NATIONAL RANKINGS

Thomas County Central moves up in national rankings; Lee County falls

Buford, ranked in the top seven in all nine polls, remains the highest-rated Georgia team in eight of them.

Graphics cover the walls inside the football locker room in the Thomas County Central indoor athletic facility. (A. Wallace for the AJC)

By Chip Saye

42 minutes ago

Thomas County Central inched up in the national rankings and Lee County took a tumble after the two South Georgia powerhouses met in Leesburg last week.

Thomas County Central, which defeated Lee County 49-26 on Friday in the teams’ Region 2-6A opener, made its biggest move in the Mister Football Composite rankings, jumping from No. 30 to No. 22. That puts the Yellow Jackets in the top 25 of all nine polls considered by AJC Varsity. Their highest ranking is No. 8 in the Massey Ratings.

Lee County dropped 31 spots to No. 63 in the Massey Ratings, 19 spots to No. 48 in the Mister Football poll, 17 spots to No. 44 in Sports Idol Nation, and eight spots to No. 29 in MaxPreps. The Trojans also fell out of the top 25 of the NationalHSFB.com poll.

A look at the top 10 Georgia high school football games for Week 7

Lee County’s opponent this week, Coffee, moved into the top 100 of the Max Preps rankings this week, landing at No. 99.

Buford, ranked in the top seven in all nine polls, remains the highest-rated Georgia team in eight of them. The Wolves’ high is No. 2 in the High School Football America and ESPN SC Next polls. Carrollton retains the other top spot, with a No. 3 ranking in the Massey Ratings.

North Gwinnett is the only other Georgia team with top-25 recognition, earning the No. 21 spot in the Sports Idol Nation poll.

Here is where Georgia teams stand in several national polls. The numbers on the left are this week’s rankings; the numbers in parentheses are last week’s rankings.

Maxwell projections: Newton faces biggest test of the season