Friday to Saturday. That's because Macon County didn't make up last week's postponed game until Monday, which created the need to push the Week 4 game back a day to give the Bulldogs an extra day of rest. Saturday's game was first scheduled for 4 p.m., but yesterday Fitzgerald Athletics announced a 6:30 p.m. start time to allow more time for both teams to take the SAT on that morning.
Weather and postponements aside, this is a matchup of two top-ranked teams. Last year, Fitzgerald racked up a bunch of points on the way to a 57-32 win in what has become a shootout between the two teams since the series renewed in 2014. The Purple Hurricane have won both games, outscoring Macon County 98-66. It's reasonable to expect another high-scoring affair, as well as another Purple Hurricane victory. Maxwell Week 4 projections have Fitzgerald winning by 18.
The No. 10 Heard County Braves (3-0) travel to A-private's No. 6 Darlington (1-1). After struggling to beat South Atlanta in Week 1, which cost them their spot in the rankings, the Braves return to the top 10 thanks to Elbert County's loss and two more wins of their own. Following the 22-19 win over South Atlanta, they beat Greenville 47-6 and New Manchester 38-28.
There's no history between these schools, but Maxwell projections have the Braves winning by 6. Darlington opened the season with a 51-0 win over Gaston (Alabama), but lost convincingly last week to AAAA's unranked Ridgeland by a score of 40-28. Whichever team loses this game will surely lose their spot in the top 10.
AAAA's West Laurens Raiders (1-1) will play at the No. 4 Vidalia Indians (2-0). The Indians took a bye last week and, with Brooks County's big win last week moving the Trojans to No. 3, dropped a spot in the rankings. They'll face a challenge in the Raiders, who are just a week removed from being a ranked team. No. 8 Dodge County edged them 3-0 and so they lost their No. 9 spot in AAAA.
Maxwell projections have the Indians winning by five and they have mostly dominated the all-time series. But the Raiders won last year's matchup 30-6, snapping an 11-game series win streak by Vidalia that dated back to 1986.
Other matchups involving ranked AA teams: AAA's Southeast Bulloch (0-1) at No. 2 Benedictine (2-0); A-public's Washington-Wilkes (0-2) at Jefferson County (2-0); No. 6 Callaway (2-0) at AAAA's Columbus (1-1) on Thursday; AAAA's White County (0-2) at No. 7 Rabun County (1-0); No. 8 Dodge County (1-1) at AAA's Appling County (0-1); No. 9 Model (2-0) at AAAA's Northwest Whitfield (2-1).
AA ranked teams with a bye this week: No. 3 Brooks County.
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