Newton and Sandy Creek defeated premium opponents for the second straight week, Blessed Trinity and Troup won county rivalry games and Class A’s top 10 suffered serious damage, with No. 1 Lincoln County and five others losing on the second Friday night of the football season.
Twenty-two top-10 teams lost across all classifications, including two-time defending Private champion Hebron Christian (to Benedictine); No. 6 Calhoun of Class 4A (to Greater Atlanta Christian); and No. 10 Harrison of Class 7A (to East Paulding).
Newton, ranked No. 6 in Class 7A, beat Class 6A’s No. 3 team, Roswell, 42-15. Newton defeated then-No. 4 Douglas County 34-27 in overtime last week as an unranked team.
Newton has beaten top-10 teams in consecutive weeks for the first time in history.
Sandy Creek, the No. 1 team in Class 4A, beat Douglas County, now ranked No. 7, 21-0, becoming the first team to shut out the Tigers in the regular season since 2018.
It was hard to imagine in preseason that Sandy Creek would start 2-0, as Douglas County and Grayson were ranked in the top five of the highest class to start the season. Sandy Creek beat Grayson, a school with three times its enrollment, 21-13.
No. 3 Blessed Trinity of 5A beat No. 2 Milton of 6A, 21-20, in a game between north Fulton County schools. Milton had a first-and-10 at the Blessed Trinity 12-yard line in the final two minutes, but mismanaged a potential game-winning field goal in the final minute. Blessed Trinity lost to Milton the previous two seasons in their only prior meetings.
No. 3 Troup of 4A beat No. 4 LaGrange of 5A, 22-20. It was the first meeting between those Troup County rivals when both were ranked in the top five.
Class A’s top 10 was dismantled, as only No. 4 Johnson County and No. 6 Bowdon, a four-time reigning champion, were victorious.
The rest — from No. 1 Lincoln County to No. 10 Hawkinsville — were beaten or trailed badly this week. Also losing were Clinch County, Wheeler County, Early County and Trion. Irwin County trailed Bacon County 28-0 in a game stopped by weather and scheduled to resume Oct. 13. Emanuel County Institute lost to Swainsboro on Thursday.
Lincoln County lost to Westside of Augusta, a Class 3A school, 48-41. No. 2 Clinch County lost to Jeff Davis, a Class 2A school, 42-7.
Wheeler County (to Montgomery County), Trion (to Model) and Irwin County (to Bacon County) were two-touchdown favorites, according to the Maxwell Ratings.
Bowdon, which lost to unranked Bremen 38-19 last week, bounced back with a 32-3 victory over Callaway, the No. 8 team in 2A.
Also bouncing back Friday was Benedictine, beaten 58-21 by Toombs County last week. Benedictine, a perennial power from 5A, defeated Hebron Christian 48-17.
Greater Atlanta Christian, the No. 3 team in the Private class, beat Calhoun 24-17. GAC has beaten two top-10 teams to open a season for the first time since 2017, when the Spartans defeated Lovett and Westminster. GAC beat North Hall last week.
East Paulding’s 27-23 victory over Harrison was the Raiders’ first victory over a top-10 team since 2018 against Kell.
Mount Vernon’s 34-28 overtime victory over No. 8 Whitefield Academy in a Private game was the Mustangs’ first win against a ranked team in history. Mount Vernon had been 0-37 in those games.
Other top-10 teams that lost Friday were Ware County to Coffee; Mary Persons to Jasper County; Burke County to Statesboro; Northeast to Warner Robins; Cook to Bleckley County; Pepperell to North Cobb Christian; and Savannah Christian to Bethesda Academy.
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