Arabia Mountain's Daniel Ndukwe and Discovery's Muhammad Alcine make game-changing plays on defense, Gainesville's Gavin Hall continues his hot start, and running backs at Jenkins County and Vidalia put up big numbers in Week 3 victories.

Gainesville and Thomson moved up to No. 1 in their classifications in the football rankings after three weeks of the regular season after previous No. 1 teams Hughes and Fitzgerald lost. Hughes was beaten by Butler, a Charlotte-area school, 30-27 on Saturday night at Atlanta’s Lakewood Stadium. Hughes, the defending Class 6A champion, had won 17 straight games.

It’s Sept. 1, and we’re talking playoffs. Loren Maxwell, creator of the Maxwell Ratings, publishes his playoff predictions weekly on ajc.com, where he talks playoffs. If nothing else, they’re newsworthy for the bracket alignment and region matchups, which change each year. And they’re great topics of motivation for the disrespected.

Creekside will take on the challenge of facing the nation's No. 1 team when it travels to California to face Mater Dei in a Saturday night game. Big rivalries also take top billing in Week 3, with Northside facing Warner Robins, Troup playing Callaway, and Athens Academy taking on Prince Avenue Christian.

The Georgia High School Association’s reclassification committee will meet for the first time this academic year on Sept. 7. That unofficially kicks off the every-two-year process that will result in the GHSA’s 450-plus member schools finding out which class they’ll be assigned for 2024-25 and 2025-26.

North Murray's Judson Petty sets the state record for receiving yards, Roswell QB K.J. Smith breaks the school record for touchdown passes, Sammy Brown and Demello Jones showcase their all-around skills, and Frederica Academy's Jordon Triplett has another big week.

Cedar Grove remained the No. 1 Class 3A football team in the AJC rankings despite losing to a Florida team Saturday night. The Saints were beaten 50-42 by Monarch, which plays in a Florida classification for its largest schools. No. 2 is Calvary Day, which has never been ranked No. 1 and lost to Cedar Grove 30-0 last season.

GHSF Daily will begin running a yardage leaderboard three weeks into the season. In the meantime, here are several GHSA players who hit milestones with 200 yards rushing, 250 yards passing or 150 yards receiving in the opening week of the season. At the top are Wayne County’s Matthew Fuller, Athens Academy’s Hampton Johnson and Turner County’s Kke’Arrin Dawsey.

GHSF Daily previews 10 of the most intriguing games each week throughout the season. The Week 2 headliners include Thomasville and Thomas County Central renewing a city rivalry in which the teams are separated by just one victory; Walton faces Brookwood and Mill Creek meets Norcross in two top-10 Class 7A battles; and Calhoun takes on Carver of Atlanta to kick off the two-day Great Atlanta Bash.

Cap Burnett, coach of alma mater North Clayton, leads the most improved winning team in the state after the first week of games, according to GHSF Daily’s opening Improvement Tracker sponsored by Hudl. North Clayton defeated Riverdale 44-28 on Saturday to avenge a 69-0 loss from 2022. North Clayton finished 1-9 with an average score of 48-5 last season, so Burnett’s Eagles are off to an unexpected and rousing start.

Running backs Matt Fuller of Wayne County, Jordan Triplett of Frederica Academy and Gavin Hall of Gainesville put up big first-game numbers, Houston County QB had a perfect night in a 40-point victory, and South Forsyth's Davis Little shows off a strong leg.