By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
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Baldwin and Putnam County, among others, collectively rose on Saturday and rubbed a slapped cheek, wondering what happened.

Howard turned in three-plus quarters of the kind of game Trey Porter has waited on since arriving. And then the Huskies reverted to some frustrating familiarity and almost blew an epic win.

But it’ll take a chunk more to get them into the top 5

Laney was a nice team that few expected to suddenly quadruple Putnam County’s points allowed.

Houston County woke up bumfuzzled after a second week of an offensive festival erase by defensive issues.

A notable surprise among the ranked and rankables was Warner Robins putting up 69 a week after giving up 70.

CENTRAL GEORGIA’S BEST HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COVERAGE

Last week
🏈 Roundup:Houston County loses wild shootout (again), Warner Robins, Peach County, Lamar County, Dodge County, Jasper County, Taylor County go off; Howard stuns Baldwin; battle for John Milledge
🏈 Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
🏈 Maxwell Predictions
🏈 Who’s going to win this week’s games?
🏈 Central Georgia state composite rankings
🏈 Central Georgia rankings
🏈 Macon Touchdown Club players of the week
Two weeks ago
🏈Roundup: Houston County loses wild shootout; Veterans gets road W, Warner Robins with epic L; shutouts for Jones County, Putnam County, FPD; Northeast pops Perry, cruises for Dublin, John Milledge
🏈Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
🏈Maxwell Predictions
🏈Who’s going to win this week’s games?
🏈 Central Georgia state composite/GHSFBDaily CGA rankings
🏈 Central Georgia rankings
🏈 Macon Touchdown Club players of the week

This week, we have a boatload of potential poll-shakers: Northside-Veterans, Jones County-Ola, Peach County-Spalding, Troup-Mary Persons, Lamar County-Northeast, Aquinas-Putnam County, Dublin-Bleckley County, and Stratford-FPD.

Division I (Classes 6A, 5A, 4A, 13 teams)

5. (Tie) Jones County, Warner Robins
Shoutout to the Greyhounds and Demons for following rough starts with impressive rebounds. That goes a little more for Warner Robins, because nobody with a hand on the bible foresaw a 70-14 loss with a 69-29 win a week later. That one-week turnaround is mighty notable. Jones County appears to be rounding into form as expected after a tough schedule to start with.

4. Mary Persons
A healthy Mary Persons is a confident Mary Persons, and the Bulldogs have righted the ship. This week? Showdown time with top-5 Troup.

3. Veterans
It’s still hard to say how good Veterans is, but the confidence from this start is the kind of thing that makes a difference against equal teams and those that’ll be only slightly favored.

2. Houston County
The optimism about the defense after the first two games has evaporated. Sure, Central-Carrollton and Westlake are good, but 134 points good? The Bears now get a week to get better before facing an improved Tift County team, albeit one with no burly wins but one with more confidence. And then comes Thomas County Central.

1. Peach County
The Trojans make the move after yet another week of impressive consistency: explosive offense, smothering defense. Sure, Upson-Lee is down, but Peach County has hammered a few bigger-classification schools and beat a 5A ranked team.

Division II (Classes 3A, AA, A, GIAA, 33 teams

10. Stratford
Last year, the FPD loss launched Stratford to th estate title. This year, it might’ve been the Whitfield loss. The Eagles are likely to move on up here shortly.

9. Taylor County
Well, the Wheeler County game was supposed to be something of a test, not a yawner. The Vikings have quality momentum going into the start of region, and a challenge with Chattahoochee County.

8. Dodge County
No, the Fitzgerald loss was not good news for Dooly County, ala a 55-12 loss to the Indians, who probably would rather not have this week off. That might be enough to drop them from the top 10.

6. ACE Charter
The Gryphons were idle last week, and a slip-up game awaits with Vidalia.

7. Macon County
The Bulldogs turned in another TCOB – taking care of business – game, and are about ready to perhaps jump a team or two here.

5. Lamar County
Trailing for a good bit against Central served as a quality wakeup call for the Trojans, who got a little early reminder about focus, with Northeast next.

4. Dublin
The Irish were idle last week.

3. John Milledge
The Trojans rarely score in only one quarter, which is usually all the need. But a three-quarter shutout by Brookstone is a little notable.

2. Bleckley County
Being off, yes, drops the Royals poll-wise. It’s still a teensy gap behind No. 1. In a week, they’ll be a solo No. 1, or no worse than third or fourth. And then maybe a week or two away from 1 or 2 again.

1. Northeast
The Raiders keep taking care of business. But there are still issues lurking to bite them in the tooshy again, the bite marks from the Warner Robins loss having healed. They’ll need a broadened run attack with clock-eating Lamar County next.