Friday wrapup: No. 1 Grayson survives in OT; North Gwinnett wins top-10 battle
Grayson defended Georgia’s good football reputation with an overtime win over Alabama’s top-rated team, while North Gwinnett, Blessed Trinity, Sandy Creek and North Hall took impressive victories against fellow top-10 opponents on the third Friday night of the high school season.
Grayson, Georgia’s No. 1 team in Class 6A, defeated Thompson 24-23 at home by defending a two-point conversion pass in overtime.
Thompson has won Alabama’s Class 7A five of the past six seasons. Grayson beat Thompson 15-14 on the road last season by scoring a two-point conversion in overtime. Both teams have top-20 national rankings.
In a game between two top-10 Class 6A teams, No. 8 North Gwinnett defeated No. 5 Colquitt County 21-7.
Other Class 6A teams struggled to get by unranked opponents.
No. 3 Douglas County, which beat North Gwinnett in the opener, defeated Newton 27-21 by breaking a 21-21 tie early in the fourth quarter.
No. 4 Carrollton beat Rome 28-21, after trailing 21-7 late in the third quarter.
No. 6 McEachern beat Marietta 16-13 after recovering a Marietta fumble and scoring a touchdown in the final two minutes.
The class with the next-most excitement was 3A, which had two top-10 matchups. No. 3 Sandy Creek beat No. 5 LaGrange 23-7, and No. 6 North Hall beat No. 8 Cherokee Bluff 43-31.
Though the higher-ranked team won each game, both winners avenged blowout losses from last season.
The North Hall-Cherokee Bluff game matched Hall County Schools’ two highest-rated teams, though they are in different regions. The Sandy Creek-LaGrange game was each team’s Region 2-3A opener.
Blessed Trinity, the No. 3 team in Class 4A, beat Class 3A-A Private’s No. 1 team, Prince Avenue Christian, 28-13. Blessed Trinity beat Prince Avenue 23-21 last season.
Hebron Christian, 3A-A Private’s defending champion, lost to Tennessee’s top-rated team overall, McCallie of Chattanooga, 24-8.
In other games of note, Sequoyah and Benedictine were impressive against top-10 opponents from lower classifications.
Sequoyah, the No. 9 team in Class 5A, beat Class 4A No. 9 Kell 37-6. Benedictine, No. 5 in Class 4A, beat Class 2A No. 4 Burke County 41-0.
Several other games involving teams from different classes were noteworthy.
No. 5 Lee County beat 6A’s Tift County, a 36-point underdog in the Maxwell Ratings, 41-33.
No. 6 Roswell of 5A beat 6A’s Walton 28-27, and No. 8 Marist of 4A beat 5A’s Woodward Academy 16-12. Columbia County of Florida beat Class 5A’s No. 10 team, Coffee, 20-14.
The only other top-10 teams to lose were beaten by bigger schools. Those were Hapeville Charter (to Cartersville 42-7), Metter (to Swainsboro 44-14), Brooks County (to Cook 19-6) and Charlton County (to Jeff Davis 35-26).
About the Author
Todd Holcomb has been a contributor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1985. He is currently co-founder and editor of Georgia High School Football Daily.
