Friday night's Central Georgia high school football roundup: Upsets, winning streaks, surprising shutouts, a full night
Have breakfast with Central Georgia’s only complete roundup, awaiting you and the sun. Any update will be around noon Saturday, based on information contributions from teams.
Teams: send info to centralgasports@gmail.com by 10:30 a.m. Saturday for the noon final update
Dear coaches and teams: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE UPDATE YOUR MAXPREPS ROSTERS, so kids can accurately be credited for doing good things. Ditto schedules, results, and stats.
Class 6A
No. 1 Lee County (6-1/1-0) 27, No. 10 Houston County (5-3/0-1) 6
The homestanding Trojans had a battle for a half, leading 7-0 at the break. A pair of long TD runs in the third quarter put the Trojans in charge, and they had a shutout until 13 seconds remained. The Lee County trio of Caleb McDowell, Preston Simmons, and Chauncey Magwood teamed for more than 300 yards rushing.
Valdosta (4-3/2-0) 14, Northside (3-5/0-1) 0
Northside suffered its second shutout of the season, while Valdosta recorded its second in a row. The Wildcats scored on a 32-yard pass play with 6:14 left in the first, and on a 12-yardr with 4:22 to go in the third. Valdosta outgained Northside 302-72 in total offense, and ran 20 more plays. The Eagles were held to -4 rushing on 25 tries.
Class 5A
No. 3 Warner Robins (6-1/1-0) 22, No. 1 Ware County (6-1/1-1) 19
The showdown was a showdown. The Demons led 14-12 at halftime – wounded by a blocked punt and scoop-and-score by the Gators, and gave up the lead immediately in the third quarter on a 60-yard TD run on the second play. The versatile Ahmad Walker bulled in from a yard out with 2:07 left in the game, and Armon Porter threw to Andrew McGee for the two-point conversion, just in case the Gators got close enough for money kicker Henry Bates – who already had two field goals - to get a shot. But on fourth down, Walker disrupted the play and set up sophomore standout Victor Burley for the game-clinching tackle.
Jones County (4-3/4-0) 38, No. 7 Ola (6-1/3-1) 35
As per a battle of region unbeatens, this went down to the wire, after Jones County led 21-6 and then 28-13. Ola came back to tie it at 28 with less than a minute left in the third quarter. The Greyhounds retook the lead shortly after that, 35-28, and added a field goal almost five minutes into the fourth. Ola cut it to three with just less than four minutes left, but the Greyhounds held on.
Class 4A
No. 10 Baldwin (3-0/3-0) at Howard (2-3/0-2), ppd
Perry (3-4/3-0) 22, West Laurens (3-4/2-2) 10
The joy of Makeil Kendrick scoring from 35 yards out on the Panthers’ first play from scrimmage didn’t last, and West Laurens was up 10-8 within about eight minutes later. But Perry regrouped and got the lead back for a 15-10 halftime advantage. The Panthers got another score from Kendrick in the third quarter for some insurance, and held the Raiders to their fourth game of two touchdowns or less to move into a tie for first with Baldwin.
Rutland (1-5/0-1) at Westside (3-2/1-1), ppd
Class 2A
Northeast (5-1/3-0) 37 Bleckley County (6-2, 3-1) 34, Thursday
Vidalia (4-2/2-0) 43, East Laurens (3-3/0-2) 20
The Indians’ power game was working early, en route to more than 300 yards in the first half and scores on their first five possessions. East Laurens trailed 20-7 after one, but Vidalia took over in the second quarter.
Dodge County (3-3/2-1) 38, Lamar County (3-5/1-3) 0
The visitors made it a nice road trip with a first half that put them in control. Dodge County led 17-0 at halftime, got a big-play score midway through the third quarter for a 24-0 lead. Dodge County has won two straight region games by a 96-0 margin, handing Lamar County its worst home loss since 45-6 to Callaway in early October of 2018.
Washington County (4-3/2-1) 63, Southwest (1-5/0-4) 0
The Golden Hawks racked up their biggest win since beating Glenn Hills 71-0 in 2014, a season in which they cracked 50 points eight times en route to 14-1. It’s their largest region win since then, as well. It’s the Patriots’ worst loss since, amazingly, Washington County by the same score on Oct. 14, 2005.
Class A
No. 10 Chattahoochee County (6-0/4-0) 25, Taylor County (5-2/4-2) 0
The Panthers turned in their third straight shutout, and the Vikings’ first since the first-round 48-0 playoff loss to Manchester last year, and first at home since 2018. Chattahoochee County scored with 4:47 left in the second quarter for a 7-0 halftime lead, adding to it at the 10:48 mark of the third quarter.
FPD (4-3/2-0) 35, Mount de Sales (3-4/1-1) 0
FPD turned in one of the more surprising wins of the night, margin-wise. It was 7-0 after one, then 28-0 at halftime. The Vikings recorded a shutout over a Macon private school rival for the first time since they topped the Cavs 47-0 in 2016. Parker Ingram completed 9 of 17 for 143 yards and a score. Matthew Hurt had 137 yards on 21 carries and four scores, Andrew Correa four catches for 89 yards and a touchdown. FPD outgained MdS 312-195. The lead was 28-0 at halftime.
GMC (5-3) 42, Glascock County (3-6) 0
The Bulldogs broke through the 40-point mark for the third time in four weeks, with two shutouts. It’s their biggest region win since 56-0 over Twiggs County in 2013. Yasir Saleem had another good game, with 223 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. Tyler Saunders completed 9 of 11 for 162 yards and a TD, adding one on the ground to help the Bulldogs to 411 yards total offense.
Greene County (1-5/A Public) 27, Crawford County (0-8) 18
The Eagles’ previous closest loss this season was 30-13 to ACE. Greene County had scored only 16 points in five games entering Friday.
No. 6 Macon County (6-1/5-0) 56, Greenville (1-6/0-4) 6
Macon County picked up its second win this season of 50 points or more, and scored at least 50 for the third time. Greenville was held to six points for the second straight week.
Stratford (4-2/1-1) 28, Strong Rock (4-3/1-1) 21
The Eagles trailed 14-0 after one, but scored twice in less than three minutes for a 14-all halftime game. Stratford took the lead with 1:35 left in the third and went up two scores at the 7:22 mark of the fourth. That lasted a minute before Strong Rock answered, but the Eagles held on.
No. 5 Dublin (6-1/5-0) 45, Treutlen (1-6/0-5) 0
A 6-0 game after a quarter was a 32-0 game at halftime, Dublin getting second-quarter scores from Marquaveon Ashley on a 90-yard run, a 17-yard pass from Markelle Mitchell to Gabriel Guyton, and a 1-yarder from JT Wright. Dublin outrushed Treutlen 399-117, 470-128 overall. Marquaveon had 196 yards on eight carries, and Josh Issac 111 on six.
No.9 Wilcox County (6-2/5-1) 46, Dooly County (1-3/1-3) 7, Thursday
GISA
Brentwood (5-1) 62, Robert Toombs (0-5) 6
Brentwood doubled up RTCA on first downs, and the defense held the Crusaders to 16 yards total offense, and 10 yards on 33 rushing attempts. The War Eagles opened up and threw for 137 yards to go with 225 on the ground. The nine touchdowns were scored were scored by six War Eagles. Quarterback McKinley Newton passed for two – on eight completions – and ran for two. Thomas Denton, Ben Tarbutton, Wells Muller, Drew Carter, and Oscar Gonzales had rushing touchdowns, and Newton’s scoring throws went to Tarbutton and Denton. It was 42-6 at halftime.
Piedmont (6-1) 40, Augusta Prep (3-5) 20
The Cougars got going early and led 33-6 at halftime en route to their sixth win by double figures and first 6-1 start since 2014.
Gatewood (6-1/AA) 24, Westfield (4-1-1/3A) 19
Westfield’s 3-o lead lasted five minutes, and the Hornets gave up a 38-yard score to Luke Haley on the final play of the half. Haley went in from 42 yards three minutes into the third quarter, and he threw a 21-yard score to Jayson Burner with 68 seconds left in the third. The Hornets’ comeback started on Gavin Vining’s 59-yard run on the final play of the third, followed by his 8-yard run with 6:40 left to pull the Hornets within seven. They added a safety in the final seconds. Gatewood won despite being outgained 359-254 – mostly rushing - on 32 more plays, and give up eight more first downs. Vining ran 19 times for 155 yards, while Haley had 179 on 16.