The first losses, the upsets, statement wins, milestone wins, first games of the season. Who did what?
Have breakfast with Central Georgia’s only complete roundup, awaiting you and the sun. Any update will be around noon Saturday, based on information contributions from teams.
Teams: send info to centralgasports@gmail.com by 10:30 a.m. Saturday for the noon final update
Dear coaches and teams: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE UPDATE YOUR MAXPREPS ROSTERS, so kids can accurately be credited for doing good things. Ditto schedules, results, and stats.
Class 6A
Houston County 21, Newton 7
Houston County beat a 7A team in its first game against a 7A team.
No. 3 Colquitt County 63, Northside 14
The Packers took advantage of another rough night mistake-wise for the Eagles, who were down 14-0 after one and 42-0 after two. Optimism didn’t last long, Orion Bonner returning the opening kickoff 77 yards for a score. Northside kept Colquitt County out of the end zone until the final minute of the quarter, but the Packers scored at the 9:36 mark of the second quarter, then at 7:46, 4:50, and 2:48, on a fumble recovery for a TD, 12-yard pass, 82-yard pass, and punt block.
The Packers outgained the Eagles 359-303, but on 35 fewer snaps. The Eagles were picked off three times and lost a fumble, while the Packers were turnover free. Elijah Robinson was 14 of 28 for 200 yards for Northside.
Class 5A
Jones County 34, Stockbridge 6
The Greyhounds won their second straight game, having outscored the last two opponents 96-28.
No.3/3A Oconee County 14, No. 5/5A Veterans 6
The Warhawks suffered from mistakes, against a good team that came out fired up looking for its 300th win all-time. Veterans trailed 14-3 until Daniel Gibbs drilled a field goal of more than 50 yards, after missing a fairly routine one earlier, which came after his first one got the Warhawks on the board with 5:56 left in the first half. But the Warhawks couldn’t take advantage of any good fortunte the rest of the way, despite pulling to within a possession almost three minutes into the fourth quarter.
No. 3/6A Lee County 27, No. 1/5A Warner Robins 7
It was a grinder of a game, the hosts scoring first in the final minutes of the first quarter and late in the second quarter for a 13-0 halftime lead. Ahmad Walker scored late in the third quarter, but the Demons were unable to get the offense going in suffering their first loss. It was the first time Warner Robins had been held below 10 points since the 38-0 loss to Rome in the 2017 5A championship game, and the first time in the regular season since a 55-3 loss to Northside to open the 2016 season.
Class 4A
Perry 49, Rutland 12
The region opener was good for the home team, which poured it on in the first half leading 49-0 at the break. They got first-quarter touchdowns from Makeil Kendrick (1-yard run), Daequan Wright (13-yard pass from Lane Rucker), and Curtis Head (4-yard run). It was Perry’s highest point total since a 49-8 win over Dougherty in 2017.
West Laurens 14, Spalding 7
The Raiders were in jeopardy of suffering a massive upset at home, trailing 7-0 from early in the third until late in the third, and getting the game-winner on Chris Boston’s long punt return for a score midway through the fourth. The Raiders then had to hold on.
Baldwin 35, Westside 28
The Braves came out hot in their first game of the season, leading 21-7 after one and at halftime. Westside scored, early in the third to pull within a score, but Baldwin answered with a TD pass and then a scoring run for a 35-14 lead late in the third. The Seminoles answered at the 4:45 mark of the fourth quarter, and again with 55 seconds left, but the Braves were able to run out the clock.
Class 3A
No. 4 Peach County 53, Americus-Sumter 3
Peach County cracked the 50-point mark for the second time this season en route to its largest margin of victory since beating Rutland 75-0 last year. The Trojans have had at least two 50-point scoring games now in four straight seasons.
Central 36, Mary Persons 20
The Chargers pulled off their biggest win over a program of state-wide renown since topping Warner Robins 7-3 in 1997 (Tony Gilbert’s senior year), and not including 21-14 over Dublin in 2003, before the Irish really got rolling under Roger Holmes. Central is 3-1 or better for the first time since 2016 (5-0 start, 6-4 season) and 2-0 in region play for the first time since 2012 (finished 2-8), and has won two straight games by double figures for the first time since 2016 (20-8 over Northeast and 20-0 over Kendrick), and picked up a pair of back to back road wins for the first time since 2008 (34-6 at Monticello and 34-0 at Putnam County).
They did it on the shoulders of running back Maurice Elder, who bulled and blasted for 238 yards and four touchdowns on2 5 carries, and another 76 yards on 22 carries from quarterback Jalik Thomas. The Charger D held Mary Persons to 112 yards rushing.
No. 2 Crisp County 32, Upson-Lee 0
The Knights were hanging tough, and then mistakes took over, and an 8-0 deficit became 14-0, and then 20-0 early in the third quarter after a punt block became a touchdown. Upson-Lee lost Detravious Mathis, among the top 10 rushers in the state, to a first-half leg injury.
Class AA
Bleckley County 38, Dodge County 33, Thursday
The Indians got the ball back on a fumble late in the third quarter, but were held and turned it over on downs with a half-minute left. Dodge County scored in the final seconds of the second quarter with a 21-15 lead.
Washington County 31, Lamar County 6, Thursday
It was tied 3-3 after one, but the Golden Hawks got a 51-yard run and 2-yard run in the second quarter for a 17-6 halftime lead, adding a big-play score in the third and in the fourth quarters.
Putnam County 24, Laney 8
The War Eagles earned their third road win of the year to improve to 2-0 in region play for the first time since 2015. Putnam County has matched or passed its win total of the previous four straight seasons, and is two away from the seven-win season of 2015, the last winning year at Putnam County.
Jasper County/Monticello 36, Southwest 22
The Hurricanes cracked 30 points for the second straight week for the first time since the end of the 2018 season (36-33 over Banks County and 36-28 over Social Circle), and won their region opener for the first time since 2014 (36-12 over Putnam County).
Class A
Wilkinson County 32, ACE 18
No. 7 Dublin 50, Dooly County 0
The Bobcats’ first game of the year was certainly not worth waiting for. JT Wright scored a pair of second-quarter scores, including a 60-yard run, to help Dublin to a 36-0 halftime lead, adding another long run early in the fourth. Kendall Wade chipped in a 70-yard kickoff return in Dublin’s biggest shutout win since 63-0 over East Laurens in 2018, which came three games after beating Tattnall 55-0. The Bobcats suffered their worst loss since 60-6 to top-ranked Cook in the second round of the 2001 AA playoffs.
GMC 48, John Hancock 0, Thursday
The Bulldogs topped the GAPPS program by recording its second shutout of the year and most points since beating ACE 63-0 in 2018. GMC outgained John Hancock 346-39 in total offense, 269 coming on the ground. Yasir Saleem averaged more than 10 yards a carry with 165 yards and three TDs on 15 carries.
Savannah Christian 40, Mount de Sales 11
The Cavs took the lead on Cason Nutgrass’ 38-yard field goal with 4:57 left in the first quarter, and it was downhill after that for the visitors. Savannah Christian scored 55 seconds later and added a score at the end of the first quarter. The hosts started pulling away with a second-quarter touchdown while blanking the Cavs, who got a 48-yard score form A’khori Jones at the 8:50 mark of the third quarter, but couldn’t mount anything after that.
MdS was outgained 334-315 in total offense, but the Cavs didn’t complete a pass. Jones went off for 215 yards on 22 carries.
Stratford 28, Savannah Country Day 21
Ben Jameson raced in from 60 yards out with 6:27 left in the game to put the Eagles back on top. Then the defense and special teams made it stand, Stratford getting the final stop inside a minute. SCD tied it with 7:20 left in the game after Keondre Glover’s touchdown, set up by a blocked punt.
Aquinas 47, Tattnall 7
A fairly close first-quarter game when haywire in the second quarter as Aquinas made Tattnall pay for everything, leading 34-0 at halftime en route to handing the Trojans their worst loss since 55-0 to Dublin early in the 2018 season. Cade Bloodworth’s run with 3:05 left broke the shutout.
No. 8 Taylor County 27, Manchester 17
Two-way standout Jabin Ford took an interception back 82 yards on the final play of the half for a 14-10 halftime lead only for Manchester to go up 17-14 with 3:14 left in the third. Then versatile standout Nate Patterson returned the momentum back to the Vikings for good with a 47-yard blast up the middle inside the final minute of the third quarter for a 21-17 lead. Delonte Davis sealed it with a 31-yard pick-6 off a tipped pass – Jarell Brown interrupted the receiver - with just more than two minutes left.
Toombs County 17, No. 3 Macon County 14
It was 7-7 at halftime, and 14-14 late in the third quarter. Toombs County then kicked the game-winning field goal from 42-yards in the final few minutes to hand Macon County its first loss of the season.
Warren County 62, Crawford County 6
Wheeler County 44, Hawkinsville 34, Thursday
Hawkinsville went down by three touchdowns and came back to within a score, but couldn’t get any closer.
GISA/GAPPS
John Milledge 40, Gatewood 0
The defending 3A champs took control with a 21-0 first quarter before things stalled to a scoreless second quarter. The Trojans added a score in the third and TD, safety, and field goal in the fourth.
Grayson Hopkins scored on runs of 66 and 2 yards, KJ Jackson from 8 and 35, and Carson Dyer from 2, Tommy Collier adding a 27-yard field goal. John Milledge’s defense sent Gatewood backward for minus-22 yards rushing and minus-5 passing. Hopkins ran for 92 yards.
Westfield 57, Piedmont 22
The Hornets led for three minutes, and then trailed for about three minutes, and then went off. Westfield outscored Piedmont 29-7 in the second quarter, Gaving Vining starting it with a 4-yard score five seconds into the quarter, followed a little more than three minutes later by a 2-yarder from Walker Young. After Piedmont broke through with another score, Porter Faulk scored twice in the final four minutes, from 20 and 2 yards. Faulk and Young along with Noah Blackmon scored in the second half.
The Hornets outgained the Cougars 557-294 in total offense, 478-42 on 30 more rushes. Vining went for 141 yards on 13 carries, Faulk for 78 on nine, Young for 64 on six and Blackmon two for 77.
CFCA 46, Georgia Christian 0
Fullington vs. Griffin