By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

The quarterback passed for 136 fewer yards than normal, and for the first time all season, didn’t throw a touchdown pass.

The other team had one more first down, and racked up 156 more yards in total offense.

And who rode home deep into the Friday night with the trophy? The one with the less numbers, John Milledge.

The Trojans turned in solid performance in all phases – except for one very odd situation – and turned away Deerfield-Windsor 28-20 Friday night in the GIAA Class AAA state championship game at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium.

John Milledge finished 12-1 as did Deerfield-Windsor after its first loss.

*Photos: Brad Harrison/Special to The Central Georgia Sports Report*

As memorable as winning another state championship is, John Milledge won’t soon forget the final half-minute, for the Trojans had the odd experience of two “victory” formations, and they’ll never, ever forget either one.

The first one came after Deerfield-Windsor had scored to get within a touchdown, and John Milledge calmly ran the ball and ran time off the clock. Soon, the inevitable was at hand, and quarterback Lewis Cheney got behind center in the victory formation.

And all of a sudden, it was Deerfield-Windsor’s ball. What happened?
“I still don’t know,” head coach J.T. Wall said. “Just put two or three guys right there and they’re on the center. It used to be like everybody would teach kids how to slap the ball (at the snap), but they made that to where you can’t do that anymore.

“We swear that’s what the kid did, and they didn’t call it.”

Wall had taken off his headset and stuffed his play sheet in a pocket.

“I was like, what?” Wall said. “Oh my God.”

The game went from over, to, well, not so fast.

The Knights got the ball back on their own 36 with 30 seconds left and no timeouts, getting a first down on the first play.

JMA’s Malek Dorsey grabbed a pass down the middle of the field that bounced off of Jamel Cooper’s shoulder pad for a game-clinching interception and fell to his knees at the 27, as he did a week ago against Frederica.

This time, the Trojans properly executed the formation, with Cheney in the shotgun six yards behind the line.

“That way, you couldn’t snap it over his head,” Wall said. “Just, just get it.”

And finally, Deerfield-Windsor’s first loss of the season became its most painful.

The shootout that two touchdowns on the first two possessions hinted at never came to fruition, and the Knights and Trojans slugged it out.

John Milledge ended one threat with an interception in the end zone.

The Trojans went ahead on Asa Wall’s 1-yard score midway through the second quarter.

Deerfield-Windsor responded early in the third quarter when quarterback Lance Sceals connected with Gabe Daniel for a 39-yard score, but a failed conversion left the Knights down 14-12.

Deerfield-Windsor’s defense came up big and the offense appeared set to convert only for John Milledge’s defense to answer with a fourth-down stop

The offense made the Knights pay for it with Javaris Hurt’s 1-yarder to put John Milledge up 21-12 less than a minute into the fourth quarter. They kept Deerfield-Windsor at bay, including with another fourth-down stop, and gained control on Hurt’s 19-yard run for a 28-12 lead with 2:36 left.

The defending champs rallied, and suddenly were back within a score on David Hutchins’ impressive catch-and-run, good for 54 yards, the Knights this time getting the conversion to get within 28-20.

It was a play that made Wall cringe a little.

“We really should have given up 12,” he said. “We had two or three guys hit each other when they tried to make the tackle, and he broke the long one.

“We kept trying to keep everything in front of us.”

John Milledge recovered the onside kick and was on target to run the clock out, until the victory formation that wasn’t.

Deerfield-Windsor quarterback Lance Sceals was 32 of 52 for 426 yards and two interceptions, with 213 yards going to Hutchins.

Conversely, the Knights ran for just 16 yards.

“We’ve been really good against the run all year,” Wall said. “I think in the back of (coach Jake McCrae’s) mind, he wanted to run enough to keep us honest, and it wasn’t effective.”

Hurt ran for 179 yards and three scores, while Cheney had the quietest night of his career with a 2-of-7 game for 37 yards.

“I like to throw the (stuffing) out of the ball,” Wall said. “But I’m 99 percent positive we did not attempt a pass in the second half. We ran the (stuffing) out of it. The offensive line did a great job.”

It was fitting that a fairly odd game had a very odd finish.

“We felt like we left some points on the board,” Wall said. “We also felt like there were some chances we cold have taken that we didn’t take, just because of the way we were running the ball.

“When you’re gouging them with that run game, man, there ain’t no better feeling than that.”

Until the trophy presentation.