We brought you a preview of the best season-openers earlier this season as part of a series of the top Week 1 games. Now, we give you a look at what we think are 10 of the best matchups of the entire 2025 Georgia high school football season to look forward to.
Yes, this list is loaded with several early season games. Yes, many other games could have made the list. With that, let us know what games you would have picked as the best matchups of the season. We may come out with a follow-up list of fan favorite picks from your suggested games.
In the meantime, here’s our list of Top 10 Georgia high school football games to watch in 2025.
1. Buford vs Milton | August 14, 2025
This game has all the storylines fans love.
For Milton, it’s the first step toward a third straight state championship. Even though this isn’t a make-or-break game, it’s still the Eagles’ first game in three years without Luke Nickel under center.
For Buford players and fans, the time has finally arrived to debut their new multi-million dollar stadium in front of a national TV audience and a sold-out crowd after months of anticipation. This is also Buford’s chance to avenge last season’s Week 1 loss to Milton, and the last thing Buford wants is to christen its new stadium with a loss.
The game will be played on a Thursday night, giving it an even larger-than-normal audience with little-to-no conflict with the Friday night games.
2. Colquitt County vs Benedictine | August 15, 2025
The Benedictine Cadets will make their first trip to Colquitt County’s Hawg Pen in this battle of two state powerhouses that have six state titles between them in the last decade.
This is one of the best Week 1 Georgia high school football games in 2025, and it features two of the most successful head coaches in the state facing off, with Colquitt County’s Sean Calhoun and Benedictine’s Danny Britt matching wits.
Then there’s the boatload of top talent that will square off between the lines.
Colquitt County will rely on four-star running back Jae Lamar, wide receiver Na’Ryan Sumlin, and quarterback Cohen Lawson to lead the offense this season, and linebacker Braydon Ruis brings much-needed experience to the new-look defense.
Meanwhile, Benedictine will line up with three-star quarterback Stephen Cannon, a senior and Texas Tech commit, under center. Cannon will hand the ball to lead back Stanley Smart in the run game and will look to receivers Joshua Washington and Bubba Frazier in the passing game. Frazier, a four-star recruit, has committed to attend Notre Dame following the 2025 season.
Benedictine’s defense will be stout up front with the return of defensive lineman and Clemson commit Kameron Cody and five-star edge LaDamion Guyton, who transferred to Benedictine in the offseason.
3. Collins Hill vs Grayson | August 15, 2025
These two teams started the 2024 season with a thriller at Grayson as the Collins Hill Eagles stunned the home Rams 20-19 after trailing 19-3. Collins Hill quarterback Maykree Cross made a 2-point conversion late in the game to complete the comeback win for the Eagles.
That turned out to be the only loss of 2024 for Grayson and head coach Santavious Bryant as the Rams ran the table the rest of the season, including a rematch with Collins Hill in the playoffs. Grayson defeated Collins Hill 38-14 in the quarterfinals enroute to the Class 6A state championship.
Still, that season-opening win led to a turnaround season for Collins Hill under head coach Drew Swick, with the Eagles finishing 11-2 in 2024.
The two teams will meet once again in the 2025 season-opener, this time at Collins Hill.
Grayson will be led by North Carolina commit Travis Burgess at quarterback and five-star linebacker Tyler Atkinson, who recently announced his commitment to Texas on the Pat McAfee Show.
Deuce Geralds and Katrell Webb are the leaders of the Collins Hill defense, but don’t be surprised to see Geralds get a few rushing attempts out of the backfield. That backfield will also be loaded with Maddox Henderson, Tre Lawrence, and Stephen Barjolo all getting carries, along with the addition of four-star running back Joel Bradford, who transferred over to Collins Hill from Grayson in the offseason.
Watch out for receivers Jeremiah Proctor and Atticus Joseph, who will be counted on this season in the passing game along with quarterbacks Cross and AJ Bush. Both Cross and Bush will see playing time running the offense in 2025.
Can Collins Hill pull off another big season-opening win against the defending state champs?
4. Benedictine vs Buford | August 22, 2025
There won’t be much time to rest for Britt’s Benedictine squad following their opener at Colquitt County. They’ll return home to Savannah to battle Buford, who will be coming off their opener at home against a tough Milton team.
Last year Benedictine had Buford on the ropes with a 21-10 lead late in the game only to see Buford make a late comeback and win 29-28 after making a gutsy 2-point conversion.
Buford has one of the most challenging starts to the 2025 season for a second straight year with championship programs Milton and Benedictine right out of the gate. Buford was able to split the two games last season. I would be willing to bet that Buford head coach Bryant Appling would be totally fine with a 1-1 start to the season again.
So would Britt and Benedictine.
5. Grayson vs Thompson (AL) | August 29, 2025
This is a battle of the 2024 Alabama and Georgia high school football state champions and a rematch from last season’s exciting 1-point overtime win for the Rams over the home team Warriors.
Grayson was staring at a possible 0-2 start to the 2024 season after falling to Collins Hill in Week 1. In overtime against Thompson, the Warriors scored the go-ahead TD to lead the Rams 14-7. Grayson then scored a TD to close to 14-13, but instead of kicking the extra point, Grayson head coach Santavious Bryant elected to go for the win, with the Rams converting to win 15-14.
That win over Thompson rocketed Grayson to 13 straight wins the rest of the 2024 season on their way to the GHSA Class 6A state championship.
Thompson recovered, winning 11 of their final 13 games on the way to the AHSAA Class 7A state championship. Ironically, Thompson’s three losses last season, including the Grayson game, were all 1-point losses in overtime games.
Thompson is led by veteran head coach Mark Freeman, who is an 11-time state champion, and junior quarterback Trent Seaborn, who made headlines as an eighth-grader in 2022 after leading Thompson to the Alabama Class 7A state title. Seaborn led the Warriors to a second state title last year as a sophomore.
Grayson will be led by its own championship-winning QB and head coach in Burgess and Bryant, respectively. Burgess announced his intentions to attend North Carolina earlier this offseason.
6. Douglas County vs Hughes | September 5, 2025
Hughes lost several key pieces from last year’s Class 6A state runner-up squad, but should be strong enough to make a run through the regular season, especially in their Region 3-6A.
Yes, they’ll miss former head coach Daniel Boone Williams, who left following the 2024 season, but new head coach Andrico Hines is no stranger to what it takes to win at Hughes. Hines was the team’s offensive coordinator in 2022 when the Panthers last won a state championship.
Speaking of the offense, Hughes’ scoring unit will be solid with the addition of Darnell Kelly at quarterback and the return of ITG Next Top 10 running back Carsyn Baker.
But it may be the Hughes defense that determines if their team can leave Douglasville, Georgia, with a win.
Douglas County will field one of the most talented units in the state in any classification, especially at wide receiver with Aaron Gregory and Devin Carter. Zamarcus Lindley returns at running back after rushing for more than 1,200 yards last year. Despite DJ Bordeaux’s move back to Colorado, Douglas County has former Dutchtown quarterback Michael Johnson assuming the starting spot after transferring in the offseason.
7. Brooks County vs Worth County | September 5, 2025
Class 1A-Division II’s Brooks County Trojans will host Class 1A-Division I’s Worth County Rams in this early season battle of two teams that are both looking to make a bid for their classification’s state championship later in the season.
Both teams are ranked No. 2 in their respective classifications in our ITG Next preseason rankings.
One look at the playmakers in this matchup tells you what a game this could turn out to be.
Worth County presents one of the state’s top young quarterbacks in Lyndon Worthy, and Brooks County counters with Junior Burrus, who led the Trojans to a 10-5 record in 2024 and a trip to the Class 1A-Division II state title game, where they came up short versus Bowdon.
Brooks County has one of the state’s best wide receivers in George Lamons Jr. The four-star prospect is actually being recruited as both a wide receiver and tight end. The Trojans will be looking to get the ball in his hands one way or the other.
Brooks County also has defensive back and athlete Traeviss Stevenson, a four-star recruit who has committed to Georgia Tech.
Worth County will line up the rushing duo of running back Kaden Chester and Tre’shaun Jones in the backfield with Worthy.
Worth County will be looking to avenge last year’s loss to Brooks County.
8. Gainesville vs Carrollton | September 12, 2025
Two of the higher-profile head football coaches in Georgia, Carrollton’s Joey King and Gainesville’s Josh Niblett, will lead their talented teams into this mid-season matchup at the beautiful City Park at Bobby Gruhn Field in Gainesville, Georgia.
This will be Game 4 for Niblett’s team, and they’ll be coming into the important matchup well-rested following a bye the previous week. On the other hand, this will be Carrollton’s fifth straight game since opening the 2025 season.
Like we previously mentioned with Milton, Carrollton will have a new quarterback for the first time in four seasons after the graduation of Julian “JuJu” Lewis, who started at QB for Carrollton every year since he was a freshman.
Carrollton’s new signal-caller is Mason Holtzclaw, who transferred from Christ School in Piedmont, South Carolina, where he was the starter over the past two seasons. He threw for 2,467 yards and 18 TDs as a freshman and sophomore, but also threw 22 interceptions.
Holtzclaw reclassified to the 2026 class in the offseason and now enters the 2025 season as a senior, making this his sole season for Carrollton. Holtclaw has over a dozen Division I college offers, but is uncommitted at the time of writing.
Gainesville has experience at key positions on offense and defense with returning starter and four-star recruit Kharim Hughley back for his junior season and five-star linebacker Xavier Griffin returning to lead the defense. Hughey has committed to Clemson University, and Griffin has committed to Alabama.
Both Niblett and King are hoping the 2025 season will produce their first state championship at their respective schools. Niblett led Gainesville to the Class 6A state title game in 2022, and King led Carrollton to state title games in 2022 and 2024.
9. Jefferson vs North Oconee | September 12, 2025
It’s possible that North Oconee could come into this matchup against Jefferson undefeated at 3-0. If they do, the Titans will be bringing in an 18-game unbeaten streak, including last year’s perfect 15-0 record. The Titans have just about every key starter from last year’s squad back this year, and that’s why betting on Jefferson welcoming in an undefeated North Oconee team isn’t such a stretch.
The question is if Jefferson can be the team to hand North Oconee its first loss of the year and the first loss in almost a season and a half.
Even though Jefferson finished 11-4 last year and advanced to the Class 3A state championship game, Jefferson did not play well at all against North Oconee, losing 35-0. You can bet that will be the rallying cry for the Dragons leading up to this Week 4 matchup against the Titans.
Will that be enough? Or is this the game that shows there is a new sheriff in town, ready to move Jefferson to the side for at least another year?
You can bet the emotions will be sky high for this one.
10. Thomas County Central vs Lee County | September 26, 2025
This was one of the most anticipated games of the 2024 season with both the Lee County Trojans and Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets ranked in the Top 5 of ITG Next’s Class 5A poll, as well as most statewide polls.
The game was originally scheduled for a Friday night, but was delayed until that Saturday due to Hurricane Helene.
Lee County won the game 35-23, snapping Thomas County Central’s 25-game winning streak. It paved the way to an undefeated 6-0 region record and title in Region 2-5A, which is one of the toughest regions in the state.
This year’s battle will be at Thomas County Central’s Jackets’ Nest and will be the region-opener for both teams once again.
Lee County will be without running back Ousmane Kromah and quarterback Weston Bryan, who both graduated. The Trojans will, however, field one of the best defensive units in the state, especially at linebacker with Greg Batson and Jace Murray and in the secondary with Trey Bush, Montravios Clay, and Lasiah Jackson all returning.
Thomas County Central returns most of its starters from last year, including lead rusher Deuce Lawrence, quarterback Jaylen Johnson, and defensive stars edge Cam Brooks and safety Omari Stephenson.
Like last season, the winner of this game will come out with a decided advantage for the top spot in the region.
