Friday recap: Grayson survives; McEachern, Norcross earn high-class wins

Grayson barely beat Georgia’s secret national power Friday night while unranked McEachern and Norcross defeated top-10 teams, Hebron Christian defended its Class 3A-A Private turf, Riverside Prep ended a 35-game losing steak, and little Pelham of South Georgia scored the biggest upset of the second weekend of the football season.

Grayson, the No. 1 Class 6A team and defending champion, defeated Rabun Gap-Nacoochee, a boarding school two miles from the North Carolina border, 24-19. It was a game between nationally ranked teams, one widely known, the other not.

Rabun Gap has suddenly become a program that churns out national prospects, many of them international students. The team competes in the North Carolina Independent School Athletic Association.

The victory was Grayson’s 16th straight. The Rams defeated Collins Hill, ranked No. 5 at the time, 51-3. They are ranked in the top 100 of five national polls.

A couple of other top-10 Class 6A teams didn’t fare so well.

McEachern defeated No. 7 North Cobb 21-0 in a game between the two highest-rated Cobb County teams in the computer Maxwell Ratings. McEachern also was impressive in its opener the previous week when it beat another good Cobb team, Walton, 50-17.

Norcross beat No. 10 Mill Creek 45-28 in Gwinnett County. Norcross and new coach Corey Richardson, who replaced the retired Keith Maloof, are 2-0. Norcross had lost to Mill Creek eight of the past nine seasons.

Hebron Christian defeated Fellowship Christian 45-29 in a 3A-A Private rematch of the 2024 semifinals, which Hebron also won. Hebron is ranked No. 2, Fellowship No. 3.

Riverside Prep, a Gainesville military academy, beat Cross Keys of DeKalb County 36-6. Both entered with 35-game losing streaks. The victory was Riverside’s first since 2021.

Pelham, a school of 400 students in South Georgia, had perhaps the night’s most unexpected victory. A 27-point underdog, the Hornets defeated No. 3 Thomasville 27-25.

Both are Class A schools, but Pelham plays in Division II, the lowest one. Pelham was 3-9 last season had been 1-21 against Thomasville, the previous win coming in 2015. Thomasville is the highest-ranked team that Pelham has beaten since 1981 (Dooly County). This was Pelham’s first game under new coach, Ryan McKenzie, who had been Hardaway’s coach in Columbus.

In another notable game, Milton, the defending Class 5A champion, was in Florida and rallied in the second half to beat Orlando’s First Academy 24-17.