Brookwood, ranked No. 6 in preseason only to start 0-2, proved the early polls had some merit and defended its home turf on Friday with its 42-25 victory over No. 2 Colquitt County.
Brookwood RB Dante Black rushed for 261 yards and scored five touchdowns. Consider that Colquitt County allowed only 250 yards total in its first two games against Norcross and Vista Murrieta.
Brookwood has lost to No. 4 Archer and No. 7 Walton, both pretty close, so it’s likely that the Broncos and the Packers left that game feeling they’re still in the hunt. Neither is afraid of tough out-of-region competition to get them ready for October and beyond.
Here are some other results of note from Friday in the highest classification –
-Tift County, which joined Colquitt County as a Region 1 traveler to Gwinnett County, improved to 5-0 with a 50-37 victory over Parkview. Tift is likely to be 7-0 entering the Region 1 schedule next month. Coffee and Fitzgerald, no push-overs, remain until then. Friday's was a nice win, as Parkview began the season ranked but is having trouble with its defense. Lowndes scored 64 on the Panthers earlier this month. Or maybe Region 1 just has some pretty good offenses. Tift’s quarterback, Griffin Collier, is one of the best handful of them in the classification.
-Fourth-ranked Archer went to 4-0 with a 16-13 victory over Norcross. Archer scored a touchdown with a minute left to pull it out. Archer has matched its win total of last season, when the Tigers finished 4-7. Archer has wins over Brookwood and Mill Creek and a good chance to be 6-0 entering the Region 8 opener against No. 1 Grayson on Oct. 13, although road games await at Roswell and Newton.
-Lowndes entered Friday averaging 55.0 points per game and improved on that with a 57-0 victory at home against previously unbeaten Newton. While Newton is not a great team, it is a likely playoff team, and one that defeated Lowndes in Valdosta in 2013. Lowndes QB Michael Barrett - the leading candidate for this classification's offensive player of the year - rushed for 158 yards and four touchdowns and passed for 114 and one touchdown. Randy McPherson got his 150th coaching win at Lowndes.
-East Coweta knocked off No. 5 North Cobb 36-35 and probably emerged as the team to beat in Region 2. Westlake, the defending champion, lost to McEachern 28-9 and fell to 1-3. East Coweta is coached by John Small, who left South Gwinnett this past off-season after 12 seasons.
-North Paulding went to 4-0 with a 34-0 victory over Woodstock. Remember that Woodstock put up 70 points last week in a win over Kennesaw Mountain. North Paulding also started 4-0 last season (5-0, in fact) and finished 7-4. But the current Wolfpack has allowed only 13 points. North Paulding is the only unbeaten squad in Region 3, although McEachern (2-2) is probably the team to beat.
-Lassiter went to 4-0 with a 37-14 victory over Marietta. Marietta was missing star QB Harrison Bailey, but still an impressive win and start for the Trojans. Lassiter and Walton are the only unbeaten teams in Region 4, although Roswell (1-2) will be a factor. Lassiter has started well the past two seasons and faded, but this team appears a little stouter. Lassiter plays at South Forsyth (4-0) next week in a battle of unbeaten teams.
-Other unbeaten teams in the high class are Meadowreek (4-0 for the first time ever) and Mountain View (4-0 and about to be tested seriously for the first time next week vs. North Gwinnett). Both won easily Friday.
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