High school football: No. 1-ranked teams knocked out
Class 5A’s highest-ranked teams – No. 1 Cartersville, No. 2 Woodward Academy and No. 3 Ware County – are out of the state football playoffs. So are Class 3A’s top two, No. 1 Monroe Area and No. 2 Oconee County, along with No. 2 North Cobb of Class 7A.
Class 5A’s elite suffered the heaviest damages Friday night.
No. 4 Warner Robins, the defending 5A champion, beat Cartersville, winning 24-17 in a rematch of the 2020 title game. No. 9 Blessed Trinity eliminated Woodward Academy 28-13, ending the War Eagles’ season at 11-1. No. 6 Calhoun, another traditionally power laying low, outlasted Ware County 49-42.
North Cobb, Monroe Area and Oconee County were perhaps even more surprising with their exits, but their opponents were no lightweights, either. No. 10 Roswell took out North Cobb 46-43. In Class 3A, Peach beat No. 1 Monroe Area 24-21 while Crisp County beat No. 2 Oconee County 26-10.
Two other top-four teams lost Friday.
No. 7 Callaway, the defending Class 2A champion, beat No. 3 Bleckley County 35-14. Dacula, unranked in Class 6A, beat previously undefeated No. 4 Brunswick 29-21.
The quarterfinals are next weekend. Eight state championships will be decided Dec. 9-11 at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium.
