***By Michael A. Lough***
***The Sports Report***
***centralgasports@gmail.com***

Fist bump.

High five.

Chest bump.

A little dance.

Macon and Bibb County showed the hell up Friday night.

I remain floored. Thrilled, stunned, and floored. And I’m not alone.

Upon entering Shurling Drive around 6:40 p.m. Friday, I saw a whole lot of red tail lights ahead, stretching back to just about the light at the Rose’s shopping center.

Whaaaaaat?

After hearing about Bibb County history, Northeast made its own with a convincing-in-all-phases semifinal win over perennial contender Fitzgerald in front of huge crowd; Dublin falls

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Both lanes, full. Traffic moved, and once I got within view of the stadium lights, I saw people having already parked walking to Thompson. Blocks away.

Whaaaaaaat?

Then I saw that law enforcement wasn’t letting anybody turn into the complex and the big parking lot in the back, and couldn’t believe that it was already full. As it turns out, no, there were 75-100 empty spots when I got back there, no idea why people weren’t allowed in there.

Upon parking – much closer than I expected, happily – the first eye-catchers were the lines to get in, a full 40 minutes before kickoff, in cold weather.

No late-arriving crowd on this night.

A long line to the left for the home side, and a long line to the right for the visitors. Even five minutes before kickoff, the Fitzgerald line stretched the length of the building back to the entrance.

It took into the second quarter, maybe to halftime, before everybody was inside, and it overflowed.

A Bibb County public high school football game had an overflow crowd, 4,500-5,000 people. In annoying and aggravating 35-degree weather. Standing room only. Seats that had never had a backside on ‘em were covered.

Whaaaaat?

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A Bibb County public high school football game had traffic issues. Lines to get in, lines at the concession stand and rest rooms. People who stayed longer than expected, into the fourth quarter until Northeast was seriously and officially in control and Fitzgerald was basically done.

I had no trouble with folks leaving and the stands being about 60-75 percent full at the end because, bygollydangit, people finally showed up in the first place, and stayed for a good while, getting more than their money’s worth. It was OK get into some warmth a little early during a fantastic display.

Goose bumps. Legitimately. And not because it was so bleepin’ cold.

There was, honest to God, live and in-person Bibb County public school support, and from beyond those attending or graduating from Northeast. Outsiders showed up. People from other counties.

Living up to expectations in almost any situation is still something of an exception, for there’s always some sort of stumble or letdown.

Other than the cold, it was about as perfect a night of Bibb County public school athletics as anybody could’ve legitimately dreamed of.

Photos: Bibb County Athletics (photo gallery)

Propaganda aside.

People showed up. Early. Wore their school colors. Stayed.

And man, did the Raiders show up. That was less of a concern than the crowd, but still a concern. After all, the Raiders appear to like the sound of whistles, eyeballing yellow cloth flying near them, and walking backwards five yards. That can lead to losses, especially in the postseason.

Bibb County hasn’t fared well in the postseason, not by a long shot. There are rarely upsets, or taking care of business, on any regular basis, until recently, on the east side. And for all the social media blather, support in the form of attendance hasn’t been there, either.

One game doesn’t change the past or future, but man, this one game sure was different than the past and offers a little optimism for the future.

Equally gratifying from the outside was that finally, fiiiiiinally, a lot of people in Macon got to see Nick Woodford run the ball like Nick Woodford can run the ball. He turned in his second straight 300-yard performance in the playoffs. Teams can go a couple years without cracking that in the regular season, and he did it on back to back Fridays in the playoffs.

Reginald Glover did his thing, running and throwing, and the defense put forth a smackdown on a perennial playoff team, and a power-running offense. Fitzgerald didn’t look like Fitzgerald looks in November and December.

*Photo: Michael A. Lough/Central Georgia Sports Report*

We’ll talk about other aspects in a day or two, but let’s allow this all-but-historical night of high school sports in Macon linger for a while.

Teams may operate on a 24-hour rule and move on, and that’s usually wise for civilians, too.

Not this time. It must be savored, because it sure took a long time to happen. Let’s enjoy it for a while.

On the other hand …

The sun was out. The cold air of the night before had vacated the area completely.

It was a perfect day for an afternoon of FCS playoff football in Macon.

You’d think.

The second part of Macon-Bibb’s bombastic weekend football bore no resemblance to the first, empty seats at Five Star Stadium outnumbering the covered ones for Mercer’s second-round game against Rhode Island.

The attendance listed on the initial postgame state sheet was a mistake that wasn’t corrected, so no, nowhere near 8,012 people were at or in the vicinity of Five Star Stadium. Or on campus, period.

On a glorious Saturday afternoon. To watch the No. 7 FCS team in the country in a playoff game.

Sure, there was talk – there always is, and it’s silly to sell the nonexistent – of an atmosphere and packed out and all that. But a stadium that seats about 7,500 wasn’t half full.

The entire home side crowd pretty much would’ve fit in the bottom sections.

Certainly 500 or so Mercer backers weren’t in Atlanta for the SEC championship game, and there are certainly thousands around here who were pulling for Texas and didn’t want to watch another dang Georgia game on TV or be around any two-legged barkers.

And one of us noted last week, the average Mercer fan – or potential supporter of a Macon team – could’ve stayed until the end and been home with time to prepare snacks before the third quarter of the SEC finale started.

It would’ve been OK to miss the first half, since all the fun – again – is in the second half.

Fictional figures being what they are and reality being what it is, there were less than half of that 8,012 inside the gates for a football game.

For the kind of team Mercer is - winning – and the kind of players – pretty smart – doing that winning, a city that talks about being a sports city could’ve had more folks there.

It’s OK to be a temporary member of a bandwagon.

Maybe it’ll be better next year. And there will be a next year. Mercer is a playoff program, and has now hosted two years in a row. There’s a stability and a culture in the program, and barring an injury blizzard in 10 months, Mercer will host a playoff game in 2025.

You’ve been alerted. Plan ahead to show up.

If it can happen where it happened on Friday night, it can happen on a Saturday. Here’s hoping for a rerun in 51 weeks.