Walton won a top-10 showdown in Class 7A, Benedictine successfully defended its No. 1 ranking while Cedar Grove did not, and Osborne, Calhoun and Toombs County had big wins Friday night in the eighth weekend of the high school football season.
No. 3 Walton beat No. 10 North Cobb 35-27, ending a three-game losing streak to the Warriors and making Walton (5-0, 1-0) the front-runner in Region 5. Walton hasn’t won a region title since 2017.
Benedictine, the two-time defending Class 4A champion, beat No. 5 Burke County in Region 3. Benedictine is 6-0 for the first time since 2017.
Cedar Grove, the No. 1 team in 3A, lost for the fifth time, this time to Carver of Montgomery, Alabama, 13-9. Cedar Grove’s previous losses have been to top-10 teams from larger classes.
Osborne of Marietta ended a 71-game losing streak to fellow Cobb County schools when it beat Kennesaw Mountain 35-3. Osborne (6-0) also clinched its first winning season since 1994. The Cobb losing streak dated to 2004. The region losing streak went back to 2011.
In a Class 5A game, No. 8 Calhoun beat No. 5 Hiram 56-35, dealing Hiram (6-1, 1-1) its first loss. Calhoun is 5-2, 1-1. Both trail No. 4 Cartersville (7-0, 2-0), which beat cross-county rival Cass 21-14 in overtime Friday.
In 2A, No. 8 Toombs County beat No. 2 Appling County 31-28 in Region 3. Appling County is the highest-ranked team that Toombs (7-0, 3-0) has ever beaten. Toombs faces No. 4 Pierce County (5-1, 1-1).
Three unranked teams defeated ranked teams Friday, as Jones County beat No. 10 Ola 48-17 in 5A, Carver-Columbus beat No. 6 Thomasville in 3A and Hart County beat No. 10 Oconee County 26-16 in 3A.
Valdosta beat Lowndes 37-27 in the crosstown rivalry known as the Winnersville Classic. It is Valdosta’s first two-game win streak in the series since 2015-16. Both entered unranked for only the fourth time in series history.
In a rivalry that dates to 1922, Lincoln County beat Washington-Wilkes 27-21. They were unranked.
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