Sunday's Daily News 'n Notes: Rodenroth goes national; a painful Falcons loss; Macon TD Club speaker, honorees; Monday AM QB; Russell Henley; Scoreboard; UGA football
Sunday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.
Howard’s Rodenroth: from practice to national TV
Elizabeth Rodenroth had a huge Friday recently, scoring five points in a five-point win for Howard's football team, and being named homecoming queen in between a few kicks. It earned her a visit to the Kelly Clarkson Show. The episode aired Friday.
Falcons, like Georgia, lose heartbreaker in the most improbable way imaginable
Atlanta looked better than it had all year, which considering it gave up more than 300 first-half yards is saying something.
The Falcons led for the first quarter only to trail 20-10 at the half and 27-10 early in the third. But the defense stepped up – mostly – and the offense started clicking.
They tied it at 27 four minutes into the fourth quarter, and fell behind again with 5:12 left, and then tied it with 1:53 left in the game. Well, almost tied it.
As automatic a kicker as anybody in the game the past decade or go, Matt Bryant’s PAT was just wide left, leaving the Falcons a point short in a stunning 34-33 road loss.
Matt Ryan was 30 of 36 for 356 yards and four touchdowns, with no interceptions, and he was only sacked twice for 15 yards in losses. Rookie Kyler Murray was 27 of 37 for 340 yards, three touchdowns and no picks, and wasn’t sacked.
Atlanta’s running game picked up, with 103 yards, 88 coming from Devonta Freeman. Austin Hooper caught eight passes for 117 yards, Julio Jones eight for 108. Freeman caught two TD passes.
Bryant won’t forget for a long time
A PAT isn’t supposed to be that dramatic
Interesting call on punt return hurts Falcons
Does a new low mean ‘it’s time’?
Cards found mojo at Falcons expense
TD Club taps players from FPD, Jones County, and Central
Three players will be honored Monday night by the Macon Touchdown Club.
Central’s Jalik Thomas is the back of the week after rushing for 193 yards and passing for 90, accounting for four touchdowns and 283 yards total offense in the Chargers’ first win of the season, over Kendrick.
Jones County’s Josh Burney is the lineman of the week after getting five tackles, three assists, a tackle for loss and three quarterback hurries on 60 plays in the Greyhounds huge region win over Dutchtown.
FPD’s James Ives is the special teams player of the week after making all four PATs to go with a 43-yard field goal in the win over Wilkinson County.
Mount de Sales grad Chris Hatcher to speak at Macon TD Club
Samford head coach and Mount de Sales grad Chris Hatcher is Monday night’s speaker at the Macon Touchdown Club.
The club meets at the Methodist Home for Children and Youth, in the Rumford Center, at 304 Pierce Ave. It starts at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and the program to begin around 7. There is a one-time special-guest fee of $20, $10 below the regular non-member rate.
Mount de Sales is the featured high school. Former Auburn and Cincinnati head coach Tommy Tuberville is next week’s speaker.
Hatcher is in his fifth season at Samford, and is 30-23 after Saturday’s 48-41 upset OT loss at VMI. He is 151-80 in 20 seasons at Valdosta State (76-12), Georgia Southern (18-15), Murray State (27-30), and Samford, which fell to 3-4 and 2-2 after Saturday.
The Mount de Sales grad led Valdosta State as a player, passing for 11,363 yards and 121 touchdowns, earning the Harlon Hill Trophy – Division II’s Heisman – in 1994.
He returned to VSU as head coach and led the Blazers to the Division I national title.
Samford was a top-10 FCS team until losing to Mercer, and the Bulldogs have struggled since then but are 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the Southern Conference, tied for fourth.
The Bulldogs trying for the fifth straight winning season under Hatcher.
Samford has several Central Georgians on the roster: sophomore kicker Mitchell Fineran of Peach County, senior wideout D’Marcus Crawford of Putnam County, and junior wideout Will Bazemore of Mary Persons, freshman wideout Miles Morris of Tattnall, freshman offensive lineman Luke Byrne of Mary Persons.
Monday Morning Quarterback
Coming Monday morning: Central Georgia’s polls, Division I and Division II and all classes, Loughdmouthings, and more high school football.
In The Latest Coverage by mid-morning.
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Henley makes the cut and starts off well, but …
Russell Henley went from being in the hunt to looking up at those in the hunt at the Houston Open.
The Maconite made the cut for the fourth straight tournament this season after doing so in the final three normally-scored tournaments of last season.
In this season’s tournaments and 16 rounds, Henley has 12 rounds of 70 or better.
But he continues to battle some inconsistency, inevitably countering a good below-par round with a frustrating over-par round.
In Houston, he followed a 66 that had him in the top 10 with a pair of 77s, and then a solid 69.
He had two double bogeys in each of the middle two rounds to go with two bogeys in each. In the first round, he had an eagle and five birdies against one bogey. On Sunday, four birdies and a bogey.
Up next on the schedule is the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in South Korea, the first of six straight tournaments outside the U.S. THe next in-country tournament is just down the road, the RSM Classic at Sea Island on Nov. 21-24.
Scoreboard
College
Soccer
Peach State college football report
UGA: Down to No. 10, USCE gets some attention
UGA: Still in the playoff hunt
UGA:USC AD sorry for some hedge-trimming
UGA: Dabo, Lawrence not overly shocked