FRIDAY NIGHT SCOREBOARD: August 30, 2024

West Laurens and Dublin stayed unbeaten, while Trinity, East Laurens and Johnson County suffered tough losses at home in Friday night’s local high school football action.

Pick up Tuesday’s print edition, or check courierheraldtoday.com/sports Monday afternoon, for full coverage of each local game.

West Laurens 42, North Clayton 8

The Raiders pounded it behind some bruising blocks from their offensive line for five rushing touchdowns in another physical performance, with plenty of scoring love spread between top rushers Shannon Adkins and Ty Cummings, who combined for three rushing touchdowns in the first half , and fellow backs Branden Brooks and Tyler Williams, who both carried for their first career scores in the third quarter. Cason Pollock, turning heads as a runner on four carries for well over 50 yards and a two-point conversion, also tossed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Cummings for the last of West’s four unanswered TDs in the first half. North Clayton responded with only a minute on the clock to pick up its only points on a short drive, ending on a 45-yard touchdown heave from Justin Murphy to Michael Baugh. But penalties and lost yardage against swarming Raider defenders were the overwhelming norm for the Eagles most of the night.

– Clay Reynolds

Edmund Burke 41, Trinity 28

Owen Redd scored all six Spartan touchdowns, and accounted for over 300 yards from scrimmage, to help Edmund Burke outrun Trinity in another close game that took a turn just after halftime. The Crusaders scored with 10 seconds left in the second quarter to pull within six, 20-14, going to halftime. But the Spartans responded with three unanswered touchdowns to start the third quarter, and took a 40-14 lead. Two Trinity touchdowns – one a pick six by Cruz Giles – narrowed the gap late in the game. Asher Evans scored twice for the Crusaders. Ben Castro-Poveda was 8-of-14 passing for 97 yards and one touchdown. Wade Register had 66 yards on 16 rushes in the first half before leaving with a concussion.  Ben Helton added 48 yards rushing on seven carries.

– Jeremy Payne

Dublin 56, Southwest 34

The Irish, at points, had another shootout on their hands, and got an early scare after Southwest marched to score the game’s first touchdown, then scooped and scored a fumble to go up 12-0 after only four minutes. Dublin, though, would find its footing and get the offense in gear soon enough, and put up 50 unanswered points before giving up any further Patriot scoring. Two Xavier Bostic touchdown runs got the Irish on the board and in front for the first time (the latter score had to wait 47 seconds for the change of quarters, putting Dublin down 12-7 in the count at the end of one), and he’d double the total to four on the way to the team rushing lead the rest of the game, carrying 10 times total for 165 yards. Willie Batts, Azontae Walker, Trav Bostic and Micah O’Neal rushed for other Irish touchdowns. Southwest quarterback Steve Robinson rushed for 105 yards and threw for 135, and contributed to three of the Patriots’ five touchdowns, the latter three coming back-to-back-to-back within a span of about five minutes between the end of the third and start of the fourth.

– Clay Reynolds

Bleckley Co. 42, East Laurens 6

Ty Snead busted one 46 yards for an early Falcon touchdown, but couldn’t answer six down the stretch from Bleckley, which managed fine with its top playmaker Josh Stanley inactive. Kam Everett and Brody Fleming threw for touchdowns, and Deondrez Robertson and Dequavius Benjamin scored them on the ground, to help the Royals slowly pull away in the second and third quarters.

– Clay Reynolds

Warren Co. 28, Johnson Co. 20

The Trojans took a second loss of the season after dropping a 14-0 lead early in the game, and came up short with an attempted rally late in their first game at Herschel Walker Field. Warren County had 203 yards of offense to JoCo’s 196. Tashawn Norris led the Trojans in rushing with 105 yards.

– Ralph Jackson

OTHER AREA SCORES:

Dodge Co. 42, Central Macon 12

Montgomery Co. 26, Atkinson Co. 21

Jasper Co. 17, Wilkinson Co. 6

Northeast 41, Washington Co. 9 (Thursday)

Bacon Co. 31, Treutlen 21 (Thursday)

Portal 34, Twiggs Co. 20

Houston Co. 31, Perry 17

Peach Co. 42, Berkmar 7

Worth Co. 46, Dooly Co. 3

Telfair Co. 35, Berrien 14

Warner Robins 34, Northside 12

Jones Co. 28, Hampton 9

Tattnall Square 20, George Walton 14

Tiftarea 46, John Milledge 21

Stratford 48, Pinewood 7

Toombs Co. 49, South Effingham 0

ACE Charter 45, Jefferson Co. 0

Swainsboro 37, Metter 14

Vidalia 43, Tattnall Co. 6

Brentwood 41, GMC 0

Starrs Mill 35, Veterans 27

Westover 56, Westside Macon 31

Pacelli 18, FPD 6

Augusta Prep 49, Windsor 22

Tattnall Square 20, George Walton Academy 14