Colquitt County beat Valdosta in the state’s most anticipated game Friday night, but it was Lovejoy’s 19-7 victory over North Gwinnett that spelled the most stunning outcome of the fourth weekend of the Georgia high school football season.
Lovejoy entered 3-0 but was unranked in Class 6A after beating undistinguished teams from lower classifications. North Gwinnett was 3-0 and ranked No. 3 in Class 7A after a decisive victory last week over state-power Parkview. North Gwinnett was pegged as a 38-point favorite by the computer Maxwell Ratings.
After a scoreless first half, North Gwinnett took a 7-6 lead on an interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter, but Lovejoy scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull away.
Lovejoy’s win ended North Gwinnett’s 27-game home winning streak. Lovejoy is the first Georgia team from a lower classification to beat the Bulldogs since Buford in 1999. If there’s consolation for North Gwinnett, it’s that Lovejoy also is the first unranked team to beat the Bulldogs since Walton in 2017, the year of North Gwinnett’s only state championship.
On the southside of the state, Colquitt County earned some satisfaction with a 24-10 victory in coach Rush Propst’s return to Moultrie.
Propst, now Valdosta’s coach, led Colquitt County to state titles in 2014 and 2015 before he was forced out after the 2018 season. Valdosta was ranked No. 1 in Class 6A, but Colquitt County – the No. 4 team in 7A - took control with about eight minutes left on Gamal Wallace’s 17-yard interception return for a touchdown that finished the scoring. Colquitt County also scored on a blocked punt.
Colquitt County, which lost to Valdosta 50-49 last season, has won seven of the past eight in the series.
In other events involving the highest classification, No. 1 Grayson, No. 2 Lowndes and No. 6 Brookwood had nice victories, too.
Grayson beat traditional-power Archer 26-7; Lowndes took out Class 6A’s No. 2 team, Lee County, 38-13; and Brookwood beat No. 5 Mill Creek 24-13.
Other good wins by 7A teams were had by Collins Hill, which beat 6A’s No. 10 team, Rome, 28-14; and No. 10 Milton, which beat 4A’s No. 9, Hapeville Charter, 43-18.
No. 1 Warner Robins of 5A beat city-rival Northside 47-0 in the most lopsided Warner Robins victory in that series' 57-year history.
No. 2 Crisp County of 3A beat five-time 1A Private champion Eagle’s Landing Christian 34-14. That ended ELCA’s 41-game home winning streak.
Westminster, unranked in 3A, beat Buckhead-rival Pace Academy 7-3. Pace Academy is ranked No. 4 in 2A.
John Milledge Academy scored some points for the Georgia Independent School Association with its 52-13 victory over Savannah Christian, the No. 7 team in the GHSA’s 1A Private rankings. John Milledge Academy is a reigning GISA champion.
Reminders that the season is being played during a pandemic came in the form of another handful of canceled games Thursday and Friday. Called off were Hart County vs. Greater Atlanta Christian; George Walton Academy vs. Copper Basin, Tenn.; Southeast Bulloch vs. Bryan County; Cairo vs. Dothan, Ala.; and Whitefield Academy vs. St. Francis.
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