Saturday Afternoon QB: Backing into the playoffs, heartbreaking loss, statement win, and struggles
Coming Sunday: Who’s hot and not going into the playoffs
There was only one serious upset, a team watched its playoffs hopes die with nine seconds left, another came up inches short on the final play and now has to strap it on Monday in a playoff, and a big showdown between top-5 teams was a rout.
Friday night gave a 54-yard field goal, Macon private schools going 1-3 against their sub-region foes, and a few teams will head into the offseason without having won a game.
Howard backed into the playoffs, Southwest is still alive, and the defending GISA Class AAA champ got thumped on the road.
Just another week.
Big ‘ns
Warner Robins 35, Bainbridge 6
The first 30 seconds, one thought Bainbridge might be that team to finally get control over Warner Robins. One was wrong.
The Demons followed Dameon Pierce’s 55-yard run on the Bearcats’ first play with touchdowns on their next five possessions, with long drives and short drives. In that span, Warner Robins’ defense – led by Bobby Kelly, Tyler Powell, Dillon Braunstein, and JaCore Daniels, among others – gave up all of 12 yards, and allowed 15 on the Bearcats’ final possession of the first half.
It was supposed to be close, and it was, for the first five minutes. The Demons couldn’t get going in the third quarter to force a running clock in the fourth.
Spalding 52, Upson-Lee 48
Upson-Lee and Spalding kicked off going in opposite directions, and things started out that way with the Jaguars taking a 17-0 lead only for the Knights to battle back to within three at halftime. The Knights maintained the momentum and took a 35-31 lead with less than four minutes left in the third. Back and forth it went, and the Knights led 48-45 on Cameron Traylor’s pass to x Richardson with 37 seconds left. Spalding’s huge kickoff return put the Jags on the Knights’ half, and three passes later, with nine seconds left, Spalding passed for the game-winner. And that’s how Upson-Lee’s season ended, in heartbreaking fashion with their third straight loss, and fourth loss by 10 points or less.
Southwest 26, Bleckley County 21
Nykeem Farrow ran for 188 yards, Torenio Davis has 121 yards on four catches, and Zach Lassiter completed 60 percent of his passes for 139 yards. But Southwest’s defense came up with the game-winning play on the final play when Davis caught a pass but was ruled short of the end zone. Southwest led 21-7 at halftime.
Dublin 26, Washington County 14
Washington County found a spark after moving Preston Daniels to quarterback a few weeks ago, but Dublin’s defense held the Golden Hawks to 206 yards of total offense, albeit that unit improving after giving up a 14 points. Then the Irish offense got going and turned in an old-school night: 44 plays, 42 rushes for 285 yards, two incomplete passes, five rushers with at least seven carries. The Golden Hawks were 0-for-11 on third down to 6-for-10 for the Irish, who take second in 3-AA.
Manchester 22, Macon County 20
The top public team in the state and the defending Class A public champion, and it went to the wire as expected.
Valwood 42, John Milledge 7
The battle of the defending GISA Class AAA champ and the 2015 champ was expected to be throwdown. It wasn’t. Valwood led 21-7 at halftime, followed a Trojans penalty with a pick-6 and a 21-point lead in the third quarter to all but seal it in a flag-filled game. It was the Trojans’ worst loss since falling by the same score to Deerfield-Windsor on Nov. 20, 2015 in the semifinals, John Milledge suffering from uncharacteristic turnovers and an inability to sustain anything on offense or come up with consistent stops. That leaves Brentwood and Gatewood as the lone Central Georgia teams left in GISA.
Upsets
Perry 20, West Laurens 14
The Panthers have been banged up, and were eliminated from the clogged playoff race a few weeks ago. West Laurens had clinched a home playoff game, but still wanted to hit the postseason on a 4-1 run instead of 3-2. Instead, Perry came to play and West Laurens just didn’t have it.
The computer said …
West Laurens over Perry by 20, lost by 6; Mary Persons by 19 over Howard, won by 3; Washington County by 7 over Dublin, lost by 12; Stratford over Aquinas by 16, lost by 3.
No surprise
The computer said …
Jones County over Dutchtown by 12, won by 11; Spalding over Upson-Lee by four, won by four; Baldwin over Cross Creek by 35, won by 40; Rabun County by Monticello by 42, won by 45; Manchester over Macon County by 1, won by 2; Dooly County over Greenville by 37, won by 32; Hawkinsville by 39 over Pacello, won by 41.
Region 7-A crossovers a little one-sided
The east side of Region 7-A had the west side’s number on Friday with three underdogs winning and the east side overall going 4-2.
Lincoln County ran for 445 yards and six touchdowns on 51 tries in outlasting FPD, which had 38 yards rushing and 381 passing.
Washington-Wilkes and head coach Chad Alligood, formerly of Northside and FPD and Wilkinson County, stopped a two-point conversion attempt with 14 seconds left to beat Tattnall by two.
Stratford watched things go very well for Aquinas, which had the answers on the road to beat the Eagles.
Mount de Sales got the lone Macon win in the crossover, but struggled with two-win Hancock Central and trailed at halftime, and needing 14 fourth-quarter points for the 15-point cushion.
Wilkinson County beat Greene County 53-27 for the west’s other win.