Roundup: Bleckley County with big road win, Woodford leads Northeast, Houston County wins OT thriller, Wilkinson County tops Macon County, and more
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Information is from media, MaxPreps, social media, and information sent by teams (Dublin and Northside).
Coaches/teams: please send game information/stats to centralgasports@gmail.com by 2 a.m., or by 10:30 a.m. Saturday to be included in Central Georgia’s only complete roundup.
Class 6A
Northside 18, Glynn Academy 13
Northside’s defense bowed up in the fourth quarter to squelch Glynn Academy’s upset hopes after the visitors kept the heat on the Eagles all night. Northside’s 32-yard pass from DJ Hudson to Keron Milton in the first quarter was answered a quarter later with a 92-yard pass. Da’veon Latimore went 31 yards to put Northside (7-4) up15-6 with 4:50 left in the third, and Ashton Parades was money on a 43-yard field goal seven seconds into the fourth. Glynn Academy scored right after that, from 48 yards, but that was it for the Red Terrors. Tyler Devlin was 10 of 19 for 183 yards for Glynn, but he was picked off twice. The Eagles went 8 for 19 passing for 127 yards, and ran for 195, 115 more yards than Glynn.
Houston County 29, Brunswick 28, OT
Brandon Walden hauled in Antwann Hill Jr.’s 17-yard pass to get the Bears within one in overtime, and hen junior Recordo Tarver hauled in Hill’s pass for the game-winning conversion. Houston County (9-2) led 21-7 on a 53-yarder from Hill to Ricky Johnson, a 35-yarder to Arthur Brown, and a 54-yarder to Tarver, the last one coming early in the third quarter. Homestanding Brunswick (10-1)scored in the final four minutes of the third quarter and tied it with less than a minute left on a third-and-12 pass. A Houston County 34-yard field goal try on the final play of regulation was just wide left.
CENTRAL GEORGIA’S BEST HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COVERAGE
This week
* Scouting Reports: Saturday’s GHSA games
* Scouting Reports: Friday’s GHSA and GIAA games
* Maxwell Ratings picks, Central Georgia state rankings
* Who’s going to win this week’s Central Georgia football games?
* Monday Morning Quarterback: Only one lock in the College Football Playoff; upsets, surprises, Loughdmouthings (Central Georgia GHSA bracket watching, Falcons, more), Central Georgia polls
* GIAA playoffs
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week
*Central Georgia’s GHSA first-round playoff pairings
Last week
* Roundup: Coverage of John Milledge-Tattnall, FPD-Stratford, Jones County, Northside, Dublin, Baldwin, Westfield, and Brentwood, with plenty more
* The latest GHSA playoff scenarios for Central Georgia
* Notebook: John Milledge ignores streak; Hardy finally has a team; Greg Moore celebration; playoff picture update
* Scouting Reports: all GHSA and GIAA games
* Maxwell Ratings picks, Central Georgia state rankings
* Who’s going to win this week’s Central Georgia high school football games
* Monday Morning Quarterback: Harsin’s costume should have had a big smile; Loughdmouthings (Falcons, high schools, Deion Sanders, Northside, Dublin, Warner Robins, Bo Nix, CFP rankings), CGA polls”
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week: Howard, ACE, Northeast
Two weeks ago
* Roundup: Warner Robins pulls away, Putnam County wins late, Dodge County falls in OT, plenty of routs
* Scouting Reports: all GHSA and GIAA games
* So, you’re wondering about Central Georgia’s GHSA standings and playoff picture?
* Maxwell Ratings picks, Central Georgia state rankings
* MMQB: We all thought we’d seen most anything, and then Lee County … Loughdmouthngs, upsets/surprises, Central Georgia polls
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week: CFCA, Howard, Rutland
Class 4A
Perry 40, Shaw 6
After a touchdown was nullified, a snap went awry, and there sat Perry on second and goal at the 37. The Panthers settled for a 33-yard field goal from Caden Camp with 4:28 left in the first. D Carter went in from 7 yards out with 35 seconds left, and Perry started rolling from there, getting a safety in the second quarter en route to a 33-0 halftime lead. Perry went on to get its sixth 40-point game and eighth win by at least 30 points.
Cairo 27, Westside 14
A 30-yard TD pass from James Neville scrambling to his left put Westside up 14-10 with 5:04 left in the third, setting the Syrupmakers on their heels. Not for long. Cairo (8-3) retook the lead for good on a 60-yard touchdown pass on second and 11 on the next possession. Cairo stopped Westside (7-4) on a fourth and short on its side of the field, and the Syrupmakers made the failed gamble hurt with a 27-yard touchdown pass with 3:09 left in the third. Westside reached the red zone, but a penalty interrupted the possession, and the Seminoles were stopped on fourth and 17 with a little less than eight minutes left.
Bainbridge 58, Baldwin 20
The Braves trailed only 14-7 after one, but the Bearcats got it in gear in the second quarter to take a 42-13 halftime lead. The Braves (4-7) suffered their fourth loss by 30 points or more.
Class AA
Northeast 41, Worth County 27
The Raiders and Rams gave a good show, Northeast opening up a 21-6 lead only for the visitors (8-3) to storm back and take a 27-21 lead in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter on a 61-yard pass play and conversion, their second big scoring pass of the night. Big lineman Cadricus Stanley tied it by taking a dump pass to the right for a 24-yard score a with a short run with 9:54 left, the Raiders missing the PAT. Standout running back Nick Woodford broke the tie with 2:28 left, Northeast again failing on the conversion for a 33-27 lead, leaving the door open. The Rams then fumbled on their 35, recovered by Stanley, Woodford sealed it a play later.
Fitzgerald 41, Central 0
The defending state champs recorded their third shutout of the season and fourth-biggest win. The Purple Hurricanes led 21-0 at the half. It’s the second shutout of Central this season, going with Northeast’s 47-0 win.
Cook 77, ACE 35
The Gryphons (fell to 3-1 in games of 85 points, and 1-1 in games past 100, Cook (8-3) unofficially setting a program record for points in a game. ACE (8-3) opened the season with 70 points in a 70-53 win over Crawford County, and ended the season on the other end. Cook scored on 11 straight possessions, led by Keeshun McKeever’s 330 yards rushing and eight touchdowns. It was 28-7 after one and 63-28 at halftime.
Putnam County 30, Toombs County 6
Jalon Kilgore scored on runs of 24 and 42 yards and Rashod Daniel added a 33-yarder to lead Putnam County to a 23-0 halftime lead. The War Eagles (9-2) won their second straight first-round game, which hasn’t happened since a three-game streak from 2000-02. Toombs County became the fifth opponent held below 10 points this season.
Appling County 65, Washington County 14
In the battle of teams Rick Tomberlin has coached, Appling County steamrolled Washington County, leading 44-0 at halftime. It’s Appling County’s most points of the season, by 23 points, and largest margin of victory by 11 points. The Golden Hawks suffered their worst loss of the season, after the 54-14 loss to Thomson, and in many years. Washington County gave up 315 points in 11 games, second most in program history, but more points per game by one than the 362 allowed in a 13-game season in 2017.
Class A/Division I
Dublin 55, Pelham 14
The Irish took care of business from the start, charging out to a 21-0 lead. They gave up a touchdown, and then scored the next 26 points. Dublin finished with a 418-135 rushing advantage, Pelham getting 86 through the air. The Irish were a sizzling 5 of 6 on third downs. Demari Foster ran 12 times for 159 yards and two scores, Kameron Hampton nine times for 131 and two, and Jaquarius Evans had 102 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. Foster went over 1,000 yards for the season. It’s Dublin’s second-highest point total of the season (71-0 over East Laurens), and matched the total in the 55-45 win over Thomasville in the 2019 semifinals.
Bleckley County 14, Brooks County 10
A play after Tyler Wilcox stopped Brooks County on third and long almost two minutes into the fourth quarter, the hosts sent a punt snap high and over the punters head. He chased it down and tried to punt it, was hammered by a Royal, and the ball found two-way standout TJ Mays, who happily cruised the final five yards into the end zone for a a touchdown and the lead with just more than 10 minutes left. The Royals’ defense then took over and kept the Trojans from threatening. Brooks County managed a field goal in the final minute of the second quarter for a 3-0 halftime lead it added to with four minutes left in the third. Bleckley County got on the board late in the quarter on Austin Johnson’s 2-yard run.
Lamar County 42, Claxton 21
What was a 7-all game after one started becoming a normal Lamar County home game soon after, the Trojans getting three second-quarter touchdowns – two from Antonio Altman – en route to a 28-7 halftime lead. Ty Head scored twice – to start the Trojans and then again early in the third – and CJ Allen added a 75-yard score in the second quarter for the Trojans, who were up 42-7 less than four minutes into the third quarter.
Screven County 35, Crawford County 28
The Eagles (3-8) got off to a rough start and trailed 21-0 at halftime, but got going and gave the homestanding Gamecocks (9-1) a scare with a fourth-quarter rally that brought them within 35-20 with just more than two minutes left, and then within a touchdown just after that.
Mt. Pisgah 45, Jasper County 12
The Hurricanes ended the season 4-7 after beating Oglethorpe County last week to get third. Mount Pisgah improved to 8-3.
Class AA/Division II
Dooly County 22, Jenkins County 21
The Bobcats (6-5) watched Jenkins County (7-4) break a tie with about four minutes left to go up seven, and answered with a short rushing touchdown in the final minute, running in the two-point conversion for the lead, and then holding on. The game was tied at 7 and 14.
Manchester 40, Hancock Central 14
The Blue Devils (8-3) dealt the visitors’ upset hopes body blows early with a 27-6 first-quarter lead they added six to in the second quarter. The Bulldogs (4-7) got a second touchdown pass early in the third quarter to pull within 33-14.
Wilkinson County 13, Macon County 7
Wilkinson County answered Macon County’s 7-0 halftime lead with a long touchdown pass early in the third quarter. The Bulldogs (5-6) fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Wilkinson County (7-4) recovered and turned it into a touchdown and the lead. The Warriors then held on for their first playoff win since 2012
Schley County 51, GMC 0
The hosts led 14-0 after one, and started pulling away with a safety, pick-6, and touchdown pass in the second quarter en route to a 30-0 halftime lead. GMC was held to 41 yards rushing and 34 passing, going only 3 of 22. Schley County (9-2) record its third-biggest win of the year, and the Bulldogs (4-7) suffered their worst loss since 56-0 in the 2020 first round.
GIAA
“Play-in” round
Class AAAA
Bethlehem Christian 28, Mount de Sales 6
Piedmont over Trinity Christian 33-14, 4
Class A
(Regular first round)
Fullington over Grace Christian 34-0