By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

 

          Rankings are compiled by the Georgia High School Football Daily and are composite rankings from AJC, GPB, ScoreAtlanta, 680 The Fan, Maxwell, and MaxPreps. Information is from social media and information sent by teams (Brentwood, Dublin, FPD, John Milledge, Jones County, Lamar County, Northside, and  Westfield).

          Today’s edition is somewhat abbreviated, and is likely to be updated Saturday. Playoff pairings to be updated Saturday as well. 

Class 6A

No. 3 Thomas County Central 24, No. 10T Northside 14
          The Eagles were in the hunt with the undefeated Yellow Jackets of former Jones County head coach Justin Rogers, holding TCC to its lowest point total of the year by seven points and giving the Yellow Jackets (10-0/5-0) their second-closest game. Northside (6-4/3-2) scored first on DJ Hudson’s 2-yard run 12 seconds into the second quarter, TCC answering 82 seconds later on a 26-yard field goal. The Yellow Jackets took the lead – for 2:11 -  on a 31-yard pass only for Northside to respond with Duke McClinton’s 13-yard run for a 14-10 lead, which stood up to halftime. Thomas County Central got the lead with a 3-yard run at the 9:46 mark of the third quarter, and the teams slugged it out until Ricky Fulton’s 50-yard run put the Yellow Jackets up by 10. An interception inside the final three minutes sealed it. TCC outgained Northside 341-233 on nine more plays, the Eagles struggling through the air for 59 yards on 11-of-23 passing with two interceptions. They outrushed the Jackets 174-167, led by Hudson’s 115 yards on 16 rushes.

No. 8T Houston County 70, Veterans 21
          The Bears clinched fourth in Region 1 with their highest point total of the year.

CENTRAL GEORGIA’S BEST HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COVERAGE

This week
* 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

Last week
* 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 5A

Jones County 30, Union Grove 0
          Needing a win to make the playoffs, for the ninth straight time, Jones County (6-4/4-2) got off to a good start with two touchdowns in the first and in the second quarters, missing a PAT along the way. But the Greyhounds’ defense made sure that didn’t matter, recording Jones County’s second shutout of the year, holding Union Grove (4-6/2-4) to five first downs and 117 yards in total offense. The Greyhounds got 243 yards from QB Judd Anderson on 20 of 28 passing with a touchdown and no picks. Zion Ragins, banged up most of the year, had seven catches for 108 yards and a score, five Greyhounds getting at least two catches. Jones County ran for 88 yards, Javious Bond scoring three times on 13 carries. Brendan Waters added a 25-yard fourth-quarter field goal.

No. 8 Warner Robins 52, Locust Grove 0
          The Demons (6-4/5-1) officially clinched second with their second shutout of the season and second straight 50-point game.

Class 4A

Baldwin 47, Griffin 14
          Griffin led 7-6 early, and it was only 12-7 at halftime in Baldwin’s favor. The Braves (4-6/3-3) went off in the second half and took control, sparked by Micah Welch, who cracked the 300-yard mark rushing in the fourth quarter. Nasir Robinson came up with a pair of scoop-and-scores, including on the game’s final play when Griffin’s quarterback walked off the field before the ball was snapped, and it was snapped to nobody, Robinson grabbing it. That last score actually matter in the math regarding the playoffs, and it put Baldwin in as Region 2’s fourth-place team and kept heavily-penalized Griffin at home. Welch went 79 yards to get Baldwin going in the third quarter, then caused a fumble that Robinson turned into points.

Perry 34, West Laurens 0

Class AAA

No. 7 Peach County 49, Jackson 14
Mary Persons 46, Pike County 10

Class AA

Central 24, Southwest 6
          Central took care of business and worked its way into fourth place and a playoff spot, winning tiebreakers with Southwest and Rutland, all of whom finished 3-4 in region play. Southwest was in fourth entering the day.

Spencer 16, ACE 6
          Spencer held ACE to its lowest total of the season by 15 points to take the outright Region 2 title and push ACE (8-2/5-2) to third place and on the road in the playoffs. Spencer has won five of its eight games by a total of 39 points.

Class A/Division I

No. 2 Swainsboro 28, No. 10T Dublin 7
          It was a good sign for the visitors when their first touchdown of the game came on a pass, one of five they tried all night. That put Swainsboro (9-0/3-0) up with 5:44 left in the first quarter, and the Tigers added an 82-yard run less than three minutes later for a 14-0 lead. Dublin (6-3/3-1) answered a half-minute into the second quarter on Micah O’Neal’s 1-yard run, but the Tigers grabbed a chunk of momentum with another pass, a 2-yard score with six seconds left for a 21-7 halftime lead. They added to it in the final 94 seconds of the third quarter. Swainsboro won the region by holding Dublin to 102 yards rushing while getting 377, and running 26 more plays (57-31)

Jefferson County 47, East Laurens 41
No. 12T Lamar County 42, Heard County 0
          There was some suspense in a scoreless first quarter, but Lamar County (9-1/3-0) started taking some control with second-quarter scores from Ty Head (14 yards) and CJ Allen (6). Allen went in from 54 and 40 yards in less than three minutes in the third quarter, Tony Altman adding a 5-yarder in the last minute for a 35-0 lead. The Trojans outgained Heard County in the Region 4 championship 349-100, Allen going for 158 and three touchdowns on 16 carries, Altman adding 77.

Crawford County 38, Temple 29
          The Eagles took third with the impressive road win over a team that had twice as many wins before kickoff. Crawford County (3-7/1-2) broke a three game losing streak.

Jasper County 32, Oglethorpe County 14
          The Purple Hurricanes rolled over a team with a winning record to get third in Region 5 and win four games for the first time since 2018.

Division II

No. 2 Johnson County 50, Hancock Central 8
Dooly County 49, Hawkinsville 16
          The Bobcats had their third-highest total of the season in breaking a three-game losing streak and sealing a playoff spot.

Wilkinson County 47, Glascock County 14
          The hosts recorded their third game with at least 45 points, and their fifth double-digit win to take fourth in Region 5.

GIAA

Class AAA

John Milledge 28, Tattnall 21
          For the second time in less than a month, a late fourth-quarter turnover while in Macon was the difference as the Trojans (10-0) of Milledgeville survived for their record-tying 47th straight win. A backward pass and fumble was returned for a touchdown in the final four minutes in JMA’s 21-7 win over Stratford.

          This time, Tattnall (6-4) was on the visiting Trojans’ 29-yard line with less than a minute left. Donovan Duncan threw down the middle of the field to sophomore Antone Johnson, who went up for the pass only for it to bounce off his hands – JMA’s Kolt McMichael may have gotten a fingertip on it - and into those of JMA defensive back Briggs Eady. That was fitting, considering Eady’s expansive playmaking abilities. He ran for 152 yards and two touchdowns, one on fourth and short in the second quarter, and threw for 85 yards and two touchdowns.

          Eady hit Bud Veal for a 56-yard TD pass inside the first few minues, Veal being chased down and fumbling into the end zone, but hustling to cover it for the score. Duncan connected with Brayden Smith for a game-tying 69-yard score. Eady went in from 17 on that fourth down. The visitors then got a blocked punt from Grayson Waddell and converted it into a 20-yard TD pass from Eady to Waddell, but John Milledge’s PAT bounced off the left upright. Tattnall answered with Johnson’s 58-yard sprint to score with 3:04 left in the half. Tattnall’s defense stepped up to keep it a 6-point game after two.

          John Milledge was suddenly behind – something that’s not happened in the second half during the streak more than a few times, and perhaps not since the first season of the streak – when Tattnall opened the second half with a score, Demario Wilmore going around the left side from 12 yards out with 9:27 left in the third. The kick by Jake Prather put Tattnall on top. John Milledge answered with a long drive, eating up clock until Eady went in from a yard out with 1:50 left in the third, and he took in the conversion to regain the lead.

Athens Christian 32, Mount de Sales 21

St. Anne Pacelli 45, Westfield 7
          The game changed abruptly, when Pacelli (9-1/4-0) turned a scoreless game after a quarter into a nice night at home with three touchdowns and a field goal in the second quarter, two scores coming barely two minutes apart. Westfield (5-4/2-1) got on the board a minute into the third quarter on Hunter Kirkley’s 83-yard pass to Connor Fitzpatrick, but the Hornets couldn’t sustain any momentum, and Pacelli got a 70-yard touchdown run at the 4:10 mark. The Vikings outgained the Hornets 448-295 on one less play. Kirkley threw three interceptions as part of a 248-yard passing night, going 14 of 28, and he was held to only 45 yards on 14 carries.

Stratford 49, FPD 40
          The final home game for retiring FPD head coach Greg Moore certainly wasn’t lacking action or suspense. The game was tied at 7, 14, and 21, and would have been tied at 28 had FPD (2-8) not missed a PAT. Soon, it was 33-28 FPD, then 35-33 and 42-33 and 42-40 Stratford, the latter with 3:02 left on Jakhari Williams’ 45-yard pass to Carter Hayes. Stratford (7-3) recovered the onside kick, and sealed it with Keondre Glover’s 48-yard run with 1:55 left. FPD’s touchdowns covered 24, 48, 4, 1, 1, and 45 yards, to 55, 11, 9, 40, 47, 4, and 48 for the Eagles. Stratford racked up 479 yards in offense, all on the ground and led by a monster 352-yard night from Glover on 16 carries. Williams was up for the challenge, the Viking quarterback rushing for 217 yards on 26 tries and completing 19 of 35 passes for 269 yards and two scores, accounting for 486 of FPD’s 498 total yards.  

AA/A

Brentwood 42, Gatewood 21
          It was Brentwood’s night from the start, with a 21-0 first quarer and 14-7 second quarter. Harlan Scott ran for 111 yards on 11 carries, while Wells Muller had two touchdowns and 83 yards on 13 carries, Zach Denton adding two scores and 82 yards on nine carries. Brentwood outgained Gatewood 375-333 and had three fewer first downs, the Gators losing two fumbles. Bryce Williford completed two passes, both for touchdowns covering 77 yards to Scott and Lane Jones. Muller added a team-high nine tackles. Evaan Bennett has 103 yards and a score on 12 carries for Gatewood, Ames Johnson adding 58 yards. Brentwood improved to 7-3 overall in winning the three-team region. Gatewood fell to 4-6.

Central Fellowship 41, Thomas Jefferson 14
          The Lancers enter the playoffs with a 10-0 record.

Piedmont 34, Lake Oconee 6
Fullington 47, St. Mary’s 7