FOOTBALL: West Laurens handles business at Harlem, takes heavyweight bout for share of region lead

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct an erroneous Westside-Aquinas score that was included in the original posting, and in Friday’s scoreboard recap.

HARLEM – Though the region 4-AAA championship is still a long way from being decided, Friday’s unbeaten showdown between West Laurens and Harlem gave you a definite title-game feel as two teams projected as the league’s best, and well aware of the matchup’s high stakes in the long-run of the season, went at it over four predictably physical quarters. 

The Raiders, who brought their lunch pails and hard hats, were a little bit stronger and more mistake-free over the course of the night, and finished off the Bulldogs to bring home a monumental 26-21 victory. 

West Laurens is now 5-0 for just the third time in program history. 

“That was huge,” said head coach Kip Burdette. “I think our kids did a great job, our coaches did a great job. I’m at a little of a loss for words, but I’m really proud of everybody. That was a big one. I’m going to remember that for a long time.” 

As much a benchmark as it was, you couldn’t help drawing comparisons and contrasts between this game and a similarly-billed clash of the teams last year in Dexter that Harlem would take over after a scoreless first half to win 28-7 in a springboard to the region crown, and second overall seed in the state playoffs. 

This one was slightly higher-scoring, and had touchdowns a good bit more spread out, but remained even at halftime. West Laurens scored one in each quarter, and allowed the Bulldogs to do so just once in the second half. 

Ultimately, it hinged on three big steps up by the Raider defense, which forced a turnover on downs to initiate a go-ahead scoring drive in the third quarter, then got a pair of takeaways to preserve their final five-point lead in the fourth. 

Now, West Laurens – joined in first by only Westside of Augusta, which also helped bust up the four-team cluster at the top of the standings with a 20-14 win over Aquinas – will have its own shot to do something similar in second half of its regular season… which gets started immediately as Baldwin visits the SHU for another big game (that has its own share of unfinished business from last season) coming up Friday.  

“It’s a huge win,” said senior Ty Cummings. “I knew what it was before we got out there. I told my team, we’ve gotta get some getback. They beat us last year at our field on homecoming, and I don’t think we were fully prepared last year, or I don’t want to say prepared, but focused. We came out here with a different mindset and won the game.” 

Scoring twice each were Cummings, who carried 27 times for 223 yards (and is now under a hundred yards and two touchdowns from breaking the school records of all-time rushing leader Darius Bradford, likely this week), and Shannon Adkins, who blasted through some short-yardage strongholds on six attempts for 20. 

Branden Brooks, with 41 rushing yards and team-high four catches for 21 as a receiver, had the only other sizable offensive total among skill athletes in the Raiders’ 328-yard effort. 

The first of those massive defensive stands came at a turning point of the second half, with Harlem a few yards from midfield facing a virtual layup on third and a yard. 

But Jayden Watkins shot a gap, ran past two lead blockers and got to Malik Tyler in the backfield for a loss of one. He and Adkins came hot on a blitz that hit quarterback Mercer Barton on the release of a fourth-down heave that fell well incomplete. 

The Raiders, led by a seven-man offensive line, would smash their way the entire 45 yards to the end zone after the takeover for an Adkins touchdown run to go up 20-14. 

Their extra point missed, creating an interesting dynamic as Harlem responded after a trade of punts early in the fourth quarter, and went 78 yards with the help of two defensive penalties to score on a 12-yard run by documented West Laurens-killer Jayden Futrell. 

Connor Anderson’s PAT made it 21-20 Harlem, but the lead lasted only two offensive plays, as Cummings took off on a left-side counter and outran both Futrell and a second DB on a 63-yard burn to the end zone. 

The two-point conversion attempt failed, but the lead was good enough to stand thanks to the Raider defense, which rose up to force the game’s only two turnovers, and a punt, on Harlem’s three remaining possessions. 

The sequence of events leading to the first takeaway unfolded in similar fashion to the earlier stop, this time with a key second-down tackle forcing Harlem into a third-and-pass situation, and Juvon Hill picked off a Barton deep ball that drifted well wide of its target.

Jayce Blash sniffed out a run for a big loss in the backfield, Maxx Chafin diagnosed and broke up a screen pass and the pass rush forced the hopelessly-backed-up Bulldogs to their punting unit quickly after a short West Laurens possession. Then a gritty third down run by Adkins helped the Raiders milk the clock down to only eight seconds as they punted to a timeoutless Harlem for one last opportunity. 

And it’s a chance the Bulldogs wouldn’t even get, on a wide snap that was mishandled by Barton, and then recovered by Ethan Cason-Guyton to punctuate the defense’s dominant second half. 

At no point in the night was the importance of the pivotal moment lost on anybody along the Raiders’ sideline. And players and coaches took every opportunity to soak in the satisfaction of the hard-earned win in the jubilant postgame scene. 

“We’re gonna enjoy this ride back to Dexter,” Burdette said. 

Both teams started and finished the deadlocked first half with drives just like they drew them up. 

Tyler steered outside and got 47 yards on the first play from scrimmage. Five snaps later, and the Bulldogs rounded out the 67-yard opening drive with a three-yard Jax Stadler touchdown run. 

West Laurens responded by covering a similar distance, of 65, in seven plays with Cummings jetting left and busting through two decent efforts at a tackle before jogging into the end zone from 13 yards. Duggan Malone made his kick to capitalize on Harlem’s miss at the same point-after for a 7-6 lead. 

Then the defenses took over. 

The Raiders got taken deep again, but this time stiffened to get off the field. 

Barton pulled on a read and sprinted 65 yards outside on the Bulldogs’ third play, and they’d breach the Raider 15 before a penalty and two incompletions led to a missed field goal try. 

From there, neither team made much progress amid a battery of punts both ways. 

Early, West Laurens offensive playcaller Gabe Gay emphasized using the whole field, out of widespread formations with multiple personnel groupings and quarterbacks, emphasizing motion and presnap action that brought main targets Cummings and Brooks from way on one side to the other, and forcing Harlem – which operated primarily out of a zone – to adjust to cover the full expanse. 

No two in a row were ever exactly alike, until the first time the Raiders went “heavy,” out of their wildcat-style package featuring two extra tackles and two blocking backs ahead of a main ball-carrier, for a fourth-and-short late in the second quarter. 

Shannon Adkins picked up the yard needed to continue the drive, and they stayed in it until reaching paydirt. Cummings returned to pick up a couple of chunks, and Adkins followed the two Evans, Williams and Holmes, through a nice-sized hole into the paint. 

The drive, covering 78 yards, was West Laurens’ longest of the night to score, and likely served as the most important physical statement in the Raiders’ thesis of imposing their will. 

The West Laurens defense was given a similar charge of out-physicaling the Bulldogs, though they proved to be much more multifaceted in their identity than the smashmouth team that converted nine of its 13 chances on critical downs last year. 

As important as winning battles at the line was covering a major receiving weapon in Futrell, who tore up an athletic Baldwin secondary in Harlem’s first region win a week before, and had punished the Raiders from the other side in last year’s game with three interceptions, one returned for a touchdown. 

The back-end D of West Laurens rose to the challenge. 

“We made adjustments, and we got things fixed as the game went on,” Burdette said. “We found things that we were having success with. It was a great job by Coach (Kenny) Murphy and Coach Gay tonight. And the rest of the staff, and I’m really proud of our guys.”

In all, Harlem had the only major completion downfield by either team, on a pinpoint throw from Barton right into the arms of his his top receiver off a flea-flicker, for 44 yards to set up first-and-goal, and the game-tying touchdown just before halftime. 

The Bulldogs went to the old bag of tricks again for the score on third down, with tight end Rod Anderson taking a wildcat snap and jump-passing to counterpart Eric Beddingfield. 

Futrell came across in motion to the right pylon for the catch – as Levi Rickerson beautifully screened off a Raider covering him step-for-step from the other side of the field – on a pick-and-roll for the two-point conversion to make it 14-14 at the break. 

But as the second half unfolded, it became clear that getting athletes in space was Harlem’s only competitive hand, against a Raider defense that was giving no ground straight ahead. 

“Coach Murphy, he told us this was gonna be a two-chinstrap game,” Adkins said. “I had to lock in on everything I had to do this week to be able to execute.”

Hunter Castellaw and Stanley had five solo tackles (and a combined three for loss) to lead the unit. Adkins was in on six and a half total, and added a QB hurry. 

The team effort relied on some championship-level physical and mental strength. But from Burdette’s point of view, it was this squad’s unmatched character, forged over the past few seasons, that came through in its handling of several challenging situations on the road. 

“I think they’ve been in the fire a lot,” he said. “We were down a couple times last year and we were able to come back, and they’re an older group. They can see the big picture a little bit.”