Carrollton needed an impressive victory to hold its No. 1 ranking in Class 6A this week. The Trojans got it. Their 45-15 win against Gainesville, then the second-ranked team in Class 5A, was enough to shield it from surging Buford, which dominated previous-No. 3 Douglas County of Class 6A 31-14.

Each week this season, scores compiled from online scoreboards and social media will be posted on the Scores & Schedules page late Friday night. GHSF Daily will begin reconciling and verifying the scores Saturday morning. Here is the updated version from Week 5. If you have additional corrections, please contact us.

Chattooga’s Zayden Cook is the state’s new rushing leader after a 338-yard effort last week in a 45-20 victory over Mount Zion of Carroll County. Cook has rushed for 849 yards and 11 touchdowns on just 60 carries. Cook is more than a running back, though. He’s an inside linebacker who is second on his team in tackles, averaging eight per game. He’s playing 125-130 plays per game.

No. 2 Buford and No. 3 Douglas County will headline Week 5 of the season when they meet in Douglasville, trying to keep pace near the top of the Class 6A rankings. Elsewhere, the top three teams in 5A - No. 1 Milton, No. 2 Gainesville and No. 3 Lee County - will face tough tests on the road.

Region play has begun in only 12 of the 56 regions, and the regular season is just one-third complete, but bracket mania has been simmering for weeks in the computer Maxwell Ratings. Below are the projected first-round matchups and seeds for all eight championship draws, along with some GHSF Daily observations.

Great rushing nights by Chattooga’s Zayden Cook and West Hall’s Elijah Hayes and outstanding all-around efforts by Jefferson’s Rett Hemphill, Toombs County’s T.J. Stanley and Warner Robins’ Skyler Williams were among the highlights of the fourth week of the season.

Buford and Douglas County didn’t move up in the football rankings this week, but each had a big win that could set up either for a promotion if successful in their next game – which is against each other. Buford, the No. 2 team in Class 6A and the preseason No. 1, defeated No. 7 Roswell of Class 5A 52-17. Douglas County, ranked No. 3, beat No. 6 Hughes of 5A 21-14.

Walnut Grove’s Emadd Howard, Houston County’s Antwann Hill and Pope’s John Stuetzer stand atop GHSF Daily’s GHSA yardage leaderboard in rushing, passing and receiving. Howard, a senior, is bidding for his third consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season. He’s 86 yards from 3,000 in his career. He had a career-high 305 rushing yards in a 48-19 victory over Loganville last month. Walnut Grove is 3-0.

Jones County will meet Ola and Rockmart will face Ringgold in early battles for region supremacy in Week 4 of the season. Warner Robins will take on Houston County for the unofficial title of county champions, and North Gwinnett travels to Mill Creek in a battle of top-five teams in Class 6A.

More than 150 former Georgia high school football players are on active NFL rosters or injured reserve ahead of the league’s first game Thursday between the Chiefs and the Ravens, according to GHSF Daily research. The 150 is similar to last year’s total, which ranked fourth among states behind Texas, Florida and California.