First-round recap: Woodward, Centennial, Archer, North Murray score upsets

Woodward Academy and Centennial defeated heavily favored Top 10 opponents, Archer and North Murray defeated top-10 seeds, and Hephzibah and Treutlen won their first state-playoff games in history Friday night in a first round that went mostly as predicted, with ranked teams going 66-2 and Maxwell Ratings favorites going 99-11.

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Woodward Academy defeated No. 10 Hughes 24-21 in Class 6A, avenging a 28-7 loss on the same field, Hughes’ Panther Stadium, on Oct. 9. Woodward (7-4) was a 28-point underdog, according to the computer Maxwell Ratings. Hughes (8-3) will miss the second round for the first time since 2019.

Centennial, a team that went 4-6 in the regular season, beat No. 10 Mays, the eighth seed, 17-10 as an 18-point underdog in Class 5A. Mays finished 9-2.

In Class 7A, Archer beat eighth-seeded North Cobb, an unranked 8-2 team, 24-17. Archer (6-5) was a 16-point underdog.

In Class 3A, North Murray beat No. 6 Ringgold, an unranked 9-1 team, 34-23. North Murray (5-6) was a 17-point underdog that lost to Ringgold 33-20 on Sept. 25.

The biggest history-makers of the first round were Hephzibah and Treutlen. Each broke two of the longest state-playoff droughts in GHSA history with their victories.

Hephzibah, which began football in 1954, defeated Pike County 55-14 in Class 3A. The 72-year wait for the first state-playoff victory is a state record, breaking a mark set in 2022 by Cass, which had gone 69 seasons before winning.

Tying Cass for second in that record book was Treutlen, which beat Wheeler County 35-6 in Class A. Treutlen played its first season in 1957.

Treutlen’s victory, unlike Hephzibah’s, was an upset as the Vikings lost to Wheeler County 28-16 on Oct. 8 and entered as a 4-point underdog. Treutlen won a postseason playoff game in 1991 before the GHSA expanded the state playoffs to 32 teams in 1996.

Joining Treutlen, Woodward and North Murray in reversing the outcome of a regular-season game was LaGrange, which defeated Ola 27-21 in Class 5A. Ola had won 26-16 on Sept. 3, but LaGrange had rebounded with six straight wins and was ranked No. 6 and favored in the rematch.

The original winning team was 22-4 in first-round rematches.

The first round resumes Saturday with the final 13 games, all in Class 4A.

Here are some key first-round results.

Top 10 teams that lost:

• Hughes (No. 10 in Class 6A, lost to No. 23 seed Woodward Academy 24-21)
• Mays (No. 10 in Class 5A, lost to No. 25 seed Centennial 17-10)

Maxwell Ratings underdogs that won:

• 28 - Woodward Academy (Class 6A, beat Hughes 24-21)
• 18 - Centennial (Class 5A, beat Mays 17-10)
• 17 - North Murray (Class 3A, beat Ringgold 34-23)
• 16 - Archer (Class 7A, beat North Cobb 24-17)
• 10 - Richmond Hill (Class 7A, beat North Paulding 20-16)
• 9 - ACE Charter (Class 2A, beat Jasper County 14-10)
• 8 - Kell (Class 6A, beat Houston County 37-17)
• 7 - Pepperell (Class 2A, beat Putnam County 30-21)
• 7 - Savannah Christian (Private, beat Providence Christian 38-28)
• 4 - Treutlen (Class 1A, beat Wheeler County 35-6)
• 1 - Lamar County (Class 3A, beat Worth County 22-19)

Lower seeds that won:

Class 7A

• No. 17 East Coweta (beat No. 16 Denmark 44-13)
• No. 20 Richmond Hill (beat No. 13 North Paulding 21-16)
• No. 25 Archer (beat No. 8 North Cobb 24-17)

Class 6A

• No. 17 Roswell (beat No. 16 Effingham County 38-27)
• No. 20 Newnan (beat No. 13 Habersham Central 37-7)
• No. 22 New Manchester (beat No. 11 Heritage of Conyers 42-36)
• No. 23 Woodward Academy (beat No. 10 Hughes 24-21)

Class 5A

• No. 17 Lithonia (beat No. 16 Jones County 34-24)
• No. 25 Centennial (beat No. 8 Mays 17-10)

Class 4A

• None so far (13 games are unplayed)

Class 3A