Valdosta’s victory over archrival Lowndes earned the Wildcats their highest ranking entering the playoffs since 2019. Valdosta jumped from No. 9 to No. 5 in Class 6A, making the Wildcats the biggest risers in the final football rankings of the regular season. Valdosta defeated then-No. 4 Lowndes 23-14 for the Region 1-6A championship. The title is Valdosta’s first since 2016. Lowndes fell to No. 6.

Roswell moved up to No. 3 in Class 5A this week ahead of its Region 7 football showdown against Milton. Kell made a big jump in 4A, Jasper County entered the rankings for the first time in nearly 30 years and Harrison and Cass joined the top 10 with one week remaining in the regular season. Then-No. 6 Roswell (8-1, 5-0) defeated then-No. 3 Gainesville (8-2, 5-1) 37-35 on Friday night and can win Region 7-5A with a victory this week over No. 5 Milton (7-2, 4-1).

Pierce County, a staple in the top 10 since 2018, is out of the high school football rankings despite a 7-1 record after losing last week to unranked Crisp County, a 21-point underdog that entered the game 2-6. Crisp County won 28-16 on Pierce’s home field. Pierce County had been ranked for 96 straight weeks, the sixth-longest active run in the state. Schools with longer active streaks are Buford, Cartersville, Prince Avenue Christian, Lee County and Marist.

Two No. 1 teams won by a point last week. Carver of Columbus kept its ranking. North Oconee did not. Creekside, a 91-0 winner over Drew, is the new No. 1 team in Class 4A. The historic victory, the largest margin in a GHSA game in more than 75 years, wasn’t the main catalyst, however. Drew is winless. More significant was North Oconee’s close call, a 14-13 victory over 4-4 Eastside. North Oconee won its 23rd straight game on a blocked extra point in the fourth quarter.

Kell, Thomson and Bleckley County entered the football rankings this week after victories over top-10 teams in a weekend of limited upsets. Kell of Class 4A beat No. 8 Blessed Trinity 3-0 and moved into the top 10 at No. 9. Also in 4A, No. 10 Cass (6-2) fell out of the rankings after losing to No. 3 Cartersville 56-28. In Class 2A, Thomson beat previous No. 7 Burke County 24-14. Thomson (4-3) is now No. 10.

Lowndes and Valdosta — county rivals that are 6-0 simultaneously for the first time since 1996 — jumped inside the top five of the Class 6A rankings after beating top-10 opponents in region play last week. Lowndes moved up one place to No. 4 after beating No. 9 Colquitt County 31-14 in a Region 1-6A game. Hillgrove is new to the Class 6A ratings after a 5-0 start, replacing Camden County.

One football team lost its No. 1 spot in this week despite winning, and six entered the top 10 — one for the first time in school history. Prince Avenue Christian of Class 3A-A Private was demoted to No. 2 in the AJC rankings after a 59-34 victory Friday night against Westside, a South Carolina, team that reached that state’s Class 4A championship game last season. The new No. 1 team is defending champion 3A-A Private champion Hebron Christian.

Sandy Creek is the new No. 1 team in Class 3A after two teams ahead of the Patriots lost last week, and Sequoyah was the biggest riser in all classifications, going from No. 8 to No. 4 in Class 5A. In Class 3A, previous No. 1 Calhoun lost its second straight game last week – this time to Class 4A’s No. 9 team, Cambridge, 52-42. Calhoun lost to another ranked 4A team, Cartersville, 38-35 the week before.

Two No. 1 teams lost last week. One kept its spot; the other did not. Worth County is the new No. 1 in Class A Division I, replacing defending champion Toombs County, which lost 49-28 to Rome, the 10th-ranked Class 5A team. Toombs beat Rome last season. Maintaining its No. 1 ranking was Calhoun in Class 3A. Calhoun lost to Class 4A’s No. 4 team, Cartersville, 38-35 on a field goal with 12 seconds left. Calhoun won 3A last season.

The football rankings remained largely the same after almost no upsets involving top-10 teams in the third weekend of the season. Thirteen top-10 teams were beaten, but only one lost to a lower-ranked, instate opponent from the same class. That was former No. 5 Colquitt County in Class 6A. North Gwinnett, playing at home, beat the Packers 21-7 and moved up one spot to No. 7 while Colquitt fell to No. 10.

Fresh off victories over two of Cobb County’s top programs, McEachern is in the rankings for the first time since 2020, checking in at No. 6 in Class 6A. The Indians defeated then-No. 6 North Cobb 21-0 on Friday after beating Walton 50-17 the previous week. North Cobb and Walton are Cobb’s two winningest teams since 2020. The No. 6 ranking is McEachern’s highest since the Indians reached the 2019 quarterfinals ranked No. 2.

Three-time defending champion Bowdon is out of the top spot in the Class A Division II football rankings after a decisive opening-night loss. The new No. 1 is Lincoln County, a program looking to restore its glory days. The other seven preseason No. 1 teams - Grayson (6A), Hughes (5A), North Oconee (4A), Calhoun (3A), Carver-Columbus (2A), Toombs County (A Division I) and Prince Avenue Christian (3A-A Private) - won impressively in the first week of the season.