Roundup: Warner Robins? Really?; Upsets by Houston County, romps by Baldwin, Peach County, Mary Persons, East Laurens, ACE, Tattnall, et al.
Class 6A
Any update will be around 11 a.m. Saturday, based on information contributions from teams.
Dear coaches and teams: PLEASE UPDATE YOUR MAXPREPS ROSTERS, so kids can accurately be credited for doing good things. Ditto schedules, results, and stats.
Teams: Please email game information – stats (offense and defense), names, big plays, etc. – to centralgasports@gmail.com by 10:30 a.m. Saturday for addition in Central Georgia’s only roundup.
Houston County 20, Newton 13
The Bears pulled off their first win over a ranked program in a higher classification, and improved to 3-7 in their last 10 games against a ranked team regardless of class. The No. 9/7A Rams lost 21-7 to Houston County last year en route to a 4-6 season. The Bears led 6-0 after one quarter and 20-7 at halftime. Newton cut it to a touchdown margin in the third quarter, but Houston County’s defense kept standing up, including a stand with just less than five minutes left that all but sealed the win.
Colquitt County 53, Northside 7
There is stood, 7-7 with 2:23 left in the first quarter after Damien Dee passed 19 yards to Centavious Lowe for Northside’s game-tying – after Ashton Paredes’ PAT – touchdown. The slide downhill start very soon, with Charlie Pace’s 10-yard TD run only 73 seconds later. Colquitt County then scored a lot in the second quarter, at 9:58, 5:09, 4:32, and 1:12, for a 38-7 halftime lead. Pace ran in from 18 yards and caught a 36-yard TD pass from Neko Fann, who added a 6-yarder to Ny Carr. Colquitt County had a 519-212 total offense advantage on 18 fewer snaps. Fann was 10 of 14 for 302 yards and four scores, arr catching four passes for 142 yards and Ontavious Carolina three for 116. Dee was 13 of 26 for 100 yards with a score and interception.
Class 5A
Warner Robins 56, Lee County 30
The No. 1 team in 6A suffered its worst loss since losing 56-21 to Dacula in the 2019 6A playoffs. It was the Trojans’ worst loss to a lower-classification team since 40-14 to 3A Worth County to open the 2004 season. The Region 1-5A Demons, on the other hand, improved to 4-0 against Region 1-6A, winning by 28, 42, 40, and 26. They’ve won eight straight against ranked teams in any class, and – excluding last year’s forfeit win over Valdosta after losing 28-25 on the field – are 9-1 against their last 10 higher-classification opponents, all in the last two seasons. Malcolm Brown rushed for 152 yards and two scores on 18 carries, and quarterback Christon Lane passed for 296 yards and four touchdowns. Daveon Walker had a monster night with nine catches for 236 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Oconee County 35, Veterans 16
The Warhawks gave Class 3A’s No. 2 plenty of trouble for awhile, leading 10-7 at halftime on a Demari Franklin TD catch from Matthew Bruce and a Brayden Black field goal. But the Warriors used halftime well, and started clicking while the Warhawks started clunking, with a punts and a turnover. The margin grew to 35-10 until the Warhawks scored with just less than five minutes left.
Class 4A
Spalding 21, West Laurens 7
The Jaguars, 1-9 last year, turned in their best win since 2018, while the Raiders were held to less than 10 points for only the sixth time since the start of the 2017 season. The Jags led 14-7 at halftime, and got the insurance score with about eight minutes left.
Baldwin 45, Westside 0
The Seminoles fell to 1-3 for the first time in program history with the worst loss in program history. Baldwin, then under current Macon County head coach Dexter Copeland, topped Westside 35-0 in 2010. The visitors dealt the knockout punch with a 28-point second quarter that included a blocked punt that led to a short TD score.
Perry 49, Rutland 7, Thursday
Class AAA
Peach County 59, Sumter County 0
The Trojans led 40-0 after one and finished scoring in the second quarter en route to their largest margin of victory since 75-0 over Rutland in 2019, three weeks after beating Kendrick 77-14. They beat Pike County 58-0 last year.
Crisp County 30, Upson-Lee 8
The news was good early for the Knights, who led 8-0 and 8-7 after JaQuan Bentley’s short run. The Cougars started rolling, and went up 20-8 after blocking a punt en route to a 27-8 halftime lead.
Mary Persons 47, Central 16
The Bulldogs were in control from early on, leading 34-10 at halftime. It was Mary Persons’ second win of the season by 30 points or more, and avenged last year’s 36-20 loss at home to the Chargers.
Class AA
East Laurens 63, Baconton Charter 14
The Falcons stormed out to a 28-0 first quarter lead en route to their highest point total, since, well, the season-opening 70-7 win over Twiggs County. They got off to a great start with Khanoski O’Neal’s long kickoff return for a touchdown, which Kashmere Bryant followed four minutes later with a long TD run. O’Neal added a big-play TD run of about 70 yards a few minutes later for a 21-0 lead. East Laurens has scored more points this year – 203 – in five games than since 227 in 2015, and are on target for their best scoring season since 2000 when they put up 360 points in a 9-3 season under Buddy Sorrow.
Bleckley County 21, Dodge County 19
The rivalry was as expected: tight. The Royals led 7-6 after the Indians missed the PAT following a score early in the second quarter. Eli Mullis connected with T.J. Mays for a TD play of nearly 90 yards for a 14-6 lead midway through the second quarter, and that was the halftime score. The Indians scored late in the third quarter, but failed on the two-point conversion and trailed by two. Bleckley County turned a botched punt into a touchdown, and Dodge County scored on a big play right after that, finally executing the PAT kick to get within two. But the clock and timeouts favored the Royals down the stretch, pushing them to 5-0 for the first time since 1991.
Southwest 32, Jasper County 20
The Patriots broke a seven-game losing streak, avenging last year’s 36-22 loss at home. The last time they cracked 30 was last year’s season-opening 39-6 win over Randolph-Clay.
Washington County 46, Laney 20
CJ Allen’s 69-yard run gave the homestanding Trojans a 7-3 lead less than a minute into the second quarter. From then on, it was Washington County in charge, with three touchdowns – including a 35-yard fumble return for a touchdown - in the second quarter for a 25-7 halftime lead. Washington County kept control, growing the lead to 46-13 midway through the fourth quarter on a 56-yard scoring run.
Putnam County 13, Laney 6
The War Eagles won their second straight defensive battle, after topping Westside-Augusta 19-7 last week. That followed games of 37, 69, and 42 points. Putnam County is 5-0 for the second straight season, which hasn’t happened since 1972-73.
Class A Public
Dooly County 31, Dublin 28
Dublin never trailed for three quarters, leading 21-17. The Bobcats changed that with Lorenzo Clayton’s-4 yard run with 4:22 left in the game for a 24-21 lead, which lasted less than two minutes. JT Wright’s 5-yarder put the Irish back on top at the 2:37 mark. The Bobcats gutted it out and got a 7-yard TD pass from Antwan Clayton to Deon King with 14 seconds left for the game-winner. The Irish had a 169-105 rushing advantage, but the Bobcats’ Antwan Clayton was 19 of 26 for 230 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions. Jalen Hall caught 10 passes for 109 yards. Wright went off for 138 yards and two scores on 16 carries for the Irish.
Wheeler County 33, Hawkinsville 14
Hawkinsville dropped to 1-4 for the second time since 2019 and third time since 2017.
ACE 35, Wilkinson County 6
The Gryphons turned in one of the night’s surprising margins of victory, over a team 2-2 entering the night. The Gryphons of interim coach Sam Zanders had their third-biggest win margin-wise against a GHSA program, the other two coming against Glascock County, which hasn’t played a region schedule since 1995, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association, and had only one winning season in program history (8-2, 2008).
GMC 42, Twiggs County 0
The Bulldogs kept on rocking with a convincing win, their third shutout of the season and second while scoring at least 40 points. They’re a lock for their highest win total since at least 2011’s 7-3 season. They’ve only been above .500 four times this century, including last year’s 6-5 year. They romped after a scoreless first quarter. Jessie Washington ran for 195 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries, while Tyler Saunders managed 94 yards on 6-of-18 passing.
Washington-Wilkes 51, Hancock Central 0
The defending 7-A Public champs were shut out for the second straight game – which hasn’t happened since the start of the 2015 season - and gave up 50 for the first time since 2016 (54-36 loss to Johnson County in game 10) suffered their worst loss since 63-0 to Buford in 2013.
Warren County 58, Crawford County 0
The Eagles were handed their first shutout of the season, and worst since losing 66-0 to 6A power Lee County last year. Warren County won 62-6 last year.
Class A Private
Savannah Christian 14, Mount de Sales 7
The teams were tied most of the game, from 0-0 into the second quarter, and then at 7-all at the 3:53 mark of the second quarter and through the third quarter and most of the fourth. But the visitors got an 11-yard TD run from Zo Smalls with 2:14 left in the game for the lead and win. The Cavs were outgained 265-190 in the run-heavy game. SC ran 39 times for 187 yards and MdS 38 times for 142 yards. The teams fumbled seven times, the Cavs losing two of their four. A’Khori Jones rushed 21 times for 108 yards, but was shut out scoring-wise as a runner. He was 7 of 17 for 48 yards and a score, a 1-yard pass to Carson Craig.
Stratford 27, Savannah Country day 20
SCD led 14-13 at halftime, the Eagles missing the PAT after scoring in the final 20 seconds of the second quarter. The teams battled through the third until Stratford scored with 20 seconds left for a 20-14 lead. They went up 27-14 on a TD pass less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, and the visitors scored with 2:25 left and missed the PAT. Stratford recovered the onside kick.
Tattnall 46, Aquinas 14
The Trojans handed Aquinas its worst loss since 49-6 by No. 5/A Lincoln County in October of 2010, and worst loss to an unranked team since 41-6 to end the 2008 season, three weeks after falling 32-0 to Warren County. The Trojans of second-year head coach John Garrett Abernathy needed only 19 seconds to score, on Clay Rowland’s 69-yard TD pass to Brayden Smith. Aquinas tied it up just less than four minutes later, but the rout started in less than a couple minutes on Antone Johnson’s 55-yard TD connection with Rowland. The two hooked up on a 54-yarder three minutes later, and Tattnall got a safety and then a Cam Persons’ 1-yarder for a 29-7 lead after a quarter. Tattnall got an Evan Carr field goal, and then the teams exchanged scores in the final minute of the second quarter, Tattnall leading 39-14 at the half.
GISA
John Milledge 35, Gatewood 0
The GISA AAA champs flexed some muscle against the GISA AA champs, lead 21-0 at halftime on a TD pass and run from Biggs Eady and short run from Chaze Goddard. JMA got a third-quarter scoring run from Goddard and a 43-yard pass from Eady to Baylin Zalinski. Eady passed for 168 yards on 8-of-11 completions, while the Gators were 0 for 1 passing. The Trojans had a 125-110 edge in rushing. Eady added a team-hight 65 yards rushing, and Zalinski caught 90 yards worth of passes. It was the third straight time the Trojans shut out the Gators, following up 37-0 and 4-0 wins with their first shutout of the season.
Brentwood 49, Trinity Christian 14
The War Eagles won their fourth straight game, each by at least 20 points, and knocking off a AAA team in the process.
Harvester Christian 35, Fullington 14
Augusta Prep 47, John Hancock 6