The crowd at Hallford Memorial Stadium — as well as the country — got to see just how dominating Stephenson’s group of top-notch athletes can be. The Jaguars shut out M.L. King 20-0 in a nationally televised contest on ESPNU, preserving their unbeaten record and dealing the Lions their first loss on the season. Stephenson now sits in the driver’s seat for the Region 2-AAAAA title, and MLK will be looking to rebound with a healthy Mack Brown.
Centennial pulled off a big upset over previously undefeated Walton, 34-33 in a comeback victory in a Region 6-AAAAA contest. Brookwood squeaked by Central Gwinnett in overtime, 28-21, moving to 4-3 on the season.
The biggest individual performance on the night in Class 5A — and for the state — was that of Lassiter QB Hutson Mason, who broke the all-time state single-game passing record with 545 yards. Lassiter won 56-26 over Milton to stay undefeated. The record had stood since 1977, when Lamar County’s Ron Hinson set it against Troup.
Peachtree Ridge took care of Collins Hill, previously undefeated, in our GPB game of the week. The archive of the game can be accessed at GHSA.tv.
In Class 4A, Sprayberry took down No. 4 Hillgrove in one of the night’s biggest upsets. Hillgrove was unbeaten on the season. A ranked Burke County team went down again in 3-AAA action, this time to Liberty County, 22-21 in overtime. The feel-good Avondale story continues with a 38-21 win over Greater Atlanta Christian. The Blue Devils are now 4-3 overall on the season after going 1-9 last year, and are in a three-way tie at 2-2 in Region 6-AA with Blessed Trinity, which they defeated head to head, and Decatur, which they play next Friday. In the state’s lowest classification, Emanuel County Institute came back to defeat Region 3-A rival Johnson County, which led by double digits in the game.