Week 1 and Week 2 of the 2025 Georgia high school football season are in the books — well, almost.
With several games across the state affected by the weather, at least one involving Lee County and Hapeville Charter will resume on Sept. 2. The two teams completed the first half of play before weather brought an end to the game. Now, Lee County and Hapeville will play the third and fourth quarters next Tuesday in Leesburg, Georgia.
Blue Blood Programs Show Championship Pedigrees
Several of the state’s top teams showed why they belong at the top in Week 2 of the 2025 Georgia high school football season after falling behind in Week 1.
Milton Eagles
Milton’s special teams unit rose to the occasion for head coach Ben Reaves’ Eagles against The First Academy in Orlando.
One week after battling Class 6A’s Buford in the much-anticipated season-opener at the Wolves’ new multimillion-dollar stadium and losing when a last-minute drive to win the game ended in an interception, the Eagles got back up and turned the tables against The First Academy with a game-saving interception of their own.
Milton found themselves trailing 17-14 with five minutes left in the third quarter. With the offense sputtering at times without starting quarterback Derrick Baker, Milton scored the game’s final 10 points while holding First Academy scoreless to pick up a gritty win 24-17, evening their record to 1-1 on the season.
It was Milton’s special teams and defense with a timely interception at the end that paved the way for the Eagles in this one.
A blocked punt, a punt return, two fumble recoveries on kickoffs, and a late field goal to make it a two-possession game put Milton in position to win it, but the game was still in doubt until senior Eberechukwu “EB” Joshua Bailey came up with an interception to seal the win. He also had a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown earlier in the game.
You may not want to count the Milton Eagles out of anything just yet.
Bowdon Red Devils
Following their stunning season-opening 26-0 shutout loss to Fellowship Christian, the Bowdon Red Devils found themselves trailing Macon County by a touchdown after the first quarter Friday night.
The Red Devils battled back to take the lead 21-14 as they headed into the locker room at halftime.
Then, Bowdon came out and flexed the kind of muscle that it was known for in winning three straight state championships over the 2022, 2023, and 2024 seasons. Bowdon took command of the game with a 34-point third quarter and went on to win 55-22, even their record to 1-1 on the season.
Grayson Rams
The defending GHSA Class 7A state champion Grayson Rams found themselves in an unusual spot, trailing the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association defending state champion Rabun Gap-Nacoochee Eagles 12-0 in the first quarter.
The Rams climbed back into the game and took the lead heading into the half. They did not trail again, although the Eagles closed the lead to 24-19 with about five minutes remaining in the game. As great teams do, Grayson forced a turnover as Rabun Gap-Nacoochee was on a potential game-winning drive, taking possession with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Grayson ran out the clock and extended their record to 2-0 while maintaining their top spot in ITG Next’s 2025 Georgia high school football rankings for Class 6A.
Rush Propst Leads Small Coosa Christian Roster Into Pierce County Bears’ Den
When Coosa Christian visited Pierce County last year to open the 2024 season, the Conquerors jumped out to a 7-0 lead in front of the hometown Bears fans. The thoughts of an upset to the visitors from Alabama did not last, however, as the Bears rallied with 41 unanswered points on the way to a 41-7 win.
Coosa Christian was led by then head coach Mark O’Bryant, who has since been placed on suspension for the 2025 season for rules violations that stemmed from allegedly using an ineligible player.
That led to former Colquitt County and Valdosta head coach Rush Propst being named as Coosa Christian’s interim head coach for the 2025 season.
Propst led his Coosa Christian team back into the Bears’ den last Friday night, and one could argue that this team had an even worse chance of beating Pierce County this time around.
Coosa Christian, a small Alabama private school, graduated many of its starters from a year ago. With the team possibly facing no chance of a postseason due to restrictions placed on the school by the Alabama High School Athletic Association, there haven’t been many new, incoming transfers, which the school usually enjoys in the offseason, according to Propst.
Even though that restriction has since been lifted by the AHSAA in a recent announcement, the damage was done in terms of the numbers on the roster.
“We only played 15 players against Pierce County,” Propst said after the game. “We lost nine seniors from last year and only had one new player come in this offseason, so we were down about eight players compared to this game last year.”
Facing that same Pierce County team that Coosa Christian lost to by 34 points in their 2024 season-opener, but with fewer players, it was up to Propst to try to rally his team.
Call it the Rush Factor.
Coosa Christian took an early lead and led 7-0 after one quarter. No more points were scored for the rest of the half; the touchdown lead by the visitors stood as the two teams headed to the locker rooms.
Pierce County took advantage of a Coosa Christian fumble early in the third quarter, which they turned into their first points of the night. A rushing touchdown and extra point tied the score at 7-7.
Pierce County added two more touchdowns in the quarter and escaped with a 20-7 win.
Consider this, though: Propst brought in a team that was missing many of the players from last year’s squad and still rallied Coosa Christian to a 7-0 lead at halftime. Say what you want about Rush Propst, but he had his team believing they could win.
“We played hard, and I had three weeks to prepare this team to play like I wanted,” Propst said.
He said that turnovers, the lack of depth, and adjustments by Pierce County made a huge difference.
“Give Pierce and Ryan Herring credit for getting his team turned around with halftime adjustments,” Propst said. “They came out at the start of the third quarter and forced two turnovers from us to turn the game in their favor. But with us playing only 15 players, our lack of depth caught up with us.”
Propst said that he was proud of the effort his team gave.
“We have a good culture, and I’m proud of these kids,” he said.
The Rush Factor is real.
McEachern, Tift County Enjoying 2-0 Start
Two Class 6A teams are enjoying a bit of a resurgence that has their fans believing again.
The McEachern Indians and head coach Kareem Reid are off to a 2-0 start with impressive wins over quality opponents.
The Indians defeated the Walton Raiders in the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic in Week 1, scoring half of a hundred in their 50-17 win.
In Week 2 of the 2025 Georgia high school football season, McEachern’s defense rose to the occasion against North Cobb, shutting out the Warriors 21-0. The win avenged a 2024 Week 2 loss to North Cobb 45-33, which at the time set McEachern back to 0-2 to start the year.
The Tift County Blue Devils have already equaled the number of wins they had all of last year. Tift County is now 2-0 after defeating Griffin in Week 1, then, in a bit of a surprise, recording a 22-0 shutout win at home on Saturday afternoon in a game that had been postponed from Friday due to weather. Tift County’s second win of the season came against a Gadsden County, Florida, team that was favored to win. Last year, Gadsden County defeated Tift County 45-7 in Week 2.
The Blue Devils were 2-8 last season in head coach Jeff Littleton‘s first year at Tift County since leaving Bainbridge High School, where he led the Bearcats to 91 wins in 11 seasons, including a Class 5A state championship in 2018.
There were obvious signs of improvement within the Tift County program last season under Littleton’s. Now, with Tift County off to a 2-0 start, fans are actually excited about the state of the program. While fans may not be expecting a state championship this season, there’s the sense of a newfound competitive spirit surrounding the program, its players, and its supporters.
Tift County will face another major test this week as they take their first road trip of the season to Lee County, who is 1-0 on the season after defeating Warner Robins 45-7 in Week 1.
