Milton begins the season ranked No. 1 in the High School Football America Georgia Top 25 preseason rankings, powered by NFL Play Football. With Georgia eliminating Class 7A during its two-year realignment, the Eagles find themselves going for a second straight state title in Class 5A, the state’s second largest classification.
Friday night, Milton will put that top ranking on the line when it hosts No. 3 Buford. The following week, the Eagles, who are No. 9 in our national rankings, will head to South Florida to play No. 24 American Heritage (Plantation) in the Broward County National Football Showcase.
There were supposed to be three other head-to-head matchups, but the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic game between No. 11 Creekside and No. 12 Rome has been cancelled due to the Rome bus crash from a week ago. Luckily, nobody was seriously injured in that crash.
No. 4 Carrollton will open with No. 14 Woodward Academy, which finished runner-up in 6A last year. The game marks the start of quarterback Julian “JuJu” Lewis’ senior season. The Carrollton 4-star college football prospect, who has given his verbal commitment to USC, reclassified after he was originally a member of the Class of 2026.
The other intra-Top 10 game is between No. 10 Rabun Gap-Nacoochee and No. 18 Benedictine on Saturday.
High School Football America Georgia Top 25
| Ranking/Team | Record |
| No. 1 Milton | (13-2) |
| No. 2 Colquitt County | (12-1) |
| No. 3 Buford | (11-2) |
| No. 4 Carrollton | (11-2) |
| No. 5 Walton | (14-1) |
| No. 6 Thomas County Central | (15-0) |
| No. 7 Mill Creek | (12-1) |
| No. 8 Coffee | (15-0) |
| No. 9 Gainesville | (12-1) |
| No. 10 Rabun Gap-Nacoochee | (13-1) |
| No. 11 Creekside | (13-2) |
| No. 12 Rome | (11-2) |
| No. 13 Douglas County | (13-1) |
| No. 14 Woodward Academy | (12-3) |
| No. 15 Lee County | (10-3) |
| No. 16 Norcross | (9-3) |
| No. 17 Grayson | (11-3) |
| No. 18 Benedictine | (13-1) |
| No. 19 Westlake | (9-3) |
| No. 20 Camden County | (10-4) |
| No. 21 Newton | (8-3) |
| No. 22 North Gwinnett | (8-4) |
| No. 23 Roswell | (11-2) |
| No. 24 North Cobb | (7-4) |
| No. 25 Valdosta | (8-4) |
Editor’s Note: The High School Football America national, regional and state rankings are developed using our proprietary algorithm.
