North Cobb and Kennesaw Mountain were ranked among the top 100 high school football teams in the country ahead of the 2022 season.
MaxPreps recently released its top 100 preseason rankings, with North Cobb ranked 68th and Kennesaw Mountain 93rd. The Warriors and Mustangs were Cobb County’s only representatives, among Georgia’s 11 total ranked teams.
Buford will enter the season at No. 11, while fellow Gwinnett County powers Grayson, Mill Creek and Collins Hill were ranked 22nd, 26th and 54th, respectively.
Fulton County had two teams in Langston Hughes (39) and Milton (56), while the remaining three Georgia teams in the rankings were Warner Robins (63), Cedar Grove (72) and Colquitt County (85).
North Cobb coach Shane Queen said he was pleased that his team had been recognized with the preseason accolade, but that the players cannot afford to look back at awards he said are based on a previous season’s performance.
“It’s awesome that our school was recognized, and it’s awesome that the people before this team laid a foundation and that expectation of where we are at,” Queen said. “I think that’s where our program has gotten to.”
Kennesaw Mountain coach Caleb Carmean said his team’s ranking was a testament to his program’s effort to return to a competitive level. Last season, the Mustangs finished 10-2, winning their region championship and a playoff game for the first time in program history.
For a team that finished 0-10 in 2019, the preseason listing serves as a meaningful benchmark.
“I think it’s an awesome testament to our kids and how hard they’ve worked the last couple of years,” Carmean said. “We’re excited — excited about the direction we’re headed, and we’ve still got a lot of work to do and a long way to go — but we’re excited that we’re trending in the right direction.
Now in Class AAAAAAA, Kennesaw Mountain will be tested against some of the area’s perennial powers in Harrison, North Cobb and Walton. The game between the Warriors and the Mustangs is set for Oct. 21 at Kennesaw Mountain.
Like Queen, Carmean said being recognized is positive, but his team will not need any added inspiration to compete come August.
“They’ve got goals that are bigger than preseason rankings,” Carmean said, “so I think that their self-motivation is probably enough to continue to drive them and put us where we need to be.”
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