State's longest high school football winning and losing streaks are over

The state’s longest winning streak and losing streak are over.

Eagle’s Landing Christian, the three-time defending Class A private-school champion, fell 17-16 on Friday night to Pace Academy, which overcame a 16-3 halftime deficit at home. ELCA had won 37 straight games, tied for eighth-longest in state history.

Berkmar, whose 47-game losing streak was the fifth-longest of its kind in state history, defeated Cross Keys 44-0 in its opening game. The result was as much of scheduling victory as anything, as Cross Keys is a smaller school attempting its first full varsity season since 2013. But it’s a burden off a Class AAAAAA program trying to rebuild under first-year coach Willie Gary, the promoted defensive coordinator and former NFL player.

Here are a few other noteworthy results on the second week of the Georgia high school football season.

*Southwest DeKalb upset Class AAAAAA No. 5 Stephenson 21-14 in overtime. Southwest DeKalb had lost seven straight to the Jaguars dating to 2004. The victory also was Southwest DeKalb’s first over a ranked team from the same or higher classification since a win over No. 8 Tucker in 2009.

*Eighth-ranked Marietta of Class AAAAAAA played host to Good Counsel of Maryland, a team ranked No. 7 in one national poll, and lost 40-28 after trailing 21-0. It was Marietta’s second straight loss to a nationally ranked program. The Blue Devils dropped their opener 51-41 to two-time Georgia AAAAA champion Rome.

*Fourth-ranked Walton came from 12 points down in the fourth quarter to clip unranked Collins Hill 29-25. Walton trailed 19-7 after three quarters and 25-22 with 4:28 left.

*Westminster defeated a higher-ranked team for the second week in a row when the Wildcats beat No. 3 Greater Atlanta Christian 22-21 in a Class AAA game. Westminster is ranked No. 6. The Wildcats defeated then-No. 5 Woodward Academy of AAAA 56-31 in the opener. Westminster has beaten higher-ranked teams nine times since 2015, the most of any Georgia school.

*Marist, the No. 2 team in AAAA, routed No. 7 Lovett of AAA 40-20 after leading 33-0 at halftime.

*Milton defeated Alpharetta 37-27 in the first game between ranked north Fulton County teams since 1984. Milton is ranked No. 8 in AAAAAAA. Alpharetta is No. 9 in AAAAAA.

*Tift County, beaten last week by Warner Robins 40-29, bounced back with an impressive 24-10 victory over No. 4 Valdosta of AAAAAA. Tift returned many key players from its 11-2 team of 2017 and should be a factor in the playoffs again this year.

*Callaway, the No. 3 team in AA, defeated Opelika, Ala., 35-14. Opelika was 9-3 last season in Alabama’s 6A.

*Ware County, the No. 8 team in AAAAA, beat AAAA No. 7 Burke County 25-24 in overtime after choosing to go for two points and the win.

*Irwin County, the No. 2 team in the Class A public-school division, defeated No. 10 Fitzgerald of AA 16-10. That avenges Irwin’s only regular-season loss of last season. The Indians were state runners-up.

*No. 8 Savannah Country Day beat No. 7 Stratford Academy 21-7 in a game between ranked Class A private-school teams.

*Denmark, a new school in Forsyth County, won its first game. The Danes defeated another new school, Cherokee Bluff of Hall County, 43-0. Both programs are playing a full region schedule, though neither has a full senior class. In fact, Denmark has no seniors listed on its MaxPreps roster. Cherokee Bluff has three.

Several big games will take place Saturday. Among those are Grayson vs. Tucker, Westlake vs. Sidney Lanier of Alabama, and Colquitt County vs. Trinity Catholic of St. Louis; Mays vs. Central-Phenix City, Lee County vs. Dr. Phillips of Orlando and Northside-Warner Robins vs. Peach County.

Cox Media Group