Prince Avenue Christian, the top-ranked program in Class A Division I, will try to remain unbeaten Friday when it plays host to Class 2A No. 10 Athens Academy (1-1) in Athens.
Prince, the defending state champions, have beaten South Carolina’s Hammond (42-13) and Tennessee’s Nashville Christian (42-0) in the first two weeks of the season.
The team is led by quarterback Aaro Philo, a Georgia Tech commitment, who thinks his team could have scored more in its first two games.
“The first thing that comes to mind is we’re dropping a lot of balls right now,” Philo told GHSFD/AJC. “That’s something that we definitely have to work on. We have to catch the ball if we want to score.”
Philo is 32-of-51 passing for 461 yards and seven touchdowns. Six different players have caught touchdown passes. Philo has rushed 16 times for 72 yards and three touchdowns.
“I want to be a leader not just on the football field, but off as well,” Philo said. “I want to push guys in the classroom and push them in life to be the best person and human that they can be. But on the football field, I’m coaching our guys up every play. If something’s wrong, I’ll tell them that they need to fix it. Not to bring them down or anything but just so they can get better and we can get better as the team.”
Prince Avenue and Athens Academy are separated by 11 miles, and the teams have met 19 times. Prince Avenue holds a 10-9 margin in the series that dates to 2006 and has won the previous three games. Prince won five-straight from 2012 to 2016 and Athens Academy won from 2017 to 2019. Athens Academy opened the season with a 42-7 victory against Dade County but lost to Alabama’s Mobile Christian 41-21 last week.
In Class A Division II, top-ranked Schley County (1-0) will welcome No. 3 Early County (2-0) after beating Tattnall Square 61-20 in its season-opener last week. Schley lost to Early 19-17 last year when Schley was No. 1 and Early County was ranked No. 10. Schley returns quarterback Jay Kanazawa, linebacker Zayden Walker and receiver Jalewis Soloman.
Early County defeated Miller County 29-15 in the season-opener and defeated Seminole County 33-13 last week.
In other Class A Division I games, No. 6 Brooks County (0-2) was set to stop its slide but the game against Class 2A No. 8 Cook was postponed because of the storm. The teams are trying to reschedule.
Three Division I teams – No. 3 Irwin County, No. 4 Bleckley County and No. 5 Trion – are idle, and one Class A Division II team, No. 8 McIntosh County Academy, will not play.
Class A Division I Top-10 schedule
1. (1) Prince Avenue Christian (2-0) Friday vs. Class 2A No. 10 Athens Academy (1-1)
2. (2) Swainsboro (2-0) Friday at Class 2A Jeff Davis
3. (5) Irwin County (1-1) Off.
4. (6) Bleckley County (2-0) Off.
5. (9) Trion (2-0) Off.
6. (7) Brooks County (0-2) Friday vs. Class 2A No. 8 Cook POSTPONED
7. (10) Dublin (1-0) Friday vs. Lamar County
8. (3) Rabun County (1-1) Friday at Class 3A Adairsville
9. (4) Elbert County (1-1) Friday at Class 3A Harlem
10. (NR) Mount Vernon (2-0) Friday vs. Class 2A Mount Paran
Class A Division II Top-10 schedule
1. (1) Schley County (1-0) Friday vs. No. 3 Early County
2. (2) Manchester (1-0) Thursday vs. Class 3A Columbus
3. (5) Early County (2-0) Friday at No. 1 Schley County
4. (9) Macon County (2-0) Friday vs. Dooly County
5. (3) Bowdon (0-2) Friday vs. Class 3A Bremen
6. (8) Aquinas (2-0) Friday at Class 3A Savannah Country Day
7. (4) Clinch County (1-1) Friday at Miller County
8. (7) McIntosh County Academy (1-1) Off.
9. (NR) Greene County (2-0) Friday at Hancock Central
10. (NR) Jenkins County (2-0) Friday vs. East Laurens
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