1. Woodward Academy 14, Marist 9: A week after Marist’s Alan Chadwick picked up his 400th career victory, Woodward’s John Hunt picked up his 100th in 11 seasons. Woodward was projected as a 19-point underdog by the computer Maxwell Ratings. The loss snapped Marist’s 14-game winning streak, which included the Class 4A championship in 2020.
2. New pecking order?: Defending 6-6A champion Allatoona and runner-up Kell gave up late touchdowns and lost to double-digit underdogs in the first game of region play. Allatoona lost 22-21 to 10-point underdog Kennesaw Mountain, which is 3-0 for the first time in school history. Kell, a 14-point favorite, lost 30-24 to Pope, a team it beat 47-13 last year.
3. Creekside 27, Westlake 20: Westlake was coming off an upset of perennial power and 16-point favorite Colquitt County but couldn’t keep up the momentum, losing to its south Fulton rival, which was a 14-point underdog. Creekside is 2-0 for the first time since 2016 but 24-12 since bottoming out at 0-10 in 2017. Westlake had won three straight in the series.
4. Put ‘em in the playoffs: South Carolina team Beaufort has as good a case for making the GHSA playoffs as anybody.
The Eagles (3-0) defeated Benedictine 33-23 on Friday for their third consecutive victory against a Georgia team, two of which (Benedictine and Richmond Hill) were nine-game winners and playoff teams last year. Beaufort was 5-2 in 2020.
5. Union Grove 21, Starr’s Mill 14: Union Grove pulled off the upset of the week, according to Maxwell, with its victory over 24-point favorite Starr’s Mill in a Class 5A game. Starr’s Mill, ranked No. 7 last week, had won the previous three meetings in the series, including 19-14 last year. Union Grove went 6-5 last season and made the playoffs for the first time in eight years.
Worth noting: Chestatee ended an 11-game losing streak that was the third-longest in school history with a 41-28 victory over nine-point favorite Union County. It was the War Eagles’ first win since beating West Hall 70-14 in the 2019 season finale. … McIntosh is 2-1 after its a 34-28 victory over four-point favorite Fayette County, which won last year’s game 27-14. The Chiefs are off to their best start since winning their first five games in 2017, which was their most recent playoff season. … North Gwinnett (1-2) picked up its first victory of the season with a 34-27 win over Parkview, a 10-point favorite. Parkview’s 1-2 start is its worst since starting 0-5 in 2013, Cecil Flowe’s final season as the Panthers’ head coach. … Pebblebrook of Class 7A was an eight-point favorite over Hapeville Charter (4A) but won 40-20 to reach 3-0 for the first time since 2003. The Falcons have beaten Peachtree Ridge, South Cobb and Hapeville by a combined score of 133-29. … Spalding, a 1-9 team each of the past two seasons, is 2-1 after a 27-17 victory over Ola, which was an 11-point favorite. The wins over Union Grove (35-28) and Ola avenged losses in 2020 that came by a combined score of 90-17.
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