Saye It Ain’t So: Surprising and notable results from Week 1
1. Apalachee 29, Chattahoochee 9: Apalachee ended a 29-game losing streak with its victory over Chattahoochee, which had been projected by the computer Maxwell as a 15-point favorite. It was the Wildcats’ first victory since beating Jackson County in the 2021 regular-season finale. Apalachee’s 2024 season was cut to eight games in the aftermath of a shooting at the school on Sept. 4 that resulted in four fatalities.
2. Utopian Academy 14, B.E.S.T. Academy 12: Utopian Academy, a charter school for the arts in Morrow, picked up the first victory in the football program’s two-year history and recorded the biggest upset of the week when it won as a 33-point underdog. Utopian was outscored 498-18 last year, including a 49-0 loss to B.E.S.T. Academy in the season opener. Utopian’s victory leaves Discovery, in its 10th season, as the only GHSA school that has never won a season opener.
3. Rockmart 56, Cedartown 7: Perhaps no team outperformed its projection in Week 1 more than Rockmart, which came in as a 12-point underdog but won by 49. Cedartown had won 10 of the previous 13 meetings, including 24-3 last season, and has a 54-26-2 record all-time against its Polk County rival in a series that dates to 1923, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association.
4. Gordon Lee 23, Trion 12: Gordon Lee defeated 11-point favorite Trion for its second victory in the past 14 tries in the state’s oldest uninterrupted rivalry. The two northwest Georgia schools have met every season since 1946, with Trion holding a 67-23-1 all-time advantage. The victory was Gordon Lee’s first against a ranked Trion team (No. 8 in Class A Division II last week) since 1978.
5. Northgate 27, Starr’s Mill 21: Northgate, coming off a 2-8 first season under coach Kevin Whitley, got off to a better start in 2025 with a victory over 22-point favorite Starr’s Mill. Northgate lost five of the previous six games in the series, including 35-14 last year. Whitley is in his 20th season as a Georgia head coach (Stockbridge, Creekside, North Springs) and has had just three losing seasons.
Worth noting: Eagle’s Landing surprised 21-point favorite Northside of Warner Robins 20-14 Saturday night for its highest-profile victory since beating Houston County in 2017. Eagle’s Landing appears on the upswing under third-year coach Johnny Teemer after reaching the playoffs last season for the first time since 2017. … Gilmer beat rival Fannin County 42-24 for its second victory in the past eight meetings. Fannin County, the No. 7 team in Class A Division I last season and 12-point favorite, is coming off one of the best seasons in school history, going 12-1 and reaching the quarterfinals. … Jefferson avenged a 2024 loss with a 19-0 victory over 10-point Marist. It was the first time Marist was shut out since a 17-0 loss to St. Pius in 2018 and just the eighth shutout in Alan Chadwick’s 41 seasons as head coach. Marist (Class 4A) and Jefferson (3A) both lost in state finals last year. … Locust Grove won its season opener for the first time since 2020 when it defeated 16-point favorite Pebblebrook 41-7. Fourth-year Locust Grove coach Garry Fisher inherited an 0-10 team in 2022 and went 1-19 over the first two seasons before improving to 5-5 in 2024. … Swainsboro, which took a step back to 4-7 last year after back-to-back state finals appearances, got off to a strong start with a 15-14 victory over Class A Division I No. 5 Dublin, a 10-point favorite. Dublin won the past two seasons by an average of 20.5 points.