FOOTBALL: Eastside will start 2019 season in the Class AAAA Georgia Sportswriters Association rankings

After claiming the Region 4-AAAA region championship while making county history in 2018, the Eastside Eagles find themselves cracking the preseason Georgia Sportswriters Association Class AAAA rankings. -photo by Tyler Williams

Eastside Football — After claiming the Region 4-AAAA region championship while making county history in 2018, the Eastside Eagles find themselves cracking the preseason Georgia Sportswriters Association Class AAAA rankings. -photo by Tyler Williams

With the kickoff to the 2019 season just about three days away, the Eastside Eagles will find themselves in the Class AAAA top 10, according to the preseason Georgia Sportswriters Association high school football rankings.

Eastside checks in to the season’s first poll ranked No. 9, just ahead of 10th ranked St. Pius and behind No. 8 Mary Persons and seventh-ranked Woodward Academy — the latter being the Eagles’ Region 4-AAAA foe.

Eastside defeated Woodward 38-31 in come-from-behind fashion last season on the road in a game that helped propel the Eagles to a perfect 10-0 regular season, a Region 4-AAAA championship and a 12-1 finish to the 2018 campaign that ended with a quarterfinals loss to eventual Class AAAA state champion Blessed Trinity.

The Eagles return senior quarterback Noah Cook and four starters on the offensive line, but will be fairly young at other key positions, including linebacker, as coach Troy Hoff will have to replace all three starters from last year’s linebacking corps.

Blessed Trinity will begin the season ranked No. 1 in Class AAAA, with Cartersville, Troup, Sandy Creek, Marist and Cairo following at 2-6. Woodward will come to Covington’s Sharp Stadium for the first time in two years on Friday October 11.

See below for the full GSWA preseason rankings for all classifications.

Class AAAAAAA