MIDSTATE FOOTBALL ROUNDUP: Telfair takes down Wheeler; Brentwood, Dodge, Treutlen stay in winning groove

A closer look at the past week’s high school football results of note from elsewhere around the Heart of Georgia…

Telfair Co. 50, Wheeler Co. 16

Mistakes and marquee games typically aren’t a winning combination, and the case was no different Friday for Wheeler County, which made too many of them to stay in this potential region championship-deciding battle on its home field, suffering its first loss since August. 

Bad snaps and backfield exchanges had the Bulldogs averaging at least a fumble per possession, and while they avoided any disastrous giveaways in a competitive first half, the repeated miscues began piling up by the end of the second quarter, when the game took its turn on their biggest missed opportunity. 

Wheeler led it 16-14 after breaking off a handful of what felt like its longest plays of the night on a quick scoring drive, with Alvin Ricks leading the way for Jah Dinkins on a run into the end zone to tie, and then completing a throwback pass for two points to go in front. 

The ‘Dogs (with the help of a 15-yard Telfair penalty) doubled down with a few minutes left, lobbing a kick toward their sideline and recovering at the plus 30 after the Trojans had some trouble bringing the ball in. But their series was doomed from the start. First down lost yardage on a bad exchange. Second down… no gain after a bad snap was brought back to the line. On third, another loss with the recovery of a ball stripped away by a Telfair sack. 

The Trojans sniffed out a fourth-down trick play to take over possession with 17 seconds left, and Jabari Zanders found receivers, Bentavius Livingston for 20 yards to get out of bounds and Decardiya Ellis for a touchdown of the remaining 40, on a perfectly executed pair of plays to score and re-take the lead, 22-16, going to the break. 

Continuing Wheeler County issues caused things to spiral in the third quarter. Its opening drive ended on a punt after two bad snaps and an intentional grounding penalty. The second likewise after losses on a series of penalties. The next self-destructed as Telfair’s Kamaric McCowan recovered a bad snap inside the Bulldogs’ 10. 

The Trojans converted all three chances into touchdowns within about a five-minute span, and poured on their last early in the fourth as Wheeler lost another fumble – this time on a drive into plus territory – on Zanders’ 75-yard run. 

Wheeler, held to just 225 total yards, was fighting for short yardage most of the night, while Telfair collected it in big handfuls on both chunk runs and deep pass completions by Zanders, who was consistently accurate with the deep ball. The Trojan quarterback also threw to Braylin Womack-Crockett and Livingston for the others of his three touchdowns. Telfair’s Bradyn Cook rushed for two scores, and Ellis for one. 

Ricks led the Bulldogs in rushing with 121 yards on 19 carries, and their first touchdown. As a team, they were held to 225 yards. 

Next: Bulldogs vs. Wilcox Co., Friday 

Brentwood 49, Augusta Prep 0

The Eagles scored five touchdowns in the first quarter, and put it in cruise control from there on the way to a road win to improve to 7-1. 

As is usually the case, multiple guys had a notable share of the team’s 434 yards on the offensive side. Quarterback Baylor Cobb was 3-of-4 passing for 74 yards and three touchdowns, with Tristan Robinson, Quez Collins and Riley Helton on the receiving end. 

Eight rushers combined for 360 yards and four scores, Abe Williams, Jones Sheppard, Zach Denton, Collins and Robinson all with 60-plus. Williams, Sheppard, Denton and Collins each had a touchdown. 

Jaelen Johnson added a sack and joined Collins with a fumble recovery to help lead a defensive effort that limited Augusta Prep to 163 total yards. 

Next: Eagles vs. Gatewood, Friday 

Dodge Co. 43, Jefferson Co. 6

The Indians broke out some black jerseys, in a homecoming wardrobe change that came as a pregame surprise for players between warmups and taking the field, and made them look mighty good with their play en route to an eighth win of the season. 

Duke Johnson, in a recruiting reel game, shredded tackles along an 80-yard touchdown run and sped untouched for another of 46 on two of his four carries for 147 yards. The Alabama commit also posted 11 tackles, with a team high three for loss including a standing throwdown of a Jefferson County back that was one for the highlight tape. 

Kain Mincey completed six passes of 12 for 86 yards and two touchdowns, one each to Brandon Way and Jerimiah Burns. Jamal Smith rushed for 97 yards and a score on 12 carries. Burns had three catches for 69 as a receiver.  

Ralph Howard led the defense overall with a dozen total tackles, two for loss and a pair of sacks. Saquan Walker also had two sacks and a recovery of one of the Warriors’ two lost fumbles. 

Jefferson County, despite being held to under 100 total yards and just one pass completion, did score its first points of the season in the fourth quarter on a run by Trazion Ruff. 

Next: Indians at Northeast Macon, Friday 

Treutlen 36, Dooly Co. 12

The Vikings picked up a second win in four days, and also their first ever over Dooly County, to put themselves squarely in the mix for a playoff spot as the race in region 4-Low A begins to get interesting ahead of the season’s last three weeks. 

Treutlen has lost twice, but with an upset or two, could ensure a top-four finish and a shot to advance among a mix of teams that are mostly on equal standing. Leader Telfair County, barring a late collapse, is the only team currently safe. 

Kylan Page scored both a rushing and passing touchdown, finding Jordan Coney on all four of his completions for 80 yards. Peanut Tobler’s 19 carries for 140 yards and a touchdown, and Rod Fuller’s 15 for 105 and two, led Treutlen’s 361-yard attack on the ground. 

Four unanswered scores in the second and third quarters sent things heavily in the Vikings’ direction. They jumped in front on a Page touchdown keeper with seconds to go before halftime, and Tobler’s two-point conversion run had them up 14-6 at intermission. 

Treutlen finished off third-quarter drives with touchdowns on a 25-yard carry from Tobler, two from short yardage by Fuller, to lead 34-6 on the way to the fourth. 

TyQuan Glover had receptions for both of Dooly County’s, from 35 yards on a strike from Jayvion Sanders to answer an early Viking touchdown in the first quarter and then on an 88-yard pass from Christopher Epps early in the fourth. 

But the Bobcats’ offense, which gave up points later in the second half on a safety, was unable to do much else. 

Next: Vikings at Hawkinsville, Friday 

Wilkinson Co. 34, Glascock Co. 32 

The Warriors hung on to win a tight one and improve to 2-1 in region 5-Low A, as a near-perfect Quenterrion Sanford threw for 201 yards and three touchdowns on 11 completions out of his 12 attempts. The sophomore quarterback also carried for a touchdown on four totes for 53 yards. 

Rahiym Thompkins had two catches for 63 yards, Myles Cobb three catches for 67 and Camari Smith two for 20. All three had a touchdown. Jatavius Hill also caught three passes for 48. Terrelle Blount also rushed for a touchdown. 

Next: Warriors at GMC, Friday 

Hawkinsville 39, Montgomery Co. 20

The Eagles recovered from a rough start to hang in this one almost the entire way, though Hawkinsville stayed somewhat comfortably in front after going up by three scores on a two-touchdown burst early in the second quarter. 

Malek Brown, who led the Red Devils with 205 total yards, lobbed over the middle to find Nieem Blair for a touchdown to help double their early 7-0 lead. Moments later, Harlem Phillips stripped the ball on a sack of MoCo’s Jayden Harris, and Ricardo Arroyo made the recovery, to set up a third score that gave the visitors a commanding 20-0 edge. 

Harris, who was 10-of-19 passing for 63 yards with seven rushes for 41, found Cam Henderson with a long throw into the corner of the end zone for an Eagle touchdown that cut the deficit to 20-8 right before the end of the half. And MoCo got a stop to continue its comeback early in the third when Jamun Coglin snuck free up the middle for a 56-yard rushing touchdown that (added the two-point conversion), pulled the Eagles within four points, down 20-16. 

But Hawkinsville – which doubled up MoCo in total offense 410 yards to 204 – rediscovered its groove, and would rattle off 22 points over the game’s remaining 17 minutes. 

The Eagles could answer only six of them with an 80-yard kickoff return by Coglin, off a lateral, for a touchdown early in the fourth. 

Brown threw for 108 yards and touchdowns to Blair (who had three grabs for 56) and Bryson Singletary, also rushing for one TD on 11 carries for 65 yards. Jaden Collins had 131 of the Red Devils’ 301 yards on the ground, and scored twice. 

Blair rushed 17 times for 97 and one touchdown. Naikivius Releford had nine total tackles and four for loss. 

Next: Eagles at Wilcox Co. Nov. 1

Best of the rest… 

Baldwin 19, Aquinas 7

The Braves won their second in a row to pull even at .500 overall, and continue what has the looks of a better final six games of their season than the first four, which had just one win. Sadur Salahuddin broke to the end zone from 47 yards for the first of his three touchdown runs in the opening quarter, and did it again twice in the fourth to put away what was – up till the last 12 minutes – anybody’s ballgame. Baldwin’s defense took away most of what Aquinas had in the package, with top receiver Jack Rhodes out injured. Quarterback Jim Franklin picked his way ahead on designed runs for most of Aquinas’ offense on the night. That was enough to create five good scoring chances on drives deep into Baldwin territory, but only one finished with points. The Fightin’ Irish were turned over three times on downs, and had a potential game-tying series with goal to go in the third end on a fumble at the goal line. Franklin hit tight end Greg Doman for their only touchdown in the fourth. 

Coffee 14, Houston Co. 0

The Trojans broke through a scoreless game with only 13 minutes to go, converting a down with Bray Coe’s 28-yard touchdown pass to Tresean Smith, then picked off an A.J. Hill pass to set up a second-consecutive score – coming early in the fourth quarter – on a run by Tyrese Woodgett. Nothing came of three remaining possessions for HoCo, which couldn’t produce any points on 260 yards of offense, or a lone takeaway on the interception of Trey Leary. Hill threw for 199 on 18 completions, but was picked off twice. 

Howard 42, Cross Creek 6

The Huskies, playing for the first time in a month, got off to a quiet start, but scored 35 unanswered points in the second half after taking their first lead late in the second quarter. Brandon Wallace hit Cam Nixon on a touchdown pass to open the scoring, and stake Cross Creek to a 6-0 lead after one. The Huskies were flustered on more drives than not in the first half, but punched in a touchdown on a completion from Deon Wellons to Deondray Sheffield to get on the board, and put away their offensive struggles coming out for the third. Wellons was 11-of-14 passing for 195 yards. Terrance Brown had 105 yards rushing on eight carries. Howard intercepted two passes, Elijah Johnson returning one the length of the field on a late pick-six. 

For more on the game from the Macon Melody’s Michael A. Lough, click here.

Swainsboro 32, Vidalia 21

The Tigers’ gashing ground attack was too much for Vidalia to slow down, though the Indians made a good run at keeping up with the scoring in Friday’s back-and-forth battle. The teams punted only once each – both in the opening half – before a second by Vidalia in the fourth quarter that Swainsboro bookended with long, consuming drives to score the 12 unanswered points to pull away. But the Indians were in control of the board up until then, taking the lead with an extra point on their first touchdown by Jamorion Phillips to answer the earliest by the Tigers. Jackson Berry scored on a pair of keepers to add to the visiting count, Swainsboro failing to tie on its touchdown to answer but briefly grabbing back the lead with the first in a trade of scores in the third. Another point-after gave Vidalia a lead of 21-20 with 12 minutes left. The Tigers rushed for 379 yards, a majority belonging to Bryson Tarver (224 on 15 carries for four touchdowns) and Ja’bios Smith (97 on 10 attempts with one score). Smith had 13 total tackles, and forced a fumble. 

Perry 31, Ware Co. 21

The Panthers started with 14 unanswered points, and put away a three-point game with a couple of touchdowns in the final six minutes to take sole possession of first place in region 1-AAAA. Dual quarterbacks Cullen McDaniel and Reid Ginn were both impressive, combining to complete 26 of 36 passes for 323 yards, and three touchdowns. Two of the scoring grabs were made by Kory Pettigrew, who had 14 catches for 181 yards on an outstanding night. Ahmad Gordon rushed 23 tiems for 97 yards and one touchdown. Carson Camp added a 33-yard field goal. Noah Clark had seven total tackles, two for loss and two sacks. Ware County’s Luke Hooks threw for all three of the Gators’ touchdowns, with 306 yards on 22 completions. 

Read more from the game by Houston Home Journal sports editor Clay Brown here.

Toombs Co. 33, Savannah Country Day 21

The Bulldogs got their stiffest challenge from a team not named Rome yet this season, but still left few doubts in their region-opening win to improve to 6-0 with 451 yards of offense. T.J. Stanley was 13-of-18 passing for 122 yards and a touchdown to Lagonza Hayward (eight catches for 82 yards), and rushed for a score on nine carries for 50. Dabvn Wadley carried 24 times for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Savannah Country Day’s Isaiah Batten threw for 211 yards and a couple TDs on 21 completions, but the Hornets had nothing to speak of on the ground, with their minuscule eight attempts going for a grand total of minus-four yards. Jeremiah Brown caught one of Batten’s touchdowns on 88 receiving yards, and ran a kickoff back 80 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, to keep things reasonably close late. 

ACE Charter 40, Southwest 14

The Gryphons took a step closer to a playoff berth with a dominant performance on the ground, and in the possession battle, to win their second game in a row. Ace Hatcher was sharp, completing his first eight passes in a row and 12 of 14 for 119 yards. But he also led the Gryphons on the ground with four touchdowns on 84 of their 171 rushing yards. Sawyer Raugh ran 20 times for 56 and scored once. ACE, with the steady ground attack and an onside kick recovery to keep ahold of the ball in the second quarter, maintained its grip on the clock through halftime, limiting Southwest’s dangerous offense to just seven snaps and a score on the 57-yard run by Christian Hill. The Gryphons added two touchdowns to their 27-8 lead after halftime. 

Read more from the game by Macon Melody sports editor Micah Johnston here.

Tattnall Square 28, John Milledge 17

Caden Faulk threw three touchdown passes to Ty Hunnicutt, the pair linking up for all but 31 of the former’s 241 passing yards on nine completions, to help the Trojans of Macon survive a scare and take their win streak to seven. But JMA’s bunch, intercepting three passes and leading for most of three quarters via the two touchdown runs of David Todd, came as close as they have in weeks to flipping their six-game streak on the losing side of the coin. Tattnall, without top running back Antone Smith, made do on the ground with 52 yards and a touchdown from Ben Brown that gave his team its first lead in the second half. Hunnicutt and Anson Talcott also picked off two John Milledge passes. 

Click here to read John Kosater’s full game recap for the Macon Melody.

In case you missed it…

• No dropoff in consistency for Dublin as streak resumes at Bleckley

• Late touchdown gives WACO last word over East Laurens in homecoming heartbreaker

• Trinity struggles at second-ranked Southwest Georgia

• West Laurens razor-sharp on road in rout of Hephzibah

• Hancock County good as home for JoCo in second-straight win

More coverage from across the Georgia Trust for Local News…

MACON MELODY:

• Howard excels in return to gridiron, explodes in second half of win over Cross Creek

• Central Fellowship defeats Windsor in gritty rivalry showdown to take home South Bibb County trophy

• ACE Dominates Southwest in complete win, moves back into playoff conversation

• Tattnall surges in second half, overcomes challenge from John Milledge in seventh-straight win

• Macon area high school football photos

HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL:

• Perry’s offense comes alive late to close out Ware County (PHOTOS)

• Offensive woes continue for Veterans in loss to No. 2 Lee County

• PHOTOS: Northside’s skid continues in loss to Thomas County Central

• Houston County’s Friday-night roundup

Other week 9 finals…

Thomas Co. Central 62, Northside 0

Warner Robins 34, New Hampstead 22

Lee Co. 67, Veterans 10

Spalding 19, Mary Persons 17

Northeast 39, Central Macon  0

Peach Co. 45, Bainbridge 14

Briarwood 46, Thomas Jefferson 6

Central Fellowship 14, Windsor 8

Edmund Burke 35, Gatewood 13

Southland 15, Robert Toombs 14

Stratford 56, Mount de Sales 13

Westfield 17, Brookstone 10