Week seven of the 2017 Georgia Prep football season saw few surprises as far as upsets were concerned, but some teams which were considered newcomers to title hopes this year, further solidified their new found positions as challengers for a championship trophy in early December at Mercedes Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta.

One of those teams is Troup, now 6-0 on the season, after a 71-16 romp past a very good Sandy Creek Patriot squad last Friday night. The Tigers have a high-powered offense and have made short work of most of their opponents in their unbeaten run thus far. Another team that has quietly made the transition to contender is Americus-Sumter. The Panthers topped the Cairo Syrupmakers, 31-15, in a key game this past weekend.

The Warner Robins Demons continued their total turnaround here in 2017 with a 52-49 win over the Coffee High Trojans. The Demons have opened the season at 6-0, and have established themselves as the favorites in Region One-5-A. Coffee on the other hand, fell to 3-2 on the season, and suffered their second straight painful loss on a last-second field goal. Last week, it was unbeaten Tift County, 7-0, that hit a last-second three-pointer to top the Trojans, 33-31.

Troup, Americus-Sumter, and Warner Robins are definitely three of the teams to keep an eye on as we head down the home stretch toward the playoffs. Those teams are not well kept secrets any longer, they are now legitimate contenders. 

The top teams in the State’s top classification, 7-A, continued to roll merrily along. Grayson defeated Ramsay, Alabama 42-16, Lowndes proved it could dominate on the road as well as they do at the “Concrete Palace” in Valdosta, when they beat Ware County, 37-6 at Memorial Stadium in Waycross. The Colquitt County Packers gift-wrapped Coach Rush Propst’s win number one-hundred at the Moultrie school, with an impressive 38-7 win over Bishop Sullivan Catholic, a highly-ranked team out of Virginia on Saturday night. 

Cartersville rolled to their 36th consecutive win, topping Central-Carroll 55-6. The ‘Canes have been challenged only once this season and look to be the solid favorites to capture their third title in a row in 2017. There are many top-flight teams in Class 4-A, who can challenge Cartersville, including Thomson, Burke County, and Mary Persons to name a few, but it will take a herculean effort to topple the ‘Canes this season.

In other games of note it was Glynn Academy topping formerly unbeaten Wayne County, 38-27, unbeaten Winder-Barrow knocking off Apalachee, 56-14, and the Class 2-A Brooks County Trojans “Brought the Hammer,” as they knocked Class 3-A Crisp County from the unbeaten ranks, 31-21.

Top games this week find McEachern at North Cobb, Cherokee at powerful Walton and Roswell at Lassiter in Class 7-A. In Class 6-A, Valdosta visits Northside-Warner Robins and Glynn Academy meets Effingham County.

Other games of note across the State this week include Upson-Lee at Mary Persons, Brookwood at undefeated Meadowcreek, Westminster at Pace Academy, Bainbridge at Veterans, Archer at Newton, Thomasville at Berrien, and Bradwell Institute at Brunswick.

Join the Football Friday Night in Georgia fun on GPB-TV this week as we take you all across the State for top game updates and action. We’ll have recruiting news, studio guests and much more this week. Don’t miss it….

See you Friday night at 7PM on GPB-TV!