Lowndes, Valdosta, Thomas County Central and Benedictine won the quartet of major South Georgia showdowns Friday night, but the big upsets took place in North Georgia, where unranked Hart County and North Clayton beat top-five opponents.
In a Region 8-2A game, Hart County entered with a 1-4 record and beat Class 3A-A Private’s No. 2 team, Prince Avenue Christian, 31-28.
Hart County was a 24-point underdog, according to the computer Maxwell Ratings, although each of Hart’s four losses had come against 4A or 3A opponents.
In the other top-10 shocker Friday, North Clayton, a 15-point underdog, beat Stephenson, the No. 5 team in Class 3A, 42-21.
The victory was North Clayton’s first over a ranked team since 2009 against Banneker. North Clayton improved to 5-1, one victory from its first winning season since 2011. The team’s coach since 2016 has been Cap Burnett, a North Clayton alumnus and former Georgia player.
Upsets aside, the night’s marquee games took place south of the fall line.
In Class 6A, No. 5 Lowndes beat No. 9 Colquitt County 31-14 in Region 1. Colquitt has won this region each of the past three seasons and eight of the past 11. Lowndes has won it the other three.
Also in Region 1, No. 8 Valdosta beat No. 10 Camden County 63-19. Valdosta has not won a region championship in the highest class since 2011. The Wildcats now are front-runners with crosstown Lowndes for the title, though Richmond Hill (5-1, 1-0) remains a factor, as does perhaps Colquitt County, which claimed the title with one loss last season.
In Class 5A, No. 2 Thomas County Central beat No. 6 Lee County 35-21. Thomas Central lost only to Lee County in the 2024 regular season and advanced to the quarterfinals, where the Yellow Jackets fell to the current No. 1 Hughes.
No. 4 Benedictine beat No. 5 Ware County 30-27 in Class 4A. The outcome evened the series 3-3 in a rivalry that began in 2020. Benedictine has won in each odd year, while Ware has won in each even year.
Another surprise Friday was Appling County’s 15-14 victory over No. 10 Fitzgerald. Appling is coached by Tucker Pruitt, who was Fitzgerald’s coach from 2017 to 2024 and won a state title in 2021. Appling County forfeited 10 games from its 2024 team that otherwise finished 10-4 and started 2-3 this season.
Several other games Friday matched top-10 teams.
No. 8 Blessed Trinity of Class 4A beat 3A-A Private’s No. 6 team, Savannah Christian, 35-32 in overtime.
No. 9 Holy Innocents’ beat No. 10 Lovett 14-7 in a game between 3A-A Private schools.
Hebron Christian, the No. 1 3A-A Private team, beat Class 2A No. 10 East Jackson 55-10.
In others, No. 3 Carver-Atlanta beat No. 9 Hapeville Charter in 2A; No. 3 Thomasville beat No. 9 Jeff Davis 56-21 in Class A Division I; and No. 8 Early County beat No. 6 Seminole County 18-7 in Class A Division II.
Also in Class A Division II, Wheeler County beat No. 9 Hawkinsville 36-18, and ECI beat No. 7 Metter 34-6.
In one of the more remarkable scores, No. 6 Douglas County of Class 6A beat winless 40-point underdog Columbia 6-0. Columbia is a Class 2A school that plays much bigger schools in preparation for its region schedule. The Eagles also were 0-6 last season and still won Region 6 and one round in the 2A playoffs.
The regular season is seven weeks old with five remaining.
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