We Speak High School Football

Battle-Tested: Grayson Stays in Georgia’s Top 15 Through the State’s Toughest Schedule

Published

3 hours ago

October 22, 2026

Battle-Tested: Grayson Stays in Georgia's Top 15 Through the State's Toughest Schedule

Do not let the record fool you. At 4-4, Grayson might be the most dangerous .500 team in Georgia.

The Rams check in at No. 15 in the MaxPreps Georgia rankings and No. 14 in the On3 state rankings — and the reason is simple. Grayson’s strength of schedule rating of 55.8 is the highest of any team in the state rankings. The Rams started the season 0-2, rebounded, and have spent the fall trading punches with ranked opponents almost every single week.

The latest test came Friday, when Grayson went to unbeaten Newton and pushed the 8-0 Rams to the limit in a 38-27 loss. Newton needed a comeback to survive, and the win was Newton’s fifth this season over a team ranked in the Top 10 at the time. A week earlier, Grayson handled its business with a 28-3 win over Archer.

Senior quarterback Deuce Smith leads the offense with 11 touchdown passes. Junior receiver Cam Hurst has been his top target, averaging 43.9 receiving yards per game with four receiving touchdowns, while senior Saif Bin-Wahad adds 38.9 yards per game. The ground game is shared and productive: sophomore Terrell Smith and junior Brandon Gray have four rushing touchdowns apiece.

On defense, senior London Goggans leads the Rams at 5.8 tackles per game, senior Aaron Black has three sacks, and junior Elijah Tillman has four.

There is no soft landing left on a schedule like this — and that is the point. Grayson has already seen Georgia’s best, on the road, under pressure. When the playoffs arrive, no opponent will show the Rams anything they have not already faced. Battle-tested is not a slogan in Loganville. It is the schedule.

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Royal Jones

We Speak High School Football

Miller Grove Wolverines Hunting a Strong Finish After a Season of Fights

Published

3 hours ago

October 22, 2026

Royal Jones

The Miller Grove Wolverines opened their season with a statement, and they have been fighting ever since. A 31-0 shutout of Chamblee in the opener showed what this Lithonia team can be, and the Wolverines have spent the fall proving that night was no fluke.

Miller Grove owns a 35-6 road win at McNair and a 20-8 win at Carver in Atlanta, victories built on defense and toughness. Look at those three wins together and a pattern emerges: Chamblee scored zero, McNair scored six and Carver scored eight. When the Wolverines win, they win with a defense that gives up almost nothing, and that identity travels anywhere. At 3-4, with 131 points scored and 135 allowed, nearly every Wolverines game this season has been a genuine fight, decided by which team made the plays late.

That includes the tough nights. The Wolverines fell 42-10 to a strong Columbia team on October 16 and dropped a 28-21 heartbreaker at M.L. King in an all-DeKalb battle earlier this season. Those are the kinds of games a program learns from.

That defensive identity is worth repeating, because it is rare: across their three wins, the Wolverines have allowed a total of 14 points. Fourteen. In an era of spread offenses and video-game scores, Miller Grove wins the old-fashioned way, with tackling, discipline and a defense that takes points personally. That travels in November, and it gives the Wolverines a real chance in every game left on the schedule.

The closing stretch gives Miller Grove every chance to finish the right way. South Atlanta visits on Friday, October 23, then the Wolverines travel to Cedar Grove on October 30 before closing at home against Redan.

Three games, three chances to turn a season of fights into a winning finish. In Lithonia, the Wolverines and their families have every reason to believe that is exactly what happens next.