Benedictine’s Danny Britt knows when he’s been beaten, and the coach gave Stockbridge the credit for ending his team’s 24-game winning streak and two-year reign as Class 4A champion last week in the semifinals.

There was a day when nobody doubted Camden County. That day is back. The Wildcats defeated No. 1-ranked Mill Creek 39-20 in the Class 7A quarterfinals last week while putting up 387 rushing yards against a defending state champion on a 20-game winning streak.

Rome figured it needed a complete game to beat defending Class 6A champion Hughes. The Wolves delivered that. Rome’s 42-14 victory marked the first time that Hughes has been held to fewer than 20 points in 40 games.

If there was an award for beating the highest-ranked team in the first round of the playoffs, Cass would be the winner. For the second year in a row. Cass defeated No. 6 Kell 28-14 in the Class 5A first round last week. A year ago, it was No. 4 Jefferson in the same round.

Coffee is 10-0 for the first time since 1982 and ranked No. 1 this season for the first time in history. If there’s a simple reason, it’s defense. Coffee is allowing 5.4 points per game, fewest of any GHSA team. The Trojans haven’t allowed a touchdown when a game was in question since Sept. 8.

Justin Rogers became Thomas County Central’s coach last season with hopes of restoring the glory days. They aren’t here quite yet. Thomas Central won five state titles in the 1990s. But the similarities are beginning to appear. The Yellow Jackets’ 31-24 victory over Lee County last week gave them their first back-to-back region titles since 2006-07.

It’s not over, but the computer Maxwell Ratings love Kell’s odds of winning its first region championship since 2014. “Looks like 999,994 out of a million with GAC winning it the other six times,” according to the Maxwell Ratings founder himself, Loren Maxwell.

Elbert County and Rabun County are just 75 miles apart in northeast Georgia, but they had never played each other in football until 2016. The timing could not have been worse for Elbert. Rabun County was three years into what would become a 50-game winning streak in region play, and the dynasty would cost Elbert County at least four region titles.

It wasn’t just the game that was getting away from Loganville last week. It was the Red Devils’ season. Another loss would’ve been their third in Region 8-5A, and their next opponent would be No. 3 Jefferson. In what might've been a must-win situation, Loganville found a way.

A year ago, Mary Persons took the kind of beating (47-14) that Prince Avenue Christian administered to most of its opponents during a 14-0 season. But Mary Persons has done something that no other team has – atoned for it. The Bulldogs defeated Prince Avenue 45-28 last week, ending the Wolverines’ 20-game winning streak.

Douglas County’s 30-27 victory over No. 2 Hughes last week was the Tigers’ first win over a No. 1- or No. 2-ranked team since 1988 (Southwest DeKalb), and it ended Hughes’ 17-game winning streak in Georgia. It also improved Douglas County to 5-0 and boosted the Tigers to the No. 4 ranking in Class 6A.

Lanier County’s football checklist is updating rapidly again. The Bulldogs defeated No. 8 McIntosh County Academy 10-0 last week for their first victory in history over a top-10 team. They had been 0-54 in those games. On Sunday, they entered the Class A Division II rankings at No. 8, their first top-10 appearance in history.

The score progression of Schley County’s victory over Bleckley County tells much of the story. With Schley scoring first, it went 7-0, 7-7, 7-14, 14-14, 21-14, 21-21, 28-21, 28-28, 28-35, 35-35, 35-42, 42-42, 48-42 in overtime. That’s four official lead changes and six ties.

Northeast coach Jeremy Wiggins has developed a team of giant killers since taking the job at his alma mater in 2018. The Raiders have beaten eight higher-ranked teams from the same classification or larger then. The latest is Fitzgerald, the first No. 1 team that Northeast has beaten in its 53-year history.

In 2017, Charley Waters led his alma mater, Jenkins County, to its first playoff victory in 57 years. But almost two years later, the coach needed a break and stepped down. In 2022, the job came open again, and Waters got the chance to resume his unfinished work.

Manchester lost only three Class A Division II games last season. They were to eventual champion Bowdon (twice) and runner-up Schley County. The accumulated motivation might’ve been the extra point the Blue Devils needed last week when they defeated Bowdon 21-20 to open the season.