By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

GHSA

Class 5A
No. 2 Creekside 35, No. 8 Warner Robins 14
            Creekside did something it and scores of other teams haven’t done since 2016: End Warner Robins’ season before the final game. That last happened on Nov. 11, 2016, when Griffin ended Warner Robins’ 3-8 season with a 56-49 win in the first round. Since then, the Demons won 28 straight postseason games, winning state titles in 2020 and 2021 and losing in the finals in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2022. The Seminoles made the Demons pay for mistakes with more solid and efficient play, although Warner Robins led 7-6 after a quarter. The Seminoles started flexing their muscles on a fourth-down 40-yard touchdown pass from Vinson Berry to Jamari Hayes. That put Creekside up 13-7 at the 9:36 mark of the second quarter. The visitors found more fourth-down magic inside the final minute when Berry and Hayes hooked for a 3-yarder, Creekside’s defense continuing to keep Warner Robins’ offense in check.

            Yet more success on fourth down kept a Creekside drive going, and the Seminoles all but put it away with Roderick McRay’s short TD run with 5:20 left in the third quarter for a 28-7 lead, eating up more than half of the quarter. They finally punted late in the third quarter. The Demons were unable to sustain any decent drives or follow up big plays, following one long pass to Isiah Canion with three straight incompletions and sabotaging other possessions with dropped passes. They did manage a touchdown pass from Judd Anderson to Mikhai Isaac 14 seconds into the fourth quarter, but after a stop, Judd Anderson was hit hard and fumbled near midfield on Warner Robins’ next possession. The Seminoles added a 16-yard TD pass at the 5:11 mark in the fourth quarter. The Demons seemed destined for a late score to make it slightly more interesting, but Canion fumbled on the one trying to stretch into the end zone, and Creekside got the ball on a touchback with 3:19 left.

            The Demons finished 9-4, failing to crack 20 points in all four losses while scoring at least 23 in all nine wins. The loss ended a run of  six straight 10-win seasons, Warner Robins’ best such stretch seven in a row from 1979-1985 under Robert Davis, during which they only won one state title (1981).

Class 4A

No. 5T Perry 34, No. 12 Stephenson 20
            The drive only tied the game, but it was a table-setter for Perry. Colter Ginn was sharp on the game-tying drive, which covered 81 yards on 16 plays, Ahmad Gordon plowing in from a yard out to knot it up at 7 with four minutes left in the first quarter. That appeared to set the Panthers on track, and they recovered a fumble on a strip sack deep in Perry territory with a little more than a half-minute left left in the second quarter, quickly converting it into a 54-yard touchdown pass with 18 seconds left for a 14-7 halftime lead. They kept on rolling, Ginn connecting with Kiel Sparks for a 70-yard score at the 8:49 mark of the third. Two field goals made it 27-7, Gordon finishing the scoring on a 12-yarder with 8:15 left in the game for a 34-14 lead.

            Ginn finished 11 of 24 for 209 yards, while Gordon getting 139 on 21 carries. The Panthers last reached a semifinal in 1959 under coach Herb St. John, Perry winning two region playoff games –over Vidalia and ECI – before falling 26-6 to No. 2/3 Brooks County in a Class B semifinal. That was also Perry’s last region title before the Panthers won it in 2020.

            Perry visits Starr’s Mill, which beat Central-Carrollton 35-29 on a game-ending TD pass.

Class 3A

No. 2 Cedar Grove 28, No. 3 Mary Persons 14
            A full Dan Pitts Stadium crowd was set for quite the battle of highly ranked teams, Mary Persons leading 7-6 midway through the first quarter on Najah Reese’s 1-yard score followed by Cedar Grove’s touchdown and missed PAT on its ensuing possession. But early on Mary Persons’ next possession, standout running back Duke Watson ran left and was tackled in a heap, suffering a serious leg injury less than six minutes into the game, on a 4-yard loss. Two trainers carried him off the field. With him leaving the field, the Bulldogs lost nearly 2,000 rushing yards and 30 touchdowns this season. Late in the second quarter, Cedar Grove returned an interception to inside the 5 and punched it in for a 14-7 lead with 3:14 left in the first half. Watson made an attempt to play late in the half, but that was it.

            Down 14-7, Mary Persons opened the second half by recovering an onside kick, and turning it into a TD pass from Mac Nelson to Caden Lavinka on fourth down, tying it at 14 with 7:11 left. The Saints dove into the playbook and retook the lead on a 32-yard flea-flicker, then took a took a chapter from the Bulldogs, and recovered an onside kick. They went back to the playbook for a reverse pass for a touchdown, and a two-score lead with 2:51 left in the third quarter. An interception early in the fourth killed a deep Mary Persons’ drive, and Cedar Grove was able to eat clock in the fourth quarter.

            Mary Persons finished 11-2, the Bulldogs’ seventh 10-win season in head coach Brian Nelson’s 12 seasons. They’ve reached at least the quarterfinals five times.

Class A/Division II

No. 11T Telfair County 38, No. 5 Macon County 14
            Underdog Telfair County showed little nerves in a rare quarterfinal game and rare home playoff game, marching out to a 14-0 lead before the midway point of the first quarter on a long fumble return and short TD run. The Bulldogs answered the second score, but Telfair County extended the lead with a field goal a few minutes into the second quarter and then took control with a touchdown run in the final minute of the half for a 24-7 lead at intermission. A rushing touchdown cut the deficit to 10, but only for about seven minutes, Telfair County countering with a ground score in the final two minutes of the third quarter and sealed it with a 30-yard run early in the fourth.

            Macon County finished 10-3, its fourth 10-win season in head coach Dexter Copeland’s nine years.

GIAA
Class 4A

No. 1 FPD 33, No. 5 Tattnall 27
          A pair of 20-point leads at home weren’t so safe after all, Tattnall gutting out some comebacks and making FPD more than sweat. The Trojans scored twice in the fourth quarter, pulling within six on a 30-yard pass from Caden Faulk to a wide open Rhett Dobson – who scored on a 2-yard run 40 seconds into the fourth – at the 5:32 mark. The Vikings looked to run out the clock, and didn’t seal it until quarterback Jakhari Williams converted a fourth and short by a few inches in the final two minutes and allow FPD to eventually get into the victory formation.

          FPD led 13-0 at halftime on a 47-yard pass from Williams to Gavin Spillers, who spun and tipped the ball to himself at the 10 and powered into the end zone, and a 1-yard Williams run. Major Simmons made it a 20-0 game barely two minutes into the third quarter, Tattnall breaking the shutout only 20 seconds later on Dobson’s 14-yard score. Williams and Spillers hooked up again from 36 yards barely two minutes after that, lumbered down the left side and stretched over the goal line while getting tackled. But Faulk answered through the air again, for a 5-yarder to Antone Johnson. Again, though, FPD seemed to have scored a clinching touchdown on Williams’ 3-yard keeper at the 1:44 mark of the third quarter for a 33-3 lead only for Tattnall, which played one of the GIAA’s toughest schedules, to gut its way back into the game in hopes of avenging the 29-26 loss last month.

          FPD’s defense came up big, and it needed to, holding Johnson to 31 yards on 11 carries, 131 yards below his average. Tattnall did manage 157 yards on 29 carries, and Faulk had the best game of his junior season, completing 13 of 21 for 182 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with six receivers. Hayden Aulds, though, went off for 145 yards on 17 carries for the Vikings, Williams adding 67 on 17. He sizzled to a 12-of-14 passing night for 213 yards and two scores, Spiller catching 3 for 95 yards and Aulds 4 for 58.

          The 8-3-1 Vikings play 8-4 Brookstone at 8 p.m. on Friday at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium in hopes of winning its first state title since 1985.

Class 3A

No. 1 John Milledge 63, No. 5 Pinewood Christian 28
          The Patriots kept it interesting for a little bit, trailing only 21-14 early in the second quarter. John Milledge took care of that, though, with a 7-yard score from Javian Butts, 11-yarder from Bud Veal, and 11-yard TD pass from Kolt McMichael to David Todd for a 28-7 second quarter and 42-14 halftime lead.

          Pinewood did manage 251 passing yards, but was outgained 475-305 in total offense. Butts went off for 284 of the Trojans’ 326 rushing yards, and McMichael passed for 149 yards.

          John Milledge improved to 12-0 with its record-setting 62nd win, putting the Trojans in their sixth straight state final. They’ll take on 10-1 Valwood at 8 p.m. on Thursday at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium.

Class AA

No. 2 Gatewood 15, No. 3 Briarwood 12
          The Gators held on to reach their fifth championship game in head coach Jeff Ratliff’s 11 seasons. They led 13-6 at halftime and added a safety in the final minutes of the third quarter. Briarwood finally scored again, in the final two minutes of the game, but the 10-2 Gators were able to run out the clock. Butts added a 6-yard run in the third quarter, and Todd returned an interception the distance in the fourth, Jamel Cooper finishing the scoring in the final three minutes.

          The Gators will face 11-1 Edmund Burke at 5 p.m. on Friday at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium.