No room for Lovejoy to move up in tough Class AAAAA

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Posted 3:43PM on Tuesday, October 21, 2003

ATLANTA - No one has to tell Lovejoy that it is difficult to move up in the tough Class AAAAA Associated Press Georgia high school football poll. On Friday night, No. 6 Lovejoy remained undefeated with a 28-17 win over No. 10 East Coweta. Lovejoy was the only team in the top 10 to play another ranked AAAAA team last week. Because the top five AAAAA teams also won last week, Lovejoy (7-0) did not move up in this week's poll. Still ranked sixth, the Wildcats will have another chance to impress the state's voters when they again play the No. 10 team Newnan (8-0), which moved into the poll this week as East Coweta fell out. With a devastating 57-0 rout of Brunswick, Camden County strengthened its hold on the top spot in the AAAAA poll. Camden County (6-0) did not allow a first down until the last play of the game, and it received 14 of the 18 first-place votes from the state's prep writers. Parkview (6-1) received two first-place votes and remained in second place, followed by South Gwinnett (6-0), which remained No. 3 two weeks after its big upset of then-No. 1 Brookwood, and Northside (6-0). Walton, No. 8 in the poll, received the other first-place vote. In the closest race for first place, Thomas County Central (6-0) leads No. 2 Marist (7-0) by 11 points in the Class AAAA poll. Thomas County Central received 12 first-place votes and fared no lower than second place in the other six ballots. Marist has five first-place votes and is followed in the top five by Shaw (7-0), Tucker (6-1) and Ware County (5-1). Screven County (7-0) beat Liberty County 46-32 to hold the top spot in the Class AAA poll with 16 first-place votes. Gainesville (6-0) picked up the other two first-place votes. Following its 17-14 loss to Villa Rica, Cedartown (6-1) fell from No. 3 to No. 7. LaGrange (5-1) beat then-No. 6 Cartersville and moved up one spot to No. 3, while Cartersville (6-1) fell to No. 9. Buford (6-0) held the top spot in the Class AA poll after its 39-10 win over Union County. Buford received 17 first-place votes, the most of any team in any class. Lincoln County (7-0) rolled over Aquinas 46-3 to protect its No. 1 ranking in the Class A list. Here is The Associated Press Georgia high school football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses and total points: CLASS AAAAA 1. Camden County (14) (6-0) 175 2. Parkview (2) (6-1) 144 3. South Gwinnett (1) (6-0) 134 4. Northside (6-0) 125 5. Brookwood (5-1) 110 6. Lovejoy (7-0) 89 7. Lowndes (6-1) 72 8. Walton (1) (7-0) 65 9. Stephenson (6-1) 32 10. Newnan (8-0) 21 Others receiving votes: Centennial 6, East Coweta 5, Cherokee 4, Harrison 3, Westside-Macon 3, Southwest DeKalb 2 Class AAAA 1. Thomas County Central (12) (6-0) 174 2. Marist (5) (7-0) 163 3. Shaw (7-0) 143 4. Tucker (6-1) 108 5. Ware County (1) (5-1) 92 6. Thomson (6-1) 79 7. Sandy Creek (7-0) 68 8. McNair (7-1) 51 9. Cedar Shoals (6-0) 49 10. Rome (5-1) 28 Others receiving votes: Mays 20, Woodward 10, Dalton 2, Baldwin 1, Clarke Central 1, Douglas County 1 Class AAA 1. Screven County (16) (7-0) 178 2. Gainesville (2) (6-0) 162 3. LaGrange (5-1) 131 4. Peach County (6-1) 121 5. Washington County (6-1) 104 6. Mary Persons (6-0) 75 7. Cedartown (6-1) 62 8. Swainsboro (4-0-2) 59 9. Cartersville (6-1) 53 10. Stephens County (6-2) 14 Others receiving votes: North Hall 11, Westminster 10, Laney 4, Villa Rica 3, Grayson 2, Dublin 1 Class AA 1. Buford (17) (6-0) 178 2. Early County (7-0) 160 3. Vidalia (5-0-1) 124 4. Cook (6-0) 113 5. Americus (7-1) 111 6. Decatur (7-0) 80 7. Charlton County (1) (4-2) 61 8. Calhoun (6-1) 58 9. Wesleyan (5-1) 43 10. Randolph-Clay (6-0) 17 Others receiving votes: Macon County 16, Morgan County 16, Greater Atlanta Christian 7, Adairsville 3, Washington-Wilkes 3 Class A 1. Lincoln County (13) (7-0) 172 2. Hawkinsville (1) (6-0) 159 3. Clinch County (4) (5-1-1) 138 4. Twiggs County (7-0) 124 5. Metter (5-1) 89 6. Trion (5-1) 87 7. Pacelli (7-0) 70 8. Landmark Christian (5-1) 57 9. Commerce (4-2) 43 10. Calvary Baptist (6-0) 31 Others receiving votes: Emanuel County Institute 12, Bowdon 5, Gordon Lee 2, Dooly County 1