Dublin rushes for 594 yards to take tense tangle with East Laurens

Friday’s was another drama-filled chapter in a crosstown grudge match between Dublin and East Laurens that, over the last three seasons, has never failed to get interesting. 

This one had enough in every department to take the cake, starting with the football contest alone and a combined 94 points that reset the series scoring record. But some exchanges between the squads going beyond key plays on offense, defense and special teams added even more spice to the rivalry’s simmering pot of angst. 

Emotions ran high throughout a nearly three-hour game that the Falcons kept close for three quarters. But the Irish, who maintained a seven-point lead from midway through the second quarter all the way through the third, poured on three unanswered touchdowns in the fourth to pull away to the 56-28 win, their 12th straight and 32nd overall in the all-time set. 

“I thought we competed really hard,” said Dublin head coach Roger Holmes. “I did not like the stuff on our end with penalties. It’s unacceptable, but we knew it coming into the game because that’s been a recurring theme in game films that we broke down. But our guys did not maintain our composure for sure in the first half.” 

This one – just beating the total of 92 points that were put up by the teams in 2024, the last time they met in the Shamrock Bowl – also got off to a certifiably crazy start as the sides put up six combined touchdowns in the first 15 minutes. 

Just the same, the tempo of offense would eventually slow down as Dublin got its ball-control machine cranked up. Turnovers – two fumbles and an interception – cost the Irish an opportunity to get the game in hand sooner, but their unbelievable 594 rushing yards ensured that it remained in control all night. 

Three ball-carriers reached triple-digits, and another was darn close.

Trav Bostic had 151 yards and two touchdowns. Jaydon McRae rushed for 105. Dontavious Cannon scored three times on 101 and Jamarcus Knight added 98. Not to be overshadowed, V.J. Bond had 79 and two touchdowns and quarterback Ryland Yates chipped in 60 and one more. 

The Dublin D once again had its hands full with an East Laurens attack that put up a season-high (the Falcons also scored 28, but with the use of two special teams touchdowns, in their win at Metter Sept. 18). 

Its passing dimension, led by tag-team quarterbacks, maintained a recent hot hand in accounting for 217 yards. 

Skyler Snead finished 5-of-7 for 93 and an early touchdown, plus 19 rushing, before leaving the game with an injury early in the second quarter.

Bryson Hazley, after catching two of his completions for 35 yards, took over behind center and turned it into even more of a backyard football game on constant scrambles to find receivers on four connections for 124, and touchdowns on two out of 12 plays on which he opted to tuck it and run. 

Major Floyd came up with big plays on each of his three receptions that numbered 117. 

In the end, East could only balance that out with 71 yards rushing, and would have needed a lot more on the ground to fill in the gaps that brought them up short on several key drives down the stretch. 

Dublin, meanwhile, didn’t have to punt a single time. 

“They competed their butts off on their end,” Holmes said of the Falcons. “I think their players played extremely hard. I think they’re very athletic, but at the end of the day, I’ll take a 56-28 win any day of the week.”

The Irish would keep East Laurens out of the end zone after a final visit late in the first half, as they forced punts or picks on each of the Falcons’ possessions before the last, ending in a kneel down. 

Ja’Karian Jones snagged both INTs, to bring his season total to nine, on plays late in the third quarter and early in the fourth as the visitors plotted marches to tie or chip away. 

East’s Jamari Harvey returned the favor in between the two, bringing in a pressured fourth-down shot from Yates to leave the third-quarter count unchanged. 

The fastest-paced period of the entire night ended with a 63-yard Irish scoring drive in progress, and Cannon finished it off on a five-yard run moments later to begin the process of putting the game away. 

Things went just as quickly in the fourth as Jones’ red zone pick created a two-score swing. Dublin went straight back the other direction and went to Bond on a jet sweep for the TD to increase its lead to 21 with three minutes to go. 

Cannon completed his hat trick on another dive from a short distance with only 16 seconds left in the game. 

Some like it heated… 

Most of the game’s action and chatter was concentrated to the first half, when the keyed-up rivals both took the field with a chip. 

The visible intensity, in many instances, got several carried away in the aftermath of plays when pushing, shoving, jawing and other extracurricular activity drew a steady rate of flags. 

Officials, much to the frustration of those in the seats, overwhelmingly offset the fouls directed one way with a second going the other. 

As the night went on, an increasing number of uniformed sheriff’s deputies and state troopers could be seen joining school administrators along edges of the field to assist in maintaining order. 

Each side broke a big kickoff return to give their offense an early boost. 

Dublin’s was a 55-yarder from Knight that started them out only yards from the East Laurens red zone. 

The Falcons responded with a big tackle for loss coming from JaTuan Wright to pin the Irish behind the sticks.

But runs by Yates and Cannon recouped the balance, and Bostic went on to run in the game’s first touchdown from seven yards. 

Floyd’s 40-yard runback also started East on the other half of midfield. The junior would make a leaping catch in traffic to move the chains on a third down just before JaBryan Bigham spilled off to the right-hand side on a 17-yard touchdown run to tie it at 7. 

The excitement was just getting started. 

Dublin ran a couple plays and fumbled, then the Falcons converted a long-shot fourth down from 24 yards out thanks to an Irish bust in coverage as East lined up four receivers in a diamond formation on the left side of the field. Demarcio Holliman, at the tip, ran downfield uncovered for a pitch and catch from Snead that gave the Falcons their first and only lead, 14-7, with still five minutes left. 

Dublin needed no time to answer, and drove roughly 65 for a Bond end around that scored from 23. The Irish doubled up on touchdowns after forcing a punt, and re-took the lead in two plays as Bostic exploded for 57 to reach the doorstep, then Yates kept from three to get in. 

Back came the Falcons. 

A completion to Hazley got their return drive moving, and after the change of quarters, Snead scrambled to help move the chains on a third-and-long, though the last few yards came via penalty as Dublin was flagged for a late push out of bounds that sent him hard into the brick wall on the home sideline. 

Things got heated as the senior QB was being taken off the field by paramedics, and the teams’ head coaches had words while crossing paths in an exchange that brought out some flags, and both schools’ principals for a lengthy discussion. 

Play resumed following the delay, and East Laurens completed its trip to tie the game back up on a Hazley scramble from 10 yards. 

Dublin answered with an 80-yard drive to score on a four-yard run by Bostic, then began bleeding a little clock for the first time after a Falcon punt. 

The Irish scored shortly after a late hit by East Laurens ran Yates O.B. on his own sideline that turned his 30-yard keeper into a first and goal, and Cannon carried for his second TD to make the lead 35-21. 

East wasted little time narrowing it back down to seven on a drive from its own 17 that was keyed by a Hazley deep ball that Floyd reeled in out of a one-on-one battle. 

He was tackled inside the other red zone, and Holliman would be run back and dropped for a big loss on a subsequent jet sweep. But once again, Hazley made some magic by eluding about four sure sacks to float one to a receiver and get back inside the sticks. 

And he’d fire one to a tightly-covered Floyd that drew a pass interference flag just before an 11-yard keeper for the score. 

Nothing came of the several minutes of football that remained before halftime.  

McRae and Deontae Walker led Dublin’s defense with seven tackles each, and a combined three for loss. Blake Luecke added three tackles for loss, and two sacks. 

Will Wallace was 8-of-8 on PATs. 

Rozier, with 13, and Harvey, with 10 and one for loss, led the Eastside tackling. Gary Stockton recovered the fumble that was forced by Rozier. 

Both clubs now turn their focus to the state playoffs, in which they’ll share a quadrant of the bracket and take on familiar area opponents in the first round. 

Region 2-AA champion Dublin (9-1, 6-0 region) will be back in the Bowl Friday to welcome Vidalia in a region rematch. East (3-7, 2-4 region) draws a short ride to the Pinelands to challenge No. 5 seed Jeff Davis.