On to Week 4 in the high school football season. Region games won’t start for another week, or longer in most cases.
Here are six games of great interesting this week in Class 7A.
*Colquitt County, ranked No. 3, is playing at No. 2 Lee County from Class 6A. Colquitt County is 10-0 all-time against Lee County, though almost all those games were played before Lee became a significant statewide player. Both teams have been dominant in their 3-0 starts this season. Colquitt is winning by an average score of 36-4, though Lee will be the Packers’ first stringent test. Lee County is more proven, having beaten Warner Robins 26-10 in the opener. Perhaps for that reason, the Maxwell Ratings have Lee County as a 20-point favorite. Human observers would expect Colquitt to do much better.
*Speaking of Warner Robins, that’s Valdosta’s opponent this week on the road. Warner Robins was defending its Class 5A title while Valdosta was banned from the playoffs and finished 4-6. This season, Valdosta is one of the state’s most improved teams, according to the Maxwell Ratings, which have the Wildcats as a five-point favorite. Valdosta has beaten North Miami, Cook and Banneker by an average of 39-5.
*Marietta plays at No. 4 North Cobb. Marietta, despite its 1-2 record, is a pretty good team. Its losses are to Grayson 32-12 and Roswell 24-20. The Blue Devils beat West Forsyth 24-17. North Cobb, led by Super 11 QB Malachi Singleton, is coming off a 21-14 loss to No. 1 Buford, which scored in the final minute to break a 14-14 tie.
*Parkview at North Gwinnett is probably the best game this week between two 7A teams. These Gwinnett County rivals appear to be back on track after uncharacteristic mediocre seasons. Parkview was 4-7 and failed to win a playoff game for the first time since 2015. North Gwinnett was 6-6, its first non-winning season since 2015. Parkview has beaten Johns Creek and Shiloh. North Gwinnett has beaten McEachern and Archer and lost to Winter Park, a top-10 Florida team. Parkview is No. 9 in the rankings. North Gwinnet just dropped out from No. 10. It might be a winner-in, loser-out game.
*Milton plays No. 4 Roswell from Class 6A. Both north Fulton County schools began the season ranked, but Milton fell out after losing to Lipscomb Academy of Tennessee 17-7 and Christian Brothers of Missouri 41-27. Perhaps the demotion was premature as MaxPreps ranks Lipscomb and Christian Brothers as their states’ No. 1 teams.
*In a game between defending state champions, Collins Hill plays Cedar Grove, the Class 3A champion. Cedar Grove just beat another reputable Class 7A team, Westlake, 30-20, though Westlake was missing star QB R.J. Johnson. Collins Hill looked sharp defensively in its 16-13 victory over Brookwood last week, holding AJC Super 11 QB Dylan Lonergan to 100 yards passing.
Here are this week’s games involving Class 7A teams and the Maxwell Ratings’ projections on the margin of victory (favored teams on the left).
Allatoona vs Hillgrove -1
Cambridge at West Forsyth -3
Carrollton at Villa Rica -35
Cedar Grove at Collins Hill -4
Chamblee at Duluth -1
Cherokee vs Sequoyah -2
Denmark vs Harrison -9
Eagle’s Landing at Discovery -7
East Coweta vs Sandy Creek -1
Habersham Central vs Central Gwinnett -8
Lee County vs Colquitt County -20
McEachern vs Newton 0
Meadowcreek vs Arabia Mountain -20
Miller Grove at Campbell -12
Milton vs Roswell -1
Mountain View at Jackson County -23
Norcross vs Archer -4
North Cobb vs Marietta -15
North Gwinnett vs Parkview -7
Osborne vs Lakeside (Atlanta) -8
Peachtree Ridge vs Winder-Barrow -4
Rome vs Pebblebrook -9
South Paulding vs North Paulding -4
Tucker vs Dacula -5
Valdosta vs Warner Robins -5
Walton vs Pope -38
Westlake vs Southwest DeKalb -33
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