Battle of top-ranked teams tops Week 1 schedule in Class 5A

The Class 5A football season will kick off with a bang Friday night when Milton hosts Buford in a battle of top-ranked teams.

Milton won the Class 7A championship last season, its second state title in the highest classification in six seasons, and comes in ranked No. 1 in the second-highest class (now 5A) after dropping in the GHSA’s most recent reclassification, which took effect at the start of this school year. The Eagles have won 47 games since 2020, tying them for eighth-most in the state.

Buford is the No. 1 team Class 6A. The Wolves are 22-3 since moving to the highest classification in 2022, reaching the second round and the quarterfinals the past two seasons. They have won 13 state championships in lower classes since 2001.

The game, to be televised by GPB, will have plenty of star power. It will feature 19 players (10 for Buford, nine for Milton) who have committed to Power 4 Conference teams. That’s believed to be the most major Division I college seniors in one game in Georgia history.

Milton’s lineup, which returns 18 of its 22 starters from last season, includes AJC Super 11 selections include QB Luke Nickel (committed to Miami) and WR C.J. Wiley (Florida State) along with Georgia-bound tight end Ethan Barbour. It also features Brayden Jacobs, a Clemson-committed offensive lineman who transferred from Buford to Milton two weeks ago.

Seven of Buford’s Power 4 commitments play on defense. They include CB Chris Garland (Stanford), LB A.J. Holloway (South Carolina), DL Nicco Maggio (Wake Forest), LB Jadon Perlotte (Southern Cal), LB Kenyon Rivera (Kansas), LB Mantrez Walker (Colorado) and CB Devin Williams (Auburn).

The will be both teams’ first of several big tests in non-region play. Milton will play next week against American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.), a team ranked in the top 25 nationally, and follow with games against north Fulton County rivals Alpharetta and Blessed Trinity (No. 10 in Class 4A) before beginning Region 7-5A play against Chattahoochee on Sept. 20.

Buford will play Class 4A No. 1 Benedictine, Class 5A No. 10 Roswell and Class 6A No. 4 Douglas County in its next three games before starting Region 8-6A play against Discovery on Sept. 20.

The football season begins Wednesday with a game involving two top-10 Class 3A schools, LaGrange and Douglass, who will meet at 4:30 p.m. at Kell High School in the opening game of the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic. Here are four more of this week’s top games involving Class 5A teams.

*Carrollton at Woodward Academy: This game, to be televised nationally by ESPN2, has four of Georgia’s top 100 players in the 247 Sports Composite rankings. Class 6A No. 2 Carrollton features QB Julian Lewis and DB Shamar Arnoux, both of whom are committed to Southern Cal. Class 5A No. 3 Woodward Academy answers with WRs Josiah Abdullah (Virginia) and Jerome Bettis Jr. (Notre Dame). Woodward was the Class 6A runner-up in 2023.

*Gainesville at Marietta: Gainesville, ranked No. 2 in Class 5A, is 26-2 in two seasons under coach Josh Niblett, winning 20 consecutive regular-season games. Marietta of Class 6A is just 18-28 since winning a state title in 2019 but traditionally plays a rugged non-region schedule and has won at least one playoff game in four of the past six seasons. These teams haven’t met since a 19-7 Marietta victory in 1965.

*Warner Robins at Lee County: Class 4A No. 9 Warner Robins and Class 5A No. 4 Lee County are led by AJC Super 11 players who probably will get to see a lot of each other this week – Warner Robins DE/LB Isaiah Gibson (committed to Georgia) and Lee County RB Ousmane Kromah. These teams played each other as region rivals in 2010 and 2011 but have met just six times, with each winning three, including Lee County’s 26-19 victory last season.

*Westlake at Hughes: The south Fulton County rivals have played each other 10 times since Hughes opened in 2009, with Hughes winning six of the 10, including 31-24 in their last meeting in 2021. Hughes offensive linemen Tavaris Dice (committed to Auburn) and Dontrell Glover (Georgia) both made GHSF Daily’s Class 5A all-state team. Westlake is ranked No. 9 in Class 6A, and Hughes is No. 6 in 5A.

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