Class A Div. 1 Blog: Week 3 Takeaways

The Week 3 slate kicks off with one Thursday night matchup and just shy of 50 total games for Class A Division I. Entering this week, there are just 21 undefeated teams left (counting 1-0 Mt. Bethel). Region 1 became the only region with three teams in the Class A Division I top 10 this week and will be worth watching with major matchups across the board. No. 2 Thomasville and No. 9 Jeff Davis are both off to 2-0 starts and No. 6 Fitzgerald will be fresh off a bye after its narrow 19-13 loss to Class A Division II No. 4 ranked Irwin County. This week, Thomasville will take on 0-1 Cairo—which fell 44-14 to Thomas County Central in its opener last week. Jeff Davis will host a 2-0 Charlton County team that is coming off a 61-13 victory over Brantley County and 19-0 win over McIntosh County Academy. Fitzgerald will be taking on 0-2 Crisp County out of Class 2A—which is fresh off tough losses to ranked opponents Sumter County (20-19) and Lovett (30-14). Bacon County bounced back from a 36-21 loss to Clinch County with a 38-21 win over Telfair County last Friday and will visit 1-1 Treutlen this Friday. Worth County defeated Turner County 44-6, but dropped a tough 55-46 shootout to Irwin County last week. Now, Worth County will host Dooly County. Brantley County will take on defending Class 2A state champion Pierce County and Berrien will visit Telfair County, which was defeated by Region 1 rival Bacon County 38-21 last week. Region 2 enters its second-straight week of a full slate of region games. As it stands, the Northeast at Washington County game will be the only 1-0 vs. 1-0 matchup out of the five. No. 3 ranked Dublin will visit Southwest, No. 7 Dodge County will host Central-Macon and ACE Charter will travel to Jefferson County. Bleckley County’s loss to Dodge County last week sent the Royals out of the top 10 in place of the Indians and they will be traveling to East Laurens looking to pick up the region victory. In Region 3, No. 1 ranked Toombs County will travel to South Effingham after opening its season last week with an impressive 55-14 win over Dougherty. Savannah Christian dominated Class 4A New Hampstead 35-7 last week to improve to 2-0 and will take on Region 8′s Providence Christian at home with a chance to continue its title bid. Swainsboro dropped a 24-21 loss to ECI last week and will look for its first win of the year at home against Metter. Region 4 saw Lamar County maintain a No. 4 ranking this week and the Trojans are fresh off a bye at 1-0 heading into their matchup with visiting Jackson. Towers is also 1-0 coming off its bye and will take on visiting Landmark Christian out of Region 5 Sub. 5 Thursday night. The other intriguing cross-region matchup will be Region 5 Wesleyan against Region 8′s Elbert County. The Wolves are 2-0 and rising in the Class A-3A poll, while Elbert County is 0-2 and looking to return to the poll after disappointing losses to start the year. In Region 6, Friday night will show just how talented Bremen is as it hosts two-time defending state champion Bowdon. Bremen scored a 57-6 win over Jordan last week to climb to No. 8 in the poll. Like Bremen, Region 7′s Fannin County has also come out strong to start the season and the Rebels are No. 5 in the latest poll after their big win over Rabun County. Now, Fannin County will visit Union County with a chance to improve to 3-0. The hottest team in Region 8 is Athens Academy and the Spartans are as high as No. 7 in several Class A-3A private division polls. This week, Athens Academy will host Shaw. On the Public side, No. 10 ranked Rabun County will be off on a bye this week and the remaining five teams housed in Region 8 will look to win their first games of the season this week.

Fitzgerald jumped to a 14-0 lead against Crisp County in the first quarter and never looked back in a 25-7 win to get back on track. The Purple Hurricane scored a rushing touchdown to start the game and followed that up with a punt-return TD. Crisp County answered with a kickoff return for a touchdown on the ensuing drive, and the halftime score was 17-7. Fitzgerald locked down on defense and put the game away in the fourth quarter when Cam Johnson scored on a seven-yard run.

The Lamar County Trojans stayed perfect on the season as they defeated the Jackson Red Devils, 19-10. After a Jackson field goal, Lamar County answered with a nine-yard rushing touchdown from Jahnizae Few to take an early 7-3 lead. After a Trojans field goal, Lamar County’s Kaden Carter returned a Jackson-fumble 104-yards for a touchdown to take a 17-3 lead late first half to take a two-score lead at the half. Jackson outscored the Trojans 7-2 in the second half, but Lamar County held on, securing a 19-10 victory moving to 2-0 on the young season.