A half-dozen Northeast Georgia-area teams are ranked in the top 10 in their respective classifications heading into Week 8, the most since the preseason rankings came out in early August.
Buford remains second in Class 6A behind Carrollton. In Class 5A, Gainesville was unmoved at 6th and is one of three teams in Region 7-5A -- Milton (1st) and Roswell (7th) -- in the top 10.
In Class 3A, Jefferson is now 3rd with fellow Region 8-3A area team Cherokee Bluff climbing up to 6th.
In Class A D1, Rabun County is 8th and Commerce, a preseason top 5 team, is back into the rankings at No. 10. The Wildcats and the Tigers will face off tonight at Tiger Stadium in a huge Region 8-A D1 matchup.
STATE LEADERS
Northeast Georgia-area players have their footprints (and fingerprints) all over Class 3A.
Elijah Hayes of West Hall and White County’s Tripp Nix lead Class 3A in rushing and passing, respectively. Hayes, despite a rough outing last week against Jefferson, has piled up 985 yards, is 6th overall in the state, and leads Westover’s Dominique Ball (892) by nearly 100 yards.
In fact, Hall County has the top two rushers in Class 3A as East Hall’s Jamarcus Harrison is 2nd in 3A with 1,126 yards and 32nd overall in the state.
Nix has climbed into 10th in the state and leads 3A with 1,466 yards with a more than 300-yard lead on James Mobley of Calvary Day (1,160), who is second in 3A.
But those aren’t the only players to be on the leaderboard. Five more players are in the top 41 in the state overall and top 5 in their classifications. Tysean Wiggins of Commerce is 3rd Class A D1 and 16th overall with 845 yards and Rabun County’s Reid Giles is 4th A D1 and 22nd overall with 774 yards.
East Jackson’s Drew Richardson is 5th in 2A with 748 yards and Chestatee’s Benjamin Plemons is 5th in 3A with 709 yards.
In passing, Gainesville’s Kharim Hughley is 7th in the state and 2nd in Class 5A with 1,549 yards. He is just 160 yards behind 5A and state leader and 5A Antwann Hill Jr. of Houston County (1,709 yards).
Fresh off a career night last week, Paris Wilbanks of Habersham Central had climbed into 23rd overall in the state and 5th in Class 5A with 1,211 yards.
East Hall’s Harrison is 3rd in 3A and 32nd overall with 1,126 yards and Union County’s Kamden Kendrickis 3rd in 2A with 1,126 yards and 33rd overall.
Among the receiving leaders, only two players in the area are in the top 40 in the state. Zeke Whittington of Habersham Central is 23rd overall with 570 yards. Union County’s Maddox Young is 39th with 473 yards.
