The long-anticipated opening week of the 2022 Georgia high school football season is in the books, and it delivered in a big way. After an eventful offseason that included one of the biggest overhauls of regions and classifications – with some teams moving up as many as four classes – the first week of games included several great storylines and performances.
Two defending state champions from last season, Warner Robins and Trinity Christian, who finished a combined 28-1, opened up the defense of their state titles by losing this weekend. Four other teams who played in their classifications’ state championship games last season also lost their first game of 2022.
Warner Robins lost at home to Lee County, while Trinity Christian fell to Woodward Academy. The Demons’ loss to the Trojans snapped a 30-game home winning streak for Warner Robins at McConnell Talbert stadium. To be fair, the Lions of Trinity Christian were one of the aforementioned teams that made the biggest jump in reclassification this offseason, moving from the now-dissolved private A class to 4A. Warner Robins’ loss was to the higher-class Lee County.
Milton, Thomasville, Irwin County, and Calhoun all played in their classification’s state championship games last season, and each one lost only one regular season game (except Calhoun, which lost games in the regular season). But they each now find themselves with one loss and practically the entire season still left to play.
As has been the case the past few years in the early season, weicather affected several games around the state, including the ITG Next-Georgia Game of the Week in Warner Robins, where Lee County and the Demons were delayed for close to two hours. In Adel, the Cook vs. Pelham game was actually suspended midway through the second quarter with Cook leading 42-7. The teams resumed the game on Saturday morning, with Cook finally winning 61-7.
There were also delays in Quitman at the Brooks County vs. Thomasville game and in Nashville at the Berrien County vs. Clinch game. Weather forced the latter to be suspended with eight minutes left in the second quarter and the hometown Rebels leading 12-7. The game was resumed on Saturday at 6 p.m., and once again, mother nature forced the game to be delayed, this time with four minutes remaining in the game and Berrien driving for the potential go-ahead score. When the teams came back out and resumed play, Clinch was able to keep the Rebels out of the end zone, and the Panthers held on to win a close one, 19-18.
Overall, opening week of the 2022 Georgia high school football season didn’t disappoint – unless you’re a fan of the Appling County or Ware County football teams. Due to severe weather in Baxley, the much-anticipated season opener between the southeast Georgia neighbors never got underway. The game reportedly will not be made up.
