Four Georgia basketball teams are ranked No. 1 in the final high school basketball poll for the first time, the final reward for their first-ever state championships.

Langston Hughes, a 7-year-old school in Fairburn, won the Class AAAAAA boys title. Hughes was only the No. 3 seed from its Region 5 but was ranked No. 4 statewide entering the state tournament. No. 1 South Paulding, the Region 5 champion, went out in the quarterfinals while Hughes defeated four straight region champions – Lee County, Gainesville, Allatoona and Brunswick – to claim the championship.

It was the first state championship in any sport for Hughes.

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South Carolina State University head football coach Chennis Berry joined the team in 2023 after coaching at Benedict College, a historically Black college in Columbia, South Carolina. Last year, Berry's team saw its season end in heartbreak in the Celebration Bowl and this time, it ended in triumph with a 40-38 win. (Courtesy of South Carolina State Athletics)

Credit: South Carolina State University Athletics

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Students at Carver Early College School of Technology attend the school’s art class on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. Atlanta Public Schools plans to convert the campus to a school of the arts that will serve grades 6-12. The plan depends on voters extending a one-cent sales tax for education. (Natrice Miller/AJC)

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