Central Georgia Sports ReportComment

Friday night football roundup: West Laurens dominates, Rutland with a wild, wild homecoming win, Dodge County-Northeast down to the wire, Bleckley County battles Dublin, and more

Central Georgia Sports ReportComment
Friday night football roundup: West Laurens dominates, Rutland with a wild, wild homecoming win, Dodge County-Northeast down to the wire, Bleckley County battles Dublin, and more

Final 11:45 a.m. update

 

Friday

Class 6A

Warner Robins 29, Houston County 14

          The Demons turned a 7-6 deficit into a 12-7 lead, adding a field goal to start a 17-0 run for a 29-7 lead, the Bears scoring in the fourth quarter but unable to mount any further comeback.

Class 5A

Jones County 42, Locust Grove 28

Class 4A

West Laurens 43, Howard 7

          The Raiders turned in one of their most complete performances against a quality opponent, taking a 16-0 lead early in the second on two short Shonta Burney Jr., runs, and safety. A.J. Mathis, en route to becoming the school’s all-time passing yardage leader, hit Brent Carr with an 18-yard scoring pass and then backup QB Bradley Wilson – Mathis went out with an injury briefly – scored on a hurdle-highlighting 28-yard run, and the Raiders had popped Howard for a 29-0 halftime lead. Mathis passed for three touchdowns and more than 250 yards. Mathis and Carr hooked up for a 10-yard score early in the third.  It was West Laurens’ biggest region win since 42-6 over Perry (3-7/1-6) in 2016, biggest region win over a playoff-caliber team since before the turn over the century.

Mary Persons 38, Spalding 13

Perry 22, Upson-Lee 15

          Perry couldn’t put Upson-Lee away, and almost paid for it. The Knights had a final possession and turned in some big plays to get inside the 20 with less than a minute left. But Perry’s defense came up with a sack on second down and then Tyren Mobley snagged the Panthers’ fourth interception of the night to seal the win. The Panthers outgained the Knights by 24 yards and had six fewer first downs. Perry’s defense recorded more nearly 20 plays of allowing two yards or less on the ground and forced a 13-for-31 passing night. Still, they led only 14-0 and watched that become a 15-14 deficit. Daequan Wright scored from a yard out with 8:37 left in the game, and caught Lane Rucker’s pass for the conversion and a seven-point lead.

Class 3A

Rutland 26, Kendrick 22

          Rutland’s homecoming was about to be spoiled, until a second-half surge and a not-soon-forgotten final seconds. The deficit was 22-12 when Tyson Royal scored from eight yards out, the conversion pulling the Hurricanes within 22-20 three minutes into the fourth quarter. Rutland’s Ja’Marion Marshall came up with the stop on fourth-and-5 near midfield. On the first play,  Jessie Phelps Jr., who is on a roll, went off right guard and bounced outside for a 45-yard touchdown – his third of the night - at the 4:22 mark. The conversion failed, and the lead was four.

A few minutes later, it got funky. Kendrick snapped a fourth and 18 with 40 seconds left, and converted a pass to the 5. The Cherokees, with no timeouts,  recovered a fumble on the first play and got off a snap as the clock went from one second to zero – with a few players not set for play – and Rutland was flagged for pass interference in the end zone, putting the ball on the 3 for an untimed down. But Emmanuel Hicks blew off his block and buried Rayshawn Hill for a 7-yard loss to end the game.

Peach County 38, Pike County 0

          The teams and cheerleaders gather together before the game in memory of Dylan Thomas, the Pike County player who was hurt last year in this game and died a few days later from a head injury. Noah Whittington scored three times and Tijah Woolfolk twice – one run, one catch – for the Trojans, who played backups in the second half.

Players, cheerleaders, and coaches from Peach County and Pike County as well as officials gathered Friday night before kickoff to pay tribute to Dylan Thomas, the Pike County player who died last year two days after suffering a head injury in this g…

Players, cheerleaders, and coaches from Peach County and Pike County as well as officials gathered Friday night before kickoff to pay tribute to Dylan Thomas, the Pike County player who died last year two days after suffering a head injury in this game.

Photo: O’Sheta Harris


Class AA

Dodge County 35, Northeast 29

          Dodge County scored on a pick-6 inside the first two minutes, but there was no momentum gained, and it came down to the Indians taking advantage of good field position late to score the game-winner with 5:04 left. The Indians couldn’t pull away, and the Raiders missed early opportunities. It was 15-8 at halftime, Northeast tying it on Deondre Duhart’s run with 7:19 left in the third. Dodge County was opportunistic en route to a 21-15 lead less than five minutes later only for the Raiders to take a 22-21 lead briefly.

          Dodge County – which won from 2016-18 by 22, 23, and 41 - struck quick and converted for a 29-22 lead less than two minutes into the fourth, and back came Northeast on Duehart’s score less than two minutes later to tie it with 7:31 left. The Indian defense came up with a goal-line stand inside the final two minutes to survive. Travion Solomon was 11 of 20 for 215 yards for Northeast, while Duehart had 137 yards on 21 carries and three scores. Brandon Watkins caught six passes for 106 yards.

Dublin 41, Bleckley County 32

          The heavily-favored Irish couldn’t put away the scrappy and speedy Royals, who put up 435 yards of total offense on the Dublin defense, outgaining the Irish - who didn’t try a pass – by 18 yards on 20 more snaps. Dublin led 21-12 at halftime, and touchdowns by Mark Mitchell and JaQues Evans – his third of the night - less than five minutes apart extended the lead to 35-12 with 5:45 left in the third. The margin was 41-18 on Zion Kemp’s 10-yard run to open the fourth, but Bryce Bailey went 59 yards for a score moments later and Dominic Sasser connected with Bailey on fourth down for a 7-yard pass at the 5:04 mark to cut it to single digits only for time to run out on them.

The Irish missed on one PAT/conversion, while the Royals were unsuccessful on four, with two PAT kicks blocked. Dublin lost two fumbles, and the Royals were good on eight of 14 third downs. Bailey ran 13 times for 106 yards (a Royal not on the MaxPreps roster had 109 yards and two touchdowns), while Kemp had 147 yards on eight carries and Evans 143 on 16. Sasser completed 17 of 27 for 212 yards.

Lamar County 14, Spencer 7

          The Trojans had the expected battle, giving up a touchdown inside the final minute of the second quarter and not answering until the 4:55 mark of the third quarter on Keilyn Tyus’ 3-yard run. Diondre Blackmon returneda punt 72 yards for the game-winning score with 3:44 left in the game, Ethan Popham making his second PAT.

Putnam County 24, Monticello 21

          The War Eagles got a game-winning field goal from Jose Jernandez.

Washington County 68, East Laurens 14

Class A

Aquinas 46, GMC 13

Dooly County 26, Macon County 8

FPD 56, Twiggs County 0

          The Vikings scored the fifth-most points in program history while recording the third-biggest margin of victory, tying a 56-0 win over Hawkinsville in 2016.

Mount de Sales 50, Pinecrest 21

          The Cavs rolled to 454 yards total offense, 152 in the air and 302 on 32 carries, holding Pinecrest to 227 yards total offense. Mount de Sales’ defense held the visitors to 1.7 yards a carry, and got an interception from Thomas Smith. Dexter Williams completed 8 of 10 passes for 152 yards, two TDs and a conversion, rushing for 96 yards on 13 carries. Josiah Cotton was huge with 143 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, Fernando Washington adding 73 yards and touchdown on five carries. A’khori Jones caught six passes for 130 yards. The Cavs dominated early, leading 22-0 after one and 38-0 at halftime. Mount de Sales has had a 50-point game three straight seasons.

Tattnall 21, Wilkinson County 13

          The Trojans led 21-0 four minutes in the third and watched the Warriors score late in the third and then with 4:05 left in the fourth to make it close. It was Wilkinson County’s closest loss since 7-6 to Stratford almost a year ago, but the Warriors still lost their seventh straight and 13th of their last 14th.

Taylor County 50, Crawford County 47

GISA/GAPPS

Brentwood 52, Memorial Day 12

          Chase Everett raced for 143 yards and a touchdown on five carries, and three of McKinley Newton’s four completions went for touchdowns as six different Eagles scored touchdowns. Brentwood outgained Memorial Day 488-232, the visitors suffering four turnovers.

Gatewood 60, Terrell 21

Westfield 16, Trinity Christian 14

          The Hornets trailed 14-7 at halftime, but battled back with a 2-yard touchdown from Michael Fitzpatrick for the lead three minutes into the third quarter and added a 28-yard field goal from Fitzpatrick inside the final minute of the quarter. And then the defense bowed up and kept the Crusaders out of the end zone for the fourth quarter, and thus the entire second half. Fitzpatrick ran 25 times for 163 yards, and completed his only pass attempt for 44 yards. David Coleman was 11 of 23 for 111 yards and a score for TCS, adding 86 yards on 10 rushes.

CFCA 27, ACE 25

A stunning win, the Georgia Association of Private and Parochial Schools team beating the second-year GHSA program.

Fullington (1-5/0-2) vs. Griffin (3-1/0-0)

John Hancock (0-4/0-2) at Sherwood (4-2/0-1)