Central Georgia Sports ReportComment

HSFB2019 roundup: Houston County pulls off the shocker

Central Georgia Sports ReportComment
HSFB2019 roundup: Houston County pulls off the shocker

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

Final update coming around 11 a.m. Saturday. Teams: send info, stats, and details to centralgasports@gmail.com by 10:30 a.m. Saturday

          Football giveth, and football taketh away.

          It has taken away from Houston County the past few years, from assorted transfers to a coaching change.

          The game gave back a little Friday night.

          Max Rigby came up huge in a variety of ways, none bigger than his pass to the left side of the end zone to Jaylen Mills for the game-winning two-point conversion as Houston County stunned Peach County 32-31 at Freedom Field.

          Houston County (4-0) scored late in the first half to make it a 10-7 game at halftime, and then answered a Trojan score with a 36-yard Rigby field goal, a career long.

          The Trojans (2-1) had a 24-10 lead with a few minutes left in the third quarter, only for the senior-laden Bears – who had lost to the Trojans by 30 and 35 points the last two years – to gut their way back.

 

 

          Houston County tied it in the fourth quarter, a fumble recovery leading to one touchdown.

          “To be behind by 14 
 against that crowd,” Houston County head coach Ryan Crawford said. “We got a turnover, made a play, got a stop.

          And the teams slugged it out the rest of the way, unable to take advantage of any breaks.

          Peach County scored in four plays in overtime and booted the extra point.

          Houston County faced a third and 10, but Rigby found senior Isai Harris for 13 down the left sideline for first and goal.

          Eric Williams went in from a yard out on second down, pulling Houston County within 31-30. Decision time.

          “We had a third and long we had to convert,” Crawford said. “I told Coach (Ben Bailey, offensive coordinator), I said, ‘Look, we’re gonna score right here, and we’re gonna go for two.’”

          Both teams called timeout, giving the Bears a chance to calm down. But the chance to think didn’t change Crawford’s mind.

          “It kinda got us calmed down,” Crawford said. “And Coach (Bailey) called a good play.”

          Mills was in the slot to the left, and simple took a few steps and cut left and turned, and there was the game-winning pass.

          “Max and Mills, they’ve played together a long time,” Crawford said. “It got open, (Rigby) laid it up there to him, and that was it.”

          It was a huge upset, considering the last two scores in this matchup have been 49-14 and 44-14 in favor of the Trojans. The Bears were coming off a pair of two-win seasons and a number of blowouts along the, the roster and depth lessened by transfers.

          “I told our guys all week that this is not the same team (Peach County) played the past couple years,” Crawford said. “They got a bunch of seniors, we got a bunch of seniors, and our kids have been working hard.

          “They have great players, but I think our kids just believed.”

          Crawford said after last season that he thought the program was getting back to where it should be, and that players were staying to fight.

          One of those players is Wesley Steiner, who was an all-region running back as a sophomore, suffered a hand injury entering last season and developed into one of the top linebackers in the nation.

          The Auburn commit is part of an improved defense that knew it would have a task against an experienced and explosive Peach County offense. He was in on 16 tackles against the Trojans.

          But Crawford said the unit made enough plays without letting the Trojans’ playmaker have a normal – and explosive – night. That included at the end of regulation when Peach County started on their 34 with 47 seconds left.

          The Trojans again have a quality kicker in Jonathan Lupian, so getting into field-goal range wasn’t improbable. The Bears defense and a penalty took care of that.

          Crawford wanted the Bears to at least hold their own in field position.

          “I learned a long time ago from Coach (Conrad) Nix you want to end every drive with a kick,” said Crawford, a former Northside assistant. “If you can’t get a touchdown, kick it down there and flip the field. I thought we were able to do that a couple times. Until they hit a big play.”

          Houston County ran seven more plays and outgained the Trojans by 34 yards. Rigby helped the Bears to a 7-for-15 third-down rate by passing for 272 yards, the Bears outgained 194-39 on the ground.

          Jaydon Gibson was 11 of 15 for 83 yards, running for 85 yards, five more than Noah Whittington on 13 fewer tries.

          Crawford said the Bears have some playmakers themselves, and while Houston County trailed 10-7 at halftime, he was happy with how hard he thought the Bears made the Trojans work.

          “We have some explosive players on offense. We just have to get them the ball. I think the first half, if we didn’t do anything, we were able to tire them out a little bit, and make it a four-quarter game.

          “I felt like our guys would be in really good shape at the end of the game, and that proved to be true.”

          The good news for Houston County?

          “Unfortunately, tonight, we made a bunch of mistakes,” Crawford said. “We didn’t play very well at times. They had a lot to do with that. But we had a lot of penalties, we turned the ball over. We hadn’t done any of that all year.

          “I don’t think we played great. I think we made some plays at the right time. But we left a lot of plays out on the field.”

          He wasn’t ready to humble his team with a film review and grading performances just yet, though.

          “We played good,” Crawford said. “The guys did a great job of fighting, not quitting. Unreal.”

 

Thursday

Southwest 34, Central 33

Friday

Appling County 42, Dodge County 7
          The Pirates’ running game was on point, cracking the 300-yard mark. It was 7-0 after a quarter, and then two rushing and one passing score later, it was 21-0 before Dodge County got a late second-quarter touchdown. But the Indians couldn’t get anything else going, and suffered the biggest loss in series history, one point worse than Appling County’s 34-0 win in the first meeting, in 1957.

Burke County 49, Wilkinson County 6

Clinch County 47, Dooly County 12

Crawford County 42, Glascock County 22

East Laurens 54, Wheeler County 6
          The Falcons tied the fifth-most points scored in program history (54-12 over Telfair County, 1984), and tied the third-largest margin of victory (48-0 over Vidalia, 1990). East Laurens has scored 102 points in the past two games with Wheeler County.

Fitzgerald 21, Upson-Lee 18
          The Knights watched a sure win turn into a heartbreaking loss in the final seconds, although going 0-for-3 on PAT and conversions were all but fatal, too. Upson-Lee trailed 14-6, and scored on consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter for an 18-14 lead, taking the lead on Jake Davis’ short keeper with 44 seconds left. But Fitzgerald scored the game-winner on a long pass play with 12 seconds left.

FPD 42, Hancock Central 14
          The Vikings led 21-14 at halftime when a lightning delay hit, and they added a touchdown upon resumption for a two-touchdown lead after three.

GMC 23, ACE 14

Holy Innocents 31, Rutland 0

Howard 49, Westside 21
          The Huskies beat the Seminoles for the second straight year, and put the second-most points on Westside in program history, tying the total of Peach County in a 49-16 win in 2014. It was also Westside’s biggest margin of defeat since that loss. The Huskies, meanwhile, scored the third-most points in program history and fifth-largest margin of victory. It was Howard’s most impressive win over Class 3A or bigger playoff-caliber team.

Jones County 28, Union Grove 21
          The Greyhounds opened Region 4-5A play with a tough road win against a team they beat 55-7 last year. Union Grove scored first, and Jones County made it a 7-all game at halftime before pulling ahead 28-14 in the third quarter and held on. The average margin of Jones County’s last three wins in the series was 35.6 points.

Lincoln County 25, Tattnall 0
          The Trojans were shut out by a Class A team for the first time since losing 26-0 to Wilkinson County in 2015.

Mary Persons at Lovett, ppd., 5 p.m. Saturday

Monticello at North Cobb Christian, ppd.

Northside 35, Whitewater 6
          The Eagles took over after a scoreless first quarter, leading 14-0 at halftime on a pair of Mason Ford TD runs. They added two more scores in the third, on a 23-yard Ford run and when Micah Thurmon recovered a blocked punt for a score. Whitewater broke the shutout with 8:09 left in the game, the Eagles adding a Zikhyree Hill run three minutes later. Northside held a 341-236 total offense advantage on 18 fewer plays. The teams combined for a 15-for-40 passing night, Whitewater gaining 143 yards to 63 for Northside. The Eagles averaged 9 yards per run, led by Ford’s 122 yards on 14 carries, and survived 11 penalties.

Perry 45, Monroe 20
          The Panthers scored the most points since beating Dougherty 49-22 in 2017, on Sept. 28, two weeks after beating Harris County 49-22. The Panthers won 43-0 last year. Markell Kendrick ran for 128 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries for Perry, Tyrell Owens adding 98 on five. Lane Rucker was 15 of 22 for 245 yards, spreading the ball around.

Statesboro 29, Veterans 19
          The old tale-of-two-halves story, Veterans leading 12-7 at halftime and then holding on to a 19-14 lead. Statesboro had a big second half, taking a 22-19 lead with 4:50 left, and then sealing it with a pick-6 only a few minutes later.

Stratford 14, Washington-Wilkes 7
          The Eagles led 7-0 at the half, the Tigers tying it with 3:49 left in the third quarter. Stratford took the lead on Raelen Jones’ 3-yard TD run with 8:26 left in the game. W-W gave it up downs with just less than four minutes left, and Stratford ran the clock down inside 20 seconds.

Taylor County 41, Central Talbotton 7

Twiggs County at Warren County

Warner Robins 37, Baldwin 14
          A TD pass from Jalen Addie to Armon Porter on fourth down got the Demons going, and field goals from Cary Payne made it 13-0 at the half. Pinned inside the 5 on the second-half kickoff, the Demons – who survived a brutally heavy night of penalties - quickly got a 93-yard catch-and-run from Porter. The Braves broke the shutout midway through the third, but the Demons recovered a fumble in the end zone to go up 27-7 with about three minutes left in the third.

Washington County at Greenbrier, ppd., 5 p.m., Saturday

Saturday

Manchester at Northeast, Thompson, 7 p.m.

 

GISA/GAPPS

Gatewood 27, Brentwood 10
          The Gators broke a 10-10 halftime tie with 17 straight points, one score in the third quarter, to ease away. John Decker’s 70-yard touchdown three minutes into the third put the Gators on top. At almost the same point of the fourth quarter, Gatewood added insurance on Jayson Burner’s 39-yard field goal, and sealed it five minutes later on Walt Jarrett’s 26-yard run. Brentwood got a 38-yard TD from McKinely Newton and 33-yard field goal from Zeb Chapman to tie it 17 seconds into the second quarter. Both teams neared 300 yards in rushing, Gatewood’s 297 topping Brentwood by seven. Jarrett topped Gatewood with 169 yards on 12 carries, while  Chase Everett had 127 for Brentwood.

John Milledge 56, Trinity Christian 7

Piedmont 13, Westwood 7 (Thursday)

Tiftarea 56, Westfield 0

CFCA 33, John Hancock 12

Fullington vs. Lanier