The final regular-season rankings offer a basket of changes in Class 3A.

Monroe Area, which only entered the GPB rankings three weeks ago, has ascended to No. 1. The Purple Hurricanes completed the regular season with a 10-0 record and jumped to the top spot after Cedar Grove and Appling County, formerly ranked No. 1 and No. 2, both lost their season finale.

Sandy Creek beat Cedar Grove 40-35 last week and wound up in a three-way tie in Region 5, with Carver being the other. All three teams finished with 6-1 region records. Cedar Grove won the tiebreaker, with Carver taking second and Sandy Creek third.

But in the final GPB rankings, Sandy Creek jumped to No. 5 in the poll, one spot ahead of Cedar Grove.

“I guess the biggest question comes from the Sandy Creek upset over Cedar Grove,” GPB’s Jon Nelson said. “The other one comes from the Pierce County’s win over Appling. How much do you drop a team that was highly ranked after a loss? In both cases for me, it was immediately behind the team ranked below them that got the win.”

That means the No. 1 teams entering the playoffs are: Collins Hill in 7A, Buford in 6A, Cartersville in 5A, Marist in 4A, Monroe Area in 3A, Rabun County in 2A, Irwin County in Class A Public and Trinity Christian in Class A Private.

The next set of state rankings will be posted after the state playoffs are completed.

Check out the full rankings page here to see who else moved up or down in our poll.

 

 Class 7A

  1. Collins Hill
  2. North Cobb
  3. Milton
  4. Mill Creek
  5. Lowndes
  6. Colquitt County
  7. Brookwood
  8. Marietta
  9. Roswell
  10. Grayson

Class 6A

  1. Buford
  2. Lee County
  3. Hughes
  4. Brunswick
  5. Rome
  6. Westlake
  7. Carrollton
  8. Riverwood
  9. Cambridge
  10. Creekview

Class 5A

  1. Cartersville
  2. Ware County
  3. Warner Robins
  4. Calhoun
  5. Woodward Academy
  6. Creekside
  7. St. Pius
  8. Coffee
  9. Whitewater
  10. Clarke Central

Class 4A

  1. Marist
  2. Carver-Columbus
  3. Benedictine
  4. Jefferson
  5. Cedartown
  6. Perry
  7. North Oconee
  8. Bainbridge
  9. Spalding
  10. Riverdale

Class 3A

  1. Monroe Area
  2. Thomson
  3. Oconee County
  4. Pierce County
  5. Sandy Creek
  6. Cedar Grove
  7. Cherokee Bluff
  8. Appling County
  9. Rockmart
  10. Crisp County

Class 2A

  1. Rabun County
  2. Thomasville
  3. Bleckley County
  4. Fitzgerald
  5. Putnam County
  6. Haralson County
  7. Callaway
  8. Swainsboro
  9. Jeff Davis
  10. South Atlanta

Class A Public

  1. Irwin County
  2. Brooks County
  3. Macon County
  4. Metter
  5. Bowdon
  6. Schley County
  7. Chattahoochee County
  8. Georgia Military
  9. Wilcox County
  10. Emanuel County Institute

Class A Private

  1. Trinity Christian
  2. Calvary Day
  3. Prince Avenue Christian
  4. Fellowship Christian
  5. Eagle’s Landing Christian
  6. Holy Innocents’
  7. Darlington
  8. Wesleyan
  9. First Presbyterian
  10. Athens Academy

Panel of voters: Sam Crenshaw, Matt Stewart, Jon Nelson, Steve Graham, Stan Awtrey.