Cedartown ascended to No. 1 in this week’s rankings and joins Howard, Westside-Macon, Burke County, New Hampstead, LaGrange, Troup, Starr’s Mill, Whitewater, Hampton, Heritage-Catoosa, Northwest Whitfield, North Oconee, Walnut Grove and East Forsyth as the 15 Class 4A teams that remain undefeated after four weeks. Cedartown’s latest victory was a 21-7 win over Class 5A powerhouse Calhoun. The Bulldogs held Calhoun scoreless for the first three quarters and led 7-0 at the half on the way to victory. Reece Tanner passed to Drew Ledbetter on a 79-yard touchdown to put Cedartown up 7-0. A 3-yard rushing touchdown from Patrick Gardner put Cedartown up 14-0. Calhoun scored on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Trey Townshend to Caden Williams but Cedartown pushed the lead to its final tally on a 17-yard pass from Turner to Harlem Diamond with two minutes left in the game.
Walnut Grove improved to 3-0 and opened up its Region 8 slate with a 38-20 road win over North Hall. Emadd Howard capped a 73-yard scoring drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to put Walnut Grove up 7-0 and quarterback Ashton Adams padded the lead with a 61-yard run to put the Warriors up 14-0 at the end of the opening quarter. Howard added a 53-yard touchdown run in the second quarter before North Hall answered with a Tanner Marsh touchdown run before the half and a Tate Ruth rushing score in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 21-13. Adams responded with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Avery Shnier and a 78-yard touchdown run to put Walnut Grove up 35-13 heading into the fourth quarter. Walnut Grove kicker Brendan Hamrick connected on a 38-yard field goal before North Hall’s Marsh found Ryals Puryear for a 46-yard score with 3:15 left for the final tally.
Visiting Northwest Whitfield rallied back from a 14-0 deficit in the second quarter with 35 unanswered points to defeat North Murray 35-14. North Murray’s early lead came on a 1-yard Skyler Williams rushing score and a 5-yard quarterback keeper by Seth Griffin. The Bruins’ cut the lead to 14-7 at the half with a 1-yard touchdown run by Owen Booker and then evened it up 14-14 with a Booker 5-yard score to Hudson Gray early in the third. On the next snap following Gray’s touchdown reception, the junior intercepted Griffin and returned it for a touchdown that put Northwest Whitfield up 21-14. Brooker added an 8-yard touchdown pass to Dominique Johnson in the fourth quarter before Caden Ramsey iced the victory with his late rushing score.
Pace Academy entered its Region 6 opener with Lovett 3-0, but was outclassed 30-20 by the Lions. After a scoreless first quarter, Lovett was first on the board with a Conner Deviney field goal in the second. Then the Lions’ Hayden Bernard blocked a Pace Academy punt, which was scooped up by junior Dylan Mayers and returned into the end zone to increase the lead. Pace Academy made it a 10-7 game heading into the half, but the Lions came out strong in the third when Kalil Townes found the end zone to go up 17-7. Pace Academy mounted a third-quarter comeback with back-to-back scores, but a pair of fourth-quarter field goals from Deviney and a pick-six by Bernard secured the win for the Lions.
Bainbridge took a 3-0 halftime lead after a 32-yard field goal and rallied back from a 7-3 third quarter deficit with 21 unanswered to defeat visiting Thomasville 24-7. The Bearcats and Cairo were the lone Region 1 teams to get victories this week, as Hardaway dropped Thursday’s Newnan matchup 49-7, Shaw succumbed to Northside-Columbus 29-0 and Westover fell short to Monroe 12-7. … The Howard Huskies are 3-0 for the first time since 2015 after scoring a gutsy 16-7 road win over Class 5A Harris County. Howard broke the 7-7 tie with a blocked punt that was recovered for the touchdown and later tacked on a safety. Howard will face Pike County next week before opening up Region 2 against No. 5 ranked Perry—which followed up last week’s win over Jones County with a 37-6 home win over Veterans.
Howard remains unbeaten in Region 2 with Westside-Macon (4-0), which cruised past Rutland 51-7. …Baldwin earned its first win of the season at Washington County (35-28), Spalding fell 21-14 to Class 5A Dutchtown, West Laurens got shutout 28-0 by undefeated Veterans and Griffin dropped to 0-4 with a tough 33-28 loss to Northgate. …In Region 3, No. 1 ranked Benedictine was able to defeat Ware County 49-42 last season, but fell 14-10 tonight—resulting in the Cadets’ first in-state loss since 2020. No. 10 ranked Burke County validated its place in the Class 4A polls by moving to 3-0 with a strong 50-14 win over Evans, New Hampstead improved to 4-0 with a 42-0 win over Florida’s South Lake High School. Also in Region 3, Islands (0-4) and Southeast Bulloch (0-3) remain winless after losses to Windsor Forest (14-10) and Effingham County (42-7), respectively.
Riverdale improved to 2-2 with a 42-6 home victory over Drew and North Clayton dropped to 1-3 after a 39-0 loss to Chattahoochee County. LaGrange was the only other Region 4 team that played this week and scored a 42-7 win over Upson-Lee on Thursday. In Region 5, Hampton earned a 41-7 win over Woodland-Stockbridge, Stockbridge defeated Luella 47-0, McDonough defeated Mt. Zion-Jonesboro 49-0 and Lovett served Pace Academy a 30-20 defeat in their region openers. … Region 6 went 1-7 this week with Clarkston earning the lone victory (32-0 over Cross Keys). In Region 7, No. 3 ranked Cedartown improved to 4-0 with a big 21-7 win over Calhoun and Heritage-Catoosa and Northwest Whitfield also reached the 4-0 milestone with wins over Ridgeland (35-7) and North Murray (35-17), respectively. …Region 8 began its region schedule with three matchups and saw Chestatee top East Hall 44-12, Cherokee Bluff hold off Madison County 20-19 and Walnut Grove defeat North Hall 38-20.
CLASS 4A WEEK 4 RESULTS
REGION 1
Shaw 2-2
Bainbridge 2-2
Cairo 2-2
Hardaway 0-4
Westover 1-3
Thursday, Sept. 8
Newnan 49, Hardaway 7
Friday, Sept. 9
Bainbridge 31, Thomasville 7
Cairo 31, Godby, FL 12
Northside-Columbus 29, Shaw 0
Monroe 12, Westover 7
REGION 2
Howard 3-0
Westside 4-0
West Laurens 1-2
Spalding 2-2
Baldwin 1-3
Griffin 0-4
Perry 2-1
Friday, Sept. 9
Baldwin 35, Washington County 28
Northgate 33, Griffin 28
Howard 16, Harris County 7
Perry 37, Veterans 6
Dutchtown 21, Spalding 14
Vidalia 28, West Laurens 0
Westside-Macon 51, Rutland 7
REGION 3
Burke County 3-0
New Hampstead 4-0
Benedictine 2-2
Wayne County 2-1
Islands 0-4
Southeast Bulloch 0-3
Friday, Sept. 9
Ware County 14, Benedictine 10
Burke County 50, Evans 13
Windsor Forest 14, Islands 10
New Hampstead 42, South Lake, FL 0
Effingham County 42, Southeast Bulloch 7
REGION 4
Riverdale 2-2, 1-0 LaGrange 3-0
Starr’s Mill 3-0
Troup 3-0
Whitewater 3-0
Fayette County 0-3
Trinity Christian 1-2
North Clayton 1-3
Thursday, Sept. 8
LaGrange 42, Upson-Lee 7
Friday, Sept. 9
Chattahoochee County 39, North Clayton 0 Riverdale 42, Drew 6
REGION 5 Hampton 4-0
Pace Academy 3-1 McDonough 2-1
Stockbridge 2-2
Woodland-Stockbridge 2-2
Lovett 1-2
Luella 0-4
Mt. Zion-Jonesboro 0-3
Friday, Sept. 9
*Hampton 41, Woodland-Stockbridge 7
*Stockbridge 47, Luella 0
*McDonough 49, Mt. Zion-Jonesboro 7
*Pace Academy vs. Lovett 30, Pace Academy 20
REGION 6
Holy Innocents’ 2-2
Miller Grove 2-2
Westminster 1-2
Hapeville Charter 0-4
Southwest DeKalb 1-3
Stephenson 1-2
Druid Hills 1-2
Clarkston 0-3
Stone Mountain 0-4
Friday, Sept. 2
Cross Keys 32, Clarkston 0
Dunwoody 49, Druid Hills 0
Dougherty 19, Hapeville Charter 18
Ensworth, TN 21, Holy Innocents’ 9
Campbell 34, Miller Grove 30
Westlake 52, Southwest DeKalb 7
Carver-Atlanta 32, Stephenson 27
Douglass 21, Stone Mountain 0
REGION 7
Cedartown 4-0
Central-Carroll 3-1
Heritage-Catoosa 4-0
Northwest Whitfield 4-0
Southeast Whitfield 3-1
Sonoraville 2-2
Friday, Sept. 2
Cedartown 21, Calhoun 7
Central-Carroll 61, McIntosh 40
Heritage-Catoosa 35, Ridgeland 7
Northwest Whitfield 35, North Murray 14
LaFayette 34, Sonoraville 20
REGION 8
East Forsyth 2-0, 1-0
East Hall 2-1, 0-1
North Oconee 2-0, 0-0
Walnut Grove 3-0, 1-0
Madison County 1-2, 0-1
Cedar Shoals 0-3, 0-1
Cherokee Bluff 1-2, 1-0
Chestatee 1-2, 1-0
North Hall 0-3, 0-1
Johnson-Gainesville 0-3, 0-0
Seckinger 0-3, 0-0
Friday, Sept. 9
*Chestatee 44, East Hall 12
*Cherokee Bluff 20, Madison County 19
*North Hall vs. Walnut Grove 38,
Shiloh 55, Seckinger 0
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