Two-way players Bryce Baker of Benedictine and Trelaine Maddox put up big numbers on both sides of the ball to lead their teams to close victories in Week 4, and Clinch County's Jeremy Bell accounted for 379 yards in a win over Cook.

Benedictine beat Ware County in a game between No. 1-ranked reigning champions last week. Both are still No. 1 in this week’s football rankings. Benedictine naturally kept its top spot in Class 4A after beating Ware 31-24 in Savannah. The Cadets are 4-0 after starting 2-2 each of the past two seasons, each ending in state titles. Ware’s 17-game winning streak is over, but its reign at No. 1 in Class 5A is not.

The Georgia High School Association’s reclassification committee voted Thursday to keep the 3.0 out-of-zone enrollment multiplier for the next reclass cycle and will decide next month on a proposal to add 18 schools to the highest classification. Using enrollment numbers for the current classification, schools that would’ve landed in a 64-school high class this year include Blessed Trinity, Houston County, Rome and Gainesville. They currently are in Class 6A, one from the highest.

The matchup of top-ranked teams Ware County of Class 5A and Benedictine of Class 4A is the headliner for Week 4 of the season. Other top games on the schedule this week include Milton vs. Roswell in a north Fulton rivalry, Marist vs. Woodward Academy in a Class 6A private-school battle, and Lee County vs. Colquitt County in a showdown for south Georgia supremacy.

More than 140 former Georgia high school football players are on active NFL rosters ahead of the league’s first game Thursday between the Chiefs and the Lions. Every NFL team has at least one Georgia player, and the Falcons have the most with nine. The Ravens are next with eight. The reigning champion Chiefs have six.

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.