Thursday's Daily News 'n Notes: Scoreboard: GHSA softball Final Four; Northeast nips Bleckley County; Falcons win; and more
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 only area home to updated state volleyball and softball scores and pairings
Coming Friday: Scouting reports on all GHSA and GISA games
Scoreboard
High School
Football
Northeast 37, Bleckley County 34 (see game-winning play in Coverage)
D’Icey Hopkins ran a short slant, caught the dart from Travion Solomon, pulled his leg out of a tackle at the five, went left, kept his balance and scored the game-winner on a 13-yard pass with 19 seconds left to lift the Raiders to the win over the No. 4 Royals and take sole possession of first in Region 3-AA. Bleckley County took a 7-6 lead with 8:53 left in the first half, yet trailed 24-7 at halftime. The Royals chipped away, and finally regained the lead with 2:27 left on when workhorse Chuckie Stephens leaped and held the ball over the goal line, the kick putting Bleckley County up 34-30. The Raiders improved to 4-4 against ranked teams under head coach Jeremy Wiggins, and are 3-0 in region play for the first time since 2009.
Wilcox County 46, Dooly County 7
The Bobcats’ season start was delayed, and two of their first four opponents have been ranked. No. 9 Wilcox County rebounded from its loss to Dublin with its biggest win of the season.
Volleyball
Marist 3, Perry 0
The Panthers lost in the third round on Wednesdy on the road.
Around/About Central Georgia
State softball Final Four begins
Mount de Sales will open defense of its GHSA Class A Private state softball championship a little after lunchtime on Friday.
The Cavs take on Strong Rock at 1 p.m. at the Columbus Softball Complex, with the next game at 5 p.m. regardless. The first winners’ bracket game is at 5 p.m. Friday, with the championship on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Jones County and West Laurens join the Cavs in Columbus.
The Class 5A Greyhounds take on Starr’s Mill at 3 p.m. Apalachee and Whitewater are the other two teams. Both second games are at 7 p.m. The next winners’ bracket game is at 4 p.m. Saturday, with the championship set for 6 p.m.
The Class 4A Raiders take on Heritage-Catoosa at 3 p.m.
Central-Carrollton and LaGrange also play at 3, and the second games are at 7 p.m. The next winners’ bracket game is at 3 p.m. Saturday, with the final at 5 p.m.
The format has changed to a Final Four instead of Elite Eight because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, Mount de Sales beat Wesleyan, George Walton, and Wesleyan again to win the title.
The Cavs were the first Central Georgia team to bring home a fast-pitch title since FPD in 2016. GMC won it in 2014 and 2015.
Jones County, the 4A champ in 2010, beat Whitewater and Buford before losing to Locust Grove. The Greyhounds were then eliminated by Harris County.
West Laurens was part of the eight-team field in Columbus two years ago, along with Perry. It was a rough 0-2 visit for both teams. A year earlier, the Raiders and Panthers advanced, West Laurens topping Madison County and Marist before losing to Northside-Columbus and Stephens County.
Around/About Georgia
Falcons ditch Santa outfit, don’t gift game away
Defense will determine success
Georgia Southern holds off South Alabama
Catching up with Verron Haynes
Tech needs better first halves
Dooly County’s Clayton hurt?
Braves’ O’Day now a free agent
Swanson among the arbitration eligibles
Sports and COVID 19
College football’s main man, Trevor Lawrence, positive
College Football
Big Ten nixes Nebraska’s attempt to replace game
First Big Ten weekend was different
NFL
Newton on Newton’s game: trash
Around the nation/world
Column: Nicklaus public support of Trump inspires great debate