FOOTBALL: Dublin dominant in debut at Swainsboro

Starts to the season don’t get too much more confident than Dublin’s was Friday night at Swainsboro. 

Its lines of scrimmage and quarterback Micah O’Neal all lived up to their high billing, while multiple other athletes around them made their own early impression, as the Irish took it to the third-ranked state runner-up on its home field. 

Dublin brought home a 41-21 win, its second-straight in “Middle Georgia’s Oldest Rivalry,” and a 1-0 record as it enters region play. East Laurens will visit the Shamrock Bowl in the Irish home opener this Friday. 

The dominant performance totaled 383 turnover-free yards of offense for the Dublin attack, with O’Neal and fullback Xavier Bostic both scoring twice and eclipsing 85 on the ground. 

Some big plays buoyed Swainsboro to a number of 276 to compare, though scattered among the highlights by backs Bryson Tarver and Qindarius Brown, along with their quarterback Kason Edenfield, were three turnovers and some critical misfires on special teams that only added to the Irish edge.

Dublin, as it was, held firm control of the line of scrimmage and the clock from its first possession of the night – coming just after Swainsboro scored the night’s first points on a long opening drive that resembled many the Irish would come up with later in the evening. 

The Tigers shredded the clock’s first four and a half minutes on their way to score with a single-yard run by Tarver. But some aggression on the ensuing kickoff, with an onside attempt that Dublin recovered at its own 40, would cost them that early momentum. 

The Irish, moments later, busted one to the endzone and tied the game with a first of four unanswered touchdowns that, by the early third, would build them a three-score lead. 

After another touchdown to go up in the second quarter, Dublin bookended halftime with scoring drives that likely dealt Swainsboro its most devastating blow of the night. 

The Irish made use of every second they had to increase a 15-7 lead just before halftime. 

A breakneck drive with less than two minutes left got them to the Swainsboro 18 for one final shot: An O’Neal pass to the right corner of the end zone that Sirius Tobridge laid out to bring in as time expired. 

Urick Andrews added on an extra point to make the Dublin lead 22-7 entering the break. 

Coming back out, Swainsboro went to the well on a second onside kick try of the night. This one was also recovered by the Irish, and in better position at midfield. 

The Irish took advantage, with multiple key carries from O’Neal and Travion Bostic – who powered past the marker on a fourth-and-short in the red zone – to score on a walk-in run from nine yards by Willie Batts. It made the lead 28-7 with less than four minutes gone in the third. 

The drive, marked by gashing runs and gritty conversions, followed a template that was the basis of many Dublin possessions that helped contribute to a more than nine-minute Irish advantage in possession time, an edge of 12 in total plays and of 22 first downs against only 13. 

Dublin was also six out of nine on third downs and two for its two attempts on fourth. Swainsboro, respectively, went 2-for-8 and 2-for-3 in the same situations. 

The Tigers, despite scoring on their next two possessions, only got the ball back three more times before game’s end. 

Their initial answer cut the gap back to two scores, with a 70-yard drive in less than two minutes for the gotta-have-it touchdown. Brown found paydirt from 15 yards to make the count 28-14, and now Swainsboro had to have a stop. 

Dublin’s momentum was tested on the ensuing series as O’Neal went out briefly with cramps. But he returned just in time to fire a third-down completion to Batts that pushed the possession to midfield, and the Irish O-line back into beast mode. 

He’d follow their blocks on another first-down keeper. Batts, Bostic and Jordan Tobridge (on a fourth-down dive) would also move the chains as the taxing drive continued into the fourth quarter, and inside the Swainsboro 10. 

O’Neal dove is way in from less than a yard to cap it with a dagger touchdown at 8:51.

The Tigers, nearly nine minutes removed from their last possession, rallied the troops for a quick-hit drive that used a long Kason Edenfield completion to set up Tarver’s second touchdown run of the night from six yards away. 

But Dublin got the ball back and quickly resumed killing time. Batts and Xavier Bostic picked up two first downs apiece before Bostic ran in the last Irish touchdown of the night from 18 yards with 3:34 left to go. 

Swainsboro remained alive on a fourth-down conversion, but a Jarvis Wiggins sack, followed by Xavier Bostic’s interception in the red zone, kept Swainsboro from making up any further ground. 

Dublin’s longest scoring drive of the night was its second –traveling 84 yards over about five minutes to go on top – after Swainsboro got off one of its few lengthy punts. 

Similar to others, it featured one chunk of yardage and first down carry after another leading up to a sizable scoring play, this one a 46-yard keeper for O’Neal, who bolted off the left side like a cannon shot after pulling the ball on a midline read. 

Dublin declined to shift into its PAT set, snapping on the try to O’Neal for a pitch and catch to Quantavis Lovett, and the two-point conversion to make the score 15-7. 

The Irish took advantage of a Swainsboro punt on that was on the short side to set up their last-second score, with a Jordan Tobridge first-down carry early in the march, then another O’Neal keeper to move the chains ahead of the Sirius Tobridge touchdown grab. 

Dublin’s game-tying touchdown in the first led off the night’s eye-catching highlight reel, as Xavier Bostic spun past, juked out and stiff-armed three separate Swainsboro defenders on a 47-yard run. 

He was the second-leading Irish rusher with 11 carries for 88 yards. O’Neal topped the count with 14 touches for 99. Trav Bostic added 10 for 50, Willie Batts eight for 44 and Jordan Tobridge five for 32. 

O’neal was also 4-for-5 passing for 59 yards. Batts also had two catches for 35 yards. Sirius Tobridge finished with two for 26, and led the Dublin defense in tackles with six. 

Swainsboro’s Tarver rolled up 103 rushing yards on 10 carries. Brown had 80 on 15. Edenfield was 9-for-15 passing with 94 yards.