No. 4 ranked Troup toppled No. 5 ranked Starr’s Mill on the road 44-17 in an overwhelming performance by quarterback Taeo Todd and the Tigers. Troup went into the half with a 15-3 lead and then Todd found Malikih Poythreess for a touchdown to push the lead to 23-3. Starr’s Mill answered with a touchdown to make it a two-score game, but Todd returned the ensuing kickoff 55 yards and then cashed in a 45-yard touchdown run to make it a 30-10 game heading into the final frame. Todd added a 50-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter before Tray Blackmon Jr. scored a 32-yard touchdown run that pushed Troup’s lead to 44-17.
The Cadets went down to Jacksonville and emerged victorious against Bolles (26-7), making Benedictine 3-2 on the season. Two field goals from Asher Sigmon — one in the first and second quarters — gave the Cadets a 6-0 lead before quarterback Luke Kromenhoek hit Thomas Blackshear for an 8-yard touchdown at the end of the second to go up 13-0 at the half. Another Sigmon field goal in the third followed by a 46-yard touchdown pass from Kromenhoek to Ack Edwards put Benedictine up 23-0. Bolles found the end zone in the fourth before Sigmon completed a 27-yard field goal for his fourth of the night. On defense, senior Cody Brinson had two interceptions.
No. 2-ranked North Oconee improves to 4-0 on the season and 2-0 in Region 8 play with a 52-7 rout of Chestatee (1-4). After scoring a total of 23 points in their first two games, the Titans have outscored their last two opponents (Madison County and Chestatee) by a combined margin of 94-7 and are off to their best start since 2019.
Wayne County rallied back from a 14-6 deficit in the final frame to score a 17-14 road victory over Class 5A Jenkins. Matt Fuller tied up the game with 6:40 left on an 80-yard touchdown run and a successful direct snap on the 2-point conversion. Wayne’s game-winning points came with a 19-yard field goal with just seven seconds left.
Cairo blocked back-to-back Salem punts to start the game in its 62-0 triumph. Terrance Peoples recovered the first blocked punt for a touchdown and then quarterback Braylon Robinson threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Tyree Kelly on what was the Syrupmakers’ first offensive snap. Amarion Byrden added a 5-yard touchdown and then Kelly intercepted Salem and hauled in a 38-yard touchdown pass from Robinson to push the lead to 27-0 at the end of the first quarter. Robinson added a 12-yard rushing touchdown and 9-yard touchdown pass to Amari Powell in the second quarter and then backup quarterback Bryce Wilson handed off a 3-yard Byden touchdown run to make it 48-0 at the break. Wilson found Kam Cromartie for a 18-yard touchdown on a 4th-and-4 in the third quarter and Curtis Hollingsworth threw a 13-yard touchdown to Gavin Mango in the fourth quarter for the final tally—giving Cairo their first 60-plus point game since 2011.
In Region 1, Cairo improved to 4-2 and scored more the 60 points for the first time since 2011 with its 62-0 win over Salem. Shaw had a 45-6 win over a winless Jordan team, No. 9 ranked Bainbridge dropped a 22-16 loss to Class 5A No. 2 Ware County after leading 16-0, Hardaway fell 43-14 to Peach County and Westover dropped a 35-0 loss to a 5-1 Northside-Columbus team.
In Region 2, No. 3 ranked Perry won its fourth-straight game after a 57-56 loss to Houston County in its season opener in a 49-42 win over Howard, which entered the matchup 4-0. Griffin earned its first win of the season and also improved to 1-0 in region play with its 28-16 triumph over West Laurens and Spalding opened up region play with a massive 40-14 win over rival Baldwin.
In Region 3, Burke County improved to 5-0 with a 35-32 win over Class 5A Statesboro, Wayne County earned a 17-14 comeback win over Jenkins to improve to 4-1 and Benedictine defeated Bolles (FL) 26-7. Southeast Bulloch almost completed the Region 3 sweep this week, but fell 38-33 in overtime to Hephzibah.
Riverdale bounced back from last week’s 20-15 loss to Trinity Christian and scored a 22-14 win over Fayette County Thursday night to improve to 2-1 in Region 4. Trinity Christian moved to 2-0 in the region with a 53-12 win over North Clayton and No. 4 Troup also moved to 2-0 in region play with a massive 44-17 road win over No. 5 Starr’s Mill. Whitewater, which fell to Troup last week bounced back with a 29-21 win over LaGrange—which fell to Starr’s Mill in overtime last week.
Just two of the eight teams in Region 5 were active this week and went 0-2—Lovett fell 21-10 to Fellowship Christian and Mt. Zion-Jonesboro dropped a 56-0 loss to Upson-Lee. …In Region 6, Hapeville Charter fell to 0-5 with a tough 28-6 loss to Carver-Columbus and Stone Mountain (1-4) earned its first win of the year against Drew (35-7) on Thursday. Clarkston dropped a 57-14 road loss to Heard County and Druid Hills fell 30-17 to Region 7′s Southeast Whitfield. Stephenson impressed in a dominant 28-3 win over rival Tucker and Westminster picked up a 37-7 road win at Riverwood.
Region 7 remains the lone region in Class 4A with all of its teams owning winning records and the three teams that took the field on Friday added to the success with large margins of victory. Top-ranked Cedartown cruised past Dalton 57-14 to improve to 5-0, Heritage-Catoosa dominated Chattanooga Prep (TN) 47-0 to improve to 5-0 and Southeast Whitfield’s win over Druid Hills improved its record to 4-1. Central-Carroll (4-1), Northwest Whitfield (4-1) and Sonoraville (3-2) were off on their byes.
Region 8 had four region matchups and two non-region showdowns. Cedar Shoals defeated East Hall 49-21, No. 2 ranked North Oconee improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in region play with a 52-7 win over Chestatee, East Forsyth lost a 7-6 heartbreaker to Walnut Grove and North Hall earned a huge 14-12 win over Cherokee Bluff. Johnson-Gainesville dropped to 0-5 with a 45-0 loss to East Jackson and Seckinger got shutout 35-0 by Forsyth Central.
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