Buford’s grip on the No. 1 ranking in Class 7A is tighter than ever with three weeks remaining in high school football’s regular season. Buford, ranked at the top since preseason, defeated then-No. 3 Mill Creek 37-29 on Friday in a game between unbeaten Gwinnett County rivals. It was Buford’s second win over a ranked 7A opponent as the Wolves beat current No. 6 North Cobb 21-14 last month. Buford (7-0) doesn’t have a top-10 opponent on the remainder of its schedule.

Northeast sophomore Nick Woodford put more distance between himself and the field last week with a career-high 302 rushing yards in a 49-16 victory over Kendrick. Woodford has rushed for a GHSA-leading 1,619 yards and 25 touchdowns in seven games. Other state leaders are McIntosh quarterback Tate Morris (2,126 passing yards) and Rabun County’s Jaden Gibson (1,078 receiving yards).

All eyes will be on the big Class 7A showdown between No. 1-ranked Buford and No. 3 Mill Creek, but there will be other important region matchups this weekend, as well. Among the games in which the winner will emerge with at least a share of first place in their regions are Aquinas-Lincoln County, Cambridge-Kell, North Cobb Christian-South Atlanta, Rabun County-Elbert County and Sandy Creek-Carver of Atlanta.

It’s too soon to know who’ll finish where in each region, but the GHSA brackets are set. That is, it’s predetermined which regions will face off against each other in the first round and beyond. Below are the computer Maxwell Ratings’ projected first-round matchups in classes 7A through 4A.

Quarterback Aaron Philo passed for 385 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two scores in Prince Avenue Christian’s 42-35 win over Tennessee power Baylor, while running backs Nick Woodford of Northeast, Keyjuan Brown of South Atlanta and Josiah Allen of Wheeler topped the 300-yard rushing mark.

Warner Robins and Trinity Christian, a pair of 2021 state champions that started slowly, reentered the high school football rankings this week after winning their first two region games. Warner Robins defeated Union Grove 30-7 to move to 3-4 overall. Warner Robins is No. 9 in Class 5A. Trinity Christian, last year’s Class A Private champion, is No. 8 this week in Class 4A. After an 0-2 start that dropped them out of the rankings, the Lions have won five straight, including two in a row against top-10 teams.

Gwinnett County police have apprehended an unnamed suspect in the shooting death of all-state wide receiver Elijah DeWitt, a Jefferson senior whose body was found Wednesday night in the parking lot of Sugarloaf Mills shopping mall in Lawrenceville. Police said DeWitt was shot multiple times.

There’s almost a month remaining in the regular season, but several games this weekend will determine the early favorites to win region titles. Among those games are Trinity Christian at Whitewater, North Cobb at Walton, Fitzgerald at Worth County, East Coweta at Carrollton, Cedartown at Heritage of Ringgold and Burke County at Benedictine.

One of the better storylines of the 2022 season has been the high number of first-year coaches who have made an immediate impact on their new teams. Of the 80 teams ranked this week, 18 are guided by first-year coaches, and 10 of those were unranked in preseason. Below are 15 outstanding first-year coaches. Each has guided an unbeaten team, one that’s entered the rankings this season or one that’s improved by more than 20 points from 2021 according to the computer Maxwell Ratings, or all three.

The high school football state championship games could return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium as early as next year, GHSA executive director Robin Hines told the association’s executive committee Monday. Hines declined to say more while talks are ongoing with Mercedes-Benz officials. The championship games have been held at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium the past three years.

Ware County is the third No. 1 football team in Class 5A this season, and Hebron Christian has its highest ranking in this week’s high school football rankings. Ware (4-0) moved up from No. 2 after No. 1 Cartersville lost to Calhoun last week. Hebron Christian, previously unranked, is No. 5 in Class 3A after a 35-28 victory over then-No. 5 Oconee County in a Region 8 game. Hebron had been ranked a few times before in Class A, but the Lions’ No. 5 standing this week is their best showing.

Carrollton freshman Julian Lewis has taken the lead in passing yards this season, while Temple’s Cam Vaughn and Rabun County’s Jaden Gibson continue to lead in rushing and receiving. Lewis passed for 283 yards and four touchdowns last week in a 56-28 victory over Hillgrove. That put him at 1,598 yards on the season. Carrollton is 6-0.

The threat of Hurricane Ian led to a major reshuffling of the schedule in Week 7, with the majority of games moving to Thursday. Among the biggest region matchups Thursday night are Blessed Trinity at Roswell, Calhoun at Cartersville, Eastside at Loganville and Houston County at Lee County.

More than 120 high school football games now have been moved up to Wednesday or Thursday this week to get ahead of Hurricane Ian, which is on track to hit western Florida on Wednesday.

Lowndes and North Cobb reentered the Class 7A rankings this week, Lambert made it for the first time in 10 years and Grayson dropped eight spots to No. 10 after the sixth week of the high school football season. Lowndes defeated previous No. 2 Grayson 24-14 to make up for its road loss the previous week to East Coweta. Lowndes was the preseason No. 8 team and now sits at No. 9. North Cobb, the preseason No. 4, defeated previous No. 9 Milton 21-7 and got back in at No. 8. New to the rankings this week is Lambert, which defeated East Coweta 31-24 on Friday.

Georgia is almost certain to have its first 1,000-yard rusher tonight as Temple’s Cam Vaughn and Hebron Christian’s Gavin Hall are only 47 and 63 yards shy, respectively. Both are three-year starting quarterbacks. Vaughn, a senior, has rushed for 953 yards and 14 touchdowns on 106 carries (9.0 yards per carry) in five games. Hall, a junior, has rushed for 937 yards and 11 touchdowns on 75 carries (12.5 ypc).

GHSF Daily previews 10 of the most intriguing games each week throughout the season. The Week 6 lineup includes Class 3A No. 1 Cedar Grove continuing its journey through the best of Class 7A, three games that will go a long way toward deciding region championships, and Houston County looking to make its mark against county rival Warner Robins.

It’s been a great season so far for most of the AJC’s preseason Super 11 selections. Two play on No. 1-ranked teams, and five others play for unbeaten teams. As is always the case, some have struggled. Two play for teams that are surprisingly sub-.500 while another is injured, hoping to return by the playoffs. The recruiting status of each has not changed, with 10 remaining committed and one undecided.

East Coweta’s Brady Tillman accounted for six touchdowns in a 49-34 victory over Lowndes, and South Paulding’s Jamarion Wilcox rushes for 324 yards against East Paulding. Meanwhile, Buford’s Eddrick Houston, Mill Creek’s Josh Anglin and Walton’s Ayden Jackson create a little chaos on defense. They were among the standouts in Week 5 of the season.

All eight No. 1 teams in the Georgia high school football rankings remained the same for the first time this season after the fifth week produced few major surprises. Cedar Grove retained its position at the top of Class 3A after a 52-36 loss to No. 4 Mill Creek of Class 7A. Cedar Grove, the defending champion in 3A, had beaten Westlake and Collins Hill of 7A the previous two weeks and takes on No. 3 Colquitt County this week to finish one the most ambitious Georgia road trips ever for a smaller school. Buford, Hughes, Cartersville, Prince Avenue Christian and Early County, all ranked No. 1, each won their games comfortably Friday. Cedartown and Fitzgerald were off.