Sunday’s Report: HS FB, Westfield/GIAA, Mayhem; Mercer Tennis Classic; Falcons, United, Hawks; NFL, NBA, college news, MLB playoffs, golf, soccer, NASCAR, UFC

October 22, 2023 Central Georgia Sports Report

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📰S📰C📰O📰R📰E📰B📰O📰A📰R📰D📰

High School

🏈🏈🏈Football🏈🏈🏈

Central 34, Jordan 14
The Chargers avoided their first winless season in program history as well as being Jordan’s first victim in more than 30 games.

Thomas County Central 27, Houston County 0
The visitors did something to the hosts that hadn’t happened since early in the 2020 season: hold Houston County scoreless. That was a 12-0 loss to 3A Crisp County on the road in the second game of the 2020 season. Under second-year head coach Jeremy Edwards, Houston County’s lowest point total was 21 points, which happened in three straight games last year, including a 42-21 loss to TCC. This year, the Bears averaged 46.7 points a game, with a low of 35 in a 9-point loss a month ago to Lee County. Both teams muddled through the first quarter, watching opportunities slip away, until the Yellow Jackets got an 11-yard touchdown pass a few minutes into the second quarter. It stayed a one-score game until midway through the third quarter when Jaylen Johnson connected with Tywon Christopher for a 70-yard score. They sealed it at the 8:24 mark left, and added icing with 41 seconds left for the second-worst loss (50-21 to Lee County last year) under Edwards. The loss pushed the Bears out of the hunt for a first-round home playoff game and into a tie for third with Northside and Tift County.

🥎 🥎 🥎Softball 🥎 🥎 🥎

GIAA Playoffs
Class AAA

Westfield 13, Tattnall 4

Class AA

The GIAA hadn’t updated the Class AA brackets since Friday, as of 1 a.m. Sunday or posted results, but did post that Piedmont won the AA championship.

🏐 🏐 🏐 Volleyball 🏐 🏐 🏐

GHSA Playoffs

6A-South Effingham 3,Veterans 0

4A-Starr’s Mill 3, Baldwin 0

4A-Trinity Christian 3, Perry 0

AA-ELCA 3, ACE 0

A/I-Lamar County 3, Crawford County 0; Lamar County at Whitefield Academy, Wednesday

College

⚽ ⚽ ⚽Soccer ⚽ ⚽ ⚽

M-Mercer 1, UNC Greensboro 1

🏐 🏐 🏐 Volleyball 🏐 🏐 🏐

Mercer 3, Wofford 0 (29-27, 25-23, 25-19)

Pro

🏒🏒🏒 SPHL 🏒🏒🏒

Macon 2, Knoxville 1

⚽ ⚽ ⚽MLS ⚽ ⚽ ⚽

Atlanta 2, Cincinnati 2

📰C📰O📰V📰E📰R📰A📰G📰E📰

Around/about Central Georgia

Westfield wins super seventh straight state softball title

Entering Saturday afternoon, Westfield had lost three games all season.

Two were to Tattnall. Saturday afternoon’s opponent in the biggest game of the year? Tattnall.

The Hornets made sure three wasn’t the most painful charm by with a five-inning 13-4 win for the GIAA Class AAA state softball championship Saturday in Columbus.

Westfield lost 9-6 to Tattnall in late August and 9-5 three weeks later, and didn’t get a chance at revenge until Friday’s 14-3 win in Columbus.

The Hornets finish 29-3, the Trojans 26-9.

A three-run second put the Hornets up 5-1, the Trojans getting one back in the third. But six runs in the fourth – keyed by bombs from Carleigh Knowles and Emmy Dehem - started the Hornets toward eyeing that seventh straight trophy presentation.

Tattnall teased with two in the top of the fifth on Caroline Patterson’s homer only for Westfield to counter in the bottom half with a Kendall Fowler round-tripper.

Camilla Bloodworth kept Tattnall mostly in check with two walks and two strikeouts in an efficient six-hit outing.

Three of Westfield’s runs were unearned, thanks to three Tattnall errors.

Patterson had half of Tattnall’s hits and all of the Trojans’ RBI, Molly Kemp with two hits.

Knowles and Fowler each had three hits and three RBI for Westfield, with Madison Hammock and Cate Raines adding two hits each.

Mayhem off to 2-0 start

CJ Hayes scored at the 12:09 mark of the third period to lift Macon to a 2-1 win over Knoxville in the second game of the SPHL season at the Macon Coliseum.

The Mayhem swept the IceBears, rolling to a 7-2 win on Friday. Macon is back home on Friday against Fayetteville.

No. 4 faces No. 1 for Mercer Tennis Classic single title

With the top four seeds battling through the bracket to make it to the semifinals, it was no stretch to foresee two tussles.

And that’s what happened Saturday in the Mercer Tennis Classic at John Drew Smith Tennis Center.

One semifinal pitted players who needed a combined nearly seven hours to win their quarterfinal matches, and the other a hardly-challenged top seed.

Taylor Townsend and Katie Volynets went only two sets, but Townsend had to fight for the 6-3, 7-6 (4) win.

“She never gives up, she plays for every point,” said top seed Townsend. “I am trying to embrace my entire game and sometimes it’s kind of difficult. I feel confident I can execute every shot I want to hit.”

Panna Udvardy needed three hours on Friday to beat Raluca Georgiana Serban, while Kayla Day had to go another quarter-hour to survive Alexa Noel.

Udvardy had a little more spring in her step to win the three setter 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in more than two and a half hours.

“Yesterday I played three hours,” Udvardy said. “It wasn’t easy to recover in a short amount of time. I knew I wouldn’t be my best (Saturday), and I wasn’t, but it was all mental and staying there and trying to motivate myself.”

So Townsend and Udvardy square off at 2 p.m. Sunday for the singles title.

Jana Kolodynska and Tatiana Prozorova defeated Sofia Sewing and Anastasia Tikhonova 6-3, 6-2 for the doubles championship.

Around/About Georgia/Southeast

An Atlanta defense coming into its own and a passing game on the rise

Who will win in Week 7, Falcons or Buccaneers Expert Picks

Falcons mailbag: On Drake London, Arthur Smith and how Falcons can get even better

Bucs struggle in run game, but they rank first in pass protection

Badji and Luciano Acosta each score to help Cincinnati tie Atlanta

Hawks look to keep taking advantage of Johnson’s versatility

Football/NFL/USFL/CFL/XFL

Wide receiver Thielen thriving in Carolina, on pace for career season at age 33

Frustration mounts for the Giants’ offense, which has gone 205 minutes without scoring a touchdown