In terms of rankings, two things occurred Friday. Buford proved it’s worthy of its No. 1 ranking, and Gainesville proved that it belonged in the top 10.
Both schools were rewarded for their dominating performances Friday when the Associated Press released its Georgia High School Football Poll on Monday.
The Wolves — Class AA’s No. 1 team since Week 1 — beat last week’s No. 6-ranked team in Class AAA, North Hall, 45-14 on Friday, keeping them atop the poll, and subsequently dropping the Trojans out of the top 10.
Taking North Hall’s spot in the Class AAA top 10 is Gainesville, which improved to 2-0 on the year with a 34-7 dismantling of Region 8-AAA’s Franklin County on Friday. That win propelled the Red Elephants to a No. 8 ranking this week.
Despite losing to Buford, North Hall received six votes, which was two points shy of Peach County, the No. 10 team in Class AAA.
Remaining atop the Class AAA rankings is Carver-Columbus, which received five first-place votes. Garnering the remaining three votes was Cairo, which is ranked No. 2. Rounding out the top five is Baldwin, St. Pius X and Dunwoody.
Stephens County, which beat Flowery Branch 28-25 in Week 1, and Seneca (S.C.) 31-0 in Week 2, is No. 6. LaGrange (No. 7) and Cartersville (No. 9) round out the top 10. Cartersville and Peach County were both unranked last week.
The top four teams remained the same in all classes except for Class AAAA, where last week’s No. 1 team Thomas County Central fell all the way to No. 9 after losing to Cairo 28-6 on Friday. The Yellow Jackets’ top spot is now occupied by Tucker (2-0), which received all eight first-place votes.
Emmanuel County Institute and Lowndes remain the top teams in Class A and Class AAAAA respectively.
Aside from the three newcomers to the Class AAA top 10, the other biggest leaps in the rankings came in Class AA, where Brooks County moved up four spots to take over the No. 6 ranking that was previously occupied by Cook. The Hornets lost to Brunswick 30-14 on Friday, dropping them out of the top 10.