FOOTBALL: Special teams miscues, penalties spoil solid night on defense as Johnson County falls to Clinch in round 2

When the Johnson County Trojans began their season at East Laurens in mid-August, they never could have guessed it would also end there in late November.

End it did, on Friday. In a season that’s seen a hurricane, a 10-day layoff and the loss of a home field, the end of the road came on the road against Clinch County.

The Trojans borrowed Falcon Field once again for the second round of the state playoffs, and hosted the 10-2 Panthers.

A tight first half gave way to a one-sided game, as Clinch beat Johnson County 28-6.

Clinch started out on its 36 and drove within 14 yards of the Trojan end zone in 12 plays. But the JoCo defense forced a turnover on downs.

The Trojans moved as close as the Clinch 28 in 10 plays before doing the same.

Clinch then had another seven-play drive, but it ended with a Jacaden Webb interception on the Johnson County 7 with 10:24 in the half.

Due to an injury on special teams, the Trojans struggled with snaps, and illegal procedure fouls on the punt team and field goal unit.

Late in the half, they needed to punt from their own 24 when two of them in a row backed up a third try to their 14. The Panthers blocked the punt, and Blaze Small fell on it in the end zone for a Clinch County touchdown. With the point-after, the Panthers led 7-0 with 1:22. 

At the half, Clinch had 116 yards of offense to the Trojans’ 57. 

On the first Panther drive of the second half, Bryant broke a 34-yard touchdown run with 7:15 to go. The conversion pass failed, but they were up 13-0. 

Clinch kicked deep, and held the Trojans to four plays. A bobbled snap on the punt gave Clinch possession at the Johnson County 5. 

Bryant ran for another touchdown on next play, and with a conversion run, the Panthers were up 21-0. 

After another Trojan possession and a Will Peebles punt, Clinch had the ball on the JoCo 37.

During the next play, the ball ended up on the ground and no one seemed aware of its location except the JoCo defense. 

Dewayne Abrams scooped and scored before most Panthers realized what was happening. Due to a snap problem, the kick never made it off. With 3:02, the score was 21-6.

Clinch had an eight-play, 61-yard drive in the third. Bryant had a nine-yard touchdown with 39 seconds to play. With the extra point, the Panthers were up 28-6.

Aside from a 27-yard Cory King run in the fourth, the Trojan offense never got much going in the second half. 

The Panthers rushed 44 times for 220 yards. Johnson County carried 32 times for just 109. Clinch had 17 yards passing and Johnson had –3.

The Panthers’ Aaron Bryant led both teams in rushing with 22 attempts for 154. Cory King paced the Trojans with seven for 51. Billy Turberville had 10 for 46.

Johnson County ends the season 9-3 overall, as the school’s first team to win its region three years in a row. The Trojans also now have six-consecutive playoff berths. 

Don Norton, the winningest head coach in school history (139-61), earned his fourth Johnson County region championship. This was his 11th time in the state playoffs in his seventeen years. 

“I think we proved a lot of people wrong this year,” Norton said. “There were a lot of people who thought we wouldn’t win a ton of games, but we did.” 

Norton also thinks his team did especially well considering the problems it faced.

“We started off with a loss, and had to regroup; got everything together and then fought through the hurricane; lost our stadium; our kids have overcome,” he said. “I’m very proud for them and what kind of character they have.”