Scrimmage lines: Last week’s local preseason football report

All four of Laurens County’s teams were in action as high school football made its unofficial return to the area in scrimmage games late last week.

Trinity hosted St. Andrew’s Thursday night at Cleve Warnock Field, while Dublin welcomed Hawkinsville to the Shamrock Bowl and East and West Laurens met at The SHU on Friday night in final dry runs before regular season openers scheduled for this coming Friday, and the following.

A tough ending, but a tougher loss…

St. Andrew’s came from behind late in the game to take Thursday’s scrimmage by a 22-21 final, but what stung worse for Trinity than the outcome was a much more devastating setback in the loss of its sophomore quarterback Asher Evans to a serious and likely season-ending injury on a freak play midway through the fourth quarter.

Despite its ending, the night was full of bright spots for the Crusaders, who rallied back from an early 14-0 deficit with two quick touchdowns in the second, as Evans found Tripp Mascaro on a short pass, the Trinity defense recovered a fumble and Wade Register powered into the end zone from a few yards away just before tying things up with the point-after kick.

There were plenty of highlight runs by Evans as well as Register, who’d score again early in the third to put Trinity ahead 21-14. But St. Andy’s, after the lengthy injury delay, would turn an interception into a late touchdown and two-point conversion for the final lead.

The Crusaders start the regular season Friday at defending GIAA state champion Brentwood.

‘You’re gonna miss me’…

Multiple of this season’s highly-touted West Laurens seniors made a memorable start to the fall in Friday’s 28-0 victory over East, and a couple in running backs Shannon Adkins and Ty Cummings made folks (more specifically defenders) miss them a lot sooner than next year as they shed several tackles on touchdown runs of similar length to open the night’s scoring in the second quarter.

Their highlight carries, along with two more for TDs courtesy of J.D. Hogan and Jamari Blash in the third and fourth, complemented a shutout effort by the Raider defense, which forced two turnovers in a scoreless first quarter on picks by Juvon Hill and Jayce Blash, and sealed the 14-0 halftime score with a goal-line stand as time expired.

After two preseason scrimmages, West Laurens will enjoy a week to rest up before its official debut at home against Groves on Aug. 22.

Bomb squad…

Though the Falcons had a tough time running the ball, their passing game displayed some exceptional firepower on two long- distance completions to move the chains on third- or fourth-and-long. 

Tawan Horne reeled one in between two Raider defenders on a 52-yard connection from Za’Norrion Ellington in the first, and Skyler Snead found Major Floyd against the sideline for a pickup of 31 late in the second on outstanding catches that led to East Laurens red zone visits.

Scoop, there it is…

Dublin’s Trav Bostic scored a hat trick in rushing touchdowns, but went back to the case for a fourth helping of six with the return of his own blocked punt in Friday night’s 47-0 win over Hawkinsville.

The Irish defense churned out a pile of turnovers as it put the freeze on the Red Devils all the way through the dominant debut, while Jaydon McRae and Vicente Bond also treated the home crowd to touchdown runs that helped put a cherry on top of the impressive performance.

Dublin will be back in the Bowl as it hosts Swainsboro to open the regular season this Friday.