FRIDAY NIGHT SCOREBOARD: November 14, 2025

The Heart of Georgia’s home teams, excepting one outlier, all advanced with flying colors as the GHSA raised the curtain on state playoff action Friday night.

Dublin, West Laurens, Johnson County, Bleckley County and Wheeler County are all among teams headed to the round of 16, while Brentwood joined a handful of GIAA semifinalists in securing a spot in next week’s state championship games. Seasons of East Laurens, Dodge County, Treutlen, Washington County and Wilkinson County came to an end with first-round losses.

Here’s a glance at what happened in a few of the area’s top games, and a look at your full regional playoff scoreboard. Full coverage of all will follow in upcoming print editions, and early next week at courierheraldtoday.com/sports.

Dublin 40, Washington Co. 7

The Irish punched their ticket to the second round with a strong showing at home. Trav Bostic busted through on a 20-plus yard run to set up a Dontavious Cannon touchdown to put the home team on the board late in the first quarter. Jeff Davis threw two touchdown passes to Trav Bostic in the second quarter to extend Dublin’s halftime lead to 19-0, and rushed for another after WACO, which was plagued by penalties, scored its only touchdown midway through the third. Defensively, Jamarcus Knight had two interceptions, and Bostic added one. Knight’s second was a pick-six that made it a 33-7 Irish lead. Bennett Lake put the final score on the board late in the fourth.

With the win, Dublin will host Fitzgerald next week at the Shamrock Bowl. The Purple Hurricanes defeated ACE Charter 42-9.

West Laurens 46, A.E. Beach 6

The Raiders were a touch rusty coming in off a 15-day layoff, but played some dominant football just the same on the way to their first playoff win of the Kip Burdette era. Beach’s Jayvion Williams scrambled to hit Derek Campbell on a 29-yard touchdown pass against JV defenders that broke the shutout as time expired, but the Bulldogs went next to nowhere against West’s defensive 1s, which didn’t let them anywhere close to scoring range through three and a half quarters. Jayce Blash picked off a second-half pass for his ninth career interception, tying a school record held by Eric Scott, on one of two Raider takeaways. Cason Pollock threw for a pair of touchdowns on either side of halftime, with Evan Holmes (via 41-yard screen) and Jeremy Brownlee (slanting to the ball from seven) on the receiving end. Shannon Adkins and Braylen Robinson rushed for short-range scores. Ty Cummings (99) and Branden Brooks (62) added two lengthier TDs. Duggan Malone added points on a chip-shot field goal early in a 24-point second quarter that contributed to a 31-0 halftime lead.

West Laurens will welcome Oconee County, which was a 39-37 winner via last-second field goal at Northwest Whitfield, to the SHU in next week’s round of 16.

Heard Co. 49, East Laurens 0

Keeping Max Lasseter and an intimidating set of defensive linemen out of their backfield was one of the Falcons’ many struggles on a long night against a Heard County defense that was as good as advertised. Two interceptions – one in the second half returned for a touchdown by Amari Heath – added to the Braves’ dominant performance. Their attack hammered its way to touchdowns on a number of long scoring drives, with Ethan Tisdale rushing for a pair, and throwing to Brody Cofield for three more.

Johnson Co. 34, McIntosh Co. Academy 7

Jeremiah Scott had a hat trick of rushing touchdowns on eight carries for 101 yards, Nathan Turberville threw to Tayshawn Norris for a touchdown on one of his four completions for 55 and Cory King scooped and scored from 48 yards in the second half to lead the Trojans to a handy first-round win. JoCo outgained McIntosh in total yardage 331-105, and allowed only 33 on the ground while forcing three turnovers. Blake McMahan, who was 7-of-8 for 63 yards passing, threw to Lorinzo Reed for the Buccaneers’ only points late in the third quarter.

The Trojans return to the Blue Monster next week to take on Brooks County, which took down Taylor County 24-6.

Brentwood 42, Briarwood 14

The Eagles pulled away after a fairly tight first half (in which they led only 21-7) to advance to the GIAA state finals for a second-straight year. Brentwood eclipsed 300 yards in rushing, with touchdowns from Jones Sheppard (in the team lead of 95), Baylor Cobb, Tristan Robinson and Abe Williams. Cobb had over 220 total, finishing with a pair of rushing scores and two passing, both to Williams.

The win sets up a rematch of the 2024 state title game with Southwest Georgia. Brentwood will go for the repeat at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Other area finals…

Wheeler Co. 55, Manchester 20

Bleckley Co. 26, Jeff Davis 7

Swainsboro 40, Bacon Co. 21

Mt. Zion (Carrollton) 20, Treutlen 7

Jenkins Co. 38, Wilkinson Co. 27

Rabun Co. 56, Dodge Co. 21

Hawkinsville 24, Trion 21

Fitzgerald 42, ACE 9

North Oconee 31, Perry 15

Northeast Macon 41, Fannin Co. 0

Morgan Co. 29, Westside Macon 8

Warner Robins 28, Eastside 14

Peach Co. 53, Cherokee Bluff 28

Toombs Co. 50, Temple 6

John Milledge 28, Frederica 7

ECI 63, GMC 7

Deerfield-Windsor 26, Westfield 14

Stratford 33, George Walton 6

Brookstone 13, FPD 0