The Central Georgia Sports Report

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Roundup: West Laurens holds on, Upson-Lee stunned, Peach County tops Mary Persons, Northeast rolls, WACO dumps 6A again, GMC stuns Hancock Central, and ...

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Class 6A
Northside 43, Richmond Hill 7
          It was unofficially “Damien Dee Night” for the Eagles, who got three first-quarter touchdowns from the quarterback, who ran for one and passed for two, both to Centavious Lowe, for a 21-0 lead after one. Richmond Hill broke the shutout early in the second quarter, and that was countered four minutes later by Duke McClinton’s 1-yard run. The teams muddled around until Rico Ogburn’s pick-6 four minutes into the fourth quarter. Northside outgained Richmond Hill 309-171 on four more plays. The Eagles picked off four passes. Dee was 9 of 16 for 137 yards and two touchdowns, while Michael McClendon led the ground game with 74 yards on 11 rushes. Lowe caught four passes for 95 yards.

Friday night’s Central Georgia scouting reports
A lot has happened - and not happened - since ACE last played
Who’s going to win this week’s games?
Maxwell Ratings predictions, and where Central Georgia teams rank statewide
Monday Afternoon QB: Central Georgia polls, Region 3-AA, Upson-Lee, Brentwood, upsets, Loughdmouthings
Last week’s roundup

Teams: Please email game information – stats (offense and defense), names, big plays, etc. – to centralgasports@gmail.com by 10:30 a.m. Saturday for inclusion in Central Georgia’s only roundup.

Warner Robins 49, Houston County 9
          The top team in 5A wasted no time in taking control against another county opponent, leading 21-0 with minutes left in the first quarter on a long Malcolm Brown run, a pass from Christon Lane to Antwan Jackson, and a Fred Perry run. The early scores were aided by Houston County mistakes – a number of poor snaps and C/QB exchanges - that they paid for. Warner Robins defense corralled the Bears and Simeon Askew all night. Perry and Brown scored in the second quarter en route to a 35-3 halftime lead.

Class 5A
Jones County 42, Stockbridge 9
          The Greyhounds take a share of the Region 4 lead – with Stockbridge – into an off week with their third straight game of at least 38 points. Jones County has given up fewer points than the week before for three straight games. Jones County put it away with a 28-2 first quarter. Zion Ragins caught one TD pass and rushed for a score, and Javious Bond scored twice on the ground. Javian Washington added a pick-6.

Class 4A
Effingham County 27, Howard 6
          Effingham County opened up a 20-0 halftime lead, and lost the shutout in the fourth quarter.

Hillgrove 34, Westside 8
          The Seminoles apparently quietly picked up a game at some point during the week to make up for the Southwest game, cancelled last week. The 7A Hawks trailed 8-7 in the second quarter, but started pulling away in the third.

West Laurens 20, Veterans 15
          The Raiders made it interesting, watching a 20-2 lead start to shrink. Veterans had the ball late with a chance for the win, but a last-play pass was batted down in the end zone.

Class AAA
Peach County 35, Mary Persons 13
          Not having played since Aug. 27 didn’t slow down Peach County too much. The Trojans even scored three times on one possession, penalties wiping out two of them. Chris McMillian’s run put them up 7-0 with a few minutes left in the first quarter, and Jamon Jones capped a 98-yard drive with a score in the final minutes only for Mary Persons to cut it in half in the final half-minute of the second quarter. The Bulldogs – who now trail 11-7 in the series – stayed within a touchdown despite some mistakes, but those caught up to the hosts. Peach County went up two scores less than two minutes into the fourth quarter only for Mary Persons to answer on Duke Watson’s score midway through the fourth. But the Trojans returned that kickoff the distance for a gut punch and 28-13 lead. They added a final touchdown with less than three minutes left.

Pike County 44, Upson-Lee 33
          The Knights were stunned at home, and stunned all night long. The neighbors had only played five times before Friday, with Upson-Lee leading 4-1, including a 41-0 win last year. But the Pirates stormed out to a 14-0 lead less than four minutes into the game, and the Knights played catch-up all night. And couldn’t. Every Knights score was answered by the Pirates. Upson-Lee pulled within 37-33 in the final minute of the third quarter on Quan Bentley’s short run, but the kick again – U-L failed on three conversion/PAT tries – missed. The Pirates scored early in the fourth, and spent the quarter fending off the Knights.

Class AA
Greene County 28, Jasper County 21
          The Purple Hurricanes took a 21-20 fourth quarter lead only to give it up – and the conversion – in the final minute of the game.

Northeast 27, Monroe 6
          The Raiders got back on the winning track in a big way against their second straight 1-AAAA opponent. Northeast led 21-0 in the third quarter, on a TD run from Kalik Evans, and TD passes from Travion Solomon to Omarion Ottman and Zion Odoms, before Monroe scored. But the visitors got another Evans score in the final minutes.

Putnam County 19, Westside-Augusta 7
          The War Eagles took the lead early in the second quarter, and added a field goal a few minutes later after Westside’s defense held, and held a 10-0 halftime lead. Westside scored four minutes into the third quarter, but couldn’t manage anything else. Putnam County sealed the defensive win with a safety on a bad shotgun snap in the third quarter and TD pass midway through the fourth.

Washington County 43, Evans 26
          The Golden Hawks stormed out to a 22-0 halftime lead, sparked by DJ Braswell’s 96-yard punt return – after grabbing the bouncing ball – midway through the first quarter. Justin Hooks went in from six yards out five minutes later, and AJ Hagans finished off the first-half scoring with a run inside the 5 with a little more than nine minutes left in the second quarter. Bradwell’s 38-yarder early in the third made it 29-0, and Evans broke the shutout seconds later. The lead was 36-20 after three.

Class A Public
GMC 20, Hancock Central 0
          The host Bulldogs improved to 4-0 for the first time since 2001 and racked up their second shutout of the season in knocking off the defending region champs, and avenging last year’s 36-7 loss. It was lowest point total for Hancock Central against GMC since a 12-6 loss in 2014. HC won 6-21 a year later. Jesse Washington ran 22 times for 101 yards, while Tyler Sanders completed eight passes for 193 yards. Rance Williams caught a 33-yard touchdown pass and Caleb Bush one from 26 yards. Levi Ward added field goals of 27 and 32 yards. GMC scored seven in the first and third quarters, three in the second and fourth. Hancock Central hasn’t been shut out by a Class A team since 49-0 by region foe Lincoln County in 2017

Greenville 30, Taylor County 14

Macon County 51, Central Talbotton 0
          The Bulldogs did their scoring in three quarters, leading 35-0 at halftime.

Montgomery County 20, Hawkinsville 12

Rutland 41, ACE 14

Swainsboro 39, Dublin 7
          The trip down I-16 was a rough one for Dublin, which was held to 111 yards – all on the ground – total offense while giving up 354. Swainsboro controlled everything, running 21 more plays and recording nearly four times as many first downs, 19-4. The AA Tigers led 20-0 at halftime en route to staggering time-of-possession advantage of 33:56-14:04. It was Dublin’s biggest regular-season margin of defeat since 42-0 to West Laurens early in 2012.

Twiggs County 43, Glascock County 20
          The Cobras won for the first time since Nov. 8, 2019, after taking last year off. That win, 16-8 over GMC, broke a 30-game losing streak. Twiggs County scored at least 40 points for the second straight game (a 48-40 loss to Greene County two weeks ago), and has more points after four games than it had in 2019 (74), 2018 (21), and 2017 (41).

Wheeler County 16, Dooly County 14

Crawford County (0-3) at Terrell County (2-0), cancelled (TC, COVID)

Class A Private

Calvary Day 28, FPD 21
          The last score in the last minute won. FPD took a 6-0 lead on Coleman Cauley’s recovery of a fumble in the end zone, but the PAT failed. Calvary took the lead two minutes later, and held leads of 7-6 and 14-6 before the Vikings tied it on Hayden Prady’s 2-yard run and Jakhari Williams’ conversion with 4:12 left in the third quarter. Calvary’s 21-14 fourth-quarter lead lasted about five minutes. QB Jake Merklinger went in from 13 yards out with 15 seconds left to get the win. The Cavs ran 27 times for 132 yards to 38 for 140 for the Vikings, who were outpassed 220-75.

Stratford 34, Mount Paran-7
          The Eagles were energized after a week off, doing it in all phases en route to a 27-0 halftime lead. Keondre Glover scored twice in the first half, and Lawson Cole threw two touchdown passes to Garrett Lang. Mt. Paran broke the shutout with just less than three minutes left in the game.

Tattnall 23, Savannah Country Day 14
          The Trojans got going midway through the first quarter on Clay Rowland’s TD pass to Cam Person, Evan Carr adding a 35-yard field goal with 5:41 left in the second quarter. Pig Wilmore’s 15-yard run made it 16-0 at the 3:26 mark of the third. SCD followed Wilmore’s TD run by taking the kickoff back to pull within nine after the conversion with 3:50 left in the game.

GISA
Brentwood 41, Thomas Jefferson 20
          It was tied at 7 within three minutes, and then Brentwood got going, with another first-quarter touchdown and another in the second for a 23-7 halftime lead. QB Robert Jackson passed for two touchdowns and Thomas Denton went 65 yards for the first of his two rushing touchdowns. Denton ran for 139 yards on 14 carries, while Wells Muller added 72 on three with a touchdown. Brentwood outgained Thomas Jefferson 415-245 on one less snap. The teams combined for nine turnovers and nine touchdowns.

Central Fellowship 41, Fullington 0

John Milledge 31, Bulloch 3
          The Trojans led only 17-0 at halftime and were blanked in the third quarter, putting it away with two fourth-quarter touchdowns from Javian Butts, who scored three times (runs of 6 and 1, 17-yard catch). John Milledge was held to 285 yards in total offense, and to less than 40 points for the second time this season and 19th time in its last 53 games. Butts ran for 66 yards and caught 70 yards worth, and Briggs Eady passed for 113.

Westfield 28, Southland 14
          The Hornets led all the way in the road win, outgaining Southland 259-181 on 22 fewer plays in a game where both teams lost all three fumbles.  Westfield got second-quarter touchdowns from Hunter Kirkley, on e a67-yard pass to Ryan Powers and on a 3-yard run. Southland got within a score with 2:04 left in the half, but Westfield expanded the lead three minutes into the third quarter on another Kirkley-to-Powers hookup, from 6 yards. Kirkley, a transfer from Dodge County, added a 27-yard run in the third quarter, and Westfield’s defense took over. Porter Faulk ran for 91 yards on 13 carries and Kirkley was 4 of 9 for 86 yards and two scores.

Piedmont (2-1) at Robert Toombs (0-3)

Wilkinson County (1-2/GHSA A Public) at Creekside Christian (0-3)