By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

Chad Campbell wasn’t too happy with what he’d seen in a scrimmage and in some practices, and was worried.

Peach County had to replace a chunk of quality players on both sides of the ball, and the indoctrination to the season was huge, Northside.

The new Trojans came through pretty well.

Quarterback Jaydon Gibson dazzled with his feet and arm and the Trojans defense was solid in Peach County’s 27-24 win Saturday night over Northside in the Macon Touchdown Club Middle Georgia Kickoff Classic at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium.

About 8,500 were on hand for a quality battle between the No. 3 team in Class 6A and the No. 4 team in Class 3A, who knew each other mostly from scrimmages before resuming a regular-season series dormant since 2005.

“This place was filled up, man,” said Campbell, clearly pretty amped with the evening. “You can’t beat this. I think they won on this, don’t y’all think?”

Trojan head coach Chad Campbell had many concerns entering Saturday's game against Northside, but a 27-24 win can have a calming effect.

Video: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com

Gibson gave the large crowd plenty of entertainment, looking anything like a newbie QB.

“He’s just a winner,” Campbell said. “He might be 5-foot-8, but he’s a gamer. I know a lot of people … say, ‘We got a 5-foot-8 quarterback.’”

Campbell sort of smirked as his players celebrated near the band and with fans.

“Yeah, so. He can get the job done. That’s the bottom line.”

Gibson kept making plays, and had some help from a Northside defense that didn’t make enough plays.

“We took bad angles,” head coach Kevin Kinsler said. “They didn’t read their keys and come up. He did a good job, I’ll give him credit for that.”

Northside led 10-7 late in the second quarter after a 40-yard Cory Munson field goal, but Peach County took it after Sergio Allen’s interception in traffic with 14 seconds left.

“Fourteen points came off balls that came off our receiver’s hands,” Kinsler said, also referencing a tipped fourth-and-3 pass that Keyshawn Cobb picked off at the Trojans’ 25 to start a scoring drive. Those things can’t happen.”

The stands in the final few minutes were a little less crowded than earlier, for a logistical reason or two, but it was quite the playoff atmosphere for the nightcap at the Macon Touchdown Club Middle Georgia Kickoff Classic.

Video: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com

Gibson threw a perfect fade pass to the left corner to Alex Henton from 11 yards out, and the Trojans took a 14-10 lead into the locker room.

The Eagles answered impressively, driving 80 yards on 16 plays to open the third quarter, Eric Smith finishing it off with a 2-yard run after Northside eliminated almost 7:32 from the clock.

Northside, the veteran head coach said, needs to grow up, and quickly. He saw too many simple mistakes in the 27-24 loss to Peach County in the Macon Touchdown Club Middle Georgia Kickoff Classic.

Video: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, ww.centralgasports.com

But Gibson, showing marvelous balance and quality reads in his quarterbacking debut, went right back it. The drive started on the 16, and the junior converted a third down, connected with Millard Thomas for 44 yards and then ran 22 yards.

He was on target to an open Noah Whittington from two yards out, and the PAT from Jonathan Nieto made it 21-17 at the 1:08 mark of the third quarter.

The Eagles’ answer this time was a three-and-out, Peach County taking over at its 43. The Trojans needed five runs and a pass to cover it, Gibson keeping around the left side and barely getting in from six yards out.

The PAT was partially blocked and no good, but the lead was 27-17 with less than 10 minutes left.

Peach County reopened the door for Northside with a fumble on its side of the field, and the Eagles covered the 35 yards in four plays, keyed by a 15-yard slant pass from Jadin Daniels to Willie Northern, Deandre McKenzie scoring from the 3 and Munson’s kick making it a three-point game with 4:04 left in the game.

Northside’s defense bowed up, keyed by Nate Trevino and Taryn Jefferson, and forced a three and out to get the ball back with 2:23 remaining.

But the Eagles lost 10 on a block in the back on the punt return, and then five on a first-down false start.

Jaqualin McGhee and Donovan Mabry teamed for a sack and loss of nine on third and nine, putting Northside in a brutal fourth and 18. Daniels came up about six yards short.

The quarterbacks led their teams on offense.

Gibson had 105 yards on 18 carries, and completed 16 of 20 for 152 yards, while Daniels ran for 114 on 15 tries and was 15 of 25 for 120 yards.

Northside’s loss in the 2017 season opener to Class 5A Warner Robins broke a 24-game winning streak against lower classifications for the Eagles. The last win before that? A 14-0 Peach County win on Sept. 12, 1997.

Peach County, on the other hand, is used to taking down bigger – and bigger ranked – game. The Trojans were 15-5 in their last 20 games against higher-class schools.

Saturday was a change in fine-tuning Campbell didn’t know if he’d see just yet.

“We made a lot of improvement the last two weeks,” he said. “I challenged the kids. I wanted to see how much improvement we made in the last two weeks from the scrimmage (where) we made a lot of mistakes.”