New Dalton coach Chris Prewett inherited a team that just finished 0-10, and the Catamounts’ 0-4 record is proof of what he knew already. The fix won’t be immediate. But the offense looks like a winner, in large part because of quarterback Caine Woods. A sophomore who also started as a freshman, Woods has thrown for 1,219 yards, the most in the state by a wide margin.

Sprayberry travels to Sequoyah on Friday for a matchup of top-10 teams in Class 5A that will establish the favorite to win the Region 6. Sprayberry won last year and took the region title, although both teams made it to the state quarterfinals. No. 2 Buford hosts No. 4 Douglas County in a high-profile Class 6A non-region game, and Calhoun goes to Jefferson for a game featuring two state finalists from 2024.

Below are Georgia’s 459 11-man football teams by county and ranked by the computer Maxwell Ratings. The teams include those from the Georgia High School Association, the Georgia Independent Athletic Association and the Georgia Association of Private and Parochial Schools. The list provides a different way of looking at the state’s teams, grouping them as county rivals, and offers some insight into the strength of certain counties relative to others.

Rabun County's Reid Giles and Buford's Tyriq Green made a big impact all over the field in their teams' Week 4 victories, while quarterbacks Turner Stevenson of Aquinas and Traviion Miller of Clinch County and wide receiver Brady Marchese of Cartersville put up big numbers to help their teams remain undefeated.

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.

North Cobb Christian’s Cooper Bazarsky and Newnan’s Brodie Campbell and John Matthews are the GHSA’s leading rusher, passer and receiver after three weeks of the regular season. All three play for 3-0 teams. Bazarsky has rushed for at least 150 yards in each of his games for a total of 662. Newnan's quarterback-wide receiver pair got most of their yards in a single game, a 60-56 victory over East Coweta on Aug. 22, when Campbell passed for 516 yards and Matthews had 257 receiving yards.

Region play heats up in Week 4 as Stockbridge and Eagle's Landing of 2-4A, Whitewater and Troup of 2-3A and Ringgold and Rockmart of 7-2A meet to determine the early pecking order in their playoff races. Elsewhere, south Georgia rivals Thomas County Central and Thomasville will face off for the 58th time.

More than 135 former Georgia high school players are on active rosters ahead of Thursday night’s NFL opener between the Cowboys and Eagles, according to GHSF Daily research. There are dozens more on injured reserve or practice squads. Hillgrove and North Gwinnett have the most active NFL players with six each. Three of North Gwinnett’s six are rookies Barrett Carter, Jordan Hancock and Jared Ivey. Hillgrove’s six include former first-round draft picks Myles Murphy and Bradley Chubb.

Wide receivers Josh Stanley of Bleckley County, Ty Kemp of North Hall and Kyle Cummings of Northwest Whitfield combined for more than 400 receiving yards and accounted for 11 touchdowns in their teams' victories in Week 3 of the high school football season. Parkview's Zandon Mullins rushed for 326 yards, and Mill Creek's Jayde Beasley ran for 269.

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.