Milton assistant battling stage IV cancer

Milton offensive line and strength coach Mike Scott was diagnosed with cancer this month and given six to eight months to live, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's David Purdum reported Tuesday.

The Fulton County school has planned fundraisers to help with medical costs, including the sale of "Lift Up Coach Scott" wrist bands for $5 at the school. Donations also can be made at GiveForward.com.

According to Purdum's story, Scott has stage IV Adenocarcinoma that began in his pancreas and spread to his liver and lungs.

"The kids are using the mantra of 'Stay Scottstrong,'" Milton athletics director Gary Sylvestri, also a Milton football assistant, told the AJC. "They are rallying behind him, want him to keep fighting. Their reaction really shows how much Coach Scott meant to this team."

Scott is an Ohio native who has coached several years in college football, including stops at Kentucky, Central Florida, West Alabama and West Georgia.

His offensive line is one of the state's best, with three college-committed players in Cory Helms (Wake Forest), Josh Harris (Wake Forest) and Eason Fromayan (TCU).

Former Troup coach sues district over firing

Former Troup head football coach Charlie Flowers, who was fired in February after being accused of illegally recruiting student-athletes, has filed a complaint against the Troup County School District that alleges race discrimination and violations of his right to due process.

According to the complaint, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Newnan, the school board terminated Flowers based largely on a statement by a co-owner of an apartment complex that Flowers paid for a deposit and two months of rent for a family with two student-athletes who attended Troup High.

Flowers denies those accusations and claims he was not given an opportunity to defend himself. Flowers is seeking lost wages and punitive damages.

Flowers, an alumnus of Troup, coached for 21 seasons and has a record of 161-82. He won a state championship at Shaw in 2000. In 2009, he became the first African-American head football coach at a Troup County school since desegregation.

Flowers is currently the coach of the ninth grade team at Smiths Station Junior High in Alabama.

Gainesville's Watson closing the gap

Gainesville quarterback Deshaun Watson threw six touchdown passes last week in a 49-28 victory over Clarke Central, turning up

Waton  (Photo by Scout.com)

the heat on front-runner Tyren Jones of Walton in the GHSF Daily Player of the Year Watch.

But Jones put up 234 yards rushing - a little higher than his season average of 221 - in a 24-23 victory against Wheeler.

For the first time this season, the POY Watch remained the same as each player who had a game last week showed up big, as usual.

Just keep an eye on Watson.

No junior quarterback has ever been named the all-classification player of the year in Georgia. If Gainesville plays 14 games, as it did in 2011, Watson at his current pace will pass for 3,707 yards (fourth all-time in Georgia) with 50 touchdowns (second all-time). He also will rush for 1,284 yards with 19 touchdowns.

1. RB Tyren Jones, Walton: Jones rushed for 234 yards and two touchdowns on 34 carries in a 24-23 victory over Wheeler. Jones, who has committed to Alabama, has rushed for 1,547 yards and 15 touchdowns on 230 carries (6.7 ypc) on the season. At his current pace, Jones would need 13 games to break the state record for rushing yards in a season in the highest classification, held by Parkview's Caleb King, who ran for 2,768 in 2005. Walton is 5-2 and unranked in Class AAAAAA.

2. QB Deshaun Watson, Gainesville: Watson threw six touchdown passes in a 49-28 victory over Clarke Central. Watson was 23-of-32 passing for 239 yards, and he rushed for 174 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. For the season, Watson is 149-of-211 passing (71 percent) for 2,118 yards and 29 touchdowns with seven interceptions, none in region play. Watson has rushed for 731 yards and 11 touchdowns on 114 carries (6.4 ypc). Watson, a junior, has committed to Clemson. Gainesville is 7-1 and ranked No. 4 in Class AAAAA.

3. QB Eddie Printz, Lassiter: Printz was 22-of-34 passing for 395 yards and four touchdowns in a 47-30 victory over Milton. On the season, Printz is 128-of-201 passing (63.5 percent) for 1,837 yards, 17 touchdowns and four interceptions. Printz has 7,629 passing yards for his career. At his 2012 pace, he would break the state record for career passing yards (9,062) in Lassiter's 14^th game, if Lassiter advances that far in the playoffs. Lassiter is 7-0 and ranked No. 2 in Class AAAAAA.

4. QB A.J. Erdely, West Forsyth: Erdely was 14-of-24 passing for 206 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 86 yards on nine carries in a 38-3 victory over North Forsyth.On the season, Erdely is 83-of-128 passing (64.8 percent) for 1,277 yards and 13 touchdowns with one interception. He has rushed for 635 yards and seven touchdowns on 80 carries (7.9 ypc). He is on pace to have 2,189 yards passing and 1,088 yards rushing after 12 games. Erdely is committed to Middle Tennessee. West Forsyth is 7-0 and ranked No. 5 in Class AAAAAA.

5. QB Taylor Lamb, Calhoun: Lamb was 7-for-11 passing for 87 yards and a touchdown while playing only the first quarter of a 69-0 victory over Murray County. For the season, Lamb is 150-of-221 passing for 1,733 yards and 17 touchdowns with three interceptions. He has rushed for 170 yards and six touchdowns on 33 carries. Lamb has committed to South Alabama. Calhoun is 7-0 and ranked No. 1 in Class AA.

6. QB Donquell Green, Burke County: Green threw a season-high three touchdown passes and scored a touchdown while playing primarily just the first half of a 68-20 victory over Glenn Hills. He was 7-of-9 passing for 150 yards and rushed for 87 yards on three carries. For the season, Green has rushed for 1,189 yards and 20 touchdowns on 118 carries (10.0 ypc) and completed 55 of 86 passes (64 percent) for 817 yards and seven touchdowns with one interception. Burke County is 7-1 and ranked No. 3 in Class AAAA.

7. RB Nick Chubb, Cedartown: Did not play last week. For the season, Chubb leads the state in rushing with 1,973 yards on 219 carries (9.0 ypc). He has scored 29 touchdowns. A junior, Chubb is on pace to break the state record for rushing yards in a season, held by Daccus Turman of Washington-Wilkes (3,172), in the 12th game, but his team must win out in the regular season and get some help to make the playoffs. Cedartown is 4-3 and unranked in Class AAAA.

8. RB Alvin Kamara, Norcross: Kamara rushed for 90 yards and a touchdown on nine carries in a 48-6 victory over Mountain View. For the season, Kamara has rushed for 1,149 yards and 14 touchdowns on 143 carries (8.0 ypc). Kamara, ranked the No. 3 all-purpose running back nationally by Rivals.com, has not made his college choice. Norcross is 8-0 and ranked No. 3 in Class AAAAAA.

9. QB Malcolm Parrish, Brooks County: Parrish, a junior, was 13-of-25 passing for 318 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-6 victory over Pelham. Parrish also rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. For the season, Parrish is 114-of-219 passing for 1,972 yards and 20 touchdowns with three interceptions. He has rushed for 452 yards and 11 touchdowns on 117 carries. Brooks County is 7-0 and ranked No. 2 in Class AA.

10. HB/DB J.J. Green, Camden County: Did not play last week. For the season, Green has rushed for 446 yards and six touchdowns on 45 carries (10.4 ypc) and caught five passes for 77 yards. He has scored nine touchdowns. Recruited as a defensive back, Green has committed to Georgia. Camden County is 7-0 and ranked No. 1 in Class AAAAAA.

 Here's a look at Georgia's teams ranked on a consensus of five polls (AJC - Atlanta Journal-Constitution/GHSF Daily; AP - Associated Press/Georgia Sports Writers Association; GPB - Georgia Public Broadcasting; MP - MaxPreps; and Max - Maxwell Ratings): 

Top plays

Click here to see PlayOn Sports' Top Five Plays from Georgia last week. They include players from Ware County, Alpharetta, Gainesville, Marietta and Lambert.

Region rankings

These are rankings of the regions, according to the Maxwell Ratings. The rating represents the strength of the average team in the region. The difference in rating from one region to the next is an estimate of how many points in a game might separate the average team from those regions. The rating does not measure the strength of the region's playoff teams. Regions with four outstanding teams might be canceled out if those regions also have several very weak teams.

Class AAAAAA

The average team in Region 1 (Coffee or Valdosta) would project to win Region 2, according to Maxwell.

1 - 78.29

8 - 70.04

5 - 66.01

7 - 64.24

6 - 63.45

4 - 61.89

3 - 59.47

2 - 42.19

Class AAAAA

Region 6 has three ranked teams in M.L. King, Tucker and Stephenson but is soft at the bottom. Region 8, headed by Gainesville, is a little better on average, Maxwell says.

8 - 57.91

6 - 57.53

4 Div. B - 56.27

2 - 55.5

1 - 54.84

7 Div. B - 53.67

5 - 50.18

3 - 44.72

4 Div. A - 43.79

7 Div. A - 33.11

Class AAAA

Region 4 has three ranked teams in Stockbridge, Griffin and Jonesboro. Region 2, led by Westside of Macon, has none.

4 Div. B - 55.72

2 - 53.15

4 Div. A - 50.94

5 - 50.64

3 Div. A - 50.61

6 Div. A - 50.55

1 - 50.38

6 Div. B - 49.15

7 Div. A - 46.54

8 - 40.94

7 Div. B - 39.67

3 Div. B - 26.36

Class AAA

Region 3 has only five teams, but all are top 30 in AAA, according to Maxwell, led by No. 3 Thomson and No. 4 Washington County.

3 - 59.34

6 - 49.73

2 - 46.51

8 - 40.74

5 - 40.69

7 - 36.72

4 - 35.76

1 - 33.18

Class AA

Two regions tower above the others. That's Region 1 led by Brooks County and Region 6 led by Greater Atlanta Christian.

1 - 52.83

6 - 51.51

4 - 34.39

5 - 28.23

7 - 27.04

8 - 24.46

2 - 32.28

3 - 30.66

Class A

Clinch County is in fifth place in Region 2. Aquinas is fourth in Region 7. 'Nuff said.

2 - 40.26

7 - 37.36

8 - 34.97

5 - 32.88

3 Div. A - 32.41

4 - 30.1

6 Div. A - 28.54

1 - 26.75

3 Div. B - 25.15

6 Div. B - 23.96

Ten years ago today, the No. 1-ranked team in Class AA had won 36 of its last 37 games. That school is no longer open. What was the school? (Answer Thursday)

Answer to Tuesday's question: Lovett won Buford's region (6-AA) in 2009, the only season in which Buford has failed to win a region title since 2001. Lovett, Buford and Westminster finished 6-1, but Lovett - which defeated Buford 28-21, was seeded No. 1 for the playoffs.

Here are this week's state rankings as determined by the Maxwell Ratings. Below, we give you the top 25 overall teams. To see all 412 football-playing schools in Georgia and how they rank in their classification, click here.

1. Camden County (93.84)

2. Northside-W. Robins (93.38)

3. Norcross (93.21)

4. Lowndes (89.9)

5. North Gwinnett (88.66)

6. Grayson (86.93)

7. West Forsyth (86.67)

8. Colquitt County (85.87)

8. Lassiter (85.87)

10. Sandy Creek (85.19)

11. Calhoun (84.67)

12. Gainesville (83.65)

13. Buford (81.78)

14. Lovejoy (81.6)

15. Parkview (81.24)

16. Peach County (80.65)

17. Burke County (80.49)

18. M.L. King (80.07)

19. East Paulding (80.06)

20. Tucker (79.19)

21. Thomas Co. Central (79)

22. Thomson (78.35)

23. Washington County (77.71)

24. Coffee (77.6)

25. McEachern (77.3)

*Cairo RB P.J. Davis rushed for 244 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries in a 42-7 victory over Albany. Davis also had 14 tackles, three for losses, and blocked a field goal.

*Cedar Grove WR Jamir Hannah had five receptions for 120 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-28 loss to St. Pius.

*Lithia Springs RB Avonte Boyd rushed for 211 yards and four touchdowns on 29 carries in a 27-14 victory over Woodland of Cartersville. It was Lithia Springs' first victory of the season.

*Toombs County RB Jamar Smith rushed for 306 yards and four touchdowns on 36 carries in a 33-20 victory over Long County. Smith has rushed for 1,038 yards in seven games.

*Upson-Lee QB Corey Moss rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns, passed for 190 yards and one TD and recovered a fumble in a 36-23 loss to Riverdale. Moss has rushed for 974 yards and scored 14 touchdowns in seven games.

Region 1-AAAA

GHSF Daily's projected playoff teams: 1. Cairo, 2. Westover, 3. Monroe, 4. Americus-Sumter

Region 2-AAAA

Projected playoff teams: 1. Westside (Macon), 2. Baldwin, 3. Mary Persons, 4. Perry

Region 3-AAAA

Division A

Division B

Projected playoff teams: 1. Burke County, 2. Statesboro, 3. Liberty County, 4. Wayne County

Region 4-AAAA

Division A

Division B

Projected playoff teams: 1. Stockbridge, 2. Griffin, 3. Jonesboro, 4. Riverdale

Region 5-AAAA

Projected playoff teams: 1. Sandy Creek, 2. Carrollton, 3. Fayette County, 4. LaGrange

Region 6-AAAA

Division A

Division B

Projected playoff teams: 1. Marist, 2. Carver (Atlanta), 3. Chamblee, 4. Grady

Region 7-AAAA

Division A

Division B

Projected playoff teams: 1. Ridgeland, 2. Gilmer, 3. Dalton, 4. Pickens

Region 8-AAAA

Projected playoff teams: 1. Monroe Area, 2. Chestatee, 3. Stephens County, 4. Eastside

Note: All scores are courtesy of the Georgia High School Football Historians Association, Score Atlanta and other media outlets. If a score is not accurate, it was reported incorrectly.

* All of this week's games are Friday unless noted.