Thursday's Central Georgia Daily News 'n Notes: The Falcons, uh, played; KSU cruises; Mercer-GSU-South playing in hoops; and football

Thursday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media. Updates will be noted, so check back.

The Braves Report is coming late. Very late. Or early. Depending. Lead blown, extra innings.

The daily scores and schedules have moved to a separate story file each day.

In a game as thrilling as, well, OK, no, but it had a fairly dramatic finish, and the Falcons lost

          Weather delayed the kickoff in a matchup of two of the NFC’s top teams, and what followed was a game that didn’t like like a matchup of two of the NFC’s top teams.

          Philadelphia celebrated its Super Bowl win with a pregame ceremony, and used a play similar to a clincher in the Super Bowl to topple the Falcons 18-12.

          Jay Ajayi’s 11-yard run with 2:19 left in the game – followed by a missed conversion – gave the Eagles a four-point lead. The Falcons got within scoring range, to the 22 with first down and 1:18 left, then a first-and-10 at the 10 with 24 seconds left.

          But four incompletions later – the final one from the 5 on first-and-goal with a second left – the Falcons were done.

          Matt Ryan was 21 of 43 for 251 yards, one pick and no scores, and he was sacked four times. Nick Foles was 19 of 34 for 117 yards, one pick and no scores, and he was sacked twice for 13 yards.

          Julio Jones was targeted 19 times, and caught 10 for 169 yards. Atlanta’s run game got 74 yards on 18 tries.

          To be updated.

Thursday’s high school menu is fuller than anywhere else

          There are 14 softball scores and two volleyball scores, and 40 names of softball players who did some things.

          There are the state h.s. football polls and a roundup on the Central Georgia teams. There is the list of predictions by the Maxwell Ratings. And The Sports Report’s weekly predictions – don’t get testy, we’re 44-13 and 2-0 on upset specials – are up.

          Friday, a high school notebook, and preview capsules on the night of Central Georgia high school football. And something else along the way.

          Go back and revisit prep stuff for the week, including a look at the top team in Bibb County, which plays the next-best team in Bibb County Friday. And who will win by more than most think.

Kennesaw State hammers Tennessee Tech

          Quarterback Chandler Burks ran for three touchdowns and 91 yards and key a 42-0 scoring run as Kennesaw State rolled past Tennessee Tech.

          The Owls set a school record 507 yards rushing on 68 tries, with only three pass attempts. KSU led the FCS last year in rushing.

          Kennesaw State scored on its first play of the second half, a 75-yard Darnell Holland run. And on its second offensive play, a 50-yard Burks score.

          The eighth-ranked Owls and Golden Eagles waited an hour, thanks to weather, to get started. The only delayed how long until Tech sniffed the red zone, in the fourth quarter.

          The only Central Georgian for KSU that played was Kyle Glover of Dodge County, moved from linebacker to B-Back. He had eight carries for 32 yards. The Owls also have Je’Cory Burks of Perry, Sean Brown of Tattnall, Abdul Davis of Westside, and Devin Hill of GMC on the roster.

Georgia Southern non-conference hoops schedule out, and Mercer is on it

          For the second time in three seasons, Mercer and Georgia Southern will battle in men’s basketball.

          That’ll be on Dec. 8 in Macon, the 115th meeting

          The teams played early in the 2016-17 season, Mercer winning 80-67. That broke a long gap of not playing after meeting at least once year – except for a gap from 1992-96 and 1982-86, among the few interruptions – for decades.        

          The Eagles will also play Arizona, UCF, Radford, and Dayton, on the road, be part of a field – including FAU, Towson, and Pepperdine - in the Bahamas Showcase, and host Bradley, George Mason, and ETSU.

Mercer basketball preseason events set

Festivities to get minds set toward basketball at Mercer are set for late October with the Tip-Off Event and Orange and White game.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for 14-under.

Full details are here.

Football updates

Georgia

About that line of scrimmage

Secondary to get a major test

USCE does have some advantages

Wanting more from the OLine

And more physicality

Georgia Tech

Some things about Tech and USF

A familiar – and happily so – locale