By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

There are “burn the film” games, and to a large part, that was the case for Northeast and Mary Persons.

A game from start to finish, whoever got the W was really the cringing survivor.

Of themselves.

A high punt snap – on a night of shaky special teams – by Northeast deep in its territory led to the game-winning recovery touchdown for Mary Persons in the Bulldogs’ 20-14 win Saturday night in the nightcap of the seventh Macon Touchdown Club Middle Georgia Kickoff Classic at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium.

It seemed like a lot more, but Class AA Northeast was flagged 16 times for 125 yards, and teamed with Class AAA Mary Persons for a few offsetting 15-yard penalty situations. The Raiders went through timeouts, had some dropped passes, and didn’t have a great night with composure.

“We probably made a whole year’s worth of mistakes in one game,” Northeast head coach Jeremy Wiggins said. “We killed ourselves the whole night. That’s on us. That’s on us, that’s on the players, not being ready, not in-tuned for the game. Way too many mistakes.

“Way too many mistakes, way too many mistakes, way too many penalties.”

Mary Persons head coach Brian Nelson wasn’t a whole lot happier with his team’s overall execution, either, but saw a bright light.

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“What I told them afterwards was this team, I could a little bit of grit in them that I haven’t seen. I could see that little sparkle I haven’t seen, I don’t know, the last two or three years.

“Just a lot of grit, toughness.”

Neither team had any consistency on offense, the Bulldogs failing to complete a pass in 10 tries with one interception. Down 8-7 at halftime, Mary Persons – playing two quarterbacks – didn’t try a pass in the second half.

Northeast starting quarterback Reginald Glover was in and out with cramps, something that affected several more Raiders than Bulldogs. He went 7 of 16 for 89 yards and two interceptions, while lefty Lewis Cheney was 5 of 13 for 39 yards and a touchdown.

The defenses were focused on the marquee running backs on display, Mary Persons senior Duke Watson and Northeast junior Nick Woodford.

Each had his moments. Woodford had a 46-yard rush and 30-yard reception in the first half, while Watson peeled off a 59-yard touchdown in the second half. Woodford finished with 133 yards on 22 carries and Watson 129 on 17. Of those 39 carries, though, only five went for 10 yards or more.

“(Woodford) for them is good,” Nelson said. “We had multiple bodies on him.”

Nelson said Watson was about 75 percent, after a teammate stepped on the back of his foot “in a bad spot” and then he took a helmet to it on his first run of the day.

The Bulldogs took advantage of an interception by senior Jacobi Jones, who scooped it a hair off the ground and set up Mary Persons on Northeast’s 42 with 8:01 left in the second quarter.

The drive featured offsetting personal fouls – it was a chatty evening loaded with helmets popping off, sometimes seemingly with no contact – and a 15-yarder by Northeast. Watson plowed in from the 3 and the PAT made it 7-0 with 5:44 left.

Northeast hardly flinched, Woodford breaking off that 46-yarder in Woodford form on the first play from scrimmage.

Glover hit Kavon Conciauro twice for 11 yards on the 65-yard drive, and finished it with a 1-yard keeper on fourth and goal. In a funky conversion formation with most of the teammates far off to the left, a running back behind him and wideout to the right, Glover connected with Orintae Curry – the cener on the play - for the conversion and an 8-7 lead with 2:26 left in the half.

There were still four possessions in the half. After dueling punts, Northeast got it back on a first-down pick by Curry to give the Raiders the ball on Mary Persons’ 42 with 44 seconds left. They got to the 6, but couldn’t get a final play off.

Northeast blew an even better opportunity when it opened the second half with a 12-play drive that at up 7:20, Woodford with five carries, Ezkeil Hicks with two, and a 22-yard pass play from Glover to Jayden Purett along the way.

But on fourth and goal from the 16, Cheney’s pass to Pruett was just a little too high.

He was on the mark, though, a few minutes later on a 17-yard TD pass to Tavus Wright Jr. from 17 yards out, Wright getting hit on the 3 and powering in. Conversion issues remained, and the lead was 14-7 on the final play of the third quarter.

The momentum and joy didn’t last.

Two snaps later, Watson went left and exploded through an opening – aided by a block outside by Ty Dumas – down the left side, keeping his feet enough after a shove at the 13 by Curry – who chased him down and cramped up as he pushed Watson – to somersault into the end zone.

Four plays later, the punt snap sailed over the head of JaKwon Woodford, who chased it and tried to kick it out of the end zone, but whiffed, and Christian Stewart covered it for the touchdown with 9:02 left in the game, and a 20-14 – after a failed PAT kick – lead.

The Raiders went three and out – DeZavion Scandrett and Jayden Odoms came up with the stuff for a 2-yard loss on third and 1 - then got a 15-yard interference call on the ensuing punt return and fair-catch call after a quality 37-yard punt from JaKwon Woodford, pulling Mary Persons out to the 32 with 6:21 left in the game.

Instead of punting on fourth and 6 at the Raiders’ 46 and pinning Northeast deep, Mary Persons went for it and got a yard, giving the Raiders the ball at their 45 with a full 2:55 left.

A loss on first down and another 5-yard penalty put Northeast in a hole, and a fourth-and-22 pass was incomplete.

“The most frustrating game we’ve played … probably since our first year,” said Wiggins’, who debuted at his alma mater as head coach in 2018. “Composure, a lot of young players that folded, just didn’t understand the moment. Just really a bad taste right now.”