Jefferson has just enough offense and defense to hold off West Laurens in GHSA Class AAA semifinal, ending Raiders' historic season (and semifinal scores)
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Get the run game going, and stop the run.
Jefferson did both just good enough, and a little better than West Laurens, and the Dragons turned it into a gritty 17-13 win Friday night in a GHSA Class AAA semifinal game.
West Laurens’ historic season ended at 13-1 in front of a huge Raiders road crowd, while Jefferson advanced to its second straight championship game with a 13-1 record.
An ankle injury suffered last week by standout Ty Cummings lingered, and drastically slowed down the Georgia Southern-bound back whose night was done after a major tweaking of the ankle early in the second half, further squelching West Laurens’ chances against a defense that had the Raiders’ number no matter who the ball went to.
Cummings took snaps out of the gun in the first half, but handed off. He caught a pass for a short gain, and ran twice for minus 3 yards, and threw an incomplete pass.
Semifinal scores
Class 6A
Carrollton 48, North Gwinnett 21
Buford 39, Valdosta 7
Class 5A
Gainesville 40, Hughes 32
Rome 31, Jackson County 17
Class 4A
Creekside 35, Kell 6
Benedicitne 28, Marist 20
Class AAA
Jefferson 17, Wes Laurens 13
Sandy Creek 42, LaGrange 24
Class AA
Hapeville Charter 24, Sumter County 18
Carver-Columbus 33, Burke County 14
Class A/Division I
Toombs County 40, Heard County 14
Worth County 32, Pepperell 12
Class A/Division II
Bowdon 45, Clinch County 6
Lincoln County 34, Early County 0
Class A-3A Private
Calvary Day 24, Fellowship Christian 7
Hebron Christian 50, Greater Atlanta Christian
Still, the Raiders were down only 14-13 at halftime, despite no Cummings and while severely losing the field position battle.
Darren Pinkard’s 19-yard run put Jefferson up 7-0 with 1:32 left in the first quarter, and backup quarterback J.D Hogan, a sophomore answered almost a minute later with a shifty read – or on a broken play - and 80-yard run down the left sideline.
West Laurens appeared to get the ball back when it squirted out of quarterback Colton Grant’s hand when he was hit, but officials ruled it an incomplete pass – inside Jefferson’s 30 – rather than a fumble
An intentional grounding call with West Laurens already in a deep hole led to a punt from the end zone, Jefferson taking over on its 18. Six plays later, quarterback Colton Grant scored from the 1 for a 14-7 lead with 5:57 left in the half.
The offense needed help, and got it two minutes later.
A pass to Dalton Dye was behind him, and Jayce Blash turned just in time to bobble and catch it, and take it back 51 yards for a touchdown. But the PAT kick was wide left, leaving the Raiders down 14-13 with 3:50 left in the half.
Jefferson, after another big field position win, was set for another punch, taking over on its 32 after a 7-yard sack for another end zone punt. But linebacker Shannon Adkins appeared to be more of the target than a receiver and picked off the first down pass inside the final 30 seconds, and the struggling Raiders were down only one at halftime.
West Laurens chances took a major but not unexpected hit a few minutes into the third quarter when Cummings limped to the sideline for the night after a 4-yard gain, Jefferson continuing its stranglehold on the Raiders’ perimeter game. He finished with a yard on four carries.
The slugfest continued, with Jefferson unable to take advantage of field position until Taylor McCall added a 39-yard field goal with 3:50 left in the third for a 17-13 lead.
The rest of the game, West Laurens’ defense matched Jefferson’s, which maintained a field position advantage but couldn’t convert anything into points. The Raiders started second-half possessions on their 10, 20, 16, 10, and 2, compared to the 36, 37, and West Laurens’ 47, 40, and 31.
West Laurens was stuffed on fourth and 1 at its own 31, and gave Jefferson the ball and good field position with 3:07 left.
The Dragons were stopped inside the 5 late, leaving West Laurens with 98 yards and 21 seconds at the end of the game.
West Laurens played Hogan and Cason Pollack pretty evenly at quarterback, but the Raiders had only three plays of more than 10 yards: Hogan’s 80-yard, 13 on a fake punt run by Hogan, and a game-ending 15-yard pass to Juvon Hill.
The defenses had huge nights. West Laurens managed 142 yards on offense to 178 for Jefferson.