Roundup: Peach County stunned, Jones County comes back, Perry and Baldwin survive, Dublin dominates, GMC & ACE win
Class 6A
Northside 34, Luella 3
Five different Eagles scored in the non-region romp. Northside outgained Luella 354-286 on 10 fewer plays, and the defense came up with three interceptions. Damien Dee got it going with a 7-yard run four minutes into the game, Centavious Lowe adding a 30-yarder six minutes later. Jaylen Allen went 68 yards almost two minutes into the second quarter and TD Tucker chipped in a 5-yarder midway through en route to a 27-3 halftime lead. Cameran Brown finished off the scoring with a 1-yarder inside 90 seconds left in the third. Allen topped the run game with 120 yards on three carries.
Class 5A
Jones County 48, Ola 42, OT
The Greyhounds pulled out a win by the skin of their teeth, avoiding a debilitating loss to a team that has never beat them, but only lost by three last year. John Alan Richter passed to Connor Bass for a touchdown with 17 seconds left, and then Richter was on the receiving end of a pass from Zion Ragins for the game-tying conversion. Jones County blocked a field goal in overtime, and won it on Richter’s keeper up the middle. Richter threw for 307 yards and two scores, Javious Bond carrying for 90 yards and Ragins catching 101 yards worth of passes.
Veterans 24, Wayne County 7
The Warhawks led only 10-7 after three quarters, but scored twice in the fourth to pull away. A muffed punt led to a Nate Brooks score, and then Hayden Sanders returned an interception 70 yards to put it away.
Class 4A
Perry 37, Washington County 24
The AA Golden Hawks took a 24-21 lead with 9:41 left in the game on a short run by Ahmad Hooks after an interceptions, and they added the conversion. Soon after, Perry cut it to one with a safety, and soon pinned the Golden Hawks deep again, then blocking the punt and scoring for a 30-24 lead with 3:12 left in the game. Perry’s Camerin Marshall picked off a pass and took it the distance for a 37-24 lead with just more than two minutes left. The Golden Hawks returned two interceptions for touchdowns.
Baldwin 21, West Laurens 14
Lightning delayed the kickoff, but didn’t much delay Baldwin. The Braves took a 14-0 first-quarter lead, but the homestanding Raiders responded on Evan Guyton’s big-play TD run early in the second quarter and tied it late in the half. Baldwin’s Micah Welch scored his second touchdown late in the third quarter, and the Braves’ defense was able to keep the Raiders out of the end zone in the fourth quarter.
Westside 19, Howard 7
Rutland (1-5/0-2) at Spalding (5-1/2-0), Thursday, 7 p.m., cancelled
Class AAA
Crisp County 27, Peach County 14
Peach County led 14-0 after 17 minutes, a sign that the Trojans’ 35-game region winning streak had a pretty good chance to stay intact. The Cougars tied it within three minutes as the Trojans continued with uncharacteristic play. By halftime, the Cougars missed a field goal, the Trojans had one blocked, and Crisp County had a long TD called back. The Cougars took the lead on their first possession of the second half with a 42-yard field goal midway through.
Another Crisp County TD was called back after a nice defensive stop, and it missed another field goal try. A Crisp County pick-6 was nullified, and the Cougars settled for another field goal for a 20-14 lead with a little more than seven minutes left in the game. Peach County dropped a pass on fourth and 2, and Crisp County killed some clock, but gave it back with about two minutes left. A Cougar interception was returned to inside the 15, and they sealed it with another score with 90 seconds left. Peach County’s last home regular-season loss to a team in its classification or lower was its last region loss, 3-2 to Jackson on Oct. 16, 2015.
Mary Persons 49, Pike County 14
The Bulldogs led 28-7 at halftime, and the second half almost mirrored the first for both teams. It was 7-all before the Bulldogs put up 21 points in each of the middle quarters to take control.
Upson-Lee 35, Central 0
The Knights recorded their first shutout since last year’s 41-0 win over Pike County to open region play, while the Chargers were blanked for the second time this season. The Knights got touchdowns from TJ Searcy, JaQuan Bentley, and Keyston Smith en route to a 22-0 halftime lead.
Class AA
Bleckley County 31, Lamar County 12
The visitors took advantage of the hosts’ sloppiness and never trailed. Lamar County matched the Royals’ touchdown after CJ Allen’s 20-yard, but the conversion failed. Bleckley County went up 14-6 less than a half-minute later on a 58-yard TD pass. The Trojans got with two on Tony Altman’s 29-yard, only for another conversion to fail. The Royals got a 34-yard field goal to end the first quarter. After a scoreless third quarter, the Royals got a 78-yard TD pass and a 21-yard run inside the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to seal it. The Royals are 7-0 for the first time since the 1970s, and are joined by Northeast as the only undefeated teams in region play.
Dodge County 46, Jasper County 6
Northeast 48, Southwest 6
The Raiders’ second-biggest win of the year came, like the first one, over a city school, the margin one point less than Northeast’s 43-0 win over Central. The Raiders led 35-0 en route to their highest point total of the season and most since beating East Laurens 53-34 to end the 2019 season.
Putnam County 63, Glenn Hills 7
The ninth-ranked War Eagles cracked 60 for the second time this season and 50 for the second straight week to improve to 6-0. They’re averaging 42.4 points a game.
Class A Public
ACE 24, Hancock Central 20
The Gryphons came up with a landmark win for the young program, knocking off the reeling defending champs. ACE led 10-6 until Gavin West came up with a 22-yard pick-6 for a 17-6 lead late in the first half. Hancock Central’s Javaris Morris scored midway through the third quarter, but ACE countered with a TD pass from Kaleb Scarbary to Brice Whitley early in the fourth and the defense stepped up after the Bulldogs’ touchdown late. The win all but assures ACE of a winning season and its first playoff trip.
Dooly County 37, Hawkinsville 8
The hosts had no trouble with any field conditions, taking a 23-0 first-quarter lead. The game was scoreless until the fourth quarter.
Dublin 49, Wilcox County 0
The Irish laid down a proper whipping of the visiting Patriots, racking up 421 yards on the ground and getting a solid defensive effort, Wilcox County managing 151 yards and 11 first downs. The Patriots failed on nine third-down and two fourth-down tries. Jerimah Green, Quay Ashley, and JT Wright each scored two touchdowns, Green going for 156 yards, Ashley for 143, and Wright for 96 yards. The trio averaged 11.1, 13, and 8.7 yards per carry. Dublin got first-quarter touchdowns from Wright, Ashley, and Green en route to a 35-0 halftime lead.
GMC 38, Crawford County 12
The Bulldogs remained one of four A Public undefeated teams, pulling away after an early scare. THe lead was only 7-6 after Luke Dover returned a kickoff 95 yards for a score, GMC adding a Levi Ward field goal a few minutes later for a 10-6 lead after one. The Bulldogs finally got going again with two-touchdown quarters in the third and fourth.
Macon County 54, Schley County 38
The 5-A Public showdown went to the visitors in a battle of unbeatens and top-5 teams. Macon County cracked 50 for the second time this year, and gave up 2.7 times as many points as allowed all season entering the game. Macon County led 14-0 after one, 20-17 at halftime and 34-31 through three, but won the fourth quarter 20-7.
Taylor County 49, Central Talbotton 6
The Vikings broke a four-game winning streak by scoring six fewer points than they’d put up all season. It was Taylor County’s best scoring output since beating Crawford County 50-47 in 2019.
Wilkinson County 28, Twiggs County 20
The Warriors stayed alive in the 7-A Public playoff race with the win.
Class A Private
FPD 20, Tattnall 0
Jaylun Goodrum dropped the punt, picked it up, and darted more than 50 yards to set up FPD’s first score, a 2-yard Griffin Greene run with 5:43 left in the second quarter. And that was enough as FPD’s defense threw its first shutout in WHAT. Goodrum got on the board with a fumble recovery for a score midway through the third, and quarterback Jakhari Williams added a 7-yard score three minutes later. FPD stuffed Tattnall to the tune of 53 rushing yards on 26 tries, no Trojan cracking the 20-yard mark. Clay Rowland and Cade Bloodworth teamed for 124 passing yards for Tattnall, which lost three fumbles and threw two interceptions. Greene ran for 89 yards on 16 carries to lead the FPD offense and account for half of the Vikings’ total offense. Garrett Veal and Darius Patterson came up with second-half interceptions.
Stratford 14, Mount de Sales 7
Keondre Glover stood out in the defensive slugfest. He scored on a 12-yard run to give Stratford the lead, and then ran in the 2-point conversion with 9:24 left in the game. He ran 15 times for 91 yards, and recovered a fumble on defense. Stratford’s Lawson Cole threw 47 yards to Garrett Langto set up Cole’s sneak with 9:58 left in the second quarter and get within one, MdS scoring first on A’Khori Jones’ 21-yard pass to Drew Senn at the 7:29 mark of the first quarter.
GISA
Bulloch 28, Trinity Christian 6
Glascock County 22, John Hancock 16
Robert Toombs 21, Fullington 19
Southland 14, Gatewood 13
Gatewood hasn’t been at .500 or less this late since a 1-6 start in 2014. The Gators threw a touchdown pass in the final seconds, but Southland’s defense held on the conversion for the win.
Thomas Jefferson 28, Piedmont 0
The Cougars were shut out for the second time this season.
Westfield 34, Briarwood 12
The Hornets tripled Briarwood in scoring and more than doubled up the hosts in total offense, 353-160, on only three more plays. The run game rocked, getting 10.4 yards a carry. Porter Faulk went off with 210 yards and two scores on 16 carries, followed by quarterback Hunter Kirkley’s 110 yards and two TDs on 12 carries. It was only 7-0 after one, but Kirkley ran for a 24-yard score and threw 12-yards to Ryan Powers for another in the second quarter for a 21-0 halftime lead. Briarwood broke the shutout almost three minutes into the second quarter.