The muscles belonged to Perry, and so did the GHSA Class AAAA state championship trophy
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
ATLANTA
If patience is a virtue, well, ask Perry football fans. They haven’t felt all that virtuous over many a fall high school football season.
If good things come to those who wait, maybe ask a Perry fan about that.
and the crowd knows it. Video: Michael A. Lough/Central Georgia Sports Report
Panther Nation waited and waited and waited, and 70 years of waiting came to a glorious and impressive end Tuesday night when the Panthers flexed the muscles some thought the other team had more of and beat favored Stockbridge 38-27 for the GHSA Class AAAA state championship.
Perry played in the final game of the season for the first time in its 70-year football existence, Stockbridge doing the same with 10 fewer years to wait.
“I’m lost for words,” head coach Kevin Smith said after doing what few thought possible in such a short time, turn Perry from aspiring simply to the playoffs into a state champion in a county that’s fairly used to such things, at other schools. “We were just a little bit better tonight.”
And then came a little stuttering.
“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know, uh. I’m just so proud for this group. They’re a special group. We talked about all season about getting to the door, and busting the door in. We did that tonight.”
And Perry hasn’t sniffed that championship door before.
The defense gave up 125 rushing yards to Jayden Scott and 123 to Cobey Thompkins, but came up with clutch play after clutch play and didn’t let big plays be repeated. From defensive linemen Trevor Hanson and Cashious Williams to linebacker Jerrel Pinckney to defensive backs Trejean Day and and Tavares Simmons Jr. and everybody near them, the Panthers bent – more in the first half – but never broke, and bent less as time went on.
The offense had two halves. The first half belonged to quarterback Colter Ginn and receiver Dakarai Anderson, sort of. Perry threw 14 passes and had only five runs, a sack included. Ahmad Gordon hadn’t been so rested at halftime since, well, last year when he was a backup. He finished with 82 yards on 17 carries, 85 yards and 15 carries in the second half.
Ginn finished 16 of 27 for 261 yards and a score, with one touchdown. Anderson caught seven passes for 148 yards and a score, Kory Pettigrew adding four for 67. Thompkins was 16 of 27 fof 155 yards and three touchdowns for Stockbridge.
Perry pulled away despite being outgained 412-333, and on 20 fewer snaps.
Stockbridge flexed some mighty muscles by opening the game with a 15-play, 84-yard drive that at up 6:09 of the first quarter, Jayden Howard taking in a 7-ard pass from Cobey Thompkins.
Perry hardly blinked.
“I really wasn’t thinking about that,” Anderson said. “I was just focused on the game. The game was going to be hard. We knew that coming into the game. We just gotta finish the game.”
And the Panthers started early with a nice answer. Ginn threw underneath to Anderson, who kept his balance among hits and tip-toed down the sideline for 69 yards, the play upheld by review. Four plays later, Gordon went in from a yard out to tie it.
The Panthers didn’t do too much with two prime opportunities to take some control in the second quarter, courtesy of consecutive doinked straight-up punts.
The first gave Perry the ball on Stockbridge’s 10 after Simmons returned it 17 yards. But the Panthers chose air, and three incompletions later – one a near interception – settled for a 26-yard Zack Peacock field goal.
Next possession, Perry’s defense bowed up after a first down. Stockbridge’s punt actually landed at line of scrimmage, its own 44.
A 31-yard pass play was overturned, because receiver Rodarius Lewis didn’t quite complete the catch. Ginn was dumped for a loss of eight on third down and the Panthers punted.
Stockbridge turned in another impressive drive, going 78 yards on 11 plays and converting one third and one fourth down along the way, surviving a first-play holding penalty that nullified a 34-yard gain.
Thompkins rolled right and threw back across the field to an open Howard for a 21-yard score with 1:43 left in the half, giving the Tigers a 14-10 lead.
Not for long.
Lewis had a decent kickoff return going but fumbled. A few Tigers bounced it around, and Perry’s Gesha’nn Heard scooped it up and went 54 yards for a huge momentum-changing touchdown 16 seconds later.
Good coverage – which Perry had all night long - put Stockbridge back on its 15, and the Tigers aggressively ran the clock out with some pass plays hoping for a breakdown.
Perry was outgained 254-124 in the first half, running only 19 plays to Stockbridge’s 43. The Panthers basically abandoned the run with only five carries, throwing the ball on every snap in the second quarter, save for that sack of Ginn.
“That really was the plan,” Anderson said. “We’ve been running the ball all year, all year. So we knew if we came out slinging it, they’ll back up and we’ll be able to run it down their throat the whole game.”
Perry led 17-14 at halftime, and came out strong with a 10-play, 67-yard drive to open the third quarter, eating up more than four minutes with a balanced offense of four run calls and six pass calls, Stockbridge getting a sack. Ginn connected with Pettigrew for 41 yards on a great catch, and then for a 13-yarder to set up Gordon’s 4-yard run for a 24-14 lead at the 7:23 mark of the third quarter.
Sparked by two big stops from Pinckney, including an 8-yard sack, the Panther defense forced a punt only for Ginn to overthrow his target and get picked off. Stockbridge went 43 yards on four plays to get within three.
Not for long, again.
The run game emerged, Gordon breaking off a it-had-to-feel-good 30-yarder around the right side. Ginn and Anderson hooked up for an 18-yarder and then the 5-yard score, and it was a 10-point lead again with 91 seconds left in the third.
Stockbridge started another nice drive that was soon stuffed, by Pinckney, and then Simmons, and then Ashlon shley batting down a fourth-and-9 pass.
Knocking down that door became only a matter of time.
Perry went to that ground game, and gobbled up a glorious 6:09, covering 69 yards on 12 plays, Gordon going left, leaping over a defender and powering in for a 14-yard touchdown run, putting the Panthers up 38-21 with only 4:14 left until 70 years of waiting would be over.
Stockbridge battled, but needed 13 plays and 2:59 to score.
That was it.
And the game plan went basically as expected.
“We knew we had to throw the ball a little bit, loosen ‘em up,” Smith said. “That was the reason why we thought we could run the ball in the second half.”
They called three true runs on the first possession of the game, which ended in Gordon’s 1-yarder. It appeared Gordon was a little slow going back to the sidelines. Ginn scrambled for two late in the first quarter, and it was the pass game after that for the half.
Scott had 107 yards on 21 carries, and Thompkins was 10 of 16 for 97 yards. Ginn completed 7 of 14 for 131 yards. And Gordon, who averaged 21 carries and 122.9 yards a game, had two carries for minus three yards.
Whether or not Stockbridge was lulled into a sense of confidence or not, Perry was playing Perry football.
Championship football.
“I felt like when we came out and we made ‘em punt, I felt like we had a real good chance to beat ‘em,” Smith admitted. “This is the way we win games. We can run it, we can throw it.
“Our guys believe in the coaches, and we just got it done.”
Notes & Numbers
* Stockbridge almost doubled Perry in yards per rush, 5.7 to 2.9, yet Perry had three rushing touchdowns to one for Stockbridge
* Two players who had the biggest nights on defense for Perry were nowhere near the biggest Panthers. Tavares Simmons and Jerrell Pinckney are both 5-8, and listed as 135 pounds. Simmons led Perry with 10 tackles and a pass breakup, while Pinckney had 9 tackles, 2 sacks, and 3.5t tackles for loss plus a forced fumble
* 10 - Stockbridge had 24 first downs to 14 for Perry
* Perry’s special teams coverage was solid all night long. The Panthers forced the Tigers to start on their 16, 10, 22, 15, and 14 on assorted punts and kickoffs.
* Stockbridge had the ball for 17:26 in the first half to 6:34 for Perry, which led 14-7. In the second half, the Panthers had a 15:13-8:47 advantage, and outscored the Tigers 21-13. For the game, Stockbridge had it for 26:13, and Perry 21:47
* The teams combined for four drives of 10 plays or more – three for Stockbridge, one for Perry – and seven of 65 yards or more
* Perry had five passing plays of 15 yards or more and three rush plays of 10 yards or more, to 3 and 13 for Stockbridge, twice as many
* Both teams were pretty good on third down, Perry 7 for 11 and Stockbridge 11 of 17
* Perry’s defense racked up an impressive 10 tackles for loss, to six for Stockbridge.