HS FB: Peach County mounts massive comeback; Warner Robins guts out postseason-saving win over Perry; Howard stops Westside; Northeast stunned; Brentwood knocked out at home
Come back Saturday morning and afternoon to check out the GHSA seedings and playoff pairings.
Editor’s note: Thanks to Dublin, FPD and John Milledge for sending box scores Friday night to The Central Georgia Sports Report.
Note: Scoretracker users, please note the time of major plays and all scores, and use names as much as possible. Please check accuracy of yardage listed as well.
CENTRAL GEORGIA’S BEST HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COVERAGE
This week
🏈 Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
🏈 Scouting Reports, Thursday
🏈 Maxwell Predictions
🏈 Who’s going to win this week’s games?
🏈 Central Georgia state composite rankings
🏈 Central Georgia rankings
🏈 GHSA's Post Season Playoff Rankings offer clarity and confusion, but Central Georgia's field is almost set ... almost
🏈 Macon Touchdown Club players of the week
Last week
🏈 Roundup: Jones County handles Warner Robins; Perry explodes; Bleckley County survives East Laurens; Routs for Washington County, Dublin, Taylor County, Macon County, Stratford, Windsor
🏈 Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
🏈 Maxwell Predictions
🏈 Who’s going to win this week’s games?
🏈 Central Georgia state composite rankings
🏈 Central Georgia rankings
🏈 Macon Touchdown Club players of the week
🏈🏈🏈GHSA🏈🏈🏈
Class 6A
Lee County 49, Houston County 7
The Trojans cruised from the start, leading 36-0 at halftime and losing the shutout in the fourth quarter.
Coffee 42, Veterans 8
The Trojans cruised from the start, leading 35-0 at halftime and losing the shutout in the third quarter. The loss effectively knocked the Warhawks from the playoff race.
Class 5A
Warner Robins 34 ,Perry 33
Perry led the entire game. Well, almost. Warner Robins got a free first down inside the final four minutes after an offside on fourth and 4. Warner Robins quarterback Chandler Dyson followed a sack with a 19-yard gain to reach the Perry 13 with 2:11 left in the game, the Demons down by six. On third and 8 from the 11, an under-pressure Dyson found Daylen Kirksey with the game-tying pass. Warner Robins made the PAT for the lead with 1:50 left.
The Demons got pressure on Perry quarterback Mardi Cobb and forced an off-balance pass that was picked off on third and 8 to seal the win and clinch a playoff spot for the Demons.
Class 4A
Baldwin 30, Spalding 25
Spalding’s Camauri Berry ran for 186 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough.
Howard 42, Westside 32
Howard no doubt had a familiar feeling, but avoided going home with that familiar feeling. The Huskies were finally able to hold on and beat Westside after four straight losses by a total of 20 points. Howard led 13-3 at halftime only for the Seminoles to pull within three on Jaiden Stephens TD pass. QB Zavion DeShazier answered with a rushing touchdown and then conversion pass for a 21-10 lead. Ta’Shawn Poole’s short run upped the lead to 18 and a fumble return made it a 35-10 game, followed by a long Euonice Brown TD run for a 42-10 lead in the fourth quarter. The Seminoles rallied, getting their final touchdown in the final few minutes.
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Mary Persons 43, Upson-Lee 14
It was over pretty quickly, the hosts racking up 36 first-quarter points, the final touchdown coming on a fumble return for a touchdown. The Bulldogs also scored in the first quarter on a pass, punt return, pass, and run.
Peach County 52, Troup 38 (Click here for full story)
Troup got the national publicity with a short story on the Today Show on Friday. Peach County got the memory and epic comeback, helping Troup blow a 26-point first-half lead in the showdown of top-3 teams in LaGrange.
Troup stormed out to a 26-0 first-quarter lead, Peach County responding with two straight touchdowns. The teams traded field goals, and Troup led 29-17 at halftime. The Trojans got a 51-yard TD run from quarterback Caiden Ivory to pull within 29-24 with 9:55 left in the third quarter. They gave two points back on a safety after a punt died at the 1, and Troup scored on the ensuing possession to go up 38-24.
Peach County stayed with the game plan, which meant some running, but it was Ivory’s short pass to 17 that got the Trojans back within a score at the 4:34 mark of the third quarter. Peach County got the ball back after some defensive penalties after a 53-yard field goal try was wide right, but didn’t convert. Then. Peach County failed on fourth down, but got it back on an interception early in the fourth quarter. A 37-yard pass from Ivory to Tristen Brown and then a fourth-down offsides set up Kamorious Smith’s 1-yard run, the PAT tying it at 38 with eight minutes left. Ivory kept it off the left side for an 80-yard touchdown with six minutes left, and the Trojans just kept on going to finish a 52-12 run.
The win gave Peach County its second region title under head coach Marquis Westbrook and the program’s 16th this century. The Trojans finish with a perfect regular season for the first time since 2014 and fourth since 2000.
West Laurens 22, Windsor Forest 12
The Raiders led 22-0 at halftime on three rushing touchdowns, and Windsor Forest rallied a bit in the fourth quarter after a scoreless third quarter.
Class AAA
Callaway 28, Northeast 24 (Click here for complete story)
A three-touchdown favorite at home with the chance to win its first outright region championship, Northeast was in a hole from the start and couldn’t completely climb out, matching Callaway’s touchdowns but failing on every conversion attempt. Callaway took a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, Jordan Wiggins finding Tavares Tinsley for a score to get the Raiders within a touchdown. Wiggins then ran it in a few minutes later, but Northeast failed on its second straight conversion. Callaway got 7, Northeast got 6 twice and the lead was 28-18. Landen Jefferson’s 9-yard run with 3:33 left got the Raiders back within a score, but the conversion pass was intercepted. Callaway recovered the onside kick, and then converted a third and 9 on a quarterback scramble to seal it.
Lamar County 32, Jackson 7
The hosts turned a close game, scoreless after a quarter, into a romp, starting with a 17-0 second quarter.Jackson kept Lamar County from its third shutout of the season midway through the fourth quarter.
Pike County 57, Southwest 14
The Pirates took the lead in the first three minutes and kept it, leading 21-8 at halftime en route to sending Southwest to its first 0-10 season since 2013.
Class AA
Dodge County 35, ACE 25
The visitors scored first and kept the lead the rest of the way, growing it to 15 points in the first quarter and fourth quarter, the hosts unable to get within a score after cutting the lead to 21-13 in the first quarter.
Dublin 56, East Laurens 28
The Laurens County battle was a battle for longer than most expected, East Laurens leading in the first quarter and within 35-27 at halftime. The third quarter was scoreless, and Dontavious Cannon got Dublin back on the board with a 4-yard run 37 seconds into the fourth quarter. Vincent Boyd added a 9-yarder eight minutes later, and Cannon went back in from the 12 with 16 seconds left to double up the Falcons. Dublin outrushed East Laurens 511-71, the Falcons taking a 229-0 passing advantage. The teams combined for a whopping 29 penalties for 290 yards, pretty evenly split. Travion Bostic had 120 yards on 13 carries while Cannon had 102 on 13, the duo teaming for 5 TDs. East Laurens quarterbacks Bryson Hazley and Sky Snead teamed to go 10 of 23 for 229 yards.
Jasper County 35, Jefferson County 6
The Hurricanes turned a close 7-6 game at halftime into a romp with two third-quarter touchdowns and two more in the fourth.
Social Circle 20, Putnam County 0
Social Circle led 13-0 at halftime, and handed Putnam County its first shutout since the 30-0 loss last year in the first round of the playoffs to Thomasville.
Class A
Glascock County 18, GMC Prep 10
Hancock Central 52, Twiggs County 50
Hawkinsville 17, Telfair County 16
The Red Devils trailed the entire game until getting the game-winning goal in the final two minutes.
Macon County 59, Chattahoochee County 12
Taylor County 48, Crawford County 0
🏈🏈🏈GIAA playoffs🏈🏈🏈
Class AAAA
Stratford 42, George Walton 10
The Eagles scored twice in the final 4:47 of the second quarter – on a Tucker Johnston pass to Myles Cobb and Morris Butler’s 5-yard run for a 28-10 halftime lead. Cale Smith added a 35-yard rushing touchdown and Johnston hit Butler with a 5-yard to close out the scoring for the defending champs.
Stratford hosts St. Anne-Pacelli, a 28-14 winner over FPD, next week.
St. Anne-Pacelli 28, FPD 14
FPD led 14-0 only for St. Anne-Pacelli to score late in the half, and then keep the momentum going. The visiting Vikings stopped FPD to open the second half, and then scored on a 9-play drive to tie it. FPD fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and St. Anne-Pacelli converted to take the lead with 5:30 to go in the third. The Vikings from Columbus all but sealed it with a time-eating drive midway through the fourth quarter. St. Anne-Pacelli beat FPD 22-21 to open the season.
Class AAA
John Milledge 42, Lakeview 0
A 28-0 second quarter put the defending champs in control for another running-clock game. Asa Wall scored once on the ground and caught 3 TD passes from Nathan Snow covering 28, 58, and 63, Snow also hitting Jamel Cooper with a 43-yarder en route to a 216-yard night. Wall caught 186 yards worth of passes.
John Milledge hosts fourth-seed Tiftarea, a 35-13 winner over Frederica, next week.
Westfield 35, Terrell 7
The Hornets took a 21-0 lead before Terrell scored in the fourth quarter. Westfield recovered the onside kick, and quarterback Brock Johnson quickly went in from 52 yards to seal it.
Second-seeded Westfield hosts third seed Athens Christian, a 45-6 winner over Deerfield-Windsor.
Class AA
Southland 34, Brentwood 13
Southland and former Tattnall and Stratford head coach Chance Jones pulled off a major upset, strolling into Sandersville and dumping the No. 2 seed, handily. The Raiders scored 27 straight points to take control en route to holding Brentwood to its lowest point total of the season, one score less than in its 31-7 loss to 3A defending champ John Milledge in the season opener. It’s the first time the defending AA champ hasn’t won a playoff game since 2023 and second time since 2016.
Southwest Georgia 34, Gatewood 14
Valwood 49, Piedmont 8
Class A
Windsor 57, Robert Toombs 8
The Knights had little trouble advancing to their first 11-man state title game, passing the 50-point mark for the third time this season and for the second straight week. Jaquan Lewis’ run of nearly 70 yards set up QB Heath Woodard’s 4-yard scoring run less than two minutes into the game. Windsor made RTCA pay for another turnover, Woodard keeping it up the middle for 41 yards and a score about three minutes later. And three minutes after that, Lewis went in from 70 yards out and the rout was on.
Windsor faces Thomas Jefferson, a 46-28 winner over Flint River, at 2 p.m. on Nov. 21 at Georgia Southern for the state title.