A week after knocking off Buford, Class 5A No. 1 Milton will travel to Florida to face American Heritage in a matchup of teams ranked in the top 20 nationally. The Week 2 schedule also includes two high-profile games between private schools - Blessed Trinity at Holy Innocents' and Hebron Christian at Fellowship Christian.

Collins Hill upset a third-ranked powerhouse, North Murray beat an 18-point favorite, and Gordon Central ended a 31-game losing streak last week. Those teams and their coaches are rewarded today with first-place standings in the GHSF Daily’s first Improvement Tracker of the season.

Quarterbacks Jonathan Granby of Fellowship Christian and Ben Brown of Wesleyan help their teams knock off two of the top-ranked teams in the Class A divisions. Monroe Area's Jitt Carr, Heritage of Ringgold WR Cody Bryan and Ringgold's Cole Runion put up big opening-night numbers.

Four No. 1-ranked teams lost in Week 1 of the 2024 season, but two of the team - Class 6A Buford and Class A Division II Bowdon - held on to the top spots. New at No. 1 are Marist, which replaced Benedictine at the top of 4A, and Sandy Creek, which moved to the top of 3A after a loss by Jefferson.

GHSF Daily prides itself in its statewide coverage of Georgia high school football, but nobody knows local schools better than hometown newspapers and radio stations. GHSF Daily reached out to members of the Georgia media this week to get their observations about the new season.

Douglass and Kell opened the 2024 football season with victories Wednesday in the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic at Kell High. Douglass, ranked No. 8 in Class 3A, beat Class 3A’s No. 3 team, LaGrange, 18-3. Kell beat North Atlanta 29-15 in the nightcap.

The Georgia high school football season begins today with Douglass vs. LaGrange and Kell vs. North Atlanta in the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic. Those are the first two of 190 games in the season’s opening week. From a preseason vantage, here are the five most intriguing storylines to the 2024 season.

Rome’s football team pulled out of this week’s opening game with Creekside because of Thursday night’s bus crash that sent 15 players to the emergency room, Rome coach John Reid announced Monday morning. Rome, ranked No. 7 in Class 5A, was to play Creekside at home Friday night.

Reigning state champions Milton, Pierce County, Prince Avenue Christian and Bowdon are ranked No. 1 to start a football season that should be more unpredictable because of reclassification. Also No. 1 are Buford, Benedictine, Jefferson and Toombs County.