National rankings: Mill Creek, Hughes finish as Georgia’s top teams
First-time state champions Mill Creek and Hughes finished as the top Georgia teams in the final 2022 national high school football rankings, which were released this week.
Mill Creek, which defeated Carrollton 70-35 in the Class 7A final, was the state’s highest-rated team in six of the eight widely recognized polls that were tracked by Georgia High School Football Daily, with a high of No. 3 in the CalPreps poll. Others that had Mill Creek as Georgia’s top team were the Massey Ratings (No. 5 nationally), SBLive/Sports Illustrated (No. 8), NationalHSFB.com (No. 10), MaxPreps (No. 11) and Blue Star Media (No. 18).
The Hawks finished in the top 20 in all eight polls.
Class 6A champion Hughes was the top-rated Georgia team in the other two polls, ranked No. 13 by USA Today and No. 14 by High School Football America. Hughes’ best finish was No. 9 in the Massey Ratings, four spots behind Mill Creek. The Panthers were among the top 20 in seven of the eight polls. Hughes defeated Gainesville 35-28 in the state championship game.
Listed below are all the Georgia teams ranked in the eight polls. The numbers on the left are the final rankings; the numbers in parentheses are the previous rankings.
(Top 100)
3. (3) Mill Creek
14. (14) Hughes
22. (21) Carrollton
32. (32) Buford
34. (33) Colquitt County
45. (43) Ware County
51. (51) North Cobb
53. (52) Cedar Grove
65. (63) Gainesville
70. (71) Walton
77. (75) Sandy Creek
78. (77) Benedictine
80. (79) Westlake
81. (80) Prince Avenue Christian
88. (87) Milton
100. (100) Rome
(Top 25)
13. (15) Hughes
16. (17) Mill Creek
(Top 100)
11. (12) Mill Creek
15. (15) Hughes
22. (22) Carrollton
29. (30) Colquitt County
33. (36) Buford
46. (46) Walton
49. (49) Sandy Creek
53. (53) Cedar Grove
89. (88) Gainesville
91. (91) Ware County
(Top 100)
5. (7) Mill Creek
9. (10) Hughes
16. (17) Buford
23. (31) Ware County
26. (32) Carrollton
34. (25) Colquitt County
55. (51) Cedar Grove
64. (65) Gainesville
68. (85) Benedictine
69. (67) North Cobb
74. (83) Milton
75. (87) Westlake
80. (79) Roswell
82. (NR) Sandy Creek
85. (92) Rome
88. (84) Cedartown
92. (89) Grayson
97. (80) Walton
(Top 100)
14. (14) Hughes
16. (16) Mill Creek
28. (28) Colquitt County
34. (35) Buford
42. (32) Cedar Grove
54. (54) Carrollton
77. (77) Walton
84. (83) North Cobb
93. (92) Milton
96. (95) Gainesville
(Top 25)
8. (20) Mill Creek
16. (25) Hughes
22. (NR) Carrollton
(Top 25)
10. (10) Mill Creek
11. (11) Hughes
19. (19) Buford
(Top 25)
18. (18) Mill Creek