Roundup: Big nights-Houston County, Perry, West Laurens, ACE, FPD, Brentwood, Trinity Christian; Last-minute Ws-Jasper County, Westfield; huge game for Gatewood’s Johnsons; clutch W-Dodge County
🏈 Any update will be around 11 a.m. Saturday, based on new information contributions from teams over night. Many thanks to ACE, Jasper County, John Milledge, Jones County, Northside, and Perry on Friday for sending in postgame information and/or stats.
🏈 Teams: Please email game information – stats (offense and defense), names, big plays, etc. – to centralgasports@gmail.com by 10:30 a.m. Saturday for addition to Central Georgia’s only roundup.
This week
* Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
* Maxwell Predictions
* Who’s going to win this week’s games
* Central Georgia state composite rankings
* Central Georgia rankings
* Monday Morning Quarterback: Suddenly, we saw Ridder and Smith …; Notable numbers, on campus, Loughdmouthings
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week
Last week
* Roundup: Houston County & Warner Robins provide fireworks; FPD-Brookstone in championship rematch; ACE and Dodge County in battle; Lamar County enjoys Macon visit
* Thursday’s roundup
* Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
* Maxwell Predictions
* Who’s going to win this week’s games
* Central Georgia state composite rankings
* Central Georgia rankings
* Monday Morning Quarterback: Notes, reviews, Loughdmouthings
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week
Class 6A
No. 8 Houston County 42, Tift County 19
The Bears (4-1) headed south for a non-region game against a former region opponent, and the familiar happened, Houston County winning its third straight in the series, all by double figures. The Bears broke open a one-point game with two second-quarter scores, a TD pass from A.J. Hill to Isaiah Mitchell and a 13-yard run from Austin Stinson. They put it away with two more scores in the third quarter, within two minutes of each other. Hill connected with M.J. Mathis for a 28-yarder, then Jercorien McCoy picked off the Blue Devils to set up Stinson’s 8-yard touchdown run.
AA No. 6 Burke County 14, No. 15 Northside 6
Northside got off to a nice start, but it didn’t last. The Eagles scored first, on Cody Nelson’s 23-yard field goal three minutes into the game. They scored last, on another Nelson field goal, but were stymied in between as Burke County scored on a log pass right after Northside’s field goal and then on a TD run midway through the second quarter. Northside gave it up on downs at the Burke County 21 in the second quarter. An interception ended another good Northside drive in the third quarter. Burke County missed a field goal around the 5-minute mark of the fourth quarter, Nelson booting a 23-yard with two minutes left.
4A No. 6 Perry 38, Veterans 0
The defending 4A champs (3-1) were up 28-0 at halftime, although they didn’t score until midway through the first quarter on Ahmad Gordon’s 2-yard. The next score came a few minutes later from Diamante Ridley. Gordon had 2 touchdowns and 78 yards on 15 carries, Corrion Daniels adding 2 scores and 63 yards. The Panthers racked up 270 yards on 58 plays. The Warhawks (0-4) suffered their first shutout this season.
Class 4A
Jones County 21, Union Grove 14
The Greyhounds (4-1/3-1) led from the start, but had to hold off Union Grove (3-2/3-1) in the fourth quarter after it pulled to within a score early in the quarter. Zacarri Thomas ran for 94 yards on 9 attempts with a score, and Bruno Hicks added 52 yards and a score. Devin Edmonds completed 17 of 30 for 255 yards and a touchdown, chipping in 34 yards on the ground. Jaivon Solomon had a huge night with 157 yards on 8 catches and a touchdown. Jones County’s defense held Union Grove to 3.4 yards per rush, and got interceptions from JR Clark and Zachary Hurt.
Class 3A
Harlem 17, Baldwin 14
The hosts scored 17 in the first half, and made it stand. They picked off a pass deep in their own territory early in the second quarter, and then went up 10-0 with a 4-yard rushing score midway through the second quarter. Harlem (3-0/2-0) converted another interception into a score in the final minute of the half. The Braves 1-3/1-1) broke the shutout on a 17-yard pass from 8 to Kielan Walker late in the third quarter, then pulled within 3 on Sadur Salahuddin’s 7-yard score with about three minutes left in the game. The teams exchanged fumbles, Baldwin getting it back on its 35 with about a minute left, but couldn’t score.
Howard 29, Richmond County 13
The Huskies evened their overall record at 2-2 and region mark at 1-1 with their third straight game of 25 points or more.
No. 17 Troup 24, No. 5 Mary Persons 17
Mary Persons (3-1/1-1) went up 10-0 after one, and Troup (2-2/1-1) tied it in the second quarter. The Bulldogs reached the Troup 25 in the final minute of the second quarter, but gave it up on downs. The teams exchanged possessions until Troup took a Mary Persons punt on its 43, and scored on a 16-yard rush a few minutes later in the third quarter. The Bulldogs tied it on C.J. Banks’ rushing score midway through the fourth quarter, but Troup got it back and scored the game-winner from 15 yards out with 1:42 left. The Bulldogs started on their 34, and after Macn Nelson was sacked, got 11 yards on a fourth-and-12 pass.
No. 1 Sandy Creek 31, No. 12T Upson-Lee 0
The top-ranked Patriots (4-0/2-0) opened up a one-score game with 18 second-quarter points. Upson-Lee 2-2/1-1) had a chance for momentum, after Akeondre Chaney recovered a fumble, but the Knights were stopped on downs inside Sandy Creek’s 35. The Patriots started pulling away after a punt put them on their 49, and they quickly threw a 51-yard touchdown pass for a 19-0 lead in the final three minutes of the half. Another punt put them at midfield, and they got a 9-yard score with a minute left.
West Laurens 44, Cross Creek 28
The Raiders (4-0/2-0) were en route to a region route, only for the Razorbacks to make it interesting. West Laurens led 24-6 after one and expanded by 14 points for a 38-6 halftime lead. It was 44-12 with about three minutes left in the third quarter. Cross Creek (1-3/0-2) scored inside the final minute of the third, but couldn’t move until pulling within two touchdowns with three minutes left. The Razorbacks got it back too late to do anything, and Jayce Blash clinched it with a last-minute interception.
Class A
ACE Charter 51, Wilkinson County 14
The Gryphons (3-1 )racked up 236 rushing and 188 passing yards, holding Wilkinson County (2-3) to 47 yards on the ground. The Warriors passed for 321 yards, but couldn’t convert that into points. Wilkinson County led 14-13 after one, but ACE scored 14 in the second quarter, and then put it away with 21 in the fourth quarter. Josiah Harris ran 17 times for 85 yards, and Ace Hatcher completed 10 of 17 passes for 188 yards and 4 TDs, 2 to Brice Whitley and 2 to Jaylon Davis. ACE cracked 50 points for the first time this season, and for the eighth time under third-year head coach Keith Hatcher.
No. 8T Dodge County 13, Vidalia 7
Dodge County went up 7-0 on Duke Johnson’s short TD run midway through the second quarter, Vidalia tying it near the end of the third quarter. Johnson’s 10-yard score put Dodge County up 13-7, and then got a game-clinching interception from Jerimiah Burns to seal it in the final minute.
Warren County 52, Hancock Central 32
Hawkinsville 31, Rutland 0
Jasper County 10, Jackson 7
The Purple Hurricanes finally tied it with a rushing touchdown with a little more than two minutes left, and got the ball back, driving 60 yards in seven minutes to the Jackson 25, setting up Angel Martin-Garcia to drill the buzzer-beating 35-yard field goal. The Purple Hurricanes (3-1) racked up 273 rushing yards, led by Jalen Stewart’s 111 yards on 14 carries. Jasper County (3-1) has held its last three opponents to a total of 14 points.
3AA Josey, 0-3, at Twiggs County, 0-4, Saturday, 2 p.m.
Macon County 33, Crawford County 7
Montgomery County, 2-1, at Taylor County, 2-1, Saturday, 1 p.m.
GIAA
Class AAA
Bulloch 35, John Milledge 6
The Trojans (1-4) were again in a huge first half hole, down 21-0 at halftime as four different Bulloch (5-0) rushers scored from 14, 63, 13, and 58 yards. Bulloch had a 346-184 advantage in rushing yards, and completed only one pass. Cole Vining had all of the Trojans’ rushing yards.
FPD 47, Pinewood 0
The Vikings (4-1) had more points through one quarter than in three games this season, and added touchdowns in each quarter after that en route to their biggest shutout since opening the 2021 season with a 49-0 win over ACE. The lead was 27-0 at halftime on Bennett lake runs of 29 and 9 yards, a 21-yarder from Brady McHugh and a 15-yarder from Major Simmons. Lake went for 149 yards on 10 carries and Simmons 134 on only 3. The Vikings ran for 488 yards on 34 carries and didn’t try a pass, and held Pinewood to 57 on the ground and 99 through the air.
Gatewood 46, Mount de Sales 20 (click here for more)
Tailback Hunter Johnson finished with a whopping 323 yards on 20 carries and quarterback Ames Johnson added 80 on 12 as the Gators (3-2) rolled to a 25-0 halftime lead en route to their second convincing win over a larger classification school this season. Class AA Gatewood beat 3A Loganville Christian 40-0 two weeks ago. Hunter Johnson scored on runs of 6, 12, 80, and 49 yards. Gatewood’s offense racked up a whopping 280 yards on 33 snaps in the first 24 minutes, while holding Mount de Sales (2-3) to 63 yards on 18 snaps.
Piedmont 14, Loganville Christian 13
The Cougars did their scoring in the first quarter, then threw a pick-6 midway through the fourth quarter. Loganville Christian missed the PAT, and the Cougars held on.
Stratford 17, Frederica 14
Stratford took a 17-0 halftime lead on the road, then had to sweat out Frederica’s comeback
Tattnall 33, Strong Rock 22
Strong Rock scored 15 third-quarter points on 2 touchdowns and a safety to take a 22-13 lead with 1:09 left in the quarter. The momentum quickly evaporated when Antone Johnson scored on a 55-yard run inside the final 25 seconds to pull within 22-19 heading into the fourth quarter. He put Tattnall up four minutes into the fourth quarter on a 5-yard run, and then sealed it from 20 yards with 3:38 left. Johnson went for 211 yards on 26 carries, the Trojans struggling to an 8-for-19 night passing for 83 yards. Strong Rock outgained Tattnall 285-278, 71 coming on a touchdown pass 20 seconds into the game.
Westfield 21, Tiftarea 14
Brayden Gay tossed a tunnel screen to the left to Stone St. Clair, who got a couple blocks and then outran Tiftarea (4-1) defenders the final 45 yards for a 57-yard touchdown and a 19-14 lead with 55 seconds left, then got the conversion when Gay kept it around the right side to go up 7. But Tiftarea went nowhere, the game ending on a sack.
Class AA
Brentwood 42, Thomas Jefferson 6
If a running clock can start in the first quarter … Brentwood (4-1/1-0) led 35-0 after one. Zach Denton’s long run set up Tristan Robinson’s 20-yard score barely a minute into the game. Brentwood got first-quarter rushing scores from Jonas Sheppard and Quez Collins, a TD pass from Baylor Cobb to Zyion Andrews, plus a long punt return score from Robinson.
Rock Springs 14, CFCA 9
The Lancers (1-4/0-2)got within 7-2 in the second quarter, Rock Springs (5-0/1-0) getting the clinching score with about 7 minutes left in the game.
Trinity Christian 43, Windsor 14
The Crusaders (3-2) took control in the second quarter with 33 points en route to a 40-6 halftime lead, Windsor (2-2) breaking the shutout on Jay Singleton’s 75-yard rushing score, TCS answering by returning the kickoff for a score.
8-man
Westminster 68, Covenant 0