Sunday's Daily News 'n Notes: Lamb out at Mercer; Falcons back to 2019 play; Alumni Update; Macon TD Club; Scoreboard; college FB/BKB
Sunday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.
Mercer cut loose Bobby Lamb
As it turned out, the inability to built off a successful first season in one of the lowest-ranked Football Championship Subdivision conferences and turn it into success in one of the FCS’s toughest conferences ended the Bobby Lamb era at Mercer.
The school announced his firing Sunday night after seven seasons and a 41-39 record, but only 31-37 overall in the final six seasons, after the move to the Southern Conference.
In The Latest Coverage.
Falcons return to 2019
All the talk of the Falcons putting together some sort of run and saving Dan Quinn’s job came to a screeching halt, at home.
The offensive got pushed back, the running game was again weak, and Matt Ryan was pedestrian in Atlanta’s 35-22 loss to visiting Tampa Bay.
A decent start didn’t last, the Bucs turning a 10-7 first-quarter deficit to a 22-7 halftime lead, which they basically maintained. The lead was 35-16 until an Atlanta touchdown with 1:50 left.
Jameis Winston was 18 of 28 for 313 yards with three touchdowns, two interceptions, and no sacks. Ryan was 23 of 46 for 271 yards, an interception, and six sacks for 46 yards in losses.
West Alabama’s Gilliland to visit the Macon Touchdown Club
West ALabama head coach Brent Gilliland is Monday night’s speaker at the Macon Touchdown Club.
The club meets at the Methodist Home for Children and Youth, in the Rumford Center, at 304 Pierce Ave. It starts at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and the program to begin around 7. Cost is $30 for non-members.
Mary Persons is the featured high school.
Gilliland is the 21st head coach at his alma mater, a Division II program in the Gulf South Conference along with Valdosta State and West Georgia.
The sixth-year head coach was a Harlon Hill regional finalist in 2003, and graduated with school records in single-season passing yards and career passing yards.
A two-time conference academic honoree, he was inducted into West Alabama’s Hall of Fame in 2012.
Gilliland started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech for four seasons, spending one as the running backs coach, and working under Chan Gailey and Paul Johnson.
He was an assistant at Georgia Southern for three years under Jeff Monken and quarterbacks coach at Kennesaw State in 2013 – on the program’s first staff, during the building process - before taking over at West Alabama in 2014.
He is 43-26 overall and 26-20 in conference play, taking the Tigers to the playoffs in 2017 and 2018. West Georgia finished 6-5 this season, with three losses by less than 12 points.
The Tigers had about a half-dozen Georgians on the 2019 roster.
This is the final meeting of the regular season. Georgia’s Kirby Smart is the jamboree speaker in February.
TD Club taps players from Jones County
A pair of Greyhounds are the final players of the week this season for the Macon Touchdown Club.
Jontavis Robertson is the back of the week after catching seven passes for 90 yards, carrying four times for 22 yards and adding a pair of pancake blocks for his wideout pals in Jones County’s Class 5A second-round win over Cedar Shoals.
Matt Adams is the lineman of the week, the junior grading out at 85 percent, with four pancake blocks.
Monday Morning Quarterback
Coming Monday morning, and full quarterfinal pairings for classes with Central Georgia teams still alive.
In The Latest Coverage by mid-morning.
Alumni Update
John Milledge alum Harrison Bryant’s stellar career at Florida Atlanta added to the resume when he caught 182 yards in passes Saturday night in the Owls’ win over Texas-San Antonio.
The total was a career best, as well as the most receiving yards by a tight end in Alamodome history, on any level. He caught 10 passes for another career best.
The 8-3 Owls can earn a spot in the C-USA championship with a win Saturday over Southern Miss.
Scoreboard
College
Basketball
W-Eastern Kentucky 61, Mercer 60
W-Jacksonville State 87, Fort Valley State 65
M-(Saturday) Middle Georgia State def. Dalton State
W-Piedmont 60, Wesleyan 44
Peach State College FB Report
Kennesaw State makes FCS playoffs, gets Wofford
UGA: See, Kirby can be aggressive when it’s close
Peach State College BKB Report
Around/About Georgia